auction

Jewellery artist Kevin Friedman believes that if something "has beauty, it deserves to exist". He finds the beauty in the ordinary, then embellishes it with the sparkle of diamonds, to the coveted acclaim of the luxury goods market and his fellow artists.

Ralph Ziman worked with a group of Zimbabwean wire beaders to make replica AK-47s and ammunition. Then he took photos in downtown Joburg, depicting an eerie, frightening world for his exhibition, Ghosts. It was not to glamorise guns, he says, but to spark a debate.

Many white commercial farmers see the land-claim process as an attack. For black claimants fighting to get back land stolen by the apartheid government, it's about being made whole again. On Bosparadys farm in North West province, the two are trying to find a third way.

Johannesburg and Cairo are the most active on Twitter, according to new research by Portland Communications. English, French and Arabic are the most common languages, accounting for over 75% of all tweets on the continent. But African languages, notably isiZulu, Swahili, Afrikaans and isiXhosa, are making an increasingly strong showing.

Johannesburg and Cairo are the most active on Twitter, according to new research by Portland Communications. English, French and Arabic are the most common languages, accounting for over 75% of all tweets on the continent. But African languages, notably isiZulu, Swahili, Afrikaans and isiXhosa, are making an increasingly strong showing.

There may be a fair amount of criticism of the government and widespread protests, but the reality is, South Africa's democracy is stronger than it has ever been. Citizens can criticise without fear and turn anger into positive action.

Among the many tributes to former president Nelson Mandela is a poster art project started by two South African designers. Instead of the 95 entries they hoped for, they got 700.
• Liliesleaf remembered 50 years on

A pair of creative philanthropists has come up with the concept of iExist, through which the big questions are explored in art. But the driving force behind the project is to help the less fortunate through auctioning the works of art made under the iExist banner.

"Chinese Girl", the iconic 1950 painting by Vladimir Tretchikoff, a Russian who settled in South Africa in 1946, was sold for a record £982 050 (R13.8-million) at Bonhams' South African art sale in London on Wednesday - and will soon be on public display in Stellenbosch.

South Africa's wine tourism has been rated the best-developed in the world by International Wine Review, one of the world's most influential opinion formers on wine.
• SA winery scoops Chinese deal