Robben Island overrun by rabbits

Robben Island in Table Bay 12 km north of Cape Town, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in prison during apartheid, is overrun by rabbits. The situation has become so serious that marksmen have now been brought in to eliminate...

South Africans learn national anthem ahead of World Cup

South Africans are being given lessons in the national anthem Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika (God bless Africa) ahead of the World Cup football tournament in June and July, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reports. Adopted in 1997, three years after the end...

Cape Town cemeteries get clean up

The city of Cape Town has issued a warning to residents about “illegal” memorials being constructed in the city’s cemeteries and has said that, in future, it will remove any that have been erected without permission and the appropriate permit. According...

Air traffic control plans for World Cup

Plans are being drawn up for the movement of football fans around the country before, during and after this year’s FIFA World Cup. Up to 500,000 international supporters are expected to fly into South Africa for the 11 June-11 July tournament,...

SABC Sea Point property to be repaired

Cape Town city council has won a legal battle to oblige the owners of an abandoned property at Sea Point west of the city centre to take care of its maintenance. The property in question is Rocklands Villas, a row...

President Zuma takes fifth wife

South Africa’s controversial president Jacob Zuma has married his fifth wife, 38-year-old Thobeka Stacey Mabhija, at a traditional ceremony in his native Kwa-Zulu Natal. Zuma, a member of the ethnic Zulu group, is married to two other women, Gertrude Sizakele Khumalo,...

Cape Town stadium finished

Work has finished on the new Cape Town Stadium, which will host eight of the football World Cup from 11 June-11 July this year, including a semi-final match. Construction of the precinct around the stadium and the access roads should...

Football for Hope centre opens in Cape Town

The international governing body of football FIFA has opened a community centre in Cape Town as part of a social development initiative that is intended to outlast the 2010 World Cup. The so-called Football for Hope centre is located in Khayelitsha,...

World Cup stadium named

The city council has voted to name the city’s new football stadium Cape Town Stadium. The facility, which replaces the former Green Point stadium near the city centre, also has the Xhosa name Inkundla Yezemidlalo Yasekapa and the Afrikaans name Kaapstad-stadion....