South Africa Archives

SA’s Dept of Education website hacked with ‘I love Islamic State’ message
By Andy Walker: Editor on 28 June, 2017
If you're trying to access South Africa's Department of Basic Education's website at present, you can't. It's down. And there's a very good reason why. The Department took to Twitter to announce that its site has been "hacked". Our website has been hacked👇🏿 pic.twitter.com/ROK4cQChLd — Dep. Basic Education (@DBE_SA) June 28, 2017 "A short while ago we discovered that the Department's website has been hacked," begins an attached press release, published around 9pm Wednesday. Things then get gruesome. "The people who breached the website have since posted gory pictures of decapitated corpses, some of whom are children." The presser didn't go into specifics, but it did...
Wayde van Niekerk makes smashing a 17-year-old world record look easy
By Staff Reporter on 28 June, 2017
The remarkable rise of Wayde van Niekerk is far, far from over. Setting the 400m World Record at the Rio Olympics last year, some doubters perhaps thought that the South African sprinter's career had peaked. That is until tonight. At the Ostrava Golden Spike meet in the Czech Republic, where non-standard distances are commonly run, van Niekerk became the fastest human being over 300 metres breaking the previous record set by American Michael Johnson in 2000 by 0.04 seconds. Sure, that might seem like a narrow margin, but this additional stat makes the performance -- and van Niekerk's overall recent form --...
South Africa’s politicians react to Secret Ballot ruling with subtweets
By Andy Walker: Editor on 22 June, 2017
The Secret Ballot (or #SecretBallot) ruling has come and gone but the reaction from politicians are only now filtering through social media. To clarify, Chief Justice Mogoeng has ruled that Baleka Mbete does in fact have power to declare a secret ballot during the motion of no confidence against President Zuma. Previously she cited the law as a limiting factor. For some, this is a clear win for South Africa's justice system, but it also now puts emphasis on Mbete -- she can now declare a secret ballot, or choose not to. As for South Africa's other politicians, the ruling was a...
#SecretBallot: SA’s ConCourt ruling becomes a worldwide Twitter trend
By Andy Walker: Editor on 22 June, 2017
Yesterday might've been the darkest, longest night of the year for South Africans, but today is surely one of the brightest. Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng today ruled that the Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete does have the power to declare a secret ballot during the motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma. Previously, Mbete stated that she did not have the power to declare a secret ballot. #SecretBallot began trending Thursday prior to Justice Mogoeng's ruling, and hit Twitter's worldwide trend list too In the ruling passed at the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg, the Chief Justice also stated that members are Parliament...
Explaining Feenix: the Standard Bank-backed solution to #FeesMustFall
By Andy Walker: Editor on 22 June, 2017
There’s been a lot said about #FeesMustFall — at least in terms of the hashtag and the social movement it propelled. But in its wake, not many solutions have been penned by private institutions or government. That is until now. Feenix isn't known to many in South Africa, even if the initiative was making itself known across universities as early as July 2016. But this week it officially launched to the wider public, backed by an industry heavyweight in Standard Bank. Having some trouble understanding what we do? Here is a step-by-step guide to your future! pic.twitter.com/zGS2h1XxTv — Feenix.org (@Feenix_org) July 6, 2016 What...
MiniMeme Podcast #2: Films that inspire us (the youth)
By Julia Breakey on 21 June, 2017
Welcome to MiniMeme, the podcast brought to you by Burn Media’s junior staff as they tackle the topics that tickle their fancy. This week Julia Breakey and Matthew Alexander use Youth Day as a reason to discuss films that inspire them, the mouthpieces of South African youth. Matthew comes to terms with his obsession with Will Smith, and the fact that the Taken actor's name is, in fact, Liam Neeson. Julia discusses films that have inspired her both as a woman and an aspiring filmmaker. The team touches on the idea of identity, the depiction of mental health in film and TV, and...
#SocialMediaBlackOut ironically trends on Twitter in South Africa
By Andy Walker: Editor on 21 June, 2017
Yesterday we wrote about #SocialMediaBlackOut -- a hashtag that trended on South Africa's Twitter timeline for much of the week. Today it culminate in a 24-hour boycott of all social media activities. But judging by my timeline, some users aren't playing ball. The hashtag, which appeared on Monday as a spinoff of #DataMustFall -- aims to lurch people into taking action against steep data prices in South Africa. As a campaign, the blackout centres on two notions. Firstly, if users refrain from purchasing data, it affects telecommunication companies' bottom line. Secondly, not camping on social media for a day renders social...

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#SocialMediaBlackOut: South Africa, here’s everything you need to know
By Andy Walker: Editor on 20 June, 2017
If you were scrolling through your Twitter timeline Monday, you might've noticed the hashtag #SocialMediaBlackOut out the corner of your eye. Don't worry though. It isn't some death knell for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram -- they're probably still function as per normal come Wednesday. But there might be considerably fewer users from South Africa on them if the hashtag's primary narrative is to be believed. What is #SocialMediaBlackOut? The thought of one might strike fear into amateur breakfast photographers, but the content isn't the reason for the campaign. It's largely how South Africans access said content. #SocialMediaBlackOut can be seen as a spinoff...

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Cape Town dam levels rise after storm, but nowhere near enough
By Andy Walker: Editor on 14 June, 2017
Great news, Cape Town. Your major dam levels have finally seen an increase week-over-week, albeit a tiny one. After Wednesday's punchy cold front and the weekend's steady rainfall experienced across the city, water levels in all six major dams have seen a slight buff. The Theewaterskloof Dam for instance -- the city's biggest reservoir -- is now at 15.3% capacity, up from last week's 13.6%. The Berg River Dam is up from 30.4% to 32.2%. Additionally, the Voelvlei Dam's level showed an increase too, but only by 0.4% to 16.6%. Image: City of Cape Town Weekly Water Dashboard report, 12 June 2017 Both Steenbras reservoirs...

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#KnysnaFire: locals turn to Facebook, WhatsApp for help
By Andy Walker: Editor on 8 June, 2017
Social media, for all its pitfalls and swathe of untruths, is seemingly the best way to keep abreast of new information emanating from a disaster. Take the #CapeStorm and more recently the #KnysnaFire for instance. Read more: Memeburn's ongoing coverage for the Cape Town storm and Knysna Fire The fire, which ravaged areas around the town of 70 000 people, is now heading towards Plettenberg Bay, the Eden District Municipality announced on a Facebook post Thursday morning. "Knysna looks much better, but our new high risk area would be the Bitou area. Currently people in Harkerville , portion of Kranshoek and by...
South Africa’s in recession again, and people are blaming Jacob Zuma
By Andy Walker: Editor on 6 June, 2017
Statistics South Africa has today confirmed that the country's economy is shrinking. "The country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has contracted to -0.7% in the first quarter of 2017," the national government's news portal wrote in a press release. The nominal GDP, which stood at R1.1-trillion in Q1 2017, was down by R17-billion over Q4 2016 with trade the biggest loser. The SA economy moved into #recession with Q1:2017#GDP down 0,7% following a 0,3% contraction in the Q4:2016 https://t.co/zDyVIRpqJM pic.twitter.com/0QUTUhkOdT — Stats SA (@StatsSA) June 6, 2017 Largest negative contributor to growth in #GDP in Q1:2017 was trade, catering & accommodation industry, down by 5,9%...

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Cape Town women ‘assaulted’ by Uber driver, ‘threatened’ by SAPS
By Andy Walker: Editor on 3 June, 2017
Update: Upon request for comment, Uber's representatives sent Memeburn the following statement. We are deeply committed to the safety of all who use the Uber app. Immediately upon hearing of any situation involving a rider or driver, Uber takes the necessary steps to investigate the allegation and is in contact with both the rider and driver to offer support. Uber has an incident response team who are trained to deal with any critical safety issues and works with the relevant stakeholders in order to resolve any incident with a matter of urgency. We are constantly developing new technologies to ensure safety before,...

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UberEATS doughnut promo in Cape Town, Joburg causes mild Twitter frenzy
By Andy Walker: Editor on 2 June, 2017
Today marks National Doughnut Day in the United States, but the likes of Uber South Africa also see cause for celebration. Across the Atlantic, the UberEATS division is today hosting promotions in Cape Town and Johannesburg, focussing on delivering those sweet treats with holes at their centre to its users. In Johannesburg, the company has partnered with Krispy Kreme. "We’ve teamed up with Krispy Kreme to deliver their most sought after doughnuts. With a tap of your UberEATS app, 12 Krispy Kreme Original Glazed doughnuts could be yours for R12. Enter the code KKEATS to get these delivered free of charge," Uber writes on...

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South Africa’s nSight1 nanosatellite makes history 300km above the Earth
By Andy Walker: Editor on 31 May, 2017
South Africa's first privately-owned nanosatellite dubbed the nSight1 has been successfully launched into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS). The nSight1 began its journey to the space station on 18 April 2017 from Florida, aboard a Cygnus cargo spacecraft powered by an Atlus-5 rocket. It joined 28 other nanosatellites from 23 countries on its journey. South Africa's government news agency suggests that the satellite weighs in at just 2.5kg, and is the first privately-owned nanosatellite launched by the country. "The satellite is an important milestone, demonstrating the outcome of the capability established through the Department of Science and Technology's ongoing investment...
South Africa: here’s how to get four free months on Google Play Music
By Andy Walker: Editor on 30 May, 2017
Google Play Music now offers a four-month free trial for those subscribing to its service. The streaming music platform headed by the Mountain View company houses over 30-million tracks, and allows users to upload their own to the cloud, usually comes with a two- or three-month trial. But Google's seemingly feeling a bit generous this week. First spotted by Android Police last week, the deal is still ongoing at the time of writing. And yes, it's available to those within South Africa's borders too. Interestingly, it seems that the deal comes in tow with South Africa's addition to Google Play promo codes supported...