SA Rocks

It seems as though a major event being held in SA is finally making use of the massive potential of mobile phones.

With mobile penetration in Africa and South Africa more specifically being huge (some say 97% of our population have cellphones) it is a wonder that it has taken this long to use Cellphones for live updates, live info, live streaming and viewing of events that they can’t get to.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament being hosted in SA and has decided to make use of migg33 to give cricket fans mobile chats with players, let them meet players and cheerleaders, chat with other cricket fans live during matches, stay up-to-date on the latest news from the­ir favourite teams and get live ball–by-ball commentary and scores.

I am sure that if this is publicised correctly and activated in the correct way it will be well received, as long as the execution of the features is up to scratch this could be a very exciting initiative for sports fans and followers the world over.

Initial live chat schedule so far:

Many, many more to come –Schedule being finalized with teams in South Africa

South Africans can get in on the IPL excitement by texting “cricket” to 31273, or by logging onto m.mig33.com/cricket on their cell phone.

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Pieter-Dirk Uys has never been shy of controversy and neither has Zapiro for that matter. But when our soon to be next president, Zuma, decides it’s high time to sue a satirist for being, well, satirical, then we have a bit of an issue.

This is a fantastic move made and is rational, believable, understandable and a likeable move made by a lovable icon of South Africa past and present.

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After yesterday’s post on the number of expats who are registered to vote and the debate that ensued, I decided to look at things from another perspective perhaps.

I had dinner with a very good friend of mine last night, let’s call him James. James always has a wonderful perspective on life and not surprisingly he had an interesting argument here too.

James suggests that what we as South Africa (the nation) should be doing is investing in our expatriate community, starting with one simple vote. Giving them that vote and allowing them to have that ownership of possible change and decision making would more than likely win many expats over.

The basic premise is simple: There are resources, foreign currencies and very, very good people who have moved overseas for a variety of reasons. An increasing number are moving over to other countries purely for business purposes. Because they are the best of the best and this might mean that they are pushed to thrive in business by leaving their home country for ten years. Who am I to judge? Good point James.

There are always going to be people who leave for the irrational reasons, for the valid reasons of violence, crime, curroption and expect those problems not to exist where they move to. I am more interested in the expats who are wanting to experience the world, to live life to the fullest and who have the ability to do so. It is hypocritical for me, in today’s world, to think that we cannot be South Africans abroad when the world is globalising and shrinking at such a rapid rate.

I am impressed with this argument and this side of the coin, I think it could possibly be the way to go. I am still disappointed in the small number of expats voting, but maybe it’s time that I took some of the blame for that and started embracing expats in to the culture and community of South Africa?

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After much bitching and moaning, much torment, badmouthing and ragging of the SA government, a mere 16 240 voters registered to vote abroad for the 2009 elections.

Let’s see the breakdown shall we:

London with 7 472
Canberra, Australia with 1 235
Dubai, United Arab Emirates with 900
Wellington, New Zealand with 410
The Hague, Netherlands with 378
Dublin, Ireland with 360

Wow. Here’s a small fact for you: There are estimated to be over 600 000 South African expats living abroad in LONDON ALONE. Of those ± 600 000 an embarrassing 7472 registered to vote. That is a shocking 1.24% of the expat population in London that bothered to register or apply to vote abroad in the upcoming elections.

I hate to take a rough stand here, but I want the names of the 7472 voters that registered in London because they are the only people living in the UK from SA that I ever want to hear talk about South Africa in a good or bad light. Either make your way back here so that voting isn’t “such a mission” for you over there, or just let go of SA.

As for the rest of the expat population, shame on you. Or Goodbye and thanks for all the fish.

Thank you to the ± 16 000 people who registered to vote abroad, now just be sure to get that vote in, every vote counts.

According to the IEC, South Africans voting at missions abroad must produce both their South African green bar-coded identity document or valid temporary identity certificate as well as their passport when they vote.

“Without these documents, voting will not be permitted. At the mission, they will also be required to complete an application form for a special vote, called a VEC 1 form.

“Voting stations at South African missions abroad will be open from 7am until 7pm,” the IEC said.

Voting times on 20 and 21 April in South Africa will be from 9am until 5pm.

Be sure to remember to take all the necessary documents to avoid disappointment.

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Yes, WE won the award (Best Group Blog) because there are a fair amount of contributors to this site. Many of whom are once-off, some who stayed for a very long time and some who helped me in the very beginning to build SA Rocks over a period of time.

As Dave (best business blog) posted on his blog: “Over 4000 blogs were nominated in this year’s awards, and over 25 000 people voted”.

I’ve been blogging for ±4 years now and it’s great to win a blog award no matter how “Shrouded” in controversy they are, seem to be or really aren’t.

I personally want to thank Chris Rawlinson and Huddlemind for putting together an absolutely sterling event that was well attended, fully stoked with Corona, Carlsberg, Stormhoek, Butlers Pizza and many more goodies. Chris – you did a fantastic job mate. Also massive thanks go out to Miguel dos Santos for all of the crazy and tough work that he did this year. Good things.

I loved the venue too, Chevelle was phenomenal and a club that I will most definitely be heading back to when I’m in CT. That’s located at 84 Harrington Rd in CT. Get there. Wicked.

Thanks to everyone for all the congratulatory responses, sms’s, emails, tweets and phonecalls. It’s great to receive recognition in any form for something that you are passionate about and contribute much time to.

And finally to everyone and anyone who took the time to support SA Rocks in this years SABA’s by nominating and voting for this blog, thank you. The growth of the supporters of this blog keep me motivated.

Oh – And to Seth Rotherham, spot on mate, you deserve every award you won. I am on my to your side of the world, live the holiday.

All images in this post are courtesy of Brandon Golding!

And Finally a video from the very hard-working Glen Verran:

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South African has a Men’s day, um, I mean Cleavage day. It’s a unique idea and one that I am not 100% convinced needs to be punted as hard as it is. Women have cleavage, we all know that, we aren’t living in the 17th century when women were covered up.

Hell I got more cleavage sitting at dinner being served by a waitress last night then I did throughout my teens.

Either way, there is cleavage out today and if you aren’t offended by all the cleavage-starved men send a photo of your cleavage around.

That’s it.

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Tim and Bruce are currently cycling from Cairo to Cape Town and here is their latest update of their weekly adventures. The aim of their cycle is to raise R180,000 for a rural school in the Eastern Cape. So far they have raised R126,000 click here to go donate!

Iringa to Lilongwe, Tanzania

21 March to 30 March

Distance: 1074km

Highlights: Lake Malawi!!!

Read our daily diary here…

In the past 10 days we’ve climbed mountains in the rain, played volleyball on the beach, swum in the beautiful Lake Malawi and gorged ourselves on Steers Burgers! Unfortunately we’ve also lost another rider to a shattered elbow after a truck hit him, and we’ve been forced to change our route due to heavy rains and flooding in Malawi, but the Tour goes on!

The four days of riding from Iringa in Tanzania to the Malawian border were characterized by cool mornings, light rain and beautiful landscapes of smoky villages, tea plantations and rain forests. However, with each descending kilometre as we neared the border and lake, the temperature and humidity rose dramatically and by the time we crossed into Malawi we were all a hot, sweaty and unhappy mess.

The unhappiness of that first hot night in the bush was quickly replaced though once we arrived at Chitimba Beach after a tough 123km rainy day into a headwind. After five days of some tough riding, Chitimba Beach was the perfect place for our first rest day in Malawi, and with nothing there except a bar, volleyball, restaurant and inviting waters of Lake Malawi, we rested up hard!

From Chitimba we climbed up and away from Lake Malawi to the town of Mzuzu where we were informed that evening that some disappointing route changes had to be made due to flooding in Southern Malawi. Instead of heading from Mzuzu back to the Lake for three day’s of riding as was initially planned, we would now be staying inland and heading for Lilongwe that way. The new route change did however mean that we would now get to Lilongwe a day earlier and therefore we would be spoilt with an extra day’s rest there. And with over 7000km in the legs right now, an extra day’s rest is always welcome!

The four days in the saddle to Lilongwe were beautiful rides but made longer by some big climbing days and some mean headwinds, and the legs are well tired right now as I write this to you from a rain-sodden Mbeya Camp, an awesome backpackers and camping spot in Lilongwe.

With two days of rest ahead of us before we mount up again, and with both a Steers and Nando’s around the corner, we’re as happy as pigs in shit right now, and by the time you read this, we would have pushed on from the capital city and headed for the Zambian border.

On the fundraising front for Hebron School in the Eastern Cape you’ve now helped raise R126,000 of the R180 000 needed to build and equip two new classrooms, and we thank all those who continue to spread the word to friends and family about this worthy cause.

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I decided on whim to purchase my ticket to CT and will be leaving at 5pm today to make the incredibly long and difficult journey to the Cape whilst sitting in a seat, on a plane, watching “Bones” on my laptop.

I decided that after many years (in the only world, 4 counts as “many” years) of blogging it was about time that I head down for the Blog Awards this year. There are many people that I can finally meet in real life, really. And I think that all-in-all it will be a great party if nothing else.

I am not expecting and awards and am merely making the trip for the experience. If I win, that’ll be cool but I think it’s more about meeting many people and getting down to CT for me.

To every SA Rocks reader who voted I’d like to say thank you for firstly getting this blog through to the finals and past the nomination phase and then for voting for SA Rocks (if you did).

I will be sure to post all of the pics and vid that I manage to take on my Zoopy profile as well as here.

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