I’ve listened to alot of people talk about the “irritating” police presence over the last while. I personally think it’s great. I have stopped taking chances late at night with robots, I carry my drivers licence on me at all times and am very happy with the presence.
Apparently the excessive (normal in my opinion) presence of the police has made a great difference in the last 6 months. This according to provincial safety minister Firoz Cachalia.
“The police have increased their visibility across the province and increased the arrest rates. However, it is too early for the police to celebrate this achievement, as a lot of work still needs to be done”
This is the right attitude being taken. Improvement is great but comparitively we are still in dire need of improvement in regard to crime. A systematic approach is said to be taken by the police which is definitely correct and puts my mind at ease.
Things wont get fixed overnight but it seems as though there are great strides being taken right now to improve the crime stats.
I am not sure how reliable this information is as I have only read about it on one blog. But I read a post on Sunday that tells of Nelson Mandela’s book, No Easy Walk To Freedom is going to be made available online at Proquest.
Apparently:
The agreement has been made between Mandela and Proquest, a leader in collection, organization, and publishing of information. Initially published in 1965, the digital version is expected to be out by December this year.
And incase you were curious about exactly who had the rights to digitally distribute the work of Nelson Mandela, this is from the Proquest website:
ProQuest provides seamless access to and navigation of more than 125 billion digital pages of the world’s scholarship, delivering it to the desktop and into the workflow of serious researchers in multiple fields, from arts, literature, and social science to science, technology, and medicine.
In 2006 our favorite Muti was featured in a similar fashion. We were all very chuffed and proud that some African site got noticed!
And now, for the third time, a South African Internet innovation was recognized by CNN Money. The Stormhoek story made it to the headlines! How the Hoekers successfully market their product using social media / Geek Dinners / blogging, etc… A great story and a great achievement.
Apparently the positivity that exudes from SA Rocks is reaching the higher levels of the media!
According to cnn.com SA’s public broadcaster is launching SABC International with the goal of challenging the media stereotypes surrounding Africa.
Fantastic and about time too. I must admit I don’t know how this is going to turn out in the long or even short run. The SABC has had some questionable incidents this year and in the past regarding media freedom and the like. But nonetheless I think this is a great step forward for the development and altering of Western perception of Africa.
The polls are closed and the competition has ended. I was never particularly supportive of the process as I felt it should have been more formalised (I am assured that things are moving in that direction)!
But I thought that many of the sites on the list – which never reached 50 I don’t think – deserved a mention cause they rock and let’s be honest, we can all use some linklove.
So without further delay here are the top sites:
The top ranked sites were (in alphabetical order) -
What a brilliant achievement for SA and this amazing group of guys!
The Afrigator team is not sleeping though and are well aware of their local competition that has international appeal:
That said, we have not been sleeping – we know full well Amatomu is a killer service with outstanding features – rest assured that exciting things are in the pipeline.
Isn’t Justin just so handsome? And he’s an SA Rocks contributor!
Afrigator features amongst a long list of highly impressive international websites such as OhmyNews and Joost.
Lets hope that Afrigator takes the international community by storm and achieves the breakthroughs that the SA market needs!
Believe it or not one South African is raking in the views on his stand-up comedy video on YouTube.
Khaya Dlanga is making a seriously funny name for himself online. His comedic approach is intelligent and funny with a local twang to it that strikes home. He has a massively animated face that tells his story for him while he tells the jokes.
Please take some time, do yourself a favour and watch this video:
His incredible videos have been viewed over 1.2million times since the end of 2006.
Thanks to Jo’blog for this one. What incredible news, Gavin Hood, the South African Oscar winner, has been announced as the director of Wolverine. Hugh Jackman is taking his X-man character in to a spin-off movie and SA is being represented in the creative process.
This is phenomenal news for South African, Gavin and the SA film industry. Finally we are receiving some recognition internationally. I think that this will do great things in terms of exposure for the unknown movie buffs, directors, producers and actors in this country. If one of our own can be recognised internationally and prove to be a success (following Charlize’s success) then more should follow eventually!
Now all we need is for more local films to be recognised internationally.
Hood’s next film, Rendition, is opening in October and stars Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaaal. While production on Wolverine begins early next year.
It was the 11th stage, it was wind battered and it was absolutely unbelievably incredible. Robert Hunt, a South African, finally brought SA a Tour de France stage win.
South African Robert Hunter won a crash-hit bunch sprint to take the 182,5km 11th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday.
The Barloworld rider beat Swiss Fabian Cancellara of the CSC team by half a wheel. Brazil’s Murilo Fischer came home third for the Liquigas team.
I have had emails, phonecalls and family and friends bugging me to post about this (sorry I have been a bit busy, my bad). This just goes to show how incredible and groundbreaking this event is for South Africans the world over. The Cooksister emailed me commanding me to get on it since she was shouting herself hoarse when he won the stage
This is what Hunt had to say:
“I don’t think I could be any happier,” said Hunter, who came round the bend at the 245m marker and began his drive to the finish line almost immediately.
“It’s a massive victory for me, and for South Africa.”
“It was a very difficult stage, there was a lot of wind. It was not easy to win in such a crazy finish,” said Hunter.
“It is very important to me to win a stage on the Tour de France. I am speechless.”
This is brilliant news for the Barloworld team. And I must say I think that thanks must go out to Barloworld for providing the support that a South African team needs to be successful at the highest levels.
Lets just hope that the doping scandal that has been plaguing the Tour de France can be taken care of soon.
IT’S ABOUT TIME!!! That is really all that I have to say about that.
Raymond Rahme, a JHB resident, finished third in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) that ended yesterday. He is not only the first South African, but African to reach the final table at a WSOP tournament, let alone finish in the top five.
From the WSOP website:
Though he isn’t well known on the North American circuit, the 62-year-old pro has been sweeping tournaments in his native South Africa. Rahme has finished first and second in two major events in his backyard, not to mention a fourth place finish in the largest tournament ever held on his home continent – the All Africa Poker Championship.
There has been a lot of hype surrounding the recently initiated All Africa poker tournament. This is where Rahme won his seat to the WSOP tournament.
Something I found quite amusing on the WSOP website was Rahme’s list of accomplishments (note the last one):
* Took third place and more than $3 million in winnings at the 2007 WSOP Main Event
* First African to appear at a World Series of Poker Main Event final table
* At 62 was the only senior at the 2007 championship final table
* Is married with six children
Thanks go out to my Brother (John) for pointing this news out as a whopping SA achievement. For more poker frenzied SA information visit the WSOP website.
for the info!
