Nelson Mandela dies at 95

The former South African president died on Dec. 5 at the age of 95. He will be greatly missed. The current president Jacob Zuma announced the passing at 8:50pm local time in South Africa.

the father of a nation

Nelson Mandela sadly passed away on Dec.5, 2013 at home in Houghton, South Africa. He had been suffering from a recurring lung infection and was frequently in the hospital over the last year. The revolutionary leader fought passionately against the injustice of apartheid and later dedicated himself to bringing the South African nation together peacefully after apartheid was abolished. He leaves behind an incredible legacy and will not be forgotten.

Nelson Mandela Dead — ‘Will Sleep for Eternity’

In an interview for the documentary, Mandela (1996), Nelson said, “Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made

Daylight Hijacking in Joburg

The video below shows the hijacking which took place on Saturday, 16 November 2013, and it  has received over 83 000 views on youtube since it was uploaded over the weekend.

In the video, a dark coloured hatchback is seen screeching to a halt in front of a white SUV that had stopped at the intersection of  Commissioner and Crown streets. In the footage a black VW Polo and a white Corsa barricade the victim’s vehicle, leaving no escape route.

Several men can be seen exiting the first vehicle and opening the doors of the SUV. Meanwhile a second white vehicle stops behind the SUV. A man leaps out and

Roy Hodgson's 'feed the monkey' joke smacks of crude racism

at the center of the row, Roy Hodgson hugs
the victim of his racist joke, Andros Townsend

Although Roy Hodgson furiously denied being racist after his reference to ‘feeding a monkey’ when asking England players to pass the ball to Andros Townsend, the joke has spiralled into a major race row. Hodgson should know better to avoid racially sensitive jokes. He obviously knew what he was saying and it needs no interpreting that he referred to Townsend as a monkey and it smacks of racism at its crudest.

The England football manager was forced to publicly apologise after repeating a line from an obscure joke during half time in Tuesday’s match against Poland which his players won to qualify for the World Cup.

His delight at victory turned to despair yesterday when it was claimed some players believed the 66-year-old was making a racist comment about the ethnicity of mixed race winger Andros Townsend.

Last night – as he came under fire from anti-racism campaigners – Mr Hodgson  suggested a ‘generational’ misunderstanding may have been to blame.

‘You would have to go a long way to find somebody who is less

Controversial Zuma painting puts artist on the limelight

Yakhal'inkomo, by Ayanda Mbulu

Ayanda Mabulu rose to fame with the exhibition of a controversial painting Yakhal'inkomo commenting on President Jacob Zuma's perceived role in the Marikana shooting. The painting was the most talked about artwork at the FNB Joburg Art Fair (JAF) at the Sandton Convention Centre.

Ironically, this is what partly motivated Ross Douglas, the director of ArtLogic, the firm behind the fair, to request Mabulu’s gallerists, Greg Dale and Leigh-Anne Niehaus of the Cape Town-based Commune1, to remove the artwork from display.

“We didn’t want it to get all the attention and to be the focus of the fair and derail press attention.

“Controversy is a big seller in this country,” observed Douglas at the press conference at the fair yesterday when he made a joint announcement with

Interpol issues a warrant of arrest for suspected Kenya bombing master mind

A worldwide alert was issued for the arrest of the Northern Irish terror suspect dubbed the “White Widow”.

Samantha Lewthwaite

The “Red Notice” for the arrest of Samantha Lewthwaite — who was married to one of the perpetrators of the London bombings on July 7th 2005 — was issued by Interpol at the request of the Kenyan authorities. The death toll remained at 67 civilians and members of the security forces. In addition, officials have also previously said five attackers were killed.

The warrant of arrest however relates to charges of possessing explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony dating back to December 2011, and it makes no mention of the Nairobi shopping mall attack, despite intense speculation linking her to the incident.

A Red Notice — or internationally wanted persons alert — notifies police forces around

27 killed in Pinetown accident

The death toll in the accident which a truck crashed into four minibus taxis and a car in Pinetown, north of Durban, has risen to 27.

About 80 people were injured and taken to the RK Khan and Albert Luthuli hospitals in the accident which happened on Thursday night. Rescuers used the Jaws-of-Life to free some of the passengers from the wreckage.

The truck is believed to have crashed into the vehicles when its brakes failed.

KwaZulu-Natal Transport MEC Willies Mchunu, who

Why doesn't my fridge have the internet yet?

When the man who came up with the technology that runs the internet talks about how he sees our fridges it's always likely to be pretty, ahem, cool.

But Vint Cerf painted a dystopian picture of our future in a talk at the O2 Campus Party.

Cerf, in a wide ranging speech that touched heavily on the internet of things, joked with the audience about how a fridge will soon be emailing us, but might go a step too far if it starts to communicate with other household devices.

"There are internet enabled refrigerators at the high end with touch-sensitive high-res displays on the door. And we use these at home in order to communicate with each other in addition to using paper and magnets. Now we can have websites and blogs and

‘Walk-in vagina’ attracts attention

 It lets out a high-pitched scream as you enter, then a sneering laugh. It's a walk-in vagina, a conceptual art installation that has South Africans wagging their fingers and scratching their heads.

When 30-year-old South African artist Reshma Chhiba was asked to produce artwork for a disused apartheid-era women's jail in Johannesburg, she wanted to make a statement about women's power.

A view of the art installation "Giant Walk-In Vagina"
 installed at a former women's prison by artist Reshma 
Chhiba in Johannesburg. Chhiba's installation is a a 
12-meter long tunnel made from red velvet and cotton.
Visitors to the tunnel experience the sounds of screaming
 and laughing, which are played inside.
AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER JOE

What she came up with was a talking “yoni”, or vagina in India's ancient language, Sanskrit.

“It's a screaming vagina within a space that once contained

Brain in a box

The thought of robots with brains is slowly becoming real courtesy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences where scientists have now reproduced the human brain from  embryonic stem cells in the laboratory.

Miniature "human brains" have been grown in a lab in a feat scientists hope will transform the understanding of neurological disorders.

The pea-sized structures reached the same level of development as in a nine-week-old foetus, but are incapable of thought.

The study, published in the journal Nature, has already been used to gain insight into rare diseases.

Neuroscientists have described the findings as astounding and fascinating.

The human brain is one of the most complicated structures in the universe.

Scientists at Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences have now reproduced some of

Funeral of a 'Party Animal' in Pretoria

girls dance at the funeral of their friend in Pretoria

Click here to view the video

Vavi Suspended

CONGRESS of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) chief Zwelinzima Vavi was suspended on Wednesday night, as divided union bosses wielded the axe after a heated meeting to seal his future.

Cosatu’s action is likely to reverberate throughout the African National Congress (ANC)-led alliance, and could

Tsvangirai declares elections null and void

The Pime Minister of Zimbabwe Morgan Tssvangirai, said Thursday the election is “null and void” due to alleged violations in the voting process, but Mugabe has denied vote rigging.

Addressing a press conference, he said Wednesday’s election was heavily manipulated and did not meet regional or African election standards. A poll monitoring group that is not affiliated with the state also said the poll was compromised by a campaign to stop voters from casting ballots.

Mugabe has denied allegations of vote-rigging as a smear campaign by

Google launches internet-beaming balloons

Christchurch - Wrinkled and skinny at first, the translucent, jellyfish-shaped balloons that Google released this week from a frozen field in the heart of New Zealand's South Island hardened into shiny pumpkins as they rose into the blue winter skies above Lake Tekapo, passing the first big test of a lofty goal to get the entire planet online.

It was the culmination of 18 months' work on what Google calls Project Loon, in recognition of how wacky the idea may sound.

Developed in the secretive X lab that came up with a driverless car and web-surfing eyeglasses, the flimsy helium-filled inflatables beam the internet down to earth as they sail past on the wind.

Still in their experimental stage, the balloons were the first of thousands that Google's leaders eventually hope to launch 20km into the stratosphere in order to bridge the gaping digital divide between the world's 4.8 billion unwired

Dambudzo's letter to his girlfriend

DAMBUDZO WRITES TO SAMANTHA

Dear Samantha

... I think by now you have heard what happened when those hypocrites in administration chased me from their white university giving me an option between being sectioned or expelled. I chose the latter, a decision which shocked them out of their warped wits. I have forgiven them because together with you they thought as an African student from some remote Southern African country I was privileged for receiving tertiary education at Oxford, a learning institution they have overrated as a citadel of knowledge just like Cambridge or Harvard. It is such academic mad houses that keep on churning out arrogant, snobbish, hypocritical and pea-minded bastards who enter the world with the superior airs of holier-than-thou, we and them attitude calling themselves Doctors, Professors or any stupid titles to distance themselves other ordinary folks whom they look down on as dunces.

These idiots have done little in

This is to AfriKa

I am Africa
whirling in a cycle
of lost generations
I am the failure 
in joining hands to brains
But the feet still carry on
eager in the strength of the land
I am magical
I am divine
I am rich
but yet slave to my own ignorance
I am the mother
to a people defeated by their own egoism
I am Africa
the strength of the land

PS ever since I came across this, it's been one of my favourites and today I've decided to share it with the rest of you.

Serena clinches French Open title

World number one Serena Williams won a second French Open title 11 years after her first with a convincing win over defending champion Maria Sharapova.

The American, 31, was pushed at times but led throughout, winning 6-4 6-4 in one hour and 46 minutes.

Williams has now won 16 Grand Slam singles titles, moving her to within two of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, who have 18 each.

And with an unbeaten run that now stands at 31 matches, she will

Kids shun school for Justin Beiber

Cape Town – School principals have said that pupils who skipped school to queue for Justin Bieber's concert on Wednesday will not be in any trouble, reports Cape Argus.

The concert, which was held at the Cape Town Stadium, saw many Beliebers sleep over on Tuesday night after Bon Jovi's concert or queue from as early as 05:00 on Wednesday morning to ensure a front-row seat to the show.

Cape Town school principals told Cape Argus on Thursday that

Storing data on DNA; could this mark the end of the hard drive