South Africa’s Lindiwe Matlali has been recognised by the Queen of England for the awesome work she does as founder and CEO of Africa Teen Geeks, a non-profit organisation that teaches school children and unemployed youth how to code. Lindiwe is the latest recipient of a Points of Light Award for 2019. Inspired by her […]

South African expat Nitanja Steyn has lived in the Netherlands, the US and Germany since leaving SA in 2014. But no matter where she lives… her heart belongs back home in South Africa. Yesterday she penned a poignant poem ‘Die Verlanging van ‘n Suid-Afrikaner’, in Afrikaans (see below). Here she has kindly translated it into […]

It’s all systems go for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), to be delivered at 7pm on 07 February 2019. President Ramaphosa will be delivering his second SONA after taking over the reins in February 2018. The SONA will be the last of the fifth administration, due to the elections later this […]

It’s dawn. I’m in a reflective mood. So many thoughts & emotions to consider. I’m not a night owl, although the moon has held me captive on many occasions. It’s still up there. Far away. But this is the sun’s turn to rise. The light is still soft. It’s bathing our garden in gentle pastel […]

I was in Johannesburg, South Africa, for one night a few weeks ago (before going to visit the Botshabelo orphanage) and I awoke to this beautiful summer day… writes South African expat, best-selling author and motivational speaker Trevor Romain. From the window of an Air B & B on Linksfield Ridge, where I stayed, I looked […]

In 2016 when my mother fell ill I had to travel to Johannesburg quite regularly. It was a crazy few months from August to November. My mother was ill, my father fell ill too and my son Liam was involved in an awful car accident… writes South African music and entertainment entrepreneur, and former frontman […]

There are not many South Africans who have been honoured by having a statue of themselves erected in London… writes Peter Ball from The Heritage Portal. Only two come readily to mind and they are Jan Smuts and Nelson Mandela, whose statues stand proudly in Parliament Square, Westminster. However, there is a lesser known South African […]

The transcript of an address – titled ‘My South Africa’ – by Prof Jonathan Jansen is going viral yet again. The man many South Africans wish was in politics first delivered the speech to a meeting of Rachel’s Angels in September 2013. Eighteen months later it went viral again to unite the nation after xenophobic […]

As the year 2018 draws to a close, I would like to reflect on it by revisiting some of the the major rejections I have had to deal with over the years, starting with the many I received as a village boy, when applying for bursaries in 1991, so I could be the first one […]

I saw a picture of a Tickey Box recently. One of the red ones that used to sit on the counter of shops in South Africa. It took me back instantly to my grandfather’s general store in Vredefort in the Orange Free State… writes Trevor Romain. One thing I remember clearly as a kid, was […]

As countries around the world marked 100 years today since the end of the First World War, a South African granddaughter – Seonaid Davidson Beningfield, from KwaZulu-Natal – recalls stories of her grandfather’s bravery (of which he, like so many soldiers of that time, never spoke)… My grandfather, William Henry Boyne Davidson, was 17 years old when he […]

For my Sister, on the day she immigrates… writes Jessica Galloway. I want you to know that it’s hard and heavy some days. All the skype sessions in the world cannot come close to mom’s chocolate brownies… I want you to know that the hard days wont last forever. But they need to be lived. Leaving […]

The brilliantly talented, insightful and always frank Viv Vermaak has perfectly summed up the feelings of so many people in South Africa (and the world) who suffer from anxiety and depression. Responding to Viv’s words, posted Tuesday morning, one parent said “you wrote this today for my daughter, who is very dear to my heart. Thank […]

I am writing this story for me. I have always written, and it has always helped to offer insight and gain perspective. It is cathartic and, right now, I know that I need it to heal. I am writing this story for Mick, Alessia and Claudia. I had never, ever wanted to live as much […]

When we were young and the days were long, the corner cafe was the place to meet and greet and make up and break up… writes South African expat, author and motivational speaker Trevor Romain. It was the place where you stole at least one piece of liquorice or one of those yellow plastic sherberts […]

Canada, as everyone knows, is awesome… writes Phil Maloney from Maple and Marula. We invented all the best stuff in the world, like the internet, steak, clothes, and Beyonce. OK, like, maybe we didn’t INVENT all that stuff, but we HAVE it in Canada. And, to America’s constant surprise, we also have running water, electricity, and […]

So the story I’m about to tell you is so New York and one of the reasons people love this place… writes author and former South African expat Ted Botha, who now lives in Joburg, but was back in New York for a couple of months. It all centres around a stray one dollar bill. I […]

While statistics reveal the sad state of so many households in South Africa where children are growing up with absent fathers, there are men like 27-year-old Sabelo Malusi Thabethe whose greatest dream is to hold down his job so that he can buy a home in a safe area and take care of his daughter. […]

I have been in South Africa for 12 weeks nearly now and I’ve been trying to think of a way that I can express how my feelings towards this country are, as there are so many things to talk about both positively and negatively so I think a good old-fashioned letter may well do the […]

Meet Martha Hester Sehao, perhaps one of the last people alive from the 1800s… The 121-year-old South African woman has had seven children, of whom she has outlived three. Hailing from Ventersdorp in the North West province of SA, Martha says there’s only one secret to her long life… https://www.facebook.com/BrightVibesAfrica/videos/983504248500688/

As South Africa marked Youth Day on Saturday 16 June 2018, Sophia Kapp – an author and language practitioner from Pretoria – wrote the following moving message for Hector Pieterson, the 12-year-old boy who was fatally wounded during the Soweto Riots 42 years ago, and whose image was immortalised in the iconic photo by the […]

Playing international rugby for your country is a wonderful thing, writes Trevor Romain. I loved representing the Springboks. My friend who was an All Black, felt the same. We played against each other a number of times. He was a little stronger than me but I was a little faster. And although we were good […]

Rupak Hattikudur moved to South Africa from India three years ago. In that time he has taken beautiful photographs of South Africa’s wildlife in the bush… BUT yesterday he witnessed the other side of what’s happening in the bush to our wildlife. The tragedy of poaching. This is his story… My mother and I woke […]

Pieter and Nelia are newly wed farmers living near Parys in a region of South Africa known as the Free State… writes Jenny Wallace. Here sheep are known as “Free State takeaways”, referring to how often and easily sheep are stolen to feed the desperate. However the level of violence associated with these thefts has escalated. […]

Over 30,000 people have liked a post praising the exceptional service that a South African Police Service (SAPS) officer offered to a distraught passenger, on Sunday night at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. Gauteng resident Isma Theron-De Witt posted a grateful message and photo on Sunday night, asking her friends to “meet officer Vincent from […]