Every year, South Africa commemorates Women’s Month in August as a tribute to the thousands of women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956 in protest against the extension of Pass Laws to women. While making their way there, they sang a protest song that was composed in honour of the occasion:   read more »

On 27 April, South Africans celebrate Freedom Day, to commemorate the day on which the first democratic elections were held in South Africa in 1994. This day has since been celebrated annually in South Africa since the first non-racial democratic elections, marking the establishment of a new democratic government led by Nelson Mandela and a new government   read more »

Drought still continues to be a challenge for most parts of the country and it might take time to recover due to lack of rainfall. According to the inter-ministerial task team on drought, dams across the country were at their lowest levels in years. In 2015, the national dam levels were estimated at 64,3% of   read more »

As we know, June is Youth Month in commemoration of the positive role played by young people of 1976 in demanding their rights as equal citizens of this country. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the June 16 uprising where hundreds of young people were killed by the apartheid government when they protested against   read more »

On 6 April 2016, the South African President Jacob Zuma proclaimed that the local government elections will be held on 3 August 2016. This is the fourth local government elections since the country’s first free and fair non-racial general elections held on 27 April 1994. Local government elections are held to elect members of the   read more »

By Pali Lehohla “Better data, better lives”, is the commitment from official statistics organisations across the world as part of celebrating World Statistics Day, October 20 2015.  Guided by the Fundamental Priniciples of Official Statistics and the call from United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon that “statistics are critical for evidence-based decision making across all   read more »

The October month has been marked as the Transport Month. This period is used to focus on transport related matters such as road carnages and progress achieved in various transport programmes and projects among others. One of the campaigns to create awareness and reduce road carnage has been the placing of 47 coffins on the   read more »

Excitement was in the air in South Africa when Durban was announced as the host city of the 2022 Commonwealth Games on 2 September 2015. This is going to be the first time that these games will be held in the African continent since the inception of the Commonwealth games in 1930. This is an international, multi-sport event involving   read more »

Hotel occupancy fell to 48,2% in June 2015, according to preliminary figures in Stats SA’s latest Tourist accommodation release. The hotel occupancy rate followed a seasonal pattern by falling in June after peaking in both October (62,4%) and February (60,6%)1. However, hotels had proportionally fewer rooms filled in June compared with the same month in   read more »

As we celebrate Women’s Month in August, the South African government has made headway to promote gender equality and empowerment of women and closing the gap by increasing the proportion of seats allocated to women in parliament. The promotion of gender equality and women empowerment are part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which must   read more »