Good News

BULLETIN 21 February

Good afternoon, here is your Good News:

# South Africa’s music sensation, Tyla, has made history by becoming the first African solo artist to hit one-billion streams on Spotify, with her 2023 breakout hit Water. The song won the inaugural best African music performance award at the 2024 Grammys, top Afrobeats song at the Billboard Music Awards, and best Afrobeats video at the MTV Video Music Awards. Spotify says this historic moment cements Tyla’s place as one of the most influential new voices in music, solidifying the growing global impact of African artists.

# The 2025 TIME Magazine’s Women of the Year list features 13 honourees, including actress and producer Nicole Kidman, Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles, and reproductive rights activist Amanda Zurawski. TIME CEO, Jessica Sibley, says the women exemplify visionary leadership, inspiring global change through their unwavering commitment to building a more inclusive and equitable future for all. Others on the list include the Women’s National Basketball Association’s most valuable player, A’ja Wilson, Feeding America CEO, Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, singer Laufey, and actress Olivia Munn.

# The 4th Marimba Xplosion Festival will take place at the Guga S’thebe Arts and Culture Centre in Langa, Cape Town, tomorrow. The theme is Rhythms and Sounds of The South, paying homage to Langa’s rich musical history. The line-up features South Africa’s top musicians, including the soulful Dumza Maswana, Lungiswa Plaatjies, and Volley Nchabeleng. Festival director, Banzi Tema, says the audience will be transported to a world of vibrant rhythms and melodies that will leave them connected to their heritage.

# A group of researchers from the Rhodes University Centre for Radio Astronomy Techniques and Technologies have established a project to mine the MeerKAT telescope’s archive for previously overlooked transient radio sources. MeerKAT’s unique combination of sensitivity and sky coverage enables it to survey the sky with unprecedented speed. Rhodes University’s professor Oleg Smirnov says the telescope is an ideal instrument to search for sources that vary over time, including transient sources that appear and disappear suddenly. Collaborators include the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory and the University of Oxford.

# And finally: Today is International Mother Language Day, promoting linguistic diversity and multilingualism. Established by UNESCO in 1999, the day highlights the importance of language in education, cultural preservation, and social inclusion. With nearly 40-percent of languages endangered, efforts to protect indigenous and minority languages are crucial. UNISA’s Mpho Monareng echoed to SABC News the theme which calls for inclusivity in education and digital spaces:

Stay tuned for more news………….