South African Airways Increases Capacity to African Destinations by 17%
South African Airways has begun the process of adding additional flights between Johannesburg and popular African destinations. This increase in flight capacity has increased frequencies by 17%.
Johannesburg, South Africa –South African Airways (SAA) has announced that it has begun the process of adding additional frequencies to its network which will substantially increase air services to some of its key African routes.
The additional capacity injection answers the commercial mandate of the Long-Term Turnaround Strategy (LTTS), and is in response to positive market growth and demand. As of yesterday, Harare (Zimbabwe) and Maputo (Mozambique) have included additional frequencies, with Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo), Harare (Zimbabwe) and Mauritius to follow.“
The strengthening of these routes comes in the wake of positive load factors and increased traffic between the countries,” says SAA Acting Chief Executive Officer Nico Bezuidenhout. Presently, GDP growth in Mozambique (7% - African Development Bank) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (8.1%- African Development Bank) exceed World Bank growth statistics for the continent (4.7%-2013) while South Africa’s trade and demand for leisure and business travel to Mauritius is growing at a steady pace. “Air lift services traditionally lead GDP in all markets and also track the rate of increased leisure travel, investment and business engagement between South Africa and its continental peers.”
Operative from 1 December, SAA increased frequencies between Johannesburg and Maputo by 19%. The flights increased from 17 to 21 weekly frequencies while flights between Johannesburg and Harare increased from 18 to 19 every week (5%). From 4 December, flights between Johannesburg and Kinshasa will increase in capacity from 6 to 7 a week (6%) and, flights between Johannesburg and Mauritius from 9 to 10 weekly frequencies (9%). Updated schedules are available across all SAA distribution channels, including the website www.flysaa.com.
For more information contact: SAA Spokesperson, Tlali Tlali +27 82 333 3880 | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
About South African Airways South African Airways is a Star Alliance member that offers flights to 38 destinations worldwide. Domestically, SAA operates 544 flights a week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth. Regionally SAA offers 24 destinations across the African continent and its international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 10 direct routes. In the regional category, SAA has received the Skytrax ‘Best Airline in Africa’ Award for 11 consecutive years.
Tyga and SchoolboyQ Live in South Africa at #AXECESSJozi
AXECESS presents Tyga and SchoolboyQ live in South Africa at #AXECESSJozi on the 7th of March 2015. Be sure not to miss this epic event!
Johannesburg, South Africa –On the7th of March 2015, #AXECESSJozi will welcome two mega Hip Hop artists, Tyga and SchoolboyQ, who will be performing in Johannesburg for the first time together, brought to you by Axe.
This is the first announcement phase of the international artist line up for Axecess Jozi 2015. Additional international and local artists will be announced in January 2015, so keep it locked on www.axecess.com for more information. Let’s get the Twitter-sphere rocking by using the hash tag #whoisjozibound?
Spend one night with these lyrical geniuses at the Mary Fitzgerald Square, in the heart of the Johannesburg CBD, where there will be an array of both international and local celebrities, as well as VIP A-listers.
AXE is exceptionally excited to be the pioneers who are bringing these multi-award winning artists into the country after successfully hosting the Big Sean concert in 2014. This one-night affair guarantees to bring out the essence of what it means for music and lifestyle to intersect.
“AXE and Music are integrally linked,” says Sphe Mjadu, Public Relations Manager for Personal Care, Unilever. Music is central to youth culture; hosting Axecess Jozi for the second year proves that this is a great way to connect with our consumers.”
Hip Hop superstar, Tyga, needs very little introduction. With over 5 million followers on both Twitter and Instagram, his celebrity status is undisputed. From his early days of releasing mixtapes, his debut mixtape ‘Young on Probation’ garnered enough hype that culminated in him landing his first record deal with Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment label. Needless to say, this began the tidal wave of hits ranging from the track "Deuces" which was released as the debut single of the mixtape and, as of August 26 2010, reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. More recently, on September 12 2014, Tyga announced via Instagram that his new single titled "40 Mill", which will be produced by Kanye West, Mike Dean, Dupri and his own producer Jess Jackson, is set to launch.. The upcoming album is also set to have features from Justin Bieber, Young Thug, Kanye West, Chris Brown and Drake.
Whether you are talking about SchoolboyQ’s independent albums “Setbacks” and “Habits and Contradictions”, or his contributions to Hip Hop group Black Hippy together with Jay Rock and Ab-soul, he has undoubtedly been in the rap game for a long time. His most contemporary album “Oxymoron” which has hits like “Studio” and “Man of the year” have made the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Upon its release, Oxymoron debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 139,000 copies in the United States. In April this year, SchoolboyQ also made his solo magazine cover debut with the April/May issue of the long-standing Hip Hop magazine The Source, which hit newsstands on April 10 2014.
Jalibird Productions, the company behind the spectacular production of the Axecess Jozi featuring Big Sean earlier in 2014, will be the team behind the production in 2015 in partnership with Glen21.
About the tour venue and dates:
#AXECESSJozi will be staged on the 7th of March 2015 at Mary Fitzgerald Square, Newtown.
Tickets are on sale from Computicket [link to: www.computicket.com] from Friday 6th of December 2014 at the following prices:
General - R450, Golden Circle - R750.
Let’s get ready to turn up the music with #Axecessjozi. For more information, questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact Sphe Mjadu, Public Relations Manager – Personal Care | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | 031 570 2472.
About AXE
Axe is a Unilever Brand and was first launched in France in 1983. Since then it has become the deodorant of choice for men in more than 60 countries, including South Africa. It is the number one selling deodorant in several European and Latin American markets, and since its 2003 launch in Asia and the United States it has also achieved a notable presence there. Axe is masculine, original, individual, cool and fun and we pride ourselves on giving guys the edge in the mating game.
Kurland Hotel Opens a Sanctuary Signature Spa
The 5 star Kurland Hotel, located near the striking beach resorts of Plettenberg Bay on the breathtaking Garden Route has introduced its new look spa, created by the Sanctuary Signature Spas Group, a leading expert in creating, managing and marketing 5-star Spas at award-winning hotels, lodges and wine estates across Africa.
The new look Spa includes a private steam room, sauna room, two therapy rooms, relaxation area, gym and a refreshing plunge pool and guests are also welcome to have their treatments in the privacy of their suite or at one of the many stunning locations throughout the Estate. The Kurland Spa now offers !QMS and Moya health and beauty products as well as the renowned Morgan Taylor Lacquer for manicures and pedicures.
Alison Rightford, CEO, states “With the summer season upon us, it was the perfect time to present the spa to in-house guests and local residents in the Plettenberg area. The treatments we now offer at Kurland are the finest available in the health and wellness industry.” Kurland Hotel
Owner, Peter Behr, “It is a pleasure to be working alongside the renowned, Alison Rightford and Sanctuary Signature Spas and the new look spa now offers our guests yet another 5-star offering.”
SAA’s Annual Wine Selection Process Gets Under Way
Cape Town, South Africa – Every year, South African Airways (SAA) convenes a panel of leading winemakers and sommeliers to choose the wines served on-board its aircraft in the coming 12 months. This year, the process began on 25 August and culminated in a media and industry briefing on 27 August at the Nederburg Wine Estate in Stellenbosch.
At the briefing, the panel of 12 judges reported back on the more than 800 wines they have tasted over the past two days, and answered questions.
“The annual wine selection is one of SAA’s most hallowed traditions and one that we—and the industry—take seriously. SAA is a showcase for South Africa on many fronts, not least of them our excellent local wines,” says Bongi Sodladla, SAA Senior Food & Beverage Manager and Sommelier, who leads the process. “The judges’ report-back acts as a ‘state of the wine nation’, and provides an opportunity to give an assessment of where our wine industry is at present.”
The judges’ selection of approximately 60 wines will be announced at an awards ceremony on 1 November 2014.
Aside from Sodladla herself, this year’s panel included eight women and four men—a gender division that reflects the fact that the selection process traditionally takes place in August, women’s month. This year, Sodladla secured a mix of wine-makers and sommeliers to gain the perfect balance between technical expertise and the pairing of food and wine.
Sodladla has also put together a panel with strong African roots, complemented by international expertise from the husband-and-wife team of John and Petronella Salvi, who are based in France. Petronella Salvi, however, was born in South Africa.
“All the judges are experts in the field and most have worked with us before. Experience is important because a wine’s characteristics are exaggerated at high altitudes, something that has to be part of the selection process,” Sodladla notes. “Pairing the right wines with the right food is an integral part of the travel experience on SAA.”
The logistical process of the tasting is coordinated by Bennie Howard, well-known Cape Wine Master. What is clear is that a flight ticket with SAA also includes a selection of the best vintages the Cape Winelands have to offer.
About SAA
South African Airways is a Star Alliance member that offers flights to 38 destinations worldwide. Domestically, SAA operates 544 flights a week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth. Regionally SAA offers 24 destinations across the African continent and its international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 10 direct routes. In the regional category, SAA has received the Skytrax ‘Best Airline in Africa’ Award for 11 consecutive years.
Somerset West’s Own Indie Game Studio
Indie games are fast becoming a trend in South Africa, catching on from the overseas markets. These days, children and adults alike are playing mobile games as never before. People are always hungry for something different, which is where indie games – or ‘independent’ games – come in, providing players with something other than the mass-produced mainstream products.
Now, Somerset West can boast with its very own game studio that started turning its cogs in February this year. For its first month of existence, the studio was run out of the founder’s mother’s basement – typical indie game studio protocol, if history is anything to go by. Now, running from a house close to De Hoop Primary School, the studio focuses on creating mobile games (such as their recently released Afrikaans game, Fanie de Beer) and has oodles of style, creativity, skill and initiative.
While the Apmil Game Studio has only been up and running for a few months, the people who daily put their shoulders to its wheels have been building up relationships for the last three-and-a-half years. Even though the studio officially started up in February, the idea of an indie game studio had been brewing in the mind of Studio Head, Pierre Bezuidenhout, since 2011. Pierre started lecturing in the Animation Department of Cape Town’s City Varsity in 2011 – and this is where he met the three students who would later join him in this grand venture.
Pierre, as leader of the team, is Apmil’s Programmer and Technical Director. He has previously worked in advertising and animation for Wicked Pixels in Woodstock and held the position of lecturer at Concept Interactive as well as at City Varsity. His impressive skill set includes a sharp eye for detail as well as design flair and programming aptitude in different digital languages and platforms – he is also quite the people-person. Altus Barry is the Technical Lead, taking charge of rigs, renders and other related tasks. Mabet van Zijl did her major in 3D Narrative and, as Generalist, leads Apmil’s marketing and writing in between her usual workload. Louren Hattingh takes the roles of Lead Animator and Concept Artist. While each person has their area to lead, the workflow runs with a ‘rock-paper-scissors’-style in which one falls under the delegation of another while dealing with respective area-specific tasks. Sitting around a whiteboard, each armed with a marker, they discuss character design, story line, player motivation, level arrangement, time constraints and load division before jumping in with the actual development.
The first released game, Fanie de Beer, is a 100% physics-driven, full 3D, indie puzzle game with a distinct South African flavour. Playing as Fanie de Beer, a 12-year-old farm-boy, the player utilizes simple little rocks by tapping once on the screen to clear best friend Jaco Kriel’s fields of strategically placed, ancient landmines. Built in Unity, the game takes place in a single day – with the story starting early in the morning and ending in the evening – transporting the player through a dynamic day/night cycle and colourful, saturated farm fields as they progress through the 84 levels, meeting new mine types and increasingly difficult challenges as they go along. Written and designed in Afrikaans, then carefully translated into true farm-style English, this game is unique, fun and proudly South African. The demo is available for download from the Google Play Store, while the full game can be purchased on Samsung Apps and Amazon.
The next game in the pipeline is different from Fanie de Beer in virtually every way. Where Fanie is a very colourful 3D puzzle game with just enough back-story to set the player up for the context and flavour of the game, the current project is a heavily story-driven platform-game that takes place in a fictional world made up of parallaxing silhouettes and strange characters.
Apmil Game Studio has not only been created as a platform to build games, but also as a springboard for fellow animators, developers, designers and illustrators. It’s a breeding ground for collaboration, ideas, innovation and learning. Each person hones their skills while doing fun and challenging work through creating games and stories as well as fulfilling the creative needs of small to medium-sized businesses in the Western Cape and Gauteng.
Apmil Game Studio services include animation, app creation, game creation, rendering/stills, asset creation, video editing and UX. The creative division of Apmil, led by artist Janet Botes and writer Michelle Albinson, offers logo design, graphic design, online/web design, interactive design, writing, editing, proofreading and illustration.
Apmil prides itself on being different: Fresh ideas, innovative applications, strange and wonderful games – they are all things that receive the studio’s love and attention to detail. To find out more or to get involved, contact Pierre Bezuidenhout at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call him on 082 499 3133
Studio ingredients:[A]ltus makes the bus and [P]ierre drives the bus; [M]abet takes the bus t[i]ckets and [L]ouren makes the bus move. Thus, [apmil].
Free demo: Google Play – bit.ly/fanie_demo
Full version: Samsung Apps – bit.ly/fanie
Official Trailer: Youtube – bit.ly/fanie_trailer
Apmil page: Apmil/Fanie – apmil.co.za/fanie-de-beer
A Reflection Of Us | an exhibition of mixed media, drawing and painting by Lisette Forsyth opening 3rd July @6pm
PRESS RELEASE
12 June 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
StateoftheART is proud to present 'A Reflection Of Us', an exhibition of mixed media, drawings and paintings by Lisette Forsyth on the Exhibition Wall.
"The present and the past meet by some divine intervention called art . A reflection of us. I work on found surfaces from 1860s Government Gazette pages to scrap pieces of wood. The surface dictates the subject: the people, their body language, unique style and characters all develop into a perfect match." - Lisette Forsyth
Lisette constantly experiments with media and subject matter. Her compulsion to recycle pushes her towards mixed media. The contrasts and contradictions of Cape Town and its people provide the inspiration for her work.
Opening 3rd July @ 6pm closes Saturday 19th July @2pm
61 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town.
Gallery hours: 10am-5pm weekdays, 10am-2pm Saturdays.
The exhibition will run concurrently online from the 2nd July - 19th of July.
For more information please contact Jennifer on 0724709272 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Student Oscars 2008
{pp}“KAMMAKASTIG LAND” heads for “Student Oscars 2008”
Johannesburg - The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance (AFDA) is proud to announce that an AFDA honours short film “Kammakastig Land” will represent South Africa in the 35th annual Student Academy Awards. AFDA and the crew of “Kammakastig Land” will go up against the best of the worlds student films in the category of Honorary Foreign Film Student Award.
The Student Academy Awards is an annual competition conducted by the Academy and the Academy Foundation. Every year over 500 film schools and universities across the U.S enter works to be judged in the following four categories: Animation, Documentary, Narrative and Alternative. Added to these is an award which honours a film outside of the U.S, contested worldwide by all CILECT member film schools.
