Rock star Annie Lennox has gathered 23 fellow female artists to create a song that will raise awareness of the Aids epidemic in South Africa – specifically the need of treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
The song “Sing” features the Treatment Action Campaign choir “The Generics” and 23 fellow female artists including Madonna, Angelique Kidjo, Joss Stone, Celine Dion, KD Lang, Fergie and Gladys Knight.
It will be included on her album due for release later this year and proceeds will be donated to the TAC.
Lennox recently visited Khayelitsha in Cape Town and spoke to Health-e – you can read the interview here.
She is only one of many celebrities passionate about making a difference in South Africa. Apart from King Bono and Prince Harry (who we all know has a specific interest in Southern Africa), look who we recently spotted supporting charity work in our country.

That’s right, Jude Law (pictured here with representatives from SA Times and the SA High Commission) recently attended a concert by the Young Zulu Warriors at South Africa House in London. He actively supports the KwaZulu-Natal-based charity God’s Golden Acre and told SA Times he so enjoyed the time he spent out there recently that he plans to return in December.
Ex-wife Sadie Frost introduced the last performance of the Young Zulu Warriors’ UK tour at St Mary’s Church in Edgware Road last Wednesday.

Feeling a little under the weather?
Most likely you are suffering from SWISS – Symptons of Winter in Summer Syndrome.
We’re not kidding! SA Times has learnt that High Street chemist sales of flu and cold remedies are up 60% compared to June and July last year. Pharmacists have dubbed this phenomenon SWISS and ascribe it to the relatively high temperatures combined with damp conditions that we’ve been experiencing so far in Britain’s washout summer.
Time to book that flight home!

South African adventure racer Julian Crabtree is doing a triathlon from London to Paris including swimming the channel. Only two people have ever done it before and he will be the first South Africa. In the process he will raise money for the Nelson Mandela Children’s fund.

The challenge consists of running 87 miles from the centre of London to the Dover coast, swimming the English Channel (22 miles) and then cycling 180 miles from Calais to the centre of Paris. The record is 80 hours - get behind him at www.juliancrabtree.com!

It constantly amazes us how many stories we get flooding into our inbox about South Africans attempting amazing feats such as swimming the channel, cycling the length of Britain, cycling from London to Cape Town, rowing around the world, climbing the three highest peaks in Britain … the list goes on …

Most of these attempts are in aid of charity. Hats of to all you brave and adventurous South Africans out there. Although we don’t always have space to publicize every story, we’d love to list your attempts here, so keep them coming.

We went to see the London debut of The Chilli Boy at the Jermyn Street Theatre in Piccadilly last night - what a laugh!

It’s a one-man show but actor Matthew Ribnick transforms himself into about seven characters - ranging from an old Indian woman to a young Afrikaans thug - morphing from one into the other using only the slight hint of a cap or a sari to help convey the change. His use of physical space, facial contortians and spot-on accents are brilliant and he is an expert at keeping the audience’s attention.

The story is about an old Indian woman who after her death is reincarnated as a white gangster from Boksburg. This oke is tough, no one messes with him and he and his gang has a good “working relationship” with the local “Lebs”. But then one day he starts getting flashbacks from his previous life - his maternal instincts surfice and he no longer wants to fight, much to the consternation of his gang members, who worry about losing their tough reputation. He also starts cooking Indian food - much to the consternation of his Calvinistic racist mother who’d rather have a son involved in a brawl than a “gay” boy making her house smell of Indians!

Geraldine Naidoo’s script is masterful - together with Ribnick’s versatile acting they manage to bring to life almost the full range of cultural stereotypes we find in South Africa. And the dialogue is so sharp you’re doubled up with laughter for the entire one-hour run of the show.

It remains to be seen whether the British audiences will pick up the various local references that add much of the humour to The Chilli Boy - will they understand the Boksburg setting? Will they realise the huge divide between Patricia Lewis and Kwaito? Will they be shocked at the callous reference to crime? Will they laugh at the blatantly racist post-apartheid characters, or shuffle uncomfortably in their seats at the lack of political correctness?

It remains to be seen. But this is yet another fantastic example of how South Africans are bridging culture and race lines by learning to laugh at themselves and understand each other.

The show is almost sold out, but SA Times is running a 2 for 1 ticket offer for Thursday’s matinée performance at 3pm. Simply call the box office on 020 7287 2875 and quote “SA Times”.

If anyone has seen it - let us know what you think!

SA Times had the privilege of spending the day onboard the SA Navy’s SAS Amatola on Saturday to commemorate the sinking of the SS Mendi 90 years ago. You can read more about that in this week’s SA Times but here is a look behind the scenes …

The SAS Amatola - one of four valour class frigates South Africa recently acquired. They are state-of-the-art warships built in Germany. Here it lies moored in Portsmouth harbour. The SAS Amatola was in Britain for a training match that would officially qualify it for war. This entailed life-like “war games” - complete with missile and submarine attacks, “dead bodies” and hull damage. Sunday Times correspondent Rowan Philp was onboard when the action went down - read his article here.


These three SA Navy divers were tasked with the job of rescuing any of the guests who should fall over board. They assured us that they would have us out within five minutes. We felt quite safe in their clearly capable hands …

Should the Man Over Board signal be sounded, the ship would immediately come to a stop. The SAS Amatola is 121m long and yet it can go from its top speed of 30 knots to standstill within 290m, thanks to its custom-designed waterjet crash-stop technology. This is truly amazing - all the more so when you take into consideration that the ship weighs 3500 tons!

This photagraph was taken on the bridge, from where he ship is steered. The captain is in the right corner peering out over the ocean. What was most striking was the number of people stationed on lookout at all times, ready to spot the smallest irregularity or object in the water - this despite the state-of-the-art radar equipment.

The bridge, however, is not really where the ship is run from - we later visited the control room from where every steering and missile firing decision is made and communicated to the bridge. We’re not allowed say much about the “top secret” technology in this room and no photos were permitted! But it was amazing to see how the people actually steering the ship were in a room without any windows - they can’t see a thing of what is going on outside and rely solely on technology for final decision making.

Last night SA Times had the pleasure of attending a dinner at the South African High Commission commemorating the 90th anniversay of the sinking of the SS Mendi – a WW2 tragedy in which 607 South African troops lost their lives. It’s a fascinating story and you can read more about it in the next edition of SA Times.

The highlight of the evening – other than seeing members of the South African navy in their dashing regalia – was a performance by the SA Navy band. They truly surpassed all our expectations. “No ordinary navy band,” a member of the High Commission warned us after seeing them perform earlier that day on Trafalgar Square.

Indeed not.

This must be the most representative and diverse band we’ve ever seen represent South Africa. Their members cover the entire age and cultural spectrum of the Rainbow nation – and so does their music.
“I think the only South African genre they didn’t cover was Hip Hop,” remarked one guest. Classical brass band instruments are complimented with the marimba and penny whistle and their repertoire included opera, Afrikaans folk, typical Cape Carnival renditions complete with twirling striped umbrellas, and covers ranging from Freshlyground to Louis Armstrong.

Apparently they’re world renowned, but this is the first time we’ve had the joy of hearing them perform. Hopefully when they next return we can show of their talent to a wider UK audience.

Maybe some web genius out there can offer to create them a worthy website.

Three cheers for Robbie Hunter!!! Hip-hip - hip-hip - hip-hip Horaaay!
The 30-year-old has claimed South Africa’s first ever Tour de France victory by winning the 11th stage of the race in Montpellier today.
The Barloworld rider won a crash-hit sprint ahead of Swiss Fabian Cancellara.
Hunter said: “I have raced in the Tour six times, and I have always been the only South African. I can’t find the words to express how delighted I am to have won finally.”

SA Times had a correspondent at the London leg of the Tour de France – click here to see Christine van der Merwe’s photos of Robbie Hunter and here to view her photos of Team Barloworld.

Anyone who has read Rian Malan’s My Traitor’s Heart might wonder whatever happened to the Alcock family. Malan devotes chapters to their brave work in rural Msinga during the apartheid years. The book tells of the tragic death of Neil Alcock who was “murdered for his trouble”. His wife Creina, “a strange and bewitching creature”, apparently still lives in the same hut in Msinga. But for the first time Rian has now written about the couple’s two boys - GG and Khonya, as they are known. Two “white Zulu’s” - in the true sense of the word (”not the urban fakers whose Zuluness consists largely of dreadlocks and tribal bangles” and certainly not “white liberals who presume to understand Africa but run for trauma counselling if a hard man so much as looks at them”). You simply have to read The Fabulous Alcock boys article that recently appeared in the Observer for yourself. You’ll laugh; you’ll be fascinated; and - as with My Traitor’s Heart - you’ll gain a deeper insight into South Africa.

SA Wines Online - the friendly web-based wine company with whom SA Times partners to bring you the SA Times Wine Club - is holding its own with some of the UK’s biggest retailers. They have just been shortlisted for Decanters Online Wine Merchant of the Year - and they need your vote to win.!

Decanter is Britain’s leading wine magazine and the retailer awards are held in conjunction with the famous Decanter World Wine Awards, with a shortlist drawn up in different categories by their expert panel. SA Wines Online is competing against Tesco, Waitrose and the Wine Society for the prestigious title of Online Wine Merchant of the Year.

The UK is the most important export market for South African wine, so help raise awareness of our fabulous wines by casting your vote on Decanters website - and stand a chance to win a complete set of Decanter wine accessories. Voting closes on the 3 August

The Homecoming Revolution are once again planning a big event in London in October this year aimed at attracting South Africans back home.
Last year they held an event at the Chelsea Football Club in Fulham aimed at providing South Africans thinking about returning home with practical information. Called Woza Ekhaya (Come Home), the event focused on recruitment and buying property in South Africa.
This year, SA Times has been told, they will be moving to a bigger and better venue: Olympia Conference Centre. Watch SA Times for the details.
In the meantime, the Homecoming Revolution have been conducting a “Where in the World” online survey in order to establish where South Africans abroad are living and what they are doing. If you haven’t yet participated, click here - so far only 2855 South Africans in the UK have participated, and we know there are more of you here than that!
The results should be fascinating. What SA Times can reveal, so far, is that apparently, according to HCR, the majority of South Africans living abroad (around 60%) indicated that they would return home.
What practical information would you like to know about moving to South Africa? Let us know and we’ll help find out.