A Durban-born company has come up with an amazing concept. Perhaps a cure for the ails of entrepreneurship and a way to kick-start some amazing businesses into South Africa’s economy. Big Box has only been around for just over a year. But this team is taking no prisoners in their goal of igniting an entrepreneurial […]

South Africa’s Chris Barnard stands out in medical history as the heart surgeon who became a global household name after transplanting the first human heart on 3 December 1967. The historic surgery captured the world’s imagination and was hailed by 20th-century historians as socially and scientifically of equal significance compared to the moon-landing in 1969. I examined […]

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“Why on earth would you do that?” It was the question that surprised me from many Australians who thought I was mad to move to South Africa… writes Ed Charles. After all, isn’t Australia full of South Africans trying to escape that terrible country (and crime-ridden Johannesburg in particular)? Well, not quite. But let’s rewind […]

My father and his three siblings were orphans. They lived in the Abraham Kriel Orphanage in Langlaagte, Johannesburg, but he was moved to Kimberley at the age of four after he contracted polio, and only saw his siblings again in adulthood… writes GILDA SWANEPOEL. He attended Goudstad Kollege after school, but holidays proved to be a […]

Johnny Clegg is embarking on his final world tour – The Final Journey… after nearly 40 years enjoying one of music’s most remarkable careers. Below one of his biggest fans – whose life has been shaped by his music and anthropological background – pays tribute… In a statement Wednesday, it was revealed Johnny was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 […]

As some SAPeople followers may recall, regular SAPeople contributor MARGUERITE DE VILLIERS met someone through the site two years ago, on Heritage Day, after she shared photos with SAPeople’s Facebook page. And now, two years later – also on Heritage Day – the couple got engaged! Here are the photos set to Johnny Clegg’s ‘Spirit of the Great Heart’… A […]

Last year Nic Udal from KwaZulu-Natal married the love of his life, Dace. Six weeks ago she gave birth to their first child, Leo. They were based in Riga, Latvia, making their dreams come true, and looking forward to a life filled with love and adventure ahead of them. But last Friday evening it all changed… Nic was […]

I come home to find Samson under the big tree in the front garden. He’s made a fire and looks disgruntled that I am so late. Those were the days before I installed the security gate. The days only schizophrenic dwarfy hobos with a moerse houding would dare to sneak onto your property while you […]

From slavery to colonialism and school rules: a history of myths about black hair… “Your hair feels like pubic hair.” That was one of the first insults that someone hurled at my hair. She was a junior at my school. She would touch my hair and repeat this sentence to all present. I had to […]

Flying over the ocean blue to an island called Unguja, I imagined Zanzibar to be a stereotypical island paradise – bleached beaches, coconuts falling from palm trees, sickly sweet pineapple drinks with those unnecessary little umbrellas – but with the influence of Africa, slavery, and the spice route. Water like liquid sapphire Captures fragments of […]

Decades ago and deep in the Namaqualand desert at a point between Springbok, Steinkopf and the sea, a Cape Town housewife with a squeaky voice steals our hearts. This mommy from the suburbs has requested a tune that plays into our early years, way before Disco, Johnny Rotten, Duran Duran and Really Big Hair stole […]

Here’s a heartwarming story from MARIKA VAN HEERDEN who was visiting the Douglas Spar in the Northern Cape, South Africa, when she met a young boy called Denzel (scroll down for the Afrikaans version): DENZEL… By Marika van Heerden We stopped at Spar in Douglas on Sunday. It’s early morning and the town is still […]

South African tourists, Peter and Michelle Roos, captured these poignant photos and the mood of a cemetery in Italy that became the last resting place for so many young South African soldiers… Michelle says that in the “midst of hedonistic pleasures” in Italy, the graves provided “a somber dose of other things that happened in […]

UPDATE 16 March 2017: The City of Cape Town has experienced one of its worst disasters in history with the Hout Bay Fire. It has been beautiful to witness communities come together, but heart wrenching to see some of the negative engagements arise on Social Media… writes photographer JUSTIN SULLIVAN, who has been in the […]

Proving old friendships never die, a South African expat living in Canada has offered her kidney to her former schoolmate in Johannesburg, whom she hasn’t seen for decades. And together they are now on a journey to make sure Di gets the kidney she desperately needs, and that awareness is raised about live kidney donations. […]

Let me start with some context: I am a well-off white male – the international trifecta of privilege – and Afrikaans to boot, just to add some local flavour to my human stew of oppressiveness. Born eight years before the end of apartheid the only thing I really remember about the dark days are oddly vivid […]

It’s Monday 16 February, 2016. Dianne and I have just spent an idyllic 3 weeks in Hermanus in South Africa with our family that gathered from Australia, England, the USA and various parts of South Africa to spend time with 86-year old family matriarch Jennifer Stewart. With our US Dollars, we and the Brits are […]

A couple of years ago I wrote an article on my blog (Rant!) entitled ‘Why I will not go back to South Africa’ (see below). It was largely incited by the Oscar Pistorius trial, which was happening at the time – I’d just had a baby and found myself sitting glued to my cell phone […]

For those who haven’t grown up in South Africa, the closeness that often grows between a domestic worker and her employer’s family can be hard to grasp. But the bonds and emotions run deep for many, with ‘family’ becoming a blend of both the domestic’s and employer’s children. And when there’s a heartbreaking death in the ‘family’, everyone […]

When Luyanda Sikhakhane hired her gardener, Bongani Mtolo, she could never have dreamt that the young man who did all sorts of odd jobs, was in fact a qualified accountant. “I hired Bongani to help me with our garden. I had called him in for lunch and was trying to help my little brother with […]

I am not a farmer. My husband and myself have a small holding just outside Bloemfontein where we farm with a few sheep and lucerne. Today was a heart wrenching day for me. My Damara ram “Oupa” refused to stand up. I tried everything to get him to get back up but alas. He was […]

It’s not just human teenagers who are moody. Wildlife enthusiast Ida de Beer took the following photos during a recent trip to a safari park in South Africa. “The pictures are un-edited,” she says. “This is how the elephant came closer and closer…” Ida estimates the elephant is a teenager of about 15-years-old (and its ivory tusks are covered by […]

South African DIY Goddess Suzelle DIY has some fantastic tips for how to make a loadshedding survival kit. You’ll find the tips both romantic…and ingenious. And of course, many of the products required to make this essential kit can be found at Checkers. (Suzelle recently starred in Checker’s latest TV commercial along with Nataniël.) Watch Video: […]

I haven’t spent time in Cape Town for the past three years. Apart from the quick one or two day visits in December. And those ‘holiday’ visits don’t count because they’re smothered in family and vacation life. But on this latest trip I was extraordinarily blessed to fly down for work…and managed to get a sneaky day off on Monday. My one […]