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Loving memory: Maria McCloy was someone who made
Johannesburg feel possible. Someone who gathered people across
class, art, music, fashion and politics and convinced them that
beauty, style and radical care belonged together.

Maria McCloy made Johannesburg feel possible

Friends, creatives and a city in mourning gathered to celebrate the woman who helped shape how Johannesburg saw itself after 1994.

Emotional texture: Zilungile Mbombo, Mfuneli Ntumbuka and Alex
Sono. The script is sharp, witty and moving. Photos: Fiona MacPherson

‘Rise ’76’ confronts a generation haunted by how little it has done with its inherited freedom

A powerful and emotionally layered theatrical work revisits the 1976 Soweto Uprising through testimony, memory, contradiction and unresolved generational grief

Poet-activist: Vusi Mahlasela came of age in a community defined by oppression and extraordinary creative resilience. Photo: Gallo Record Company

Vusi Mahlasela has never stopped singing for change

South Africa’s most beloved troubadour on new music, staying rooted in Mamelodi and why peace is worth singing about

Maria McCloy died of heart failure in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Cultural pioneer Maria McCloy dies at 50

Maria McCloy helped define post-apartheid urban culture through fashion, media, music and an uncompromising commitment to South Africa’s creative spirit

Human-made chemicals have become woven into the chemistry of the ocean, a major new led by Jarmo-Charles Kalinski (above) study has found

Human-made chemicals embedded across global oceans, major study finds

A groundbreaking analysis of more than 2 300 seawater samples shows that industrial chemicals dominate ocean pollution signals, even far from land

Equipped: A woman looks around in the Michaelis Art Library within the Johannesburg City
Library on 9 August 2025. Photo: OUR CITY NEWS/James Oatway

How funding apartheid fails young library users

Lack of funds prevent provinces from carrying out their mandate to manage public library services

Aced it: The winning Grahamstown Adventist Primary School team at
the Phendulani Literary Quiz. Photo: Nozipho Maphalala

Give children high-quality books from Grades R-12: they will likely read them

Research shows that classroom libraries increase reading frequency by 70% compared with centralised libraries

Mxolisi Sibam

Apartheid’s double-edged sword: The story of Mxolisi Sibam

His fair skin did not bring him any benefits during apartheid. He was regarded as too white by black people and too black by white people

Without biocontrol, Hartbeespoort Dam could be 70% covered in superweed

Tiny bugs winning the fight against invasive water hyacinth in Hartbeespoort Dam

Without biocontrol, Hartbeespoort Dam could be 70% covered in superweed

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Scientists break down South Africa’s Nqweba Meteorite

It flashed across the sky – at 72 000km an hour – and sounded like 92 tonnes of TNT exploding

Sizzling show: One of the highlights of the upcoming National Arts Festival will be performances by Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse. Photo: Oupa Bopape/Gallo Images via Getty Images

The stage is set for a cracker of a National Arts Festival 

National Arts Festival continues to create platforms for creatives, 50 years later

The dedicated team of locally based educationists that includes academic and civic talent, and which has made a definite difference in the results of Makhanda learners.

Makhanda’s education renaissance

Rhodes University and civic organisations partnered up – and radically boosted results

The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party and the African Transformation Movement (ATM) have called for members of the judiciary to undergo lifestyle audits.

We increasingly need the courts to defend justice

Online news articles in September were dominated by references to courts – cadre deployment, contempt, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, Eskom, corruption, Makhanda high court

Aerial view of Table Mountain, the city and waterfront foreshore of Cape Town. (Photo by: Peter Titmuss/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Cape Town in colour: A rediscovery

A walk through the city centre and two suburbs was an exercise in mindfulness and learning how to be home again

Mesquite (Prosopis species) were brought into South Africa by the government in the late 1800s and promoted for planting until the 1960s, according to the Agricultural Research Council. Photo: Supplied

Little podlet weevil may beat back invasive mesquite tree

The pods make a delicious coffee and the cattle like them too, but the tree sucks up groundwater and destroys biodiversity

Water hyacinth, native to South America, is described as the world’s worst aquatic weed. It thrives in nutrient-enriched waters like Hartbeespoort Dam, forming dense impenetrable mats that affect boating, fishing and water sport activities, harms aquatic biodiversity. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Invasive water hyacinth explodes on Hartbeespoort Dam

Heavy rain and pollution has led to the aquatic weed increasing its coverage to about 50% of the dam

Mbali Khoza explores how black people across time
and space have mused over, navigated and negotiated black mobility through an exhibition titled ‘Native of Nowhere’ showcasing at CHURCH Projects.

‘Native of Nowhere’ by Mbali Khoza

Through a series of interventions, Mbali Khoza explores how native people across time and space have mused over, navigated and negotiated black mobility.

North-West University was rated the top university for research in the country

South African universities rule roost in Africa

The University of Cape Town and the University of Johannesburg are top universities on the continent in the latest international rankings

Water hyacinth being controlled by bio controll measures at hartebeesport. (Delwyn Verasamy)

Insect army winning fight against invasive water hyacinth

The coverage of the invasive superweed has been reduced to 12.5% from 40% in February

Dr Rosali Smith is confident the planthopper insects from South America will do their job in destroying the invasive weed. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Insect army tackles Hartbeespoort Dam’s water hyacinths

About 300 000 planthoppers have been released on Hartbeespoort Dam to control the green horror