Editors: Mazwi & Carrie Reshane

The SASN Committee invites you and your family to our

Why don’t you combine your Saturday shopping with this perfect opportunity to drop in and greet old friends as well as meet some new ones?! Here’s a chance to grab a bowl of hot soup and fresh bread, hear some South African music and catch up on the latest news. If you want something other than hot tea or coffee to drink, you will have to bring your own supplies. Even though we will be winding up early at the Embassy, there is nothing to stop the younger generation (or those spry ones in the slightly older category) of continuing the evening together in another location!

As you may know, our Ambassador, Mr H Mahlangu, will soon be leaving us, and we hope to have a chance of saying Good-bye…We hope he can take time from his busy schedule to spend a few moments with us.

In order to be sure we have enough food for all those of you wishing to drop in, please try to either give Lesley or Mazwi a call by November 20^th to let us know you will be coming. Makes planning that much easier! E-mail is good, too.

In case you’ve forgotten, we have our AGM coming in January. The date is January 25^th to be precise. Set aside this date on your calendars. You will be duly informed of the venue and agenda at a later date. In the meantime, you can start thinking about things you want taken up at the meeting.

We have been approached by Utrop.no with a request to put this information in our Newsletter:

Utrop.no is a multicultural web-portal in Norway. It is now making a searchable database of:

1. Minority organisations, cultural institutions

2. General organisations and cultural institutions relevant to minority people

3. Resource persons

4. Commercial establishments

5. Private homepages

There are numerous minority organisations around the country, but to make contact with them is difficult. Also there are difficulties in finding resource persons with minority background, particularly women. So this might be a good solution for establishing contacts.

The data will be available for search in the end of November.

By registering you or your organisation in our databases you are making you or your organisation available for departments, media, organisation, academics and for the public to make contact with you.

Go here to register for free:

Let us take this opportunity to remind you that the year is soon ending, and some of you have still not paid your membership dues! If you are one of those people with a guilty conscience, you know what to do!! If you need any help (such as our bank account number or information as to how much you owe), please contact our treasurer, Gary May. Remember that if you want to vote at the next AGM, your dues for the year 2002 have to be paid.

This part has nothing to do with this newsletter except filling up this space, it’s a Holy Joke: A father was approached by his small son who proudly told him, "I know what the Bible means!" His father smiled and replied, "What do you mean, you know what the Bible means?" The son replied, "I do know!" "Okay", said the father. "So, son what does the Bible mean?" "That’s easy, Daddy. It stands for Basic Information Before Leaving Earth."

How about this one: There was this gracious lady mailing an old family Bible to her brother in another part of the country. "Is there anything breakable in here" asked the clerk. "Only the Ten Commandments" answered the lady.

You don’t stop smiling because you grow old,…..you grow old because you stop smiling!!!!! Yes, put a smile on your face you might find it becomes you!

Whilst as individuals, it is our democratic right to analyse and criticise our country’s policies and its leaders, it is also our duty to stand up for the efforts the country is making for and by its citizens. Gary has been kind enough to send us the following transcript of a speech given by Guy Lundy share with you:

Below is a speech I gave the other night. It went down so well with the audience that a number of people asked me for copies of it. So I thought I may as well share it with other people too so they Can spread the message, especially those living overseas and those who care about spreading a positive message about South Africa.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Many years ago I was an exchange student in the USA, and every morning in my school, as in all schools across America, all classes came to a halt as the Pledge of Allegiance came over the loudspeaker system and every student stood to repeat these words.

I was quite amazed by this display of daily brainwashing in so-called "land of the free". But in hindsight it isn't actually that amazing, because we've all experienced how Americans are just so proud to be American. No matter how big their problems, and heaven knows they've got a lot of them, Americans will still spend hours telling you how fantastic their country is, and in fact, how it is better than, pretty much anywhere else in the world.

What a contrast then, when I later spent a few years in London and I ended up actively avoiding other South Africans. Why? Because frankly their negativity about our homeland irritated me so much. These people who will gladly put new South African flags on their cars and support a whole cottage industry importing biltong and NikNaks to munch on as they cheer on the Springboks at Twickenham, will spend hours telling anyone who will listen just how awful it is in South Africa, how lucky they are to be in London and how they are never going back because it's in such a mess.

At the time I put it down to the fact that they were justifying why they were holed up in their dingy little flats under grey London skies while their friends and family enjoyed the sunshine on Camps Bay beach. However, when I came home, expecting to be greeted by the smiles of new South Africans everywhere, I was very disappointed to find that exactly the same attitude is pervasive right here. The number of people, who asked me why I came back here and why on earth I had brought my French wife with me, simply amazed me. I would have thought the answer was perfectly obvious.

I was later very disturbed, although not surprised, to hear that our president found it necessary to make a point to South African businessmen that they should stop running down their own country on overseas business trips. Can anyone tell me what it is that makes sense about running down your own home to foreign people that you would like to visit here and invest here?

It seems to me like inviting your boss to dinner at your house in the hope of getting a promotion but discouraging him from coming because you're a terrible cook and your dog bites. Yes, we have problems, but so does everybody else. Sure, the Rand is down the toilet, but if you look closely enough, you'll see that just about every other emerging market country has suffered from the same woes - and that includes Australia and New Zealand, which everyone seems in such a rush to get to.

And aren't we lucky that we aren't living in Argentina with their currency crisis? Sure, our neighbour, Zimbabwe, is run by a mad, despotic fool, but man am I glad that I'm not a Pakistani.

We have AIDS and we also have an army of people trying to find a cure for it - possibly more vigorously than anywhere else since we have the most to lose from it.

We do have corruption, and the Americans have George W. Bush, whether they like it or not. We've got all sorts of problems, yes, but must we be so hard on ourselves? In many ways we are far better off in South Africa as a whole than we have been at any time in our history.

Our people are getting educated and housed at a world-beating rate, we have amongst the world's cheapest electricity, our inflation is the lowest it's been in my lifetime, we have an economic growth rate and there is development everywhere you look.

We have so much going for us; we have so many good people, such an interesting mix of cultures; we have so much beautiful countryside and natural resources that we can draw from - we really have such a bright future ahead of us. Let us concentrate on the positive things that surround us every day, the sunshine, the people, the beauty, and the progress. Constantly criticizing our country can only do harm for you personally, your personal feeling of happiness and well-being and for the country that you know from the bottom of your heart that you love, otherwise you wouldn't be here.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I implore you, do not run down South Africa, neither at home nor overseas. Become ambassadors for your country. Welcome foreign guests and point out how far we have come and how far we're going to go how they need to watch out for us on the world stage. And if you're overseas on business or holiday (if you can afford it), tell people how much South Africa has going for it and invite them to come and see for themselves.

I have devised my own pledge of allegiance and I'd like to repeat it to you now: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the Republic of South Africa and to the interesting people, places and idiosyncrasies for which it stands, one nation under several religions, languages and cultures, yet indivisible, with freedom, basic needs and progress for all."

That is my pledge of allegiance to my home, our home. I pledge to help others see what is so good about it.

Our Beloved Country!!! South Africa, almost alone amongst emerging market economies, is set to escape virtually unscathed from the latest bout of investor panic sweeping the developing world's fragile economies (The Times, London, August 2001)

The SA banking sector has been consistently ranked in the top 10 in terms of competitiveness (IMD, Switzerland). When Nelson Mandela was inaugurated President in 1994, SA was insolvent (liabilities exceeded assets). Today the Government's deficit is negligible - one of only a handful of countries in this position. We've had single digit inflation since 1993 - following 20 years of double-digit inflation.

Mortgage rates are at their lowest level since 1988.

South Africa is one of only 12 countries, where we can drink water from a tap. Our tap water was found to be the 3rd best quality in the entire world.

Remember 15 years ago, in 1986:

A state of emergency was declared. White men did two years compulsory military service *

64 184 black people were removed from "white areas" *

3989 people were detained without trial *

Our economic growth rate was 0.7 percent - today it is 3% *

64 countries had sports boycotts against SA!!!

South African wines win international awards every year and we have the longest wine route in the world. Nelson Mandela, an international icon of forgiveness, tolerance, and humanity is our favourite son.

The Kruger Park has the most innovative management of a national park anywhere in the world - and is the world's most profitable game park. Eskom is the largest producer of coal-fired electricity in the world and South Africans pay the least for electricity in the world. South African Breweries is the 4th largest brewer in the world and produces over 50% of China's beer!

Mercedes Benz C Class, BMW 3 Series and VW Golf/Jetta vehicles for all right-hand drive markets throughout the world are produced in South Africa. Didata grew from a local IT service provider into a huge, global networking company with branches in 30 countries.

The Cape Peninsula has more species of plants here per hectare than any other area of the world. Magnificent highways, warm, friendly, vibrant rainbow people. The world's most progressive Constitution Kreepy Kraulies - a South African invention - Mrs Ball's chutney and biltong. The world's best looking population.

"Leader's deal in hope - I give many speeches nearly daily and I talk about positives. Many have forgotten the Kasspirs and guns - its paradise now in comparison."

"I've got four children and ten grandchildren and we are staying right here". Raymond Ackerman, CEO Pick 'n Pay.

"For every guy who holds up a gun, there are 99 who hold out a hand of friendship" - Dennis Beckett, journalist. This is something I've never done, but after reading this, all I ask from you is to send this on, to your friends, family and others. Let us in this way deal with our negatives and let us try to be positive. By being positive we can continue to go far in life and we can all strive for a better and more positive life and country.

Regards to you all, peace, and positive thinking - that's the way to go!

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children"