Bua Briefs 144
11 September 2009
Football Fridays
The 2010 FIFA World Cup™ South Africa Organising Committee, the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS), South African Tourism, the SABC, FIFA and the International Marketing Council – all represented in the 2010 National Communication Partnership (NCP) – have launched Football Fridays under the ambit of the NCP’s Fly the Flag for Football Campaign.
Football Fridays showcase our positive anticipation of the 2010 World Cup as another defining moment for a country that has achieved a great deal since 1994.
- An initiative of the Southern Sun hotel group, Football Fridays has now become an official, national celebration.
- Football Fridays are a fun and simple way for everyone in South Africa and South Africans abroad to be part of the excitement in the build-up to the World Cup.
- All are invited to show support for our national team, Bafana Bafana, by wearing the football supporter kit every Friday until the 2010 World Cup and to attend matches across the country.
- It is a celebration of our passion to fly the flag for the game of football, to display our national symbols, build a cohesive nation and to learn our national anthem.
The 2010 NCP will sustain the Fly the Flag for Football Campaign for domestic mobilisation.
- All South Africans – and anyone living in our country – are invited to fly the flag, learn the national anthem and embrace these symbols with pride.
- Let us celebrate our unique “South African-ness” through diverse cultural activities, including the diski dance and proudly South African music.
- Working with various sectors of society to intensify Football Fridays, we must display the spirit of a winning nation.
- Let everybody become part of Team South Africa and contribute towards a memorable World Cup by showcasing our spirit of ubuntu to the world. Let us become good hosts for the world to revisit our shores even long after the World Cup event.
KE NAKO: AFRICA’S TIME HAS COME
Second South Africa (SA)-European Union (EU) Summit
South Africa is hosting the second SA-EU Summit on 11 September 2009, in Cape Town. This strategic partnership was established in May 2007 and is a continuation of discussions that have already taken place during six SA-EU Ministerial Troika meetings since November 2004. This summit reaffirms the commitment of both entities towards a strategic partnership based on shared values and interest, including the promotion of peace and security, human rights, democracy, the rule of law and sustainable development.
The EU is an important trade and strategic partner for South Africa and this forum provides South Africa with a unique opportunity to enhance EU-SA relations.
- In 2007, South Africa’s exports to the EU-15 amounted to R137 billion. The EU ranked as South Africa’s number one exporting region in 2007. South Africa’s total imports from the EU-15 amounted to R176 billion in the same year, also ranking number one.
- South Africa is one of only eight counties in the world that has a strategic partnership with the EU.
- The strategic partnership provides an important platform for frank and uninhibited discussions as well as information-sharing between South Africa and the EU.
- The SA-EU strategic partnership presents South Africa with the opportunity to promote the African Agenda internationally.
- The partnership forms the basis for an enhanced and deepened relationship in diverse, exciting and new areas of development.
The SA-EU strategic partnership affords South Africa an opportunity to address shared bilateral, regional and global interests.
- We are committed to working together with the EU on the reform of the international financial institutions to reflect changes in the world economy and the challenges of globalisation.
- The current global economic crisis will hamper efforts to achieve the millennium development goals and discussions would therefore need to include measures to mitigate the effect of the crisis, particularly on developing countries.
- The challenges of climate change, particularly its impact on the most vulnerable countries, are better dealt with through collective means such as the strategic partnership.
- South Africa has the support of the EU on the commitment to the African Agenda, including the African Union and its socio-economic programme, the New Partnership for Africa’s Agenda.
Highlights
- SumbandilaSat
Cabinet has announced that preparations for the launch of the South African-made satellite, SumbandilaSat, into space were proceeding smoothly. The R26-million low-orbit satellite is the product of a three-year satellite development programme that was commissioned by the Department of Science and Technology and is aimed at producing images to be used for agriculture, mapping of infrastructure and land use, population measurement and the monitoring of dam levels.
- Launches of the Child Vaccination Campaign
The Ministry of Health to get vaccinations and immunity-boosting vitamins to three million children across the country.
- Government steps up swine flu campaign
Government has launched an information campaign to help people cope with the swine flu pandemic and explain the symptoms of the virus and advising on the best response to it.
- South Africa’s airports' check-ins to be improved prior to the World Cup
State Information Technology Agency (SITA) to improve check-in and self-service facilities at South Africa’s airports ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. It will handle up to 78 000 passengers and 260 international flights per day.
