Global South Africans

Lions’ roar: the memory of the Springboks’ 2-1 series defeat in 1997, celebrated here after the third Test by John Bentley, is still a painful one for South Africans Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Neil Manthorpe
Last Updated: 6:19PM BST 23 May 2009

South Africa is a very, very different country to the one the Lions last toured 12 years ago.

Back then Nelson Mandela was the country’s first democratically elected president and the only World Cup South Africa had bid for, and staged, was the Rugby World Cup two years earlier - which they won. Rugby was the pre-eminent sport.

A dozen years later an awful lot has changed. Jacob Zuma is the country’s fourth president and a dazzling beacon of proof that South Africa has emerged as the new land of opportunity, where everything is possible and anyone can aspire to, and reach, the top. In anything.

Later this year football’s Confederations Cup will be played as a precursor to the biggest show of them all, the 2010 World Cup.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Richard Lapper
Financial Times
Published: May 24 2009 18:18 | Last updated: May 24 2009 18:18

“[He] is going to win the election . . . so the crisis is going to get much bigger and soon.”

It might have been written about Jacob Zuma, the new leader of South Africa since his victory in last month’s election.

But the columnist quoted above was actually casting judgment on Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during the tumultuous months ahead of the Brazilian president’s first election success in October 2002.

Mr Lula da Silva, of course, has turned the prediction on its head, leading Brazil not only out of crisis but into a period of relative prosperity. And just as the opinion formers were wrong about Brazil’s president, could they now also be underestimating South Africa’s president?

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Themba Maseko, CEO of the Government Communications and Information System and the goverment’s chief spokesman, has congratulated South Africans who voted overseas last week for  “strengthening their bonds with their compatriots at home”.

“The enthusiasm evident in those who queued outside South Africa House (to vote in London)…bodes well for building a brain-bank of South Africans living abroad to assist in the process of image-building, investment and ongoing knowledge exchange and the acquisition of skills,” he said.

“The recently-formed Global South Africans Network , active in the United States and the United Kingdom, has as its objective the building of a global network of skilled and influential South Africans who can help the country attract foreign direct investment and achieve its economic objectives in a globalised world. Government acknowledges the important role of skilled and entrepreneurial South Africans returning to the country and contributing from their positions of influence abroad.” Read the rest of this entry »

By Timothy Schultz

At 4 am London is dark and raining. While my taxi snakes me through the deserted streets a trainee Jesuit priest is camped outside South Africa House.

In the radio studio the BBC journalist asks why we vote, why it’s important and that hackneyed scribbler question: how does it make you feel? Read the rest of this entry »

By John Battersby

Twenty-five years ago, the crowds that gathered in Trafalgar Square to protest and demonstrate against apartheid South Africa played a major role in galvanising international opinion against apartheid and hastening its downfall. Yesterday, South Africans gathered in their thousands in orderly queues to have their say in the future of the democratic South Africa in the same place that the demonstrators once stood. Read the rest of this entry »

…to talk amusingly about South Africa and the 2010 World Cup on Univision,  the largest Spanish speaking network and the 5th largest network in the United States. The network holds the Spanish speaking rights to coverage of the World Cup and are currently preparing for coverage for the 2010 games in South Africa.

They seek a South African national who is fluent in Spanish to appear on their most popular sports program, “Sports Republic”. Sports Republic is a live 2-hour sports magazine show hosted by 3 extremely well known Latino sports personalities and is the highest rated Spanish speaking sports show in the US.

The show would be recorded live in Miami, Florida and they would discuss South Africa, its culture, tourist attractions, food and the like in a light hearted, fun way.

If you would be interested in representing South Africa on this show, please contact :

Mandy Ellison
South African American Business Club
Tel: 561-628-4338 Fax: 305-538-7912
mandy.ellison@saabc.org

www.saabc.org

Zakumi, the Official Mascot of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.
(Photo: Fifa.com)

It seems like ages ago that FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced that South Africa would host the 2010 FIFA World Cup; and since then an incredible amount of work has gone into ensuring that the concept becomes a reality. The dust is beginning to settle and countdown fever is in the air, so if you’re not on the ground, now is a great time to become a member of the FIFA.com Club, an online community that will keep you on pulse with 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa events. Read the rest of this entry »

Global South Africans is now on Facebook.

From China to Northumberland, Iceland to Paris, Tanzania to South Africa… you can see it all with the NICRO UK Trust!

Whatever your New Years resolutions for 2009… Commit to getting fit, Be more adventurous or Do some charity work… you can do it all with the NICRO UK Trust Open Challenges! Experience exciting destinations, achieve amazing personal goals and in the process help NICRO raise much needed money for their Youth Diversion Programmes in South Africa - and there is something to suit everyone!

Choose from nearly 100 different challenges worldwide and your fundraising efforts could change the life of a child in South Africa forever. Sign up today, and challenge yourself to make a difference!

If you would like to know more about NICRO Charity Challenges, please email Loetitia@nicro.org.uk or contact the NICRO Team on +44 (0) 207 953 80 31 and they will help you choose a challenge that suits you.

NICRO’s Youth Programmes successfully channel young offenders away from the formal criminal justice system, offering them alternative sentencing programmes and rehabilitation, ultimately diverting them from a life of crime. With a 93% success rate NICRO has proved that this method works and effectively reduces the number of children in South African jails. It also contributes significantly to the reduction of crime in South Africa.

Global South Africans is now on Twitter, looking to follow and be followed by anyone interested in the project. You can find us here.