South Africa is generally a very dramatic country. Things happen in the extreme.
As the year wraps up, Drum looks at some of the news headlines that shocked the nation.
In January, South Africans found out about a racial attack on two black teenage boys at the Maselspoort Resort on December 25.
The incident led to the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) threatening to have the guest house shut down if they did not release CCTV footage.
Three men, Kobus Klaasen, 47, Johan Nel, 33, and Jan Stephanus van der Westhuizen, 47 are said to have claimed that the area is a “whites only” area.
They were charged with common assault and crimen injuria following the allegedly racist attack. Kobus is facing an additional charge of attempted murder.
The other two were released on warning and Kobus on R20 000 bail.
Just days before Valentine’s Day, the country woke up to the shocking news that rapper AKA had been shot dead in Durban.
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There were various versions of speculative information that were circulating. Some said it was a drive-by shooting, then it was later revealed that the shooter arrived and fled the scene on foot. AKA, real name Kiernan Forbes, was killed with friend and celebrity chef Tebello Tibz Motsoane. Some said the shooting was a hit because he was shot in the head. No arrests have been made to date.
In March, former leader of Operation Dudula Nhlanhla "Lux" Dlamini said people were bombing his house and that he is under attack.
One of his neighbours became famous for being the mama that said “ten past four, gagaga, indlu iyawa.”
Despite Nhlanhla’s attempt to make the country believe that he was attacked, evidence showed that the broken glass found outside his windows indicated that the glass was broken from the inside out.
The second quarter of the year started with what will possibly go down in history one of the country’s biggest scandals after the siphoning of Nelson Mandela’s funeral money or Thamsanqa Jantjie doing fake sign language next to former USA President Barack Obama at Madiba’s memorial.
Books have been written but the nation is yet to hear more harrowing details about the case of Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana. All this over juice and rotisserie chicken from Woolworths.
A picture of a couple buying a few groceries at Woolies circulated and trended on social media. Only to find out that the man in the picture was convicted Facebook rapist, Thabo Bester.
He was meant to be serving a life sentence, yet he was shopping on Africa’s richest square mile.
That one photograph led to the unravelling of a web of lies. The country then learnt that Thabo had faked his death by burning his cell at Mangaung Correctional Centre and escape police custody in March.
Nandipha, who is married to another doctor based in Gauteng, told Mangaung Correctional Centre officials that Thabo was her husband, and she claimed the charred body from his cell.
The timeline is still sketchy, and it was revealed that her father was also involved in the crime. Bodies were collected from morgues and dumped in a river. Mielie meal and wors were buried inside a coffin.
But even that was not even the half of it. The star-crossed lovers fled the country together and were arrested in Tanzania. The state charted a flight to fetch them, and more information came to the fore.
Prison authorities including people from IT were accused of disabling cameras the day of the fire and wardens were arrested. When they appeared for the bail application, it was revealed that before Thabo and Nandipa staged the daring prison break, he had broken out of prison before and had a romantic weekend away with Nandipha and returned to his cell thereafter.
In June, South Africans joined the rest of the world in holding their collective breath after millionaires were lost and stuck in a mini submarine.
The five people inside wanted to go explore the Titanic wreckage at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
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About 105 minutes into the trip, the Tital submersible stopped communicating with its mothership. But just five days later, it would be confirmed that the submarine suffered a “catastrophic implosion” and all five people on board were confirmed to have died.
In September, Nkululelo Dlamini became internet sensation as a fitness trainer. His fame came from people being impressed, some jealous, of his glutes.
The Springboks became the only country in the world to be four-time Rugby World Cup winners in October. They even earned us a public holiday when they won the title in France.
In the same month, Matthew Lani also caught the attention of many South Africans. The tiktoker, who was giving medical advice while wearing scrubs and a stethoscope, was outed as a fake doctor.
The departments of education and health, Cambridge International Schools, Wits University and the Health Professional Council of South Africa all distanced themselves from him.
And then to close off the year, the death of singer and songwriter Zahara, real name Bulelwa Mkutukana, was a blow for many of those who loved her and her music.
