South Africa | GlobalPost

Zuma tours Americas, bonds with Chavez

Nicolas Bruilliard October 5, 2009 19:17Updated October 5, 2009 19:17

Top News: South African President Jacob Zuma delivered his first speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He called for the conclusion of the Doha round of trade negotiations and urgent action on climate change, and reiterated South Africa’s call for a lifting of economic sanctions on Cuba and the creation of a Palestinian state.

Girls will be boys

Nicolas Brulliard September 22, 2009 14:33Updated September 22, 2009 14:33

Top News: South Africa’s new health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, launched Child Health Week, a program of immunization, growth monitoring and nutritional supplements for children across South Africa.

New buses rattle South African taxi drivers

Nicolas BrulliardDecember 2, 2009 07:45Updated May 30, 2010 13:08

South Africa's taxis once took on apartheid. Now they have a new foe: futuristic buses.

"District 9" puts spotlight on South Africa's housing crisis

Erin Conway-SmithSeptember 17, 2009 07:10Updated May 30, 2010 13:07

SOWETO, South Africa — For Solomon Baloyi, acting as an extra in the sci-fi film "District 9" wasn’t much of a stretch. Baloyi played a security guard tasked with evicting aliens from their squalid shacks. In real life, he lives in that neighborhood. In fact, one of the helicopter scenes was shot in the clearing next to his makeshift house, in between the mounds of trash, scrub and tin shacks that make up the Chiawelo area of Soweto.

Child mortality rises in South Africa

Nicolas BrulliardSeptember 19, 2009 09:20Updated May 30, 2010 13:07

SOSHANGUVE, South Africa — A cloud of anxiety descended upon the Motheo pre-school in this large township north of Pretoria. Gone were the smiles from just a few minutes before as boys and girls lined up in front of health workers, uncertain of their fate. It turned out the little ones’ fears were largely overblown. A couple of vitamin A pills and de-worming medicine, a visual checkup for possible malnutrition but no syringes. Some kids even tried to go for seconds.

Caster shows her girlie side in photo shoot

Nicolas BrulliardSeptember 11, 2009 10:07

As Australian media alleged that Caster Semenya, the 800-meter world champion, is indeed a hermaphrodite, a South African magazine published pictures of the 18-year-old runner "as you've never seen her before," i.e. wearing dresses and sporting high-heels.

A World of Trouble: Is the nightmare over?

Thomas MuchaSeptember 10, 2009 06:57Updated May 30, 2010 13:07

With signs of economic recovery finally emerging, here's where things stand in 20 countries.

The battle over ... buses

Nicolas Brulliard September 8, 2009 17:21Updated September 8, 2009 17:21

Top News: With much fanfare, the City of Johannesburg just launched a new bus system. The move is long overdue as many of the city’s black workers live in townships far from the city center and their places of employment — a legacy of the apartheid regime — and public transportation options are cruelly lacking.

Canadian decision riles South Africans

Erin Conway-SmithSeptember 9, 2009 06:35Updated May 30, 2010 13:06

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Brandon Huntley was exultant when he first won a ruling that granted him refugee status in Canada. “Look for me in tomorrow’s Ottawa Sun people, lookout I’m a celebrity!” he wrote on his Facebook site.

Zimbabwean refugees face crime, harassment in South Africa

Nicolas BrulliardNovember 27, 2009 09:50Updated May 30, 2010 13:06

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Although Zimbabwe's internal political situation has improved marginally, the millions of Zimbabweans who have fled the country’s economic collapse continue to face considerable hardship in South Africa. Many Zimbabweans hoping to start a new life in the continent’s economic powerhouse find themselves without shelter, employment and access to basic services. In addition, they often become the target of the hostility of locals who don’t fancy waves of newcomers in a country plagued by chronic unemployment.