Travel Information

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Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) is Africa’s most award winning airport. As Africa’s 3rd largest airport it processes over 8 million passengers annually with over 50 % of the country’s air passengers passing through the airport. It is the primary airport serving the city of Cape Town.

Located approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the city centre, the airport has domestic and international terminals, linked by a common central terminal.

The airport offers direct flights from South Africa’s other two main urban areas, Johannesburg and Durban, as well as flights to smaller centres in South Africa.

Internationally, it offers direct flights to several destinations in Africa, Asia and Europe and many more via Johannesburg.

Obtaining your South African visa

Please note that visa requirements differ from country to country. Please click here to see which countries are currently exempt from applying for a visa, and visit the Department of Home Affairs to determine which countries may use an e-visa. Learn more about applying for a South African visa on the Department of Home Affairs website.

We strongly advise you to contact the embassy and/or consulate directly on any documentation that may be required prior to attempting to submit your application or applying in person. We have been informed from delegates that guidance being given in person may differ from what is otherwise publicly available.

Click here to see a list of all South African embassies and their contact information.

Public Transport

MyCiTi is Cape Town’s safe, reliable, convenient bus system. It is the perfect way to connect to the city from the airport and explore some of the destinations Cape Town has to offer.

Car Rental

Cape Town offers a wide selection of car rental companies with good road systems. An international driver’s license is required and driving is on the left hand side of the road.

Taxi Or Coach

Luxury air-conditioned coaches and shuttle buses usually transport delegates between the airport, hotels, Convention venues and the functions. Metered taxis are also available. The online travel service, Uber, is also a very popular and convenient way to travel around Cape Town.

Scheduled Tours

The bright red “Hop-on Hop-off” city sightseeing bus service comes complete with nine multilingual commentary channels, plus a “kiddie’s” channel. Tickets can be bought on board the bus or online by visiting www.citysightseeing.co.za or from the Cape Town Tourism Visitor Information Centre in Burg Street.

Cycling

The City of Cape Town is working to develop its bicycle infrastructure, and there are a growing number of safe cycling routes and places to ride in the city and surrounds as well as a number of bicycle hire shops.

Paul Kappo
Prof Abidemi Paul Kappo is a full Professor of Biochemistry and Group Leader of the Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology Group at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a structural biologist with over 25 years of academic research experience. He obtained his PhD from the University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa, by determining the structure of the RING finger domain of the splicing-associated protein, RBBP6, using heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy. His research focuses on applying structural biology and structural bioinformatics techniques to discover and design new/novel biopharmaceuticals against infectious diseases. Additionally, dissecting the nexus between schistosomiasis and other infectious diseases for biotherapeutics, as well as schistosomiasis and cancer for vaccinomics, using molecular biophysics techniques and biomathematics, has been at the forefront of his research lately. He is a rated researcher by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa, has published widely on infectious diseases, and has graduated several MSc and PhD students. His research has been primarily funded in the past generously by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and, lately, by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF). Prof Kappo is highly skilled in scientific organization and advocacy, having served as the President of the South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SASBMB) for two terms (2018-2022) and is presently the Vice-President of the Federation of African Societies of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (FASBMB) since 2022. He is a visiting scientist at the Department of Biochemistry, Lagos State University (LASU), and holds an adjunct Research Professorship with the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Lagos, Nigeria.

Monique Williams
Designation: Senior lecturer
My research is focused on studying the physiology of mycobacteria, with a specific interest in biosynthetic pathways that are required by the bacteria during infection. Pathways of interest include molydopterin co-factor biosynthesis, ergothioneine biosynthesis and iron-sulphur cluster biogenesis.

Karl Storbeck
Karl Storbeck (PhD) is an Associate Professor at the Department of Biochemistry, Stellenbosch University and a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences, UK. He obtained his PhD in Biochemistry (SU) in 2008 and was appointed to Faculty in 2012. His research is focused on investigating the biosynthesis and metabolism of steroid hormones with a particular focus of understanding the role of 11-oxygenated androgens in health and disease.

Theresa Coetzer
Professor Theresa Coetzer (University of KwaZulu-Natal) received her PhD in Biochemistry from the former University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. She was a J William Fulbright Fellow at the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA in 1995 and is a former President of the South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SASBMB). Her research focusses on proteolytic enzymes as diagnostic and drug targets in African parasitic diseases: mainly animal and human trypanosomiasis (nagana and sleeping sickness) and also trichinellosis and theileriosis. Her research expertise encompasses protein/protease isolation and characterisation, and immunochemical techniques, including chicken egg yolk antibody (IgY) production against peptide epitopes and proteins.

Addmore Shonhai
Addmore Shonhai is Professor of Biochemistry based at the University of Venda in South Africa. His research involves understanding the role of heat shock proteins in the development infectious agents. Another area of interest involves using heat shock proteins as biotechnological tools to enhance recombinant protein production in E. coli. He is a current council member of the South African Society of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (SASBMB). He is a recipient of a prestigious Georg Foster Fellowship, awarded to him by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany. He is life-time member of the Cell Stress International Society.

Francois van der Westhuizen
Francois started his academic career in 1993 as junior lecturer and is currently Professor of Biochemistry and the Deputy Dean (Research and Innovation) at the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the North-West University (NWU). His teaching expertise has been enzymology, molecular biology and bioenergetics. After receiving his PhD in 1998, his research focus narrowed to mitochondrial disease. Since 2002 he helped establish the Mitochondria Research Group at the NWU, which focusses on mitochondrial- and other neuromuscular diseases in SA, as well as research on bioenergetics and mtDNA and their role in health and disease.

Jo-Anne de la Mare
Prof Jo-Anne de la Mare is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Bioinformatics at Rhodes University and President of the South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. As the Principal Investigator of the Female Cancers Research at Rhodes University (FemCR2U) group, her research focuses on preclinical drug discovery for female cancers including triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and cervical cancer. In addition, the development of drug resistance models for triple negative breast cancer and cervical cancer cell lines from South African women is geared towards developing more relevant disease models for the African context.

Ed Sturrock
Ed Sturrock is a full professor in the Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences and a founding member of the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine (IDM) at the University of Cape Town. He received his PhD in 1994 and went on to do a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School where he started his research on angiotensin-converting enzyme. In 2003 he was awarded a Wellcome Trust International Senior Research Fellowship. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa and the University of Cape Town, a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, has a National Research Foundation A2 rating, and is a recipient of the South African Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Gold Award. He has published over 130 papers in peer-reviewed international journals and five granted patents.

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