South African strikes gather momentum

South Africa’s public service unions, who demonstrated in Johannesburg and Cape Town on 26 August, hope that their action will start to bite next week when they are joined by essential services unions which have already given the necessary seven-day...

Cape Town's Athlone Towers to be demolished

One of Cape Town's most well-known landmarks is scheduled to disappear on 22 August. Both cooling towers from the decommissioned Athlone power station are to be demolished in the interests of public safety. Built in 1960, it is the last...

DA and ANC tie in Western Cape municipal by-elections

The leading national opposition party Democratic Alliance (DA) won three out of six seats in municipal ward by-elections in the Western Cape on 21 July, the independent electoral commission of South Africa (IEC) has said. The remaining three went to...

Cape Town book fair

The fifth edition of the annual Cape Town book opens on 30 July at the international convention centre in the city centre. The first day of the fair is devoted entirely to publishers, institutional buyers and rights agents, with matchmaking sessions...

Cape Town MyCiTi inner city loop service to end

The MyCiTi inner city loop service is to end on 18 July but should return in an improved version later this year, the Cape Town city council has said. The bus service, which travels in a clockwise and anti-clockwise loop around...

Nelson Mandela Day

18 July is Nelson Mandela Day and the 92nd birthday of the iconic anti-apartheid activist, 1993 Nobel peace laureate and first president of the democratic South Africa Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. For the second year running South Africans and people from...

New xenophobic violence in Cape Town

There has been renewed xenophobic violence in the Western Cape, with scores of foreigners reportedly seeking refuge in local police stations following attacks on shops run by foreigners. Local media report that on the night of 11 July – as the...

Olufemi Terry wins African Booker prize with Stickfighting Days

Cape Town resident Olufemi Terry, originally from Sierra Leone, is the winner of this year’s Caine Prize for the best short story by an African writer, otherwise known as the “African Booker”. Terry won the prestigious $10,000 award for the work...

South Africa praised for World Cup organisation

The 2010 FIFA World Cup drew to a close in South Africa on 11 July with Spain’s 1-0 victory against The Netherlands and the local media seem to have only praise for the host country’s performance. “South Africa confounds Afro-pessimists”...

World Cup viewing

Football-mad young people in remote parts of Africa, many without access to electricity, are being given the chance to watch live World Cup matches through a variety of initiatives. Up to 10,000 young people in Zambia’s Mayukwayukwa refugee camp and...