Featured stories about South Africa
Stories about South Africa
Making Swahili visible: Identity, language and the internet
Swahili is the most widely spoken African language, but its visibility online is dismal. Kenyan language activist Bonface Witaba is working to change this.
‘Everybody is looking for authenticity': A conversation with South African artist Siwa Mgoboza
South African multidisciplinary visual artist Siwa Mgoboza is one of the most dynamic emerging artists in the African art scene.
Is Mandarin Chinese the language of East Africa’s future?
As China strengthens its already robust trade and infrastructural ties with Africa, Chinese-government funded Confucius Institutes to teach Chinese Mandarin are on the rise.
Tropical Cyclone Idai: Animal rescues overlooked in this climate disaster
The cyclone's devastation did not discriminate. Animal activists encourage citizens to remember not to leave animals behind during rescue operations and remember to look for injured, distressed animals.
Cyclone leaves trail of devastation in Zimbabwe and throughout Southern Africa
"Sadly, lives have been lost and properties destroyed."
Four southern African nations petition to lift the international ivory trade ban
The proposal to lift the ivory trade ban has released a clash between elephant conservationists and those who favor the practice, citing economic reasons.
Mozambicans demand justice on government debt scandal
"The illegal debts burden our people and push our youth to unemployment and marginality."
Mozambicans react: decriminalisation of marijuana in South Africa
South Africa is a major destination for young Mozambicans for jobs and studies, and many were left wondering how the ruling will affect them.
‘In a lot of the post-colonial world, so much of what really drives us is suppressed’
"The majority of students are black. It’s not so much a colour as the fact that they come with emotional relationships to the rest of the world that are different."
‘Apartheid couldn’t have happened without that spatial carving up of the landscape’
"In South Africa, certainly, architecture was always complicit in oppression. Apartheid might have been a political and social structure, but it was also a physical one," says architect Lesley Lokko.
As Leaders Step Down, a Cautious Hope Rises on the African Continent
After the resignation of Zuma and Desalegn, "the mood on the continent is one of hope, on the one hand, and of palpable restraint and scepticism on the other."
Not Without a Fight: The Battle for Affordable Housing in Cape Town
For many residents of Cape Town, South Africa—a city often touted for its quality of life—the legacy of segregation and spatial apartheid persists in a tangible and powerful way.
A Kenyan artist designs revolutionary ‘kanga’ celebrating queer love around the world
"We need to open up a space to talk more about sex, and then artists like me want to open that up even more, to talk about queerness."
This Platform Has Helped Thousands of Migrants Reconnect with Their Families Back Home
Around the world, an estimated 65 million people who, for one reason or another, have been forced to flee their homelands. This platform aims to reunite broken families.
How a Rural South African Village's DIY Telco Lowered Its Communication Costs
"Of course all of this is not about the internet itself, it is about the collaboration, the skills, the social needs, the building something together."
Some South Africans Argue It's Not Just Their Country's Credit Rating That's Junk Status
They blasted the country's president, historical and present-day inequality, and the rating agencies themselves after S&P Global Ratings and Fitch downgraded South Africa.
International Fact-Checking Day Celebrated Worldwide: #FactCheckIt!
Fact-checkers around the world have declared April 2 as a day dedicated to verification and truth. Are you with them?
South Africans Want Their Government's Hands Off Social Media
South Africa's Minister of State Security announced that his government is contemplating regulating social media to counter false narratives and the spread of fake news.
Young South African Woman Living With HIV Decides She's Not Hiding Anymore
Internet users around the world are praising Saidy Brown, the 22-year-old woman in South Africa, who used Twitter last month to publicize that she is HIV positive.
South Africans Share Funny Things They Believed While Growing Up
"If someone jumps a leg over you, you won't grow tall unless they unjump you"
