South Africa’s Capitec Bank is the only African brand to crack the list of “Great Brands of Tomorrow”, issued by the renowned Swiss-based financial services group Credit Suisse.

The Stellenbosch-based bank, which celebrates its ninth anniversary in March 2010, eclipsed its more  established – and far bigger – rivals to score a mention as one of the Zurich-based Swiss bank’s up-and-coming brands of the future.

Capitec was in illustrious company – there were 26 other brands nominated, among them Facebook, Apple, Polo, Swatch, Hyundai, Mahindra, and Amazon.com.

National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel has been appointed as a member of the High-Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing.

South African entrepreneur and philanthropist, Marc Lubner, has been presented with a Global Recognition for Philanthropy Award by the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), a global network of business leaders in over 100 countries.

Despite Britain’s disapproval of President Zuma’s polymagous ways, Africa’s man of the moment seems to have quietened his British media critics during his three day visit to South Africa’s closest European ally.

The president can be seen in photographs of his visit, totally at ease signing autographs with scholars, smiling broadly while presenting Queen Elizabeth with a handcrafted South African chess set, and charming photographers with his grin outside the state banquet at Buckingham Palace held on Wednesday evening. There are few photographs of the president not smiling.

While President Zuma engaged with Britain’s most important people, the wife that accompanied him, Thobeka Madiba-Zuma was at ease in her chic outfits and at one point shared a coach with Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Gregory Nott, the lawyer who has been defending Caster Semenya pro bono, has won the "Lawyer of the Year" award at the Legal Business Awards 2010 that took place on February 11th at a gala ceremony in London.

South Africans pledged nearly $100,000 (about R760 513) to help Haiti's earthquake survivors during a telethon hosted by the state broadcaster on Thursday.

South Africa and Australia have reaffirmed the need to strengthen their existing relations and further expand cooperation between the two countries.

Five people, among them a 60-year-old woman, were pulled out alive from a destroyed hospital in Port Au Prince, Haiti on Tuesday by SA's Gift of the Givers rescue team, they said on Wednesday.

The organisation also cleared the hospital of 600 bodies in order to bring it into operation again, it said.

The organisation dispatched their first team to the island nation just before the weekend following a devastating earthquake that struck on January 12.

South Africa is sending a team of search and rescue specialists to Haiti in response to the devastating earthquake on Tuesday.  It is the first of several teams being sent by a local civic group.
 
The head of South Africa's Gift of the Givers Foundation, Emtiaz Sooliman, says his group is sending up to three teams of search and rescue specialists to Haiti to help victims of the earthquake and hopefully save some lives.

An opulent new venue opening in April 2010 in London’s Camden district is themed around the famed Zulu king Shaka, and will offer the best of South African cuisine.

South Africa’s popular food and entertainment chain, News Cafe, opened its first venue in India in November, joining the ranks of other well-known local brands such as Nando’s, Spur and Steers, which have all branched out overseas.

South Africa will host the 17th conference of parties under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2011, the chair of the Copenhagen climate talks, Connie Hedegaard, said on Wednesday.

The South African wine industry is receiving widespread acclaim for its fair and ethical practices, while exports continue to grow despite the global recession.

His dramatic photographs, taken from the edges of racing yachts in rough seas or from the outsides of helicopters, have been displayed in calendars, magazines and in galleries around the world. But it was only after a chance encounter with a group of suit-wearing men in a rowing boat, that Cape Town native Onne van der Wal's photographic career took off.

The ‘My South Africa’ advertising campaign on CNN International has won gold in the first annual Internationalist Awards for Innovative Digital Marketing Solutions.

South Africa has been ranked the 6th best place for people working overseas in the largest ever global survey of expats.

The borough of Brooklyn in New York City is not the place one would expect to find a decent plate of "mielie pap en sous". But a Johannesburger and his wife have found unlikely success - running a New York City-style shebeen.

Johannesburg-based Peter Rich Architects have won the prestigious World Building of the Year award for the Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in Limpopo. The award was given at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, Spain over the weekend.

Global financial reforms needed close international partnerships, US Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin said yesterday in Johannesburg. Wolin said South Africa "has a significant role" to play in the global reform process.

A South African man set a new world land speed record for the blind in Upington on Tuesday, when he reached a speed of 322.5km/h in a Mercedes-Benz SL 65 Black series.

Three South African companies have made it onto a list of the World's 40 Best Companies.

In his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, South African President Jacob Zuma said Wednesday that the end of apartheid in his country served as an example of the ability for cooperation on the global stage.

Google today announced that it will begin imagery collection in South Africa for the Street View feature in its Google Maps. Street View allows users to virtually explore and navigate a neighbourhood through panoramic street-level images.

Two South African adventurers arrived back home this week after a 45,000km trip around the world in a two-seater aircraft they built themselves.

A South African lawyer who has also worked as an academic in the human rights field and a campaigner against domestic violence has taken over as the new United Nations independent expert to tackle violence against women.