Reesha Chibba

South Africa’s Unidentified Flying Objects Resource (Saufor) will host its second annual Unbind Your Mind UFO conference in celebration of World UFO Day on July 1 in Cape Town. Cristo Louw, founder of Saufor, said in a statement on Monday: "The time is ripe for the South African public to be informed about the true nature of the UFO issue."

South African President Thabo Mbeki has relaunched his diplomatic offensive to engage President Robert Mugabe in a bid to resolve Zimbabwe’s escalating political and economic crisis, it emerged on Thursday. Official sources said Mbeki on Thursday dispatched Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils to Zimbabwe.

South African Olympic gold medallist Ryk Neethling is distraught after his Sandton home was robbed early on Friday morning and some of his medals stolen. Neethling’s agent Fiona de Souza told the <i>Mail & Guardian Online</i> on Friday that the swimmer is "devastated" about the robbery.

Dubbed by many as one of South Africa’s boldest cartoonists, Jonathan Shapiro — Zapiro — was named overall winner and Journalist of the Year at the annual Mondi Shanduka newspaper awards held in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Wednesday evening. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> won the investigative journalism category for "Oilgate" by Stefaans Brümmer, Sam Sole and Wisani wa ka Ngobeni.

In overcoming apartheid, South Africans showed themselves to be a nation of activists. Now this spirit of activism is being used to overcome HIV/Aids. Nathan Geffen, spokesperson for the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), says the struggle against apartheid has "influenced our tactics in our struggle".

The South African National Blood Service (SANBS) says it fears people will stop donating blood after one of its employees told a donor recently that she was HIV-positive as a "joke". Nicolette Duda, communications officer for the SANBS, said on Wednesday: "We definitely don’t want this thing in the media now."

This week saw two groups of activists square-up outside the Johannesburg High Court, where Jacob Zuma is on trial for allegedly raping an HIV-positive Aids activist. Some of Zuma’s supporters set fire to posters of Zuma’s accuser, saying "burn this bitch".

<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/262374/vote-box_blue.gif" align=left>The local government poll has come and gone — and all we’re left with are the election posters, hanging like rotten fruit from telephone poles. The Democratic Alliance, however, started removing their estimated 500 000 election posters on Thursday.

South Africa’s sassy young R&B enigma Tsakani "TK" Mhinga was found dead in a hotel room in Bryanston, north of Johannesburg on Monday. The grim discovery was made by a staff member of the City Lodge in Bryanston. There was "no evidence of a struggle", said Captain Schalk Bornman of the South African Police Service.

A kaleidoscope of white butterflies, like cherry blossoms, have been wafting over Johannesburg this week, caused by the recent rains. Professor Graham Alexander, a zoology lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand, said the butterflies, commonly known as the "brown-veined white" or <i>Belenois aurota aurota</i>, take wing when their population level rises.

If you’re putting a price on romance this Valentine’s Day, then money definitely helps when you’re looking to impress that special someone, says <i>SAReunited.com</i> co-founder Amanda Tsinonis. More than 1&nbsp;000 people on the website voted on what they considered to be the most romantic gesture for Valentine’s Day.

Despite laws governing fireworks in South Africa, licensed wholesale dealers abuse the system and illegally sell fireworks to hawkers. "Street hawkers easily get access to fireworks by purchasing a limited quantity for [their] own use from a retail dealer, and then illegally sell it to passers-by," says a police spokesperson.

A debt-ridden university student from the United Kingdom has copied another student’s million-dollar concept by selling pixels to advertisers — this time with naked ambition. The website, <i>Stripthestudent.com</i> — "One degree. Lots of debt. No shame." — was developed by the student to pay off his study debt.

loveLife, South Africa’s biggest national HIV-prevention programme for youth, suffered a major setback this week when one of its biggest funders pulled the plug. The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria accounted for 30% of loveLife’s annual budget.

The use of illegal stimulants such as crack cocaine, cat and tik is on the increase in South Africa, the Medical Research Council announced last week. Of 7 655 patients seen at 63 alcohol- and drug-treatment centres in five provinces in the first six months of this year, almost one in three reported having used crack cocaine, cocaine hydrochloride, methamphetamine (tik) and methcathinone (cat).

The funeral industry in South Africa seems to be shrouded in mystery — and now allegations of racism and corruption have surfaced. The industry is, by its nature, a secretive one. What goes on in the morgue stays in the morgue — unless one is caught, such as the police officer who was found sodomising a corpse in the Salt River mortuary in Cape Town.

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>The Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust will be hosting its first official fund-raising event on Friday in Durban to raise money for the former South African deputy president’s legal costs. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> reported on Friday last week that the trust was facing a financial crisis and that it was "far behind" in achieving its target.