Just over a year ago, Joseph Shabalala’s Ladysmith Black Mambazo made an appearance at the Shatin City Hall.

I remember the flurry of e-mails circulating among the South African community trying to rally a group to attend the concert.

Well, it seems that Hong Kongers liked what they saw in Shatin and the article in Tuesday’s The Standard certainly attest to the fact.

This is how we posted on the Group’s Hong Kong appearance back in May 2009.

Here is a scan of The Standard’s story:

(click for larger view)

After winning his first Major golf tournament at St. Andrews on Sunday, Mosselbaai-native Louis Oosthuizen must have been hounded by the media non-stop.

Here in Hong Kong he made the sports section of the free daily newspaper The Standard on Tuesday (July 20,2010).

I’m not sure where the headline “Ooh-la-la he’s cool” fits in but after the successes of the 2010 World Cup, Louis did his bit to keep South Africa’s name in the hearts and minds of the world.

Cheers Louis.

(click on the newspaper page above for larger view)

As a Saffa rugby supporter living abroad, I must admit at being chuffed that the rugby season is about to start back home.  The International Rugby Board’s Sevens World Series resumes with the New Zealand-leg in Wellington on the 5th of February, followed by the USA event in Las Vegas a week later.

Another highlight of the southern hemisphere pre-season is Western Province playing neighbours Boland at the brand-spanking Greenpoint Stadium on February 5.  Then, on February 12 the Super 14 kicks off when local franchises The Cheetahs take on The Bulls.  The Stormers play The Lions the following day, while The Sharks play New Zealand’s Chiefs.

The newest landmark on the Cape Town skyline, the Greenpoint Stadium.

But I digress.  The Asia season is of course in full swing and local clubs are taking requests for Hong Kong Sevens tickets (unfortunately members only).  In a previous post, I wrote about the movie Invictus that tells the story of how Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) joined forces with Francois Pienaar (played by Matt Damon) in winning not only the 1995 Rugby World Cup, but also the hearts and minds of South Africans from all walks of life.

The local custodians of the game, the Hong Kong Rugby Union has joined forces with Warner Brothers Pictures as well as Standard Chartered to organise a Gala Charity Premiere on Wednesday 13th January at the Elements Mall in Kowloon Tong.  Proceeds from the event will benefit the Operation Breakthrough charity programme which is a joint HKRFU – HKG Police charity that targets at risk youth and engages them in sports like rugby to keep them occupied and instill positive values.

Special guest at the sold-out event will be Springbok Marius Hurter, a member of the triumphant 1995 South African rugby team.

Springboks Os Du Randt (left) and Marius Hurter (right) showing off the RWC 1995 spoils.

Invictus opens in Hong Kong on Thursday, January 14.

Nury Vittachi is a columnist for Hong Kong’s free English daily The Standard.  He wrote this delightful piece about the universal nature of latter-day Christmas:

I hate people who corrupt Christmas, my favorite holiday.

And I am NOT showing religious bias here. My father was a Muslim and my mother a Buddhist, but when it came to December, we all became fervent Christians, even our imam. You may say this shows a lack of respect to the beliefs of our forebears, to which I would reply: get real.

You give folk a choice between going to work as normal, or staying home and wallowing in an orgy of affection, food and gifts under a tree, and suddenly we are all into tolerance and understanding, even atheists.

But before fundamentalists from any faith burn down my house, let me make it clear that I believe all major codes of belief deserve respect, INCLUDING the silly ones.

I have been fortunate enough to have travelled extensively and, in my honest opinion, nobody but NOBODY does (commercial) Christmas better than Hong Kong!  The mega-corporates who own the mega-malls that dot the Hong Kong landscape leave no stone un-turned, no speck of dust around spotless mall-floors and no cent in their huge Christmas-promotion budget unspent come mid-November.  That is when the competition starts.  Malls in Hong Kong  do battle in an unofficial “Best Christmas Display of the Year,” vying for the hard-earned (sometimes the not-so-hard-earned) dollars of locals, Mainland Chinese and other visitors.

This is what I’m talking about:

(Visit this page regularly, I will update the pics throughout this Christmas-week)