The robber’s grave

By Andrea Zanin 24-08-23 17:00

The robber’s grave was turned the other way. A scarlet letter on the landscape. On our school trip to Pilgrim’s Rest in the Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga) we learnt about the gold rush, did some panning, bought some guinea fowl curios, saw the majestic Mac Mac, Horse Shoe and Bridal Veil Falls—but the robber’s grave. Legend […]

South African abroad: The immigrant's void...

South African abroad: Facing the void and sense of loss…

By Andrea Zanin 02-08-23 11:38

Not that many years ago – in fact, the day before the RWC 2019 final – I sat in my daughter’s school assembly wearing my Springbok rugby jersey (couldn’t resist taunting, just a little)… writes writer, wife, mother and dreamer ANDREA ZANIN, who now lives in the UK and is author of Our Fireside Stories.  […]

Carlton Sky Rink

Carlton Sky Rink (Johannesburg #1995)

By Andrea Zanin 08-08-23 18:12

If you fell on the ice, you had to make fists because some super-jock speed skater would almost certainly skate past you at that exact moment and chop your fingers off. An arm if you were super unlucky. Everybody said so. It happened to people who knew people. No, really. No matter. We were in. […]

That time the baboons ate our firelighters

By Andrea Zanin 23-05-23 21:11

We pile in the bakkie and hit the road to Kruger, stopping along the way to buy all our essentials – food (chips and rusks—the important stuff), firelighters for the braai, charcoal; the cooler box is in the back with meat and other bits and pieces in it. We’re ready. After some hours on the […]

If Trevor Noah can eat mopane worms…

By Andrea Zanin 09-05-23 17:49

Big, fat, yellow writhing blobs dropping off trees, carpeting the floor like a panoramic sea of black-speckled, custard-infused dog turd. Mopane trees…mopane worms. We were visiting my grandpa Ray at his plot in Ashburton, Natal. And it was raining caterpillars—thousands. No, millions. Look down and a worm could drop on your head, look up and you’d burst […]

KZN Department of Health

KZN Department of Health receives R5.4m worth of assistive devices from church

By Hennely Nel 04-05-23 13:07

The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Health has distributed assistive devices to more than 3 300 beneficiaries, thanks to a donation by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. ALSO READ: Disabled people in Musina lack adequate housing The church handed over a variety of assistive devices worth more R5.4 million that will be rolled out to the […]

WATCH: NMU security guard graduates [Video]

By Mimi Mfundisi 25-04-23 15:48

Watch news in a minute for a summary of NMU security guard graduates while working 12-hours per day story. Ntombovuyo Happy Ntshangase, 38, who works a 12-hour shift per day at the Nelson Mandela University (NMU). Image: Pixabay NEWS IN A MINUTE: Listen or watch the full versions of the ‘‘NMU security guard graduates while working […]

A pineapple is never just a pineapple

By Andrea Zanin 23-05-23 20:53

When I was growing up my family took plenty of road trips, from Grahamstown to East London or King William’s Town (where my sister and I were at boarding school) or Port Alfred, Kent-on-Sea and Port Elizabeth. On those roads during pineapple season, would be African mamas, men, teenage girls, young boys, sometimes whole families […]

The beach central to the tourist entertainment. By Godfrey Sigwela

SEE: Man saves woman caught in rip current in Salmon Bay

By Mimi Mfundisi 24-04-23 12:30

Watch as a man recently jumped into action to save a woman who was caught in a rip current in Salmon Bay. WATCH: Man saves woman caught in a rip current at Salmon Bay Photos: Screenshots/Video/NSRI A man recently jumped into action to save a woman caught in a rip current in Salmon Bay in KwaZulu-Natal. SALMON […]

lions Kruger National Park

WATCH: Lion wakes up and gives men the fright of their lives

By Mimi Mfundisi 24-04-23 13:54

A video went viral after a lion woke up unexpectedly and gave a group of unsuspecting men a huge fright. Here is the video. WATCH: Lion wakes up and gives men the fright of their lives Photos: Video/Twitter A video of a group of men getting the fright of their lives when a lion unexpectedly […]

NMU Graduation

Emotional father collects late daughter’s degree at NMU graduation

By Mimi Mfundisi 24-04-23 16:54

Graduation day is a day of celebration, and for most parents it is one of the proudest days of their lives. ALSO READ: Two senior Orlando Pirates stars celebrate graduation EMOTIONAL GRADUATION MOMENT One Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) father held back tears as he accepted his late daughter’s degree from Nelson Mandela University graduation on Thursday. The day […]

Pigs

From unemployed graduate to pig farmer

By Mimi Mfundisi 19-04-23 19:48

Zintle James, a 24-year-old pig farmer from Sterkspruit in the Eastern Cape, has embarked on a journey to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Image: GCIS Vuk’uzenzele. Young pig farmer Zintle James (24) is on an inspired journey to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Originally from Sterkspruit in the Eastern Cape, James began her enterprise in 2020 when […]

The license, the queue & the photocopy machine

By Andrea Zanin 11-04-23 22:59

If you’re over 60, on a Wednesday you have privilege of appointment to renew your driver’s license at the licensing department in Edenvale. My license was due to expire so I decided I would take up the offer… writes Clare Paterson. I devised the perfect plan… …the department opens at 9am and I had a […]

A toilet in the gamadoelas... Stories from South Africa

A toilet in the gramadoelas

By Andrea Zanin 30-03-23 21:32

My dad came to South Africa in his early twenties. As a British guy, he didn’t speak ‘die taal’ but as an electrical engineer employed on the power lines he worked with a lot of Afrikaans people—making life ripe for misunderstandings. Often, my dad worked out in the gramadoelas. At the end of one of […]

Parktown Prawn

Boesak, parsley and a parktown prawn

By Andrea Zanin 14-03-23 16:47

There’s nothing like a Parktown Prawn in the car on the way to school. “We’re going!”—mom bellows from the other side of the house. I lightning myself out of bed. Throw on my uniform (luckily, it’s summer—no tie), lurch for my school bag (praying I packed accurately the night before), will an apple into my […]

family on the beach in South Africa, memories and nostalgia

Remembering those beach holidays in South Africa

By Andrea Zanin 02-03-23 18:35

If there is one thing I love to remember about my childhood living in South Africa, it’s beach holidays… … waking up before the sun rose, bundling into the car and staring up at the night sky as we pulled out of the driveway, barely able to contain our excitement. Soon after leaving Joburg, we’d […]

All the feels at international arrivals in South Africa

All the feels at international arrivals in South Africa

By Jenni Baxter 28-02-23 10:04

In our efforts to be the most resilient nation who always bounces back, makes a power joke or memes of it all whilst hitting send just before load shedding, I feel as South Africans we are at times numb… writes Samantha Jacobs. We have so much to feel that is mostly, largely, out of our […]

Just a dream: I miss you my beautiful South Africa, but... South African expat mom's poem - Lindi-Mae Humphreys

Just a dream: I miss you my beautiful South Africa, but…

By Jenni Baxter 02-03-23 01:10

A South African mom’s heartbreaking poem, written on the plane as she left South Africa to move abroad – went viral last year… because Lindi-Mae Humphreys’ words about the pain of leaving behind everything she knew and loved struck a chord with every South African who has left their beloved country to seek a safer […]

South African Students Hindered by Alleged Discrimination at Ukraine Border Posts

DIRCO’s Alleged Incompetency in Ukraine Revealed in Open Letter to All South Africans

By SAPeople Contributor 06-04-22 10:00

Proudly South African expat Hayley Reichert is gatvol. Below is her passionate letter to all South Africans, revealing alleged incompetency she has witnessed within SA’s foreign affairs department, DIRCO, whilst trying to aid South Africans in escaping Russia’s attack on Ukraine.  Dear fellow South Africans, Our government does not care about us, and they care […]

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