SA Rocks

It seems as though SA is not the only nation “struggling” with its citizens flying to other countries and not returning.

According to a BBC report* approximately 385 000 people left the UK over that past year. Of those 385 000, 196,000 were British citizens while 189,000 were “long-term migrants” who had been living in the UK for more than a year.

This is really interesting to me. I love travelling and I admire people who can travel on an ongoing basis because it is a secret desire of mine – drop everything and everyone and just travel – to do so.

With that said, my question is as follows: Is immigration an SA trend recently or is the world suffering from a growing of consciousness?

I am really of the mind that the world is a smaller place, as many people that have left SA in the last ten years have probably also realised. There have also been other people leaving many other nations in search of something. Not greener pastures, not bluer skies, just that something that they think they need.

It has also fast become a name, shame and blame contest here in SA. I think that many people (sometimes myself included) forget how small the world is and forget that some peopler (read: many people) want to experience the world outside of their own country.

Countries for me are like religion, you are born in to one, you do not choose it. But why not? Why not just choose one, go over, get a visa, becoem a citizen and stay? I think there are many arguments relating to this topic and exactly why we need people to stay but I don’t want to get in to them.

All I am saying is that as someone who is passionately and sometimes ignorantly patriotic I need to step back and remember that the world is a smaller place that I think it is. And people have the right to travel, to come, to go, to leave or stay and they probably will choose to do so if they are given the choice.

*Article via Paul from Chillibean.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Tea and Biltong with the Queen:

In my last column I wrote about isolation versus belonging, and missing the feeling of being part of the bigger picture, a contributing member of an exciting society. I’m cheating a little with this article as it’s not so much about what I miss but rather a continued look at this attitude I described previously.

Now, I’ll concede that South Africa is still a rather divided nation in some sectors, but I do think this is diminishing, especially with the younger generations – for all the reasons I gave here. Racism is something I now tend to associate with older people – products of apartheid who refuse to (for several reasons) change the way they see the world and how they treat people. When I encounter racist youth I am always pretty surprised, and saddened, but I do think these people are the exception rather than the rule.

These racists are both white and black, and the very nature of racism is that it defies logic so you cannot reason it away. I find it very hard to accept this and often “take the bait” and try to make people realise the falsity of what they believe, but in my most rational moments I must accept that this is a losing battle.

With that little disclaimer above, I will say that I believe the over-riding attitude in South Africa is one of amazing optimism. We have so much to overcome, but we were recently found to be the 7th most business-optimistic country in the world, according to a report by Grant Thornton. Other reports suggest that finances rather than ethnicity is now the major deciding factor in terms of where we choose to live – and while divisions in wealth are not a good thing, they are more easily overcome in a growing economy as ours than racial tensions.

If you’ll forgive the bastardisation of a cliché – we now have a South African dream. Unlike the original (read: american) version, this is not a dream of being handed everything on a platter – this dream is not about a land of excess and easy rides. I think the nation dreams of “just rewards” and that my children will compete against yours in a fair world. That is a pretty respectable dream, in my view.

The following quote is taken from an old (2004) BBC article on change in South Africa:
“Where things have changed for the better – where houses have been built, where black people now feel free to go anywhere they choose – this is often taken for granted.
Where things have not changed – where people remain unemployed or live in terror of crime – there is a deep scepticism whether any political party has either the ability or the will to do anything about it. ”

I think this duality of the public opinion of the time is very well expressed, but I would add to this to bring it up to date. We are a nation waking up to personal responsibility and power, we are no longer asking for solutions to be given, but striving for them ourselves. I see this everywhere: in expats marching in London, in various protests and demonstration all over South Africa, in internet discussion forms and websites, in politicians increasingly panicked attempts to explain themselves.

I guess where I see involvement, other may see unrest and dissatisfaction, but I invite them to don a pair of (lightly) rose tinted glasses and get out on the streets (peacefully) or get vocal about our concerns. Action must lead to action.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Accelerate Cape Town has just launched their website recently and in honour of this the AddiCT(s) have launched a competition that I think SA Rocks readers should get involved in.

What’s it about. We want to know what you envision your perfect city to be like. Let’s harness the power of collective imagination to develop a vision that is so powerful and compelling what we all will be catapulted into action to make our vision work for Cape Town. Here is how the challenge will work.

Write a post on your website or blog about your vision of a perfect city. Don’t think specifically about Cape Town or anything. We want you to describe your own, imaginary, perfect city. Let your imagination go wild, describe how it feels, use all your senses, describe the activities taking place, describe the people, add some graphics, audio, video, whatever you like, above all be creative. It can be long or short, no limits on size.

If you don’t have a blog, submit your entry to us via info [at] webaddict [dot] co [dot] za and we’ll feature your post here with credits to you.

Submit it to us. Trackback or link back to this post (http://www.webaddict.co.za/2007/08/10/my-perfect-city-challenge/) and we’ll list your post here for voting.

Entries accepted: 10th – 17th August 2007

Vote. Those posts listed here will be voted upon by you, our readers, for 1 week, where the person with the most votes wins.

Voting accepted: 17th – 24th August 2007

In case you are wondering what Accelerate Cape Town is, here is something from the new site:

Accelerate Cape Town believes that our greatest chance for international success over the next twenty years is to focus on serving the country, the continent and the world in the creative and innovative sectors. Our vision is to achieve the development of the Cape region as the world’s Creative Capital.

Popularity: 10% [?]

This post stems from an article in this months Oprah magazine*. The article was written by Portia Guiviede about the ten reasons that she thinks – pretty much – SA Rocks.

1. Black Economic Empowerment
2. Smoothies
3. African Fashion
4. Taxis
5. Children
6. Her story/His story TV dramas
7. Feminism
8. The marriage of Western and Cultural traditions
9. Single Black fathers
10. Flea markets

My favourites in this list are African fashion, Flea Markets, Taxis and BEE. Let me tell you why:

African fashion is phenomenal. People are always saying that Africans are copycats of Western people and their ideas. This is definitely not the case when it comes to fashion. African women have style, they have grace and they are stunning. Every shape and size can and does look amazing and the most amazing thing is that many, many African women embrace their bodies instead of aspire to be stick-thin. This makes me happy, it makes me proud to walk down the street and know that nowhere else in the world will you see a women that looks like the women we have here in SA.

Flea markets in SA are one-of-a-kind. There are markets everywhere in the world but for some reason the cultural meshing of people and their products just make our flea markets incredible. It’s like walking down a street from a different nation all in one market. You can go from Indian flavours, to Italian food, French art, African sculptures, street art, gimmicks, records, CDs, DVDs, Flags and absolutely ANYTHING else you can imagine. Just glorious.

Taxis might piss me off to no end, but wow do I feel for these men and women. The drivers of the taxis in SA have a thankless and tiring job that doesn’t really even pay that much. I love watching how people stick up their fingers in all directions and everyone “in the know” clearly understands where that person is going and where they came from. Taxis and the people using them have their own language that you will not find anywhere else in the world. Fantastic.

BEE is a more contentious issue that I am sure will receive more or most of the comments on this post. But I support BEE. I 100% support the correct and effective emplimentation of BEE. We deserve to give people the right to equal opportunity and the fact that we can acknowledge our shortcomings as a country and society in this sort of business orientated manner is great.

*note: I don’t read Oprah (I swear), my dearest mother pointed this out to me.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Tea and Biltong with the Queen: No, it is not the same as Beef Jerky!

I’ve written in previous columns about the distinct feeling of isolation I’ve experienced as a legal alien in the UK, and I’m starting to believe that it’s not so much the addition of a new feeling (isolation) but the removal of a feeling I had at home (belonging). This may seem like a strange thing to say as a South African, but at home I felt part of something – both a movement and a people – and it’s weird to think that I identify more with South Africans from a multitude of cultures, than I do with the British (my ancestral home).

Recently, with the floods in England, I felt an increase of national spirit from the locals here in the UK – sometimes a little adversity will do that. And it reminded me, firstly, that I am not at home here, and, secondly, how great it is to feel like you’re contributing, that you belong and are part of a greater whole. If press coverage of SA is to be believed, there seems to be a similar process happening at home.

It has been thirteen years since the first democratic election in SA. Thirteen years is actually not a long time. The problems we have in SA are going to take generations (yes, generations! Plural!) to fix but we must acknowledge how far we have come, and above all, not cease to strive. This means vote, protest, and foster equal opportunities.

There used to be a feeling of “jump ship” when faced with crime and unemployment in South Africa, now it’s more of a “dig in and get your hands dirty” vibe. Don’t believe me? How about the increase in websites like “SA Good News”, “Homecoming Revolution” and “Crimeline”? How about increased coverage of crime against the poorer sectors of our communities? People worry that more crime stories mean more crime, but often they mean more effective police work and increased awareness. This reflects a change in our collective attitude as South Africans.

It is a very exciting time for South Africa. The afro-pessimists will scream that its scary, sad, chaotic, but I see a full generation of people who attended integrated schools, who know of Mandela as a free man, who’ve escaped the economic isolation of the 80’s, who can travel and compete in international sport. We’re a people who have won the begrudging respect of our international peers, whose constitution is often lauded as the best in the world, who aren’t travelling just to escape, but for travel’s sake.

Yesterday I ran into the members of the Soweto Gospel Choir just walking down the street in Edinburgh. They’ve arrived for the Edinburgh Arts Festival, I guess, and although I was rushing in the opposite direction, and don’t know any of them from Adam, I couldn’t help myself yelling “Molweni” as I passed, to which they happily responded, and those few quick phrases exchanged in Xhosa made me happier than I’d been all week. I felt like I had met people I could identify with for the first time in months.

Popularity: 12% [?]

This was emailed to me but it seems to come from southafrica.net.

There are many surprising and unknown things about South Africa. Facts about the country that are often overlooked or simply not known. Here are some of the little known SA facts.

Strange Nature and history

• South Africa has the oldest meteor scar in the world, just across the Vaal River near Parys, called the Vredefort Dome. The meteor plummeted to Earth nearly two billion years ago (Earth is said to be 4,5 billion years old), predating the heady days of oxygen and multi-celled life.
• The rocks around Barberton in Mpumalanga are some of the most ancient in the world – over three billion years old. Because they are also the most accessible such formations, NASA scientists come here to gain an idea of how life might form on distant planets.
• The Tugela Falls is the second highest waterfall in the world, where the water tumbles down 850 metres. First place goes to the Angel Falls in Venezuela at 979 metres.
• There are 18 000 indigenous vascular plant species in South Africa of which 80% are uniquely South African.
• Blyde River Canyon is the third largest canyon in the world – and the largest green one. The Grand Canyon in the US is the biggest, and the Fish River Canyon in Namibia the second, but both are dry as bones.
• South African grasslands have 30 species per square kilometre, greater than the biodiversity of rainforests.
• Can mountains be folded? Yes they can, and you can see such wonders in the Western Cape at the Cederberg and the Swartberg mountains.
• South Africa and its neighbours are some of the most generously endowed geographic solar hotspots in the world, soaking up just over half of the world’s highest category of solar wattage per square metre of land.
• Therapsids are the true ancestors of mammals, and lived over 200 million years ago, long before the upstart dinosaurs of the Jurassic Age (which ended abruptly 65 million years ago). Most of the world’s proto-mammalian fossils are found in the Karoo – along with a 280 million year old fossilized shark.
• According to recent studies, the star-watching town of Sutherland in the Northern Cape is one of the most geologically stable places on Earth, yet it has a 66-million year old volcano, not yet officially extinct.
• Kimberley may have the biggest man-made hole in the world, but did you know that the southern Free State town of Jagersfontein has the deepest vertical man-made hole (and that a pair of Verreaux’s Eagles breed in it?
• South Africa is home to the world’s smallest succulent plants (less than 10 mm) and the largest (the baobab).
• Lake Fundudzi in Venda is possibly the world’s only inland freshwater lake formed by a landslide.
• The only street in the world to house two Nobel Peace prize winners is in Soweto. Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu both have houses in Vilakazi Street in Soweto.

Food and Wine

• Walt Disney serves South African wine exclusively at its 73-acre Animal Kingdom Lodge in the United States.
• South Africa has the longest wine route in the world, the R62 wine route
• South Africa is the world’s largest producer of macadamia nuts and the nuts and oils are exported to countries across the world.
• South Africa is the only country in the world where you can order something called monkey gland steak at a restaurant without the risk of a real internal organ being placed before you. It was invented many decades ago by overseas chefs as a pointed insult, aimed at the brash inhabitants of Johannesburg who poured Worcestershire and tomato sauce over everything.
• No other country eats as much kingklip as South Africans do (also known as Congrio, Ling and Rockling in other parts of the southern hemisphere).

Medicine and Science

• The world’s first heart transplant was done in South Africa in 1967 by South African Dr Chris Barnard.
• South Africa’s Dr Percy Amolis invented the Retinal Cryoprobe used successfully on former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to repair a detached retina. He also removed a cataract from Nelson Mandela’s eye that enabled the former president to, for the first time, read a speech without glasses.
• Where else is an entirely new species being recreated from scratch? The quagga vanished in a frenzy of hunting in the 1800s, but after finding that the DNA is almost identical to the common Burchell’s zebra, the species is being brought back from beyond the brink by careful breeding of stripe-challenged zebras.

Water and conservation

• There are only 12 countries in the world that supply tap water that is fit to drink, and South Africa is one of them. Our tap water quality is third best overall in the world.
• South Africa also has the world’s most progressive and admired water legislation, and it is making a real difference on the ground. Since 1998 when the so-called “Blue Revolution” began, four million more poor people have access to clean water.
• South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique are tearing down fences between the countries’ game parks to create a 35 000km2 game park which will become the largest conservation area in the world. It will be bigger than Switzerland, Belgium or Taiwan.
• South Africa is ranked number one in the world for its floral kingdom
• South Africa’s Coastal Management policy is one of the best in the world with the country being the first outside Europe to gain Blue Flag status for its coastal management.
• South Africa has the third highest level of biodiversity in the world

Innovation and Industry

• South Africa is the sole producer of the Mercedes Benz, C Class, right hand drive vehicles
• General Motors South Africa will be the only manufacturing site outside of the United States to build the Hummer H3 vehicle.
• South Africans are natural inventors, giving the world those breakwater dolosse and the automatic pool cleaner.
• We also came up with the first, largest and most viable oil-from-coal refinery (which supplies 40% of our petrol). And did you know that a South African physicist co-developed the CAT-scan, that South Africa makes the seats for Concorde, and also designs and creates flight control technology for Britain’s fighter jets.

Popularity: 29% [?]

I missed out on a week of SA Rocks because I was lucky enough to be helping introduce a brand new course – Nomadic Marketing – at UCT’s Graduate School of Business, in the company of some of our finest web.minded ones. It was a success (whew) and for those who missed out, it runs again in October. Book early this time!

I really do try to move beyond the brilliant people from the south.west shores of South Africa. I keep saying, next week, but then I always HAVE to introduce you to just one more bright Capetonian making SA rock. No exception again today.

Today I have a threefold celebration/cerebration of genius:
1. the school 2.the director 3. the course

South Africa’s oldest university – University of Cape Town’s GSB – has held the leading edge in consistently ranking as one of the Global Top 100 MBA programs by the Financial Times (London). More noteworthy though: in the Top 10 for Executive Education internationally. Did you get that?! Top TEN in the world.

The blues.singing award-winning poet, MA(cum laude) & MBA-toting director of the
Executive Education unit at the GSB is no less than a force of nature. Elaine Rumboll has cleared a path for success for UCT among the impressive old giants of business schools’ fiercely contested short-course sector. Taking risks that seem to keep paying off, primarily choosing collaboration over competition is a fairly handy strategy. One of those risks was Nomadic Marketing.

Another is this >> Business Acumen for Artists >> a 13 week program that empowers the creatively talented with the practical business skills to forge a successful and profitable career from their craft. Musicians, designers, writers, fine artists, photographers, filmmakers, poets, actors, animators.. whatever the artistic field this program has the potential to change the course of a lifetime. Enough with the starving artist routine.

If you’d love to dive into a more creative career; know an artist who really needs to take the 13 week journey or if you would like to gift an artist with this (go on unleash your inner Medici) call or mail Lisa Maddison for the application (each artist must have a goal & motivation to be realised from the program)

Conceived and developed by Elaine; associated costs taken up by the GSB; some of the business schools finest minds and visiting international lecturers and mentors in each field have offered their time for free : the full course fee goes to strengthening the Observatory Community Centre (incubator to SA legends like Tannie Evita and FreshlyGround). Stuff like this make SA Rock bigtime! It’s an exciting and very valuable endeavour.

I’ve created a blog for news and learning around BA4A and a Facebook event to make it easy for you to join the conversation. Come jump in >>

Popularity: 6% [?]

I just read a great post on Trash Media about SA, emigration, Australia, crime and grass having poop on it.

Here’s an exerpt:

Let me illustrate this concept. Let’s accept that South Africa’s crime-rate asphyxiates that of Australia. To harmonise this, our friends down under live in a country that is ruled by a certain John Howard who is intolerant of anyone who isn’t white. Additionally, he especially despises Muslims (which, of course, doesn’t help the genesis encompassing Islamic fundamentalist terrorism). To add to matters, Australia’s individual freedoms are heavily policed; I remember when I was in Sydney, a police officer explained to me how they monitor citizens who have tattoos and piercings, because such accessorising “may suggest that they’re hooligans or involved in gangs”. I am reminded of that Harvey Danger song: “Paranoia, paranoia, everybody’s comin’ to get me…”

Read the full post to do it justice and read the comments too. It’s well worth the time.

Popularity: 1% [?]

DISCLAIMER: I am more than a little biased in presenting the next talented one to you. I believe he stands on merit, but I’ve known Dave for a verrrry long time & we work together (so now you know) proceed forth.. gently >>

“You can never go wrong doing the right thing” is not something one expects to hear as the guiding philosophy of a marketer. Marketing has connotations of being best for the ethically-challenged. Truth and ubuntu have had very little to do with the business-end of marketing – until now.

There is a clear voice coming out of the distortion as business, society and new economies are disrupted by fast.paced technology here in South Africa. Recognised as the foremost authority on social media marketing (neomarketing if you will) by not only UCT’s Graduate School of Business where he lectures; but through agencies like Jupiter Drawing Room – those right on the cutting edge of new tech trend with practical application to the market NOW.

New marketing is a place where radical transparency and authenticity are the rule for those who want strategic advantage. Which is why Dave Duarte (otherwise known as the Marketing Geek) has rocketed into the attention space of those in anxious leadership to provide guidance in turbulent times.

He is young enough to immerse like a digital native into online social networks with gusto. But balances that reality with many business lessons under his belt. And the smarts to form respected strategic alliances with thought leaders across a span of industries and disciplines.

I believe Dave’s genius lies in creating communities & the effortless eventing which spawned South Africa’s first BarCamp with Conrad Strydom; into an alliance with Stormhoek to cultivate SA’s first Geekdinners; and then as a partner in Cerebra into building the wildly popular 27 Dinners. He’s gradually introduced the deepest techies to their previous nemesis: marketers - and forged a strong bond on both sides, with exciting projects born of these gatherings.

He can be found talking about the future of marketing on the move just about everywhere : at conferences, global summits, to MBA classes, in newspapers, magazines, radio and TV, or rocking a dinner for brilliant professors.

All with customary humour and uncluttered concepts for immediate application. Dave’s great fun to be around, as well as being one of those very useful fellows to have on your side when business as you knew it stops making sense.

PS. UCT Business School will be running the Nomadic Marketing course on which Dave serves as course director. Starting on the 17th July (3days of Web2.0/mobile media & marketing) and due to demand have extended applications till the end of this week :
¡sǝɯıʇ ʎʌɹnʇ.ʎsdoʇ ǝsǝɥʇ uı ʎʇuıɐʇɹǝɔ ǝɹoɯ ɹǝɟɟo puɐ buıʇǝʞɹɐɯ ɟo suoıʇdǝɔɹǝd ɹnoʎ dı1ɟ ʎʇ1nɔɐɟ ɹǝʍod ǝɥʇ & ǝʌɐp sɐ ɥɔʇɐʍ ǝɯoɔ

..and if you can read that you certainly are welcome to join us in this groundbreaking program and put your ability to see things differently to practical use. Come see the likes of Prof Jon Foster-Pedley, Mike Stopforth, Vinny Lingham, Emma Kay, Uwe Gutschow, Heather Ford, Eric Edelstein & many more dazzling minds share their insights.

PPS. Dave also offers customised in-house presentations or specialised courses on neomarketing & social media marketing >> it’s easy to connect in with Dave and the Nomadic Marketing faculty – click here.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Kate Thompson’s Tea and Biltong with the Queen:

Leaving home is a virtually universal experience, whether it’s a minor move from your folks’ home to your own place just down the road, or a major one like emigrating – it can be a heady mix of emotions, simultaneously exciting and terrifying. When I first moved away to university I had a small taste of this, but it didn’t compare to the experience of moving overseas.

I thought I’d minimised the shock by picking a country with similarities to my own, and at least one I knew a little about.
Speak the same language – check!
Have family to house me for the first little while – check!
Familiarity with the culture? Well, let’s see: Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, an obsession with horses and dogs –check, check, check!

Well, the thought process wasn’t quite as naïve and clichéd as that, but I did think I’d thought it out and was prepared, but the truth is I hadn’t a clue. Culturally, despite being brought up in an English speaking family in an ex-British colony, it turns out (insert sigh of relief here) we have nothing in common.

It is so hard to pin down what South African culture is. Maybe we could venture a guess at some familiar pillars of Xhosa culture, of Ndebele or Afrikaans or English South Africans – but we’d be hard pressed to narrow it down in any meaningful way. And that’s not nearly as hard as describing South African culture, with tons of languages, peoples, and influences. I’m not a sociologist or an ethnographer, and I doubt even their ability to do that, – but, here’s the kicker, it doesn’t matter!

You don’t have to pin down the culture of your home to know that it exists. It’s something so ingrained, so subtly learnt that you don’t know that you’ve learnt to read the signs or even that there are any signs for you to read, until the signs change (when you wake up on another continent, for example).

This may contain a few overused examples, (we all know why something becomes a cliché, after all), but below is a list of some good South African words, phrases and understandings:

1. “Now” – this is great word. It can be used to mean this minute, or in an hour or two. Combined with “just” or repeated as in “just now” and “now now”, this tiny simple word can mean virtually any time without ever being specific.

2. “Howzit, how are you?” – no, I haven’t just repeated myself. One is a greeting and one is question – obviously!

3. “Ja no” – another absolutely nonsense phrase which adds little of worth to a sentence, except for what it adds in colour. Can be used instead of “um”, as in “Do you have the keys? Ja no, I last saw them in the kitchen”.

4. Bilingual and Creative swearing – most South Africans speak at least two languages, and even those we don’t speak we hear often enough to learn the fun and useful bits. I love swearing in Afrikaans and Xhosa round the office and getting away with it, while the office manager has a go at other staff for saying innocuous things like “Damn”. Oh, and South Africans love a good euphemism. My personal favourite is “Ooooh, veldskoen!”

5. The Metric System – the simple decimal system that the two most powerful nations in the world can’t wrap their simple heads around. It’s just easier folks!

6. “Robot” – traffic lights are robots. Sure it’s a little old fashioned sounding, but they’ll never be anything else to me. Oh, and this applies to “packet” too. I get blank looks when I ask for one here because in the UK they’re simply “bags”.

7. “Pavement special” – don’t make the mistake of referring to a cute mix breed dog as this. People in England take pedigree seriously, far too seriously. Maybe that’s why they still have a royal family?!

Popularity: 5% [?]