Just under a month ago, we alerted you that Table Mountain needed you vote.
The iconic Cape Town landmark was recently named on the shortlist of the 28 finalists in the New 7 Wonders of Nature competition.
Coordinators of the Vote for Table Mountain have been calling for South Africans to cast their vote to have the mountain declared one of the new 7 wonders of nature, and on our previous post, we showed you how you too can cast your vote.
We were pleasantly surprised to see that a video that we made after listening to Campaign Manager Fiona Furey speaking on The Taxi, was posted on the homepage of the Vote For Table Mountain campaign!
If you visit the site (here), our video is the one just above that of Arch Bishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, a patron of the campaign.
While Howzit-HongKong.com was busy spending some quality time sipping Red Bull by the can-load at the first-ever Red Bull Flugtag in Asia, it seemed that it was South Africa-day over at the Sunday Morning Post.
No less than three stories made the Sunday newspapers today.
The Good…
First off, the Post ran the story about the retirement from public life of the former Arch-Bishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu. The article referred to the cleric popularly know as “The Arch” as “South Africa’s voice of conscience.”
The other good…
Judging from the online responses to this story back home, some would describe it as “the bad.”
The Sunday Morning Post also reported on the story about the South African billionaire Robert Gumede who, together with his international arms-dealer business partners, bought a 49.9% stake in up-and-coming South African rugby franchise the Lions.
The ugly…
Finally, they just had to mention the story about Roland Schoeman, a top South African swimmer who referred to an Indian spectator at the Commonwealth Games as a “monkey.”
A storm-in-a-teacup if you ask me.
If you missed any of these stories, this is how the South African press reported on them:
September 24 is celebrated as National Heritage Day in South Africa. The day is one of our newly created public holidays and its significance rests in recognising aspects of South African culture which are both tangible and difficult to pin down: creative expression, our historical inheritance, language, the food we eat as well as the land in which we live.
On September 5, 2007, Archbishop Desmond Tutu celebrated his appointment as patron of South Africa’s Barbecue (Braai) Day, affirming it to be a unifying force in a divided country (by donning an apron and tucking into a boerewors sausage). At the end of 2007 National Braai Day changed its name to Braai4Heritage and the initiative received the endorsement of South Africa’s National Heritage Council (NHC).
While South Africans all over the world are taking to their gardens, balconies, backyards and parks to braai, “Lady GaGa’s brother” was spotted somewhere around Cape Town doing his bit to promote the day:
Cape Town comedian and radio personality Paul Snodgrass donning 10kg of boeries to mark Braai Day
Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu on Friday called on South Africans to throw some meat – or vegetables – on the coals to celebrate the country’s heritage and “braai“.
“We experienced an incredible spirit in the month of the World Cup when all that mattered was that we were members of this extraordinary Rainbow Nation,” Tutu told journalists. “So I call on all of us to braai for Heritage Day, September 24. Let’s get together and enjoy ourselves, friends, families and even those who are not friends.”
Tutu is the patron of the “Braai for Heritage” campaign which is celebrated on September 24, an official public holiday to mark the nation’s multi-cultural heritage after the fall of apartheid in 1994.
The archbishop emeritus said the fireplace was a traditional gathering place in Africa and that anything from meat to vegetables could be put on a braai, a pastime enjoyed by South Africans of all races.
“We want to continue that tradition of all of us gathering on September 24, braaing for our heritage,” he said. “The important thing is all of us on that one day again getting together and just enjoying the fact of being South Africans.”
The 78-year-old, affectionately known as “the Arch” will retire from public life on his birthday next month after years of speaking out against apartheid’s white minority rule and injustices around the world. He will remain the patron of the braai campaign, which he joined in 2007.
“You can resign from an office job but you can never resign from being a braaier,” the campaign’s Jan Scannell told him in front of a banner featuring a large t-bone steak in the shape of Africa.
Today is your special day. Mine was a week ago. Please have a lekker day and don’t let the fact that the whole world wants to be in on it, deter you from having a wonderful day with Graca and your family.
As I am typing this, I am listening to the local Cape Town radio stations reporting on the vibe in Cape Town ahead of the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup (Football World Cup for the rest of you) Official Draw taking place at the city’s International Convention Centre (CTICC).
The World Cup will resonate to a distinctly African beat for the first time here on Friday when the final draw is made for next year’s sporting spectacular.
Eighty years and 18 tournaments since the first World Cup was held in Uruguay, when only 13 teams took part, none of them African, an African nation will host the event for the first time with 32 countries vying for the biggest prize in sport.
Commenting on the significance of the occasion, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said: “This is a very important event for football and Africa as the Final Draw comes to Cape Town where an unprecedented six teams from the host continent will be represented.
“We expect a record global audience which I hope will be glued to their screens for the duration of the show.”
That show has taken a year of preparations to put together and includes performances by Grammy award-winners Soweto Gospel Choir, Beninese singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo and one of South Africa’s favourite solo musicians Johnny Clegg.
The grand finale will feature 80 artists including the internationally acclaimed musical ensemble Africa Umoja.
African beats will echo throughout the show which will reach a fitting climax at the moment when the 32 teams discover who they will be playing and when during the June 11-July 11 tournament.
The guest presenter to assist FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke make the draw at the Cape Town International Convention Centre will be South Africa’s Academy Award winner Charlize Theron.
South Africa’s Hollywood actress, Charlize Theron will assist in the FIFA Draw
They will be joined on stage by a line-up of sports celebrities, including football star David Beckham, who is hugely popular in South Africa, marathon champion Haile Gebrselassie, the first black player in the South African cricket team Makhaya Ntini and John Smit, the captain of rugby world champions South Africa.
Among dignitories attending will be South African President Jacob Zuma, Nobel Peace Prize winners FW. de Klerk and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as well as former football icons such as Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini, Eusebio and Roger Milla.
Former president Nelson Mandela, who played a leading role in winning South Africa the right to host the World Cup seven years ago, will address the audience by video message.
And then there will be most of the 32 coaches of the qualified teams eager to learn what their opposition will be in six months time when the action gets underway in the month-long showpiece.
The draw itself sees the 32 teams divided into four pots of eight from which the eight groups that will contest the first round will be drawn.
The first pot will consist of hosts South Africa, and the seven top-ranking world teams – holders Italy, five-times winners Brazil, former champions Argentina, Germany and England and two teams yet to hoist the World Cup in Spain and the Netherlands.
Pot 2 will have the four Asian qualifiers, the three from North and Central America and rank outsiders New Zealand representing Oceania.
Pot 3 sees the remaining five African sides grouped with the remaining three South American, while the final pot consists of the remaining European qualifiers.
Among the latter will be 1998 champions France and semi-finalists four years ago Portugal, and where they end up will likely go a long way to designating the inevitable Group of Death.
It will all take 90 minutes and when it is over the talking will begin and is unlikely to stop until South Africa fittingly plays the opening game of the first World Cup on African soil in Johannesburg on June 11.
