Miss World in Johannesburg - the official announcement

Having disclosed on "Living in Jozi" a full two weeks ago that the Miss World pageant was to be moved and held in Johannesburg, rather than the original host city of Kiev, the official announcement was made on the 9th September by Julia Morley, chairperson of Miss World Limited. And it appears the news media have now picked this story up too.

This will not be the first time the event is hosted in South Africa. It has been held at Sun City on no fewer than 5 previous occasions. however, it will be the first time that Johannesburg hosts the event, and forms part of the mandate of the Johannesburg Tourist Company to attract major world events to the City.

Indeed, the JTC, under leadership of its CEO Lindiwe Mahlangu, has seemingly done a remarkable job to not only prepare an outstanding bid package, but also to fend off rival bids that included England and China.

The event will be broadcast to an estimated 2-billion people (or put another way, 1 in 3 people on the planet!) in over 200 countries. It will feature 115 of the world's most beautiful women, who will spend from the 18th November in the country preparing for the event held on 13th December at the Sandton Convention Centre.

Not only is the hosting of this event a coup for the JTC and the City itself, but Julia Morley also announced that South African designers would be used to dress the contestants - clearly a boost for the South African fashion industry.

The current Miss South Africa is 23 year old Tansey Coetzee who won the title last December. She has the fantastic opportunity now to not only represent her country in front of her home country, but indeed in her very own home city of Johannesburg.

This is a fantastic opportunity both for Johannesburg and for South Africa to silence some of the sceptics who are voicing trepidation over the hosting of the 2010 World Cup in this country.

Mother City Visit: Leaving under a cloud

Well, despite my doom mongering, Cape Town appeared to only suffer cosmetic damage, although the wind did take down trees, which in turn
took down power lines and causing widespread electricity outages.

Sunday continued to be "changeable" and within minutes the weather would alter from bright sunshine to dark clouds and driving rain. The wind was a constant though through out the day.

I managed to get an occasional view of Table Mountain, but for the most part, this was obscured by cloud or rain. And so it came time to head back to Johannesburg. Arriving for my flight in good time, I was greeted with the cheerful news that flights between Cape Town and Johannesburg were severely delayed. It appears that the foul weather in Cape Town and strong wind in Johannesburg had caused several flights to be delayed. I head in fact that a truck delivering cargo to one plane had been blown into the engine, causing major delay and the plane to be replaced with a fresher model.

My flight was delayed by 90 minutes. The best thing to do was just to tuck into a Juicy Lucy sandwich and watch the second hand tick by slowly. Eventually I was persuaded though to check the information being reflected on the flight information televisions, and was informed that in fact the flight was leaving at 8:20 - not 9:10. Give it was 7:45, this meant I could board within minutes. Rushing through the x-ray checks I was greeted (in a motley tent arrangement currently doubling as the departure lounge in Cape Town) by a long queue of people going through my gate - but none of whom were going on my flight. Apparently my flight was NOT leaving at 8:20 after all. Dejected I started mulling over what words I could put into my next blog post to fully relay my frustration - a dark cloud hanging over my head now similar to that which had smothered the peninsula all day. I roamed aimlessly in front of the counter at the gate, hoping that any moment my flight might be called and I could return home - late, but at least be home.

And then a very kind and extremely helpful lady working at the counter saw my plight and called me forward. I explained to her that I was not booked on the flight that she was loading, but having checked if I had check in baggage, she very kindly made arrangements for me to board the earlier flight. Like the sun that had (on occasion) broken though the clouds throughout the day, my spirits lifted.... I was going home!

The only thing better than that was the announcement from the pilot informing a plane full of weary travellers that the tail wind would shed 30 minutes off the 2 hour flight. So all in all I arrived 10 minutes later than originally scheduled. Tired, but relieved.

My trip to Cape Town had been rushed, busy, and far too short - but I was home at last.

Mother City visit: Relentless rain and driving winds

There’s a moment of silence now. The kind of silence that gets louder with each passing second, until once again being broken by the roar of a Northerly gale against the window of my bedroom.

It is 6:30 in the morning on Sunday. I have been in bed since last night – I couldn’t tell you how much of that time I have actually slept.

The storm which, for the whole of Saturday had been touted as “the worst is yet to come” by locals, eventually struck around the time I went to bed. For the whole night the wind has tried to remove the roof of my parents house. Rain – and more recently hail – has hammered against the window pains with such force that the sound has become just a constant roar of noise, a cocophony of rattling, hammering, beating and banging as the water is thrown against the glass by the raging wind.

I have just looked outside the window – fearful of what I might see, but the sun appears to have been too scared to wake up this morning, and it is still dark outside.

Cape Town is already soaked to the skin from a very wet winter, and the ground is very close to saturated. I cannot see how the rain of the last 7 hours could not have caused flooding – and possibly severe flooding. And I cannot see how the wind has not caused damage to homes and businesses – and particularly to those living in the informal settlements around Cape Town.

I am in a brick and mortar house in Tableview – and I feel fortunate to still be in Tableview, and not to have been transported to Muizenberg like some modern day Dorothy.

It would be a miracle of quite some order if the Mother City has come through the night with just minor damage. I fear what dawn’s light may reveal.

Mother City visit: Miserable Mom gets a facelift

When I was growing up, there would be Winters in Cape Town that would be cold, and grey and wet. This weekend is just like those Winters of my memories.

Having landed quite late on Friday evening, I was fortunate to get to my parents just minutes before the heavens opened and the rain poured for quite some time. Saturday morning was quieter, but no less grey and ferocious. The Northerly wind is blowing at gale force strength at times, and it is really not a pleasant experience going out. I took some photos while out today, but as you can see, could not even SEE the mountain through the cloud and precipitation.

I was out today, travelling to Somerset West and to Big Bay in Blouberg. And I got to see that, despite being miserable (well, this weekend anyway the Mother City is preparing herself for the football World Cup, under going a fairly major facelift in areas – preparing herself to not just looking beautiful, but to be more welcoming to visitors.

And that got me thinking, there was and continues to be a lot of argument about the pros and cons of hosting such major events as the Olympics and the Football World Cup. But the “success” of such events is very subjective. South Africa’s Beijing Olympic Games experience was anything BUT a success – with just a single Silver medal. Businesses, sponsors and corporate partners will measure “success” purely in monetary terms.

But perhaps more importantly (in my mind at least) is the legacy that such an event creates for the general public, the people living in the host country.


And it occurred to me that in the years I lived in Cape Town, I cannot recall the N2 motorway ever undergoing such building work. I cannot recall the amount of road works that I saw today, as the transport system of Cape Town receives some long overdue attention.

To my mind, the legacy of the event, the manner it enriches the lives of the people of South Africa – not in monetary terms but in uplifting their lives and way of life – these are the measures that will ultimately prove whether the Football World Cup is a success or a failure.

Mother City visit

I am off to the Cape Town for the weekend. I have not visited the Mother City since last June and am quite looking forward to returning to my roots – even for a few hours. Thing is, Cape Town has been more “Cape of Storms” than maternal over the last few weeks, and I fear those roots might be well and truly sodden!

All the same, I just spent 6 years in the UK – how bad could Cape Town possibly be by comparison!

Anticipate more photos from my weekend – just expect to see far less sun than in the photos from the Berg!