SA Rocks

This year saw the third annual Amazing Race in Joburg take place. More than 80 teams took part in the event in 2008.

The event is basically a clue hunt to raise money for charity. This year the event supported The Princess Alice adoption home and a Primary School called Paradise Bend in Lanseria.

I think this is a great initiative that was started by the same gentlemen who created the hugely successful Facebook group for the International Monopoly board voting for Cape Town.

The Times were there in full force and not only covered the event but participated in it too.

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This is going to be a long post because Saturday the 1st of December was a long and worthy day – Aids day.

I am fairly anal and excessively organised when it comes to concerts. When the concert is an all day affair involving close to 20 musical acts, 10 females and me, I try to be as jacked and sorted as possible.

With this in mind, we arrived at the Wits park and ride at about 11:30. This was after about an hour driving around town and Wits campus looking for the park and ride. There were no signs. I am happy to report that this was probably the worst organisation of the entire event.

Once we were on the bus things began to pick up. We arrived at Ellis part, all ten of us, and managed to get ourselves Golden Circle tickets! I hadn’t booked Golden Circle but what a score (thanks Kirty). So off we went right to the front. We were probably some of the first people in the stadium which was great.

The stage was massive, elaborate and of a very high standard, it’s great to know that people take things seriously now here in SA. 46664 was plastered all over the place and the message for the day was clear: It’s in our hands.

Live front man, Ed Kowalzcyk underneath the 46664 motto.

Now before I carry on explaining how magnificent the day was, the weather turned out and the crowd was, let me explain something: Concerts of this nature are merely for the pleasure of the crowd and satisfaction of the artists. But somewhere in this mess of self satisfaction and fulfillment the message of the day hits home for some. Not all.

The message for the 46664 concert was that HIV/Aids is not a disease anymore, it has become a human rights issue. I couldn’t agree more and took this message to heart with every word in every song from every artist. I absolutely loved the concert, artists and entire day and night.

The undoubted highlight of the entire 12 hour event was the father of African freedom and liberation himself, Nelson Mandela (Madiba), coming on to stage – assisted ofcourse – and saying a speech. I am not sure if you have ever heard thousands of people (pissed or sober) shut up in a matter of seconds. It took the crowd about 10 minutes of clapping, cheering and rejoicing his presence before Madiba was allowed to get a word in. Tears flowed at the sight of the man, the crowd was visibly moved, shaken and blown away that he is still able to grab and hold the attention of so many so quickly.

No sooner had I stopped taking photos, was the man gone from the stage with every single artist performing on the day following the crowds lead and cheering, shouting and screaming their appreciation for Nelson Mandela.

Way before Madiba even arrived on stage there were some phenomenal acts that took stage.

Razorlight, Arno Carstens, Louise Carver, Cassette, Freshly Ground, Peter Gabriel (who went on for way, way, way, way too long) and many more absolutely rocked the house.

Naomi Campbell even showed face, managed to get Arno Carstens name right and pronounce 46664 without missing one of the sixes! Annie Lennox, as official spokesperson, said some very harsh, true, effective and real words. I was mightily impressed with the very collected manner in which all the artists dealt with the theme for the day. No one spoke for too long, no one harped on, placed blame or even said that we were living in sin. Everyone was accepting, graceful, eloquent and effective.

After Mandela left the stage everyone immediately asked who or what could possibly follow. The answer was Live. Live blew everyone away. Old, young, hippie, rocker, blues fan or any other were all moved by the heated, intense and deep show put on by the international superstars. The only criticism is that they were only given three songs.

The Goo Goo Dolls were next in line for me as I waited for the rocking that they could bring. And did they rock? Yes, they did.

In amongst the festivities our deputy president showed face, gave a bit of a speech, didn’t harp on for too long and moved right off the stage as if she was never even there. It’s tough to not be Nelson Mandela in politics these days. Dep. pres. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka tried her best and credit to her, but she just couldn’t get the crowd to shut up.

The day was long – as I’ve said – but well worth it. The organisation skills were impeccable, the stage rotated allowing for fast band/musician changes. This meant that the crowd enjoyed more music in ten or twelve hours than I thought was possible. Ludacris was a gangsta as only he could be and Jamelia is a stunning beauty with an incredible smile and legs that extend to the moon. Beautiful.

The last point that I would like to make is how absolutely incredible the South African performers were. Loyiso did a duet with Corinne Bailey Ray, Just Jinger rocked the house as I had forgotten they could. Goldfish absolutely blew me away – I’ve never heard them before and I’ve never seen two guys have so much fun on a stage.

Johnny Clegg managed yet again to pull together a top class act that lead in to Nelson Mandela coming on stage.

Before I begin to bore you with my consistent banter let me just show you a collection of photographs that I took (there are a lot of them so visit my 46664 set on flickr if you like).

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I found the below video via Homecoming Revolution’s blog. There is a continuing buzz in SA and Johannesburg about the Gautrain but much of it is heresay.

There is a strangely scarce amount of hard fact around and about regarding the largest Public Transport project on the African continent.

Watch the video now:

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This weekend I attended an absolutely fantastic event called the Taste of Joburg. The event featured 17 of the top restaurants in Johannesburg as well as various other stands containing wine, fruit juices, ice-creams, pesto-sauces and much more.

There were no cash transaction so the currency of the day was the “Crown”. One crown represents R5. This made for interesting mathematical calculations from a journalist such as myself. I did spend quite a bit of money over the four hours I was present. Entrance cost R120 so just getting in wasn’t cheap.

No meal was more than 8 Crowns or less than 4 Crowns. When I say meal what I really mean is a taste-sized plate of food. None of the meals were a true restaurant size meal. Most were a single, smaller sized portion of food. When I say food what I mean is top quality cuisine from top chefs in Joburg and top restaurant. Many of the meals were really not worth the 8 Crowns they would cost so I skipped past those. I tried food from the Saxon, March, Roots, Yum and many others.

Overall everything about the event was classy, well-organised and fantastic to be a part of. It was not particularly well attended on Saturday but I think that was due to late advertising. I was impressed with the vast amounts of Marquees and the great state of the “Nice” toilets supplied by Berman Hire; nice toilets really do make an event of this kind a pleasure to attend.

Next years event is sure to be just as good and more than likely even better.

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The Discovery/702 Walk The Talk is officially over. And it was phenomenal.

There were close to 40 000 people who walked across the board, that includes the 5KM, 8KM, 20(ish)KM and 40(ish)KM walks. Throughout the walk I tried to do a walkthrough podcast that explained what the team and I were up to, what we discussed, saw and heard. However much of it wasn’t really useful as the noise was too much. Much of it I have strung together and will be releasing tomorrow as the 5th SA RocksCast. Lookout for that one!

For now let me take you through the day:

The instructions suggested that all “athletes” arrive at the venue 2 hours before the start of their walk. That meant that we were at the start very early. The event was so well organised that almost all of the 5KM participants were ready and waiting to start about 45minutes before the start was scheduled. Brilliant.

The spirits of the participants was extremely high and everyone was keen to have a bit of a stroll and a good time. The only issue that I had with the start was that the commentary from the 702 DJs was a bit too loud and in your face. This was quickly resolved after the start as we moved past Jenni and Aki and took it all in our stride. By that I mean a slow stride.

This event is such a joy for various reasons, one of these reasons being the lack of competitiveness. No one is there to win because there are no winners. Everyone receives a medal at the end and we all felt like winners. I was accompanied by a very small but well equipped team of 5 (include myself). I put this first event down to experience. Next year I hope to have a massive team consisting of more than just SA Rocks T-shirts that get lost in the crowd. I was thinking something along the lines of overalls for next year, painted or dyed in a lumo-green colour!

While minding my own business and enjoy a lovely stroll I bumped in to Steve Waugh. Can you believe it? What a great testament to the event and our lovely country and beautiful city, to have the ex-Australian cricket captain taking part! (On a side note, I hear that Steve now lives in SA, how’s that for choosing the better of two countries?)

Once we carried on it dawned on the SA Rocks team that there were thousands and thousands… and thousands of people taking part in the walk. We participated in the 5KM walk which was more than enough for our fist go. Everywhere we looked there were happy, contented, walking, talking and bubbly people.

Eventually we hit the 4KM mark and were pleased to see it. We walked for just over an hour (approximately 1hr 15mins) which I thought wasn’t too shabby. After reaching the finish line we were quickly handed medals, ushered to the party area and walked through to our cars. The event was so well organised that within 20 minutes we had walked to our cars and made our way away from any and all traffic.

I would like to thank the people who supported the idea, who walked with me today and all the people in JHB (and elsewhere) who took part. I can’t exactly tell you why I was so proud and contented to take part in the event but I can tell you that it was worth every step.

Obviously there is more to tell but I don’t want to bore people so I suggest taking part next year, checking out the photos in the SA Rocks group and listening to the podcast tomorrow!

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Join SA Rocks in Walking the Talk with 702. All proceeds made by the SA Rocks team will go to a Charity selected by SA Rocks (help me decide a suitable charity, comment and let me know which charity you would choose)!

SA ROCKS and family are going to be taking part in the 5KM fun Walk. This is not a competitive event, SA Rocks wants to show the real world that bloggers and their family and friends care about SA. Don your South African colours and paraphernalia to show your support for our country and a ROCKING SA!!

Entry costs R50 for the 5km fun walk, any and all donations are welcome on the day. To secure yourself an SA Rocks T-shirt donate R100 before June 1st.

Entries close on June 15th so hurry and get yourself entered. Please follow the steps below to successfully join the SA ROCKS team. Please leave your name and the names of your friends and family in the comment section or email editor@sarocks.co.za so I am aware of who is entering!

Steps to follow:
1. If you have entered before, provide you ID number and register for this years walk. If not, register as a participant and then register for this years event.
2. Ensure that you specify your Discovery Health membership number so you get your Vitality points.
3. Enter as a bulk entry and provide your family and friends details too.
4. Indicate TEAM entry and then indicate 5KM RUN.
4. Enter SA Rocks (typed as is) as the team you wish to join.
5. Join us on the July 22nd and have some fun.

The Details:
What: 5km walk
When: July 22nd
Time: 10:30
Start: Judith Street off Beyers Naude.
End: Marks Park.

Map:

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Internet access is always a contentious issue in South Africa. We have a total population of nearly 50 million people however only 10.3% of our population have access to the Internet*. For so long South Africa as a whole has been limited, largely because we don’t have the infrastructure and it simply costs too much, but this is all starting to change.

Government’s stance and approach on broadband at the moment is going to change the information age in this country and there are a couple of projects which are really starting to take shape.

There has been a lot of coverage lately about the City of Johannesburg’s broadband network project. This R500 million project aims to provide broadband Internet access to the entire Johannesburg population, catering for more than R3 million people.

Over 180 private sector delegates met at an industry briefing recently with an aim to get clarity on the project scope. The contract will eventually be awarded to one service provider who will in turn provide the following services to anyone in Johannesburg:

• WWW Internet browsing,
• VoIP telephony,
• Television and radio over IP,
• Video-on-demand,
• e-government services,
• Free Internet zones and
• Virtual private networks.

There is no clear idea yet what technology will be used but talks of WiFi, WiMAX and fibre optics are all on the cards. The only major requirement is that connectivity speeds of the 1,644 square kilometre network should be no less than 2Mbps, providing a true broadband solution to the people.

In Durban, the Ethekwini municipality is offering free wireless Internet at 85 libraries. Members can make use of either the library computers or bring their own wireless laptops and get free Internet access. Membership to a library is free and your personal membership number is used to join the wireless network which really makes the whole system secure and easy to use.

Government can eradicate the accessibility and affordability issues we face with major projects like these and as this happens it will shape a new era in Internet usage by providing an invaluable tool to the people that previously hadn’t even heard about it.

Justin Hartman

* Statistical data provided by:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/africa.htm#za

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Colin Daniels recently took a trip to Sweden and suprisingly, in the original post, all he could say about the O R Tambo Airport was positive. When he returned to SA this is what he found:

Interestingly enough, one of the most surprising parts of my trip was arriving back at OR Tambo Airport (formerly Johannesburg International). My usual experience upon arriving back at the international terminal where KLM lands, is a) one of disappointment and b) maddening rage to the point where I feel like picking up my hand luggage and crushing people’s skulls in; but this time was different. For a start, I didn’t need to take a bus from the plane and there were actually home affairs officials waiting at the gate checking people’s passports and directing them to the correct border control desk and that was just the beginning! An abundance of trolleys greeted happy passengers as they crossed through immigration and a clear, well-spoken voice announced which travelator our luggage was on. Airport staff were generally friendly and helpful and there was even a policemen with a sniffer dog checking people’s bags. On the way through customs, a second x-ray scan and search was done before entering the arrivals section. World class.

Everything I have described was unheard of as recently as a few months ago when I last landed at that particular terminal. If the airport continues to make improvements like this, I truly think we will be able to cope with the high influx of tourists that are anticipated over the next couple of years. Thank you ACSA or Fifa or whoever is responsible for the improvements that are being seen on the ground by ordinary citizens such as myself. I am finally optimistic about landing at OR Tambo and I hope the same can be said for other South African airports?

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The Sandton Chronicle today has an article in it about a website called JOZIKIDS. The site is a resource for parents and teachers looking for things for their kids to do on weekends, after school and on holiday. What a great idea for exposing the positive things that kids in SA and more specifically Johannesburg can do.

A list of things for parents and teachers to search through at JOZIKIDS:

• To Go
• To Eat
• To Learn
• To Teach
• To Read
• To Party
• To Shop
• To Watch

The calendar that JOZIKIDS provides will give an in-depth look at what is going on in and around Johannesburg, from Sandton to Soweto

JOZIKIDS will be launching on 31 March. If you are a parent or teacher in Johannesburg bookmark this site!

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