South Africans snuggle up to professional cuddlers

Members of opposition parties gather in Pretoria to protest against President Jacob Zuma as he prepares to celebrate his 75th birthday.

South Africans pay tribute to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

A federal lawmakerToby Okechukwu, has challenged Nigerian government to rise against the spate of xenophobia among South Africans, which he said had led to deaths of over 160 Nigerians in the last two years.

A settlement offered by South African mobile telecoms provider Vodacom to a former employee drew tens of protesters on the streets of Johannesburg on Thursday, calling for a better deal.

Tasting grilled scorpion and a bowl of crunchy insects mixed with garlic and spices on a trip to Thailand four years ago "grossed out" chef Mario Barnard but also helped inspire him to experiment and open South Africa's first pop-up restaurant serving insect-only meals.

South Africans need to take a long, hard look at themselves and stop blaming foreigners for their country's woes, says South African journalist Shaazia Ebrahim.

We take a look at reactions to Spanish King Felipe's visit to a Madrid emergency hospital. Plus, South Africa begins a three-week confinement period.

Malawi is bracing for a landmark election re-run. Voters will return to the polls this week to choose a president after last year's election outcome was overturned by the Constitutional Court. Also, South Africans grow increasingly frustrated with heavy-handed policing in the wake of the international focus on police brutality that has followed the death of George Floyd in the United States. And in Ivory Coast, dozens of high school students won't be able to sit their leaving exams until September.

South Africans called for justice to be served as an inquiry into corruption during Jacob Zuma's time as the president said it will ask the constitutional court to impose a jail term on the former leader after he defied an order to appear before the inquiry on Monday .

South Africa's Zulu people gather outside the gates of the royal palace to bid farewell to their departed king. Goodwill Zwelithini was the longest-serving monarch in Zulu history, reigning for half a century through years of apartheid and democratic transition. He died last Friday, aged 72, after weeks of treatment for a diabetes-related illness.

Initial reactions to the death of South Africa's last white president Frederik Willem (FW) de Klerk were mixed on Thursday.

The world is worried about the new COVID-19 omicron variant, first detected in South Africa. Many countries have imposed travel bans. In South Africa itself, people fear the restrictions more than the virus.