Tag: south africa

Red Hot Chili Peppers in South Africa in 2013

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Yes, apparently this time the rumours might be true: The Red Hot Chili Peppers are set to tour South Africa (ie. visit Joburg and Cape Town) in 2013.

We’ve all heard that the Chilis will be playing in South Africa in 2010 before the World Cup and in 2010 after the World Cup and that they also are playing in South Africa in 2011 and, of course, who could forget those several times in 2012 that the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be playing in South Africa?

However, this new information (much like all the other information), which pushes the potential concerts back still further to 2013 comes (apparently, allegedly) straight from the horse’s mouth. And the particular equine in question is Attie van Wyk, founder of Big Concerts. This demonstrates the sheer desperation of the social media music scene in getting very excited about a band whose biggest hits wowed us just 21 years ago who may or may not play a concert which may or may not be happening in South Africa in the next 23½ months.

If the tour does happen, they will be supported (ever so ably, I’m sure) by The Parlotones. Tickets – to our great surprise and annoyance – will be available from Computicket, whose website – to our great surprise and annoyance – will crash on the morning that sales open.
The concerts will be well attended, the beer will run out after 20 minutes and the sound at the Cape Town Stadium will be a bit crap.

See you there!

Mental!

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Yesterday’s cricket at Newlands was a bit mental and broke all sort of records. And even those records that it didn’t break, it threatened with physical violence and actual bodily harm.
Cricinfo’s chief statistician S Rajesh was watching it all from the safety of Bangalore and produced this wonderful summary of what happened, what didn’t happen and what nearly happened.

It’s worth a read.

And even today, it’s been a bit odd:

Lots of silly hype about 11/11/11 and especially about 11:11 on 11/11/11.

In the cricket at Newlands, SA messed up by being 111/1 11 minutes early at 11:00 on 11/11/11.
However, they made up for it 11 minutes later by needing 111 to win at 11:11 on 11/11/11.

*cue twilight zone music*

Census 2011: Get informed

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Lots of panicky, kneejerk comment on the story that criminals posing as census officials robbed a house in Kensington, Johannesburg yesterday, but blaming the real census officials for this is like blaming FNB for sending phishing emails.

Reading the report: “Symons said the doorbell rang and two men in green jackets told him over the intercom they were census workers”.
And that says it all, because census officers won’t be wearing green jackets.

As we said yesterday, census officials can be identified as follows:

1) A yellow satchel with the Census and Stats SA logos
2) An A3-size book with a map of the area on the first page
3) A yellow bib with the Census and Stats SA logo
4) A black cap with the Stats SA logo
5) An ID card with a hologram of the Census 2011 logo (SA map with the words “You Count” below it).

These persons can be verified by calling 0800 110 248 or 080 236 787 2, which is toll-free from a landline.

Who is to blame for this lack of knowledge? My Symons and his ilk or Stats SA for not getting the message out there?
I’ve seen an awful lot of information on the net, in the newspapers and on billboards, but maybe Mr Symons doesn’t read the papers, doesn’t go on the internet, doesn’t get out much.

Right now, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is, but it does prove that understanding the system is key in preventing this sort of thing happening more often. To that end, herewith two posters released by Stats SA via their Facebook presence which have a lot of useful information on them:

                

 Click on them to make them bigger and have a read.

I’d like to draw your attention particularly to the text in the small red box in the corner of that first poster:

Important:
If you do not want to grant an enumerator access to your home, you are not obliged to, but you are obliged under the Statistics Act  to provide your household information on the questionnaire. You may either self complete or give your information to the enumerator in your yard, over a gate or through a fence. It’s your choice.

Another note which isn’t mentioned clearly here is that fieldworkers work alone: “Do not allow more than one fieldworker into your home – if you are not sure , please contact 0800 110 248 or call your local police” say Stats SA.

And here’s a useful article from the M&G telling you what they are going to ask you about.

Please share this post (shortlink: http://bit.ly/SAcensus) and the information within as widely as possible: more informed people means less chance of incidents like the one above.

EDIT: Just interested to know – would you have known this information before you read it here?

Mountain Biker gets taken out by buck

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Does exactly what it says on the tin:

Says YouTube user mscmcc:

Mountain Biker, Evan van der Spuy of Team Jeep South Africa got taken out by a RED HARTEBEES at amountain bike race at Albert Falls Dam. Check out this crazy footage which was taken by team mate Travis Walker on his GoPro Camera – The BUCK sure does STOP HERE with Evan van der Spuy aka #BUCKNORRIS

Top marks for adding the slo-mo and the super-slo-mo.

Africa ain’t for sissies…

RESPONSE TO MISLEADING COMMUNIQUE ON CENSUS 2011

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Sorry for the shouting in the title above. The perils of cut and paste.

I thought that I’d share this info with my South African readers who may or may not (this being SA) be aware that the 2011 Census began today. And it seems that there may be some confusion over who will be dropping in at your house to hand over your census forms.

Since early August, a company called SMC (Security Management Consultants) has been circulating a communiqué giving information on what to expect from census officials. This communiqué is based on a document relating to the 2010 Census conducted by the US Census Bureau, and contains a number of misleading facts, which in no way relates to the census being conducted in South Africa.

Like I said – the perils of cut and paste… Anyway:

The company concerned has since retracted this document; however, as it is still in circulation, Stats SA would hereby like to inform the public what they should expect.
Stats SA, as a government department, is the only agency mandated to conduct the census, under the auspices of the Statistics Act (Act no 6 of 1999). Stats SA fieldworkers will be in your area from 10 – 31 October 2011, going door-to-door to conduct interviews.

Census officials can be identified as follows:

1) A yellow satchel with the Census and Stats SA logos
2) An A3-size book with a map of the area on the first page
3) A yellow bib with the Census and Stats SA logo
4) A black cap with the Stats SA logo
5) An ID card with a hologram of the Census 2011 logo (SA map with the words “You Count” below it).

These persons can be verified by calling 0800 110 248 or 080 236 787 2, which is toll-free from a landline.

They shouldn’t ask you for your ID number or banking details:

If anyone comes to your door claiming to be a census official and asks you for information such as your ID number, banking details, etc. they are not part of the census process and should be turned away immediately.

but they may ask you for your phone number:

Enumerators may ask you for your telephone number; this is for quality check purposes only e.g. if the questionnaire shows that there is a 5-year-old in your household with a PhD, it will be easier to contact the household telephonically than to do a physical return visit to the household.

They’ve obviously never met my genius 5-year-old son…

Additionally, you can keep up to date with the latest Census 2011 news on the web, on Facebook or on Twitter. They also have a “very useful” Know Your Fieldworker tool, which didn’t work for me.