Global South Africans

The message we want to send to people who have left the country to live and work abroad is that South Africa will always remain their home, and we will always welcome whatever contribution they can make to building this nation — from a speech by President Jacob Zuma to the South African Jewish Board of Deputies

Artist’s impression of the complete Assembly Hall for the Crags Primary School.

The owners of the Kurland Estate near Plettenberg Bay have established a Social Responsibility Program to benefit the underprivileged people in their area. The Programme is run on minimalist lines and overseen by their chairman.

One of the projects in the Programme, in addition to two football fields already built in 2007, is the building of an urgently needed Assembly Hall for The Crags Primary (Junior) School in the nearby village. The school has 650 young children, 17 teachers and 3 extra/temporary teachers whose salaries are paid by local residents (R4 000pm).

Construction of the hall has commenced, it will accommodate 550 children for daily assembly, plays, concerts and general recreation, when the necessary equipment for all these activities can be obtained and although substantial donations have been received from the Kurland family, local and overseas donors, further funds are required for this much needed School facility.

The Programme runs projects and on-going programmes which seek to support the school and the under privileged people that need education, housing, feeding, as well as assistance with HIV/Aids, alcohol and drug abuse.

If you are interested in supporting this Programme, please contact Edward Blaine or Peter Reynolds on +27 83 253 1745, peterr@kurland.co.za or speak to one of the managers at the Kurland Estate on +27 44 534 8082 who will give you further details.

The Crags Primary School is a member of the Bitou 10, which is a Non-Profit Organisation focusing on educational upliftment in the Plettenberg Bay area.

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?

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 »

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.

The Sunday Times reports on the Global South Africans initiative.