After turning Cape Town into a temporary lake, and the rest of the Western and Eastern Cape into a winter wonderland, the July cold front has made its way through South Africa's interior. People are not happy. The hashtag #coldfront began trending across the city and South Africa early Tuesday morning in a response to the extreme cold felt over much of the Free State, Eastern Cape and Gauteng. According to the South African Weather Service, these were some of the low temperatures forecast last night: Bloemfontein, FS: -7°C Bethlehem, FS: -8°C Potchesfstoom, NW: -6°C Standerton, MP: -6°C Sutherland, NC: -6°C Vereeninging,...
Airbnb is today rolling out its Experiences programme in Johannesburg and the rest of South Africa. The nationwide move comes after Experiences debuted globally, and in Cape Town, in 2016. "Experiences are activities or excursions that are led by passionate local hosts, highlighting their interests and perspective as well as unique places many visitors might not otherwise get to experience," the company explains in an update. "After the launch of Experiences in Cape Town in 2016 Johannesburg hosts are excited to finally get the chance to show off their city while becoming part of the local economy." At present, there are around...
Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport was on Monday evacuated after an unattended bag was found in the terminal building. According to eyewitness reports on Twitter, an "explosion" was also reportedly heard around Terminal A's international arrivals. Explosion heard @ortambo_int around international arrivals then panicked running and evacuation. pic.twitter.com/URnvMa6chZ — SECTION27 (@SECTION27news) February 19, 2018 Users at the airport corroborated reports of a "loud bang" followed by panic. Just about to board flight to Cape Town - all of OR Tambo evacuated, apparently an unattended bag somewhere. Now, all been told to go back in and re-do the security process #ORTambo — Karin Mitchell (@KarinLaB) February...
Update: The issue that affected a large number of Vodacom users across Johannesburg has been resolved, the company tweeted. We have resolved the issue where customers in Gauteng were unable to make calls earlier this morning. We apologise for the inconvenience this caused. — Vodacom (@Vodacom) January 19, 2018 Original article: If you're in and around Johannesburg this morning, on the Vodacom network and can't make or receive calls, you're not the only one. The service provider is today aware of and addressing connectivity issues around South Africa's economic hub. Users on Twitter reported issues early Friday, complaining that calls cannot be placed --...
MTN's data services are down for scores of users across South Africa's major cities after an "unsuccessful" network upgrade. "MTN undertook an upgrade on a section of its network last night," the company wrote in a tweet Thursday. "The upgrade was unfortunately unsuccessful and has resulted in a data fault on the network serving Randburg and parts of Cape Town. Only the data service is affected, voice systems remain fully functional." According to additional reports from users on Twitter, the network's customers have been experiencing issues since 7am Thursday morning. The company notes that users across Cape Town and Randburg are experiencing issues,...
A video of a group of people attacking a Johannesburg Metro Police (JMPD) officer has gone viral on both Twitter and Facebook. The video of the incident, which was captured in Hillbrow on Sunday, depicts members of a Johannesburg church congregation pushing, disarming and beating a JMPD officer. The cause of the incident was reportedly the towing of an illegally parked car. Quoted by News24, JMPD spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said that the officer at the centre of the incident was left "beaten" and "unconscious" and was later "rushed to Milpark Hospital". The two-minute-long video, initially uploaded to Facebook by Yusuf Abramjee, received more...
Uber's first advertisement highlighting the plight of commuters in southeast Asia may just trigger a nerve for those stuck in traffic in Cape Town and Johannesburg daily. Filmed in Bangkok with 200-odd extras, the company's ad trades automobiles for Flintstone-inspired box cars. But that doesn't mean there's any less chaos. From drivers stealing parking spots, to others cutting in ahead of lanes, to those select few who believe one-ways are in fact safe for bidirectional traffic: the video is practically what every road user experiences every day. Perhaps with less cardboard. While the ad is undoubtedly stupid, remarkably silly and deliberately extra,...
A couple claims they were robbed of their cellphones and other belongings in a Rosebank Ster-Kinekor theatre this weekend. In a Facebook post that circulated social media, Darren Craig wrote that he and fiancée Giulietta Mazza were "robbed in seats" at The Zone. The number of assailants is disputed, as Craig writes that a "gang of five men" attacked them, while Ster-Kinekor has issued a statement that it was only one robber. "Not one staff member in sight or willing to help," Craig wrote. I have seen no response from @sterkinekor as yet although I was told by a senior executive it is...
Traffic along Gauteng's R24 route was brought to a standstill this morning, after metered taxi drivers parked their cars on the road in protest. The R24 and R21 are two of Johannesburg and the East Rand's most important routes, linking key Johannesburg suburbs with OR Tambo International Airport. This morning from as early as 6am however, the roads were barely accessible. #TaxiProtest and #HighwayProtest began trending on Twitter across Gauteng Friday morning, as users tweeted pictures of the blockage, and information channels reported on the incident. According to police, two Uber cars were also set alight. This also comes after a spike in...
We know that some on planet Earth believe that Pixar's Up is a simply brilliant movie. We're not about to challenge that sentiment, but there is a point at which using balloons to fly a house across the world becomes markedly unfeasible. But what about a camping chair? That's what this particular Bristol man decided to do north of Johannesburg this week. Tom Morgan, the founder of British adventure-cum-charity company The Adventurists, enjoyed a two-hour flight around 2.5km above Gauteng while sitting in a balloon-lifted camping chair. According to the Bristol Post, the flight wasn't a realisation of Morgan's Pixar fandom, but...
American recording trio Major Lazer may have been slammed in the past for making coin from cultural appropriation, but its latest track brings out the best in South Africa's and Nigeria's music and cinematography scene. Co-produced by South Africa's DJ Maphorisa, and starring SA rapper Nasty C, and Nigerian artists Ice Prince, and Pantoranking, "Particula" is a reggae banger that this week received the music video treatment. Said video was also directed by Cape Town-based Adriaan Louw. "Particula" does not feature Table Mountain however, but rather the Hillbrow Tower. Major Lazer's 'Particula' is filmed in Johannesburg, but features both Nigerian and South...
Areas in Johannesburg were this afternoon laced by a hail storm that pelted cars, and reportedly damaged a mall in Krugersdorp. The South African Weather Service issued a warning around 3pm, suggesting that a storm is moving across Randfontein and Krugersdorp bringing with it "damaging winds, large hail and heavy downpours". Warning:09 Oct 2017 Severe TS obs over S Magaliesberg move to Randfontein + Krugersdorp area, damaging winds, large hail and heavy downpours — SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) October 9, 2017 Images of the storm began hitting social media channels -- including Twitter and Facebook -- around 3.30pm Many of the images showcased the...
Elon Musk may be nuts, but a remarkable number of the South African-born businessman's ventures have been successful. This week at the International Astronautical Congress in Australia, he announced another "really special" proposal. His space exploration company SpaceX is pondering a new method of transporting people from one corner of the Earth to the other. And it involves a space vehicle/rocket system called the BFR. "The BFR will be capable of taking people from any city to any other city on Earth in under one hour," the company revealed. Elon Musk's SpaceX believes a journey from Johannesburg to Sydney could last just...
Cosatu will today take to the streets of 13 South African cities to protest against state capture and corruption. "This strike is about sending a message to both government and private sector that as workers and citizens, we are tired of corruption. We are standing up tomorrow against the cancer of corruption that is eroding our gains and also undermining our democracy," the union wrote in a statement. Prior to the march, Cosatu published leaflets on Twitter of its proposed routes for each city, including the likes of Queenstown, Mafikeng and Nelspruit. Notice: #COSATUStrike tomorrow 27 September 2017 @_cosatu pic.twitter.com/QKy44pwKfZ— Netstar Traffic...
After it was abruptly shooed out of London last week, Uber wants to show the world that it's more than just a disruptive on-demand transport company. The firm today launched Uber Movement, a platform that collates the company's wealth of trip data to benefit urban planners and city leaders. "Uber Movement shows data from the billions of trips that riders have taken with Uber, aggregated into zones covering the standard boundaries used by urban planners, for example Census Tracts and Traffic Analysis Zones (TAZs)," the company explains in a press release. "This will enable them to more effectively evaluate where investments in...
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