Owing to unplanned breakdowns, Eskom will continue to implement rotational load shedding going into the weekend. In a statement on Friday, the power utility said unplanned breakdowns have increased the shortage in generation capacity. “Eskom will continue implementing Stage 2 rotational load shedding until Sunday at 6am owing to unplanned breakdowns that have increased the […]

Echoes of apartheid-style exploitation of workers have resurfaced in recent years in South Africa. Debates around these malpractices were given fresh impetus four years ago with the release of a documentary, Bitter Grapes. Produced by Danish journalist Tom Heinemann, it featured workers from South Africa’s winelands. Bitter Grapes cast light on wide-ranging exploitation. Hardships included […]

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today warned against land expropriation without compensation in South Africa. Speaking during Wednesday morning’s session of the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Africa – which is being held in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia – Pompeo said expropriation without compensation would be catastrophic for South Africa’s economy and the country’s […]

An existing wind farm is crying foul after the government last month gave the conditional go-ahead for a massive new wind farm project on an adjoining property on the West Coast Peninsula near Vredenburg. The West Coast One wind farm, that has been operating since 2015, says the huge turbines of the recently approved Boulders Wind Energy […]

There are about 85 South Africans currently stuck in China, despite wanting to be evacuated and returned to South Africa in light of the outbreak of the new Coronavirus, according to the Democratic Alliance (DA). In a statement today, Darren Bergman MP – DA Shadow Minister of International Relations and Cooperation – said whilst the DA […]

Helen Zille, Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance (DA), has announced that she is closing her Twitter account, after several racist and derogatory responses to a tweet she posted on Saturday evening (15 Feb 2020), which featured her grand-daughter. In the post, Zille’s granddaughter is seen preparing a chicken for dinner, during one of South Africa’s […]

Watch the live streaming below as Dudu Myeni’s son Thalente Myeni testifies at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry. Today allegations of corruption at Richards Bay’s Mhlathuze Water are under the spotlight. Earlier, despite confirming his company Premier Attraction 1016 was promised R2-million to complete a project with a certain timeframe, that involved client Optics and […]

The Democratic Alliance (DA) says while it welcomes South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that municipalities will be allowed to purchase power from Independent Power Producers (IPPs), it’s meaningless unless timelines are swiftly announced; and has urged Ramaphosa to stop the government fighting the City of Cape Town in court and allow the Mother City […]

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has demanded that the City of Cape Town take immediate action against the sewage pollution in Milnerton lagoon. OUTA announced on 11 February that it had sent a letter to the City to ask for a meeting. The objective of the meeting is to present residents’ solutions to the pollution […]

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) created chaos at the State of the Nation Address tonight, infringing on the rights of all those who wanted to hear President Cyril Ramaphosa deliver his address… and delayed the President’s speech by almost an hour before the Speaker of the House Thandi Modise announced that the proceedings in the […]

Watch President Cyril Ramaphosa deliver his State of the Nation Address (SONA) live here. Before the President has even got a chance to speak, EFF Leader Julius Malema and his colleagues have argued with the speaker that former President FW de Klerk should be removed from Parliament. Malema says he has blood on his hands. […]

With just over an hour to go before President Cyril Ramaphosa tables the State of the Nation Address (SONA), the spotlight is on praise singer Masingita Shibambu, who is tasked with ushering in the President into the Parliamentary chambers. Over the years, the 19-year-old has perfected her craft at Sunday school, parties and funerals of […]

Democratic South Africa has skeletons in the closet that it needs to address. One of these is the death of Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) in a plane crash shortly after midnight on 17 to 18 September 1961. The plane went down as it approached Ndola, a mining town in Northern […]

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to use his State of the Nation Address Thursday evening to respond to burning issues such as load shedding and gender-based violence; unpack the progress that has been made by government over the past year and chart plans for the year ahead. Parliament officials have been hard at […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa is being urged to announce on Thursday – when he delivers his State of the Nation Address (SONA) – that he will send the Copyright Amendment Bill back to Parliament for reconsideration. If nothing else, it would be an ideal opportunity to announce some good news “amidst the doom and the darkness”, […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his deep sadness at the passing of Ladysmith Black Mambazo founder Joseph Shabalala. “The passing of Joseph Shabalala is a terribly sad moment for a nation and a world in whose ears the isicathamiya and mbube crafted by Ladysmith Black Mambazo will ring for generations to come,” said President Ramaphosa. […]

A coding project called TANKS – which originated at Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa – will be flying the flag high for SA, sharing the global stage at UNESCO’s Mobile Learning Week in Paris early March. Of 250 submissions from across the world, it is the only project invited to a plenary session […]

As South Africa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) approaches – Thursday 13 February at 19h00 – and South Africans long for some positive direction, here’s an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, penned by M&C Saatchi Abel Group founder Mike Abel… Dear Mr President, I write this letter on the last day of January […]

The spotlight will be firmly on South African President Cyril Ramaphosa as he runs the gauntlet of delivering the annual state of the nation address on behalf of the governing party, African National Congress (ANC), and his government on Thursday. This year’s speech is light-years removed from the promise of a new beginning he offered […]

Have you ever been unlawfully detained? A staggering number of people in South Africa have, and they’ve instituted civil claims totalling billions of rands against the police for  Unlawful Arrest and Detention. On this week’s episode of Carte Blanche, the current affairs show investigates: what are the reasons behind this disturbing trend? And what to […]

An arrest warrant has been issued for the former president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma. The warrant was issued by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday after Zuma failed to appear for his long-awaited trial for alleged corruption and money-laundering. Senior state prosecutor Advocate Billy Downer had requested the warrant earlier on Tuesday, saying Zuma’s […]

Thirty years ago, on 2 February 1990, a speech was delivered by then President FW de Klerk that marked the beginning of a radically new political landscape for South Africa. In his opening address to parliament, De Klerk unbanned the exiled liberation movements, notably the African National Congress (ANC), Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) and South African […]

With violent incidents taking place across South Africa and crime stats resembling those of a war-torn country, in this week’s episode of Carte Blanche the team examines personal safety and questions whether the State should limit a citizen’s right to own firearms. Tonight’s episode (Sunday 2 February) is available on DStv Now if you’re in South […]

Eskom CEO, Andre de Ruyter, today warned South Africans of more “intensive loadshedding” to come as the power utility battles to come to grips with the country’s energy crisis. But there is a plan and light at the end of the tunnel! Eskom will be changing its maintenance philosophy and will “enter into a long-term […]

Parliament announced, on Thursday, that it has extended the deadline for public comment to 29 February on the land expropriation with compensation proposal, apparently bending to pressure after numerous submissions were blocked by parliamentary IT servers for “unacceptable content”. The extension comes after several people attempting to make submissions to the designated parliamentary email address […]