South Africa

A worker at the Wupperthal Original Rooibos Co-operative's processing facility carries a bag of freshly harvested rooibos to the processing area. The country's rooibos tea exports have skyrocketed from barely 500 tons in 1996 to nearly 9,000 tons today — enough to fill 3.6 billion teabags. But indigenous farmers were long cut out of the revenues, until a ground-breaking agreement was forged.

Local farmers in South Africa were cut out of rooibos tea cash. Now change is brewing

9:11am May 27, 2023

by Tommy Trenchard

For generations, the Khoisan people harvested the rooibos plant to make tea. As this caffeine-free drink has grown trendy — 9,000 tons exported a year — they've been cut out of revenues. Until now.

There are fewer than 16,000 white rhinos around the world and are classified as "near threatened." John Hume, owner of the Platinum Rhino Project, is estimated to own somewhere between 13% to 15% of the population.

World News

2,000 'near threatened' white rhinos are up for auction

5:06am April 27, 2023

by Vanessa Romo

On Wednesday, John Hume, owner of the Platinum Rhino Project, launched an auction to sell off the 2,000-strong herd in an online sale that's starting at $10 million.

A program called MomConnect fields questions via mobile phone about pregnancy and babies. It started in South Africa and now is offered in other countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Timor-Leste as well.

Health & Safety

A robot answers questions about health. Its creators just won a $2.25 million prize

12:49pm April 14, 2023

by Ari Daniel

At the Skoll World Forum this week, South Africa's Reach Digital Health was one of five honorees. They offer health advice via mobile phones to millions, focusing on pregnancy, babies and COVID.

During his flight on Monday, "As I turned to my left and looked down, I could see the head of the snake receding back underneath my seat," pilot Rudolf Erasmus says. "At which point there was a moment of stunned silence, to be brutally honest." He turned the plane around and landed safely at a nearby airport.

World News

He felt the slither of a venomous snake in the cockpit — then turned the plane around

4:18pm April 05, 2023

by Kate Bartlett

South African pilot Rudolf Erasmus made an emergency landing after discovering a Cape cobra accompanying him in the cockpit on Monday. The snake has not been found again since the plane landed.

June Steenkamp, the mother of Reeva Steenkamp sits inside the correctional service car Thursday at the Atteridgeville Prison for the parole hearing of Oscar Pistorius in Pretoria, South Africa.

Oscar Pistorius, South African Olympian, is denied parole in his girlfriend's murder

1:34pm March 31, 2023

by The Associated Press

Pistorius was sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison for in 2017, four years after he shot and killed Reeva Steenkamp in their home, claiming he mistook her for an intruder.

Yeshnee Naidoo prepares a "flow cell" for analysis by one of the center's many genetic sequencing machines.

Who's most likely to save us from the next pandemic? The answer may surprise you

1:07pm February 02, 2023

by Nurith Aizenman

The South African-based scientist who co-discovered the omicron variant of COVID-19 makes an intriguing argument.

Queue Listen Now

Gerhardt Boukes, chief scientist at Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, formulates mRNA for use in a new vaccine against COVID-19. The company — based in Cape Town, South Africa — is the linchpin of a global project to enable low- and middle-income countries to make mRNA vaccines against all manner of diseases.

How a scrappy African startup could forever change the world of vaccines

11:20am December 29, 2022

by Nurith Aizenman

Afrigen is the linchpin of global project to use mRNA technology to empower low-resource countries to make their own vaccines against killer diseases from TB to HIV. What will it take to succeed?

Queue Listen Now

Boys play in a stairwell in Cissie Gool House, an abandoned hospital now home to over 1,000 people. By painting, decorating and maintaining the building, its new residents have managed to turn it into a decent home for themselves and their families within striking distance of central Cape Town.

Inside South Africa's 'hijacked' buildings: 'All we want is a place to call home'

10:20am December 24, 2022

by Tommy Trenchard

Compelling photos capture the lives of occupiers who say gentrification and a lack of affordable housing in Cape Town have left them no choice but to reclaim space in a city that's squeezing them out.

Jefferson Ncube, an illegal diamond miner from Zimbabwe, works on his latest tunnel at an abandoned De Beers mine near Kleinzee, South Africa. Ncube is a univeristy graduate, but has been unable to find employment.

Diamond diggers in South Africa's deserted mines break the law — and risk their lives

5:01am November 27, 2022

by Tommy Trenchard

Photos show the desperate search for scraps left by big diamond operators. But amid rampant poverty and unemployment, zama-zamas see no other way to provide for their families.

Coffins of 21 teenagers who died in a mysterious tragedy at a nightclub in the early hours of June 26 are lined up during their funeral held in Scenery Park, East London, South Africa, on July 6. The toxic chemical methanol has been identified as a possib

World News

A toxic chemical was found in the bodies of 21 teens who died in a South Africa tavern

3:44pm July 19, 2022

by The Associated Press

Methanol was found in all of their bodies and investigations are continuing to determine whether the levels of the toxic chemical were enough to have killed them last month.