Introducing Indonesian Coffee Culture to SA

Ambassador Salman Al Farisi of Indonesia and High Commissioner Zainal Arif Mantaha of Singapore at the Indonesian Coffee Tasting

19 October 2021

Coffee cultivation in Indonesia began in the late 1600s and early 1700s, and has played an important role in the growth of the country. Indonesia’s geography and climate is well-suited for coffee plantations with it being near the equator and with numerous interior mountainous regions on its main islands, creating well-suited microclimates for the growth and production of coffee.

Top Indonesian baristas Muhammad Aga and Resianri Triane, were present at a Coffee Tasting event in South Africa organised by the Indonesian Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC) Johannesburg and the Embassy of Indonesia in Pretoria. In Johannesburg, the event was held at Father Coffee from 12 to 14 October and attracted many coffee lovers.

'Rosa's Wedding' - A Reinvention of Marriage

The 8th edition of the European Film Festival in South Africa kicked off on 14 October 2021. The festival features a range of critically acclaimed movies from around the European continent. The list of films range from light and heart-warming to devastating tragedy and I am excited to experience it all. First on my list is the Spanish selection, 'Rosa's Wedding'.

‘Rosa’s Wedding’ (2020)
Review by Dilon Bhana

Rosa is found amidst a mid-life crisis. She goes to work, comes home to look after her father and her brother's children and tries to maintain a relationship with her daughter in Manchester. Feeling overworked and used, Rosa makes an endearing decision which her family finds to be quite strange, but which may be the best solution to her situation.

SA welcomes new High Commissioners and Ambassadors

13 October 2021

President Cyril Ramaphosa has presided over a ceremony to receive letters of credence from incoming diplomats from countries across the world.

The diplomats hail from 15 countries from across Europe, Asia, North and South America and Africa and have been elected by their respective countries to serve as Ambassadors or High Commissioners to South Africa.

While meeting the President, the senior diplomats took the opportunity to commit to strengthening ties between South Africa and their respective countries.

It All Begins with Education in Egypt and South Africa

13 October 2021

On Monday, October 11th, 2021, Mrs. Habiba Abdel Razek, the spouse of the Ambassador of Egypt to South Africa, Ambassador Ahmed El Fadly hosted Diplomatic Spouses and members of the African Show Coalition Institute (TASCI) in a charity event and a themed photo exhibition entitled “Cultural Diversity of South Africa”.

The event was arranged to support the renovation of 'Baleni Secondary School' in Pumzipika in the Eastern Cape. The student body there is promising despite seriously overpopulated classrooms, amidst a lack of basic services in a small and rather underprivileged community, such as water and electricity.

11 October 2021

The Bajrasudha Gajanurak Project originated from a concern shared by His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Her Majesty Queen Suthida, having learned of the conflict between local communities and wild elephants as the animals encroached upon farmland and houses to forage for food which was otherwise inadequate in their natural habitat. Limited food sources have forced wild elephants to such behavioural patterns, posing risks to the lives of the elephants as well as humans, particularly in five eastern provinces of Thailand, namely Chachoengsao, Chonburi, Rayong, Chanthaburi, and Sakaew. To ensure the successful implementation of this project, Their Majesties appointed Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha as Chair of the Committee on the Bajrasudha Gajanurak Project and accepted the project under Royal Patronage on 2 August 2019.

A week-long celebration of Mahatma Gandhi

by Anisha Pemjee

Indian High Commissioner Jaideep Sarkar and Indian Consul General in Johannesburg Anju Ranjan flagging off the bus as the Gandhi Trail begins (Photo: twitter)

11 October 2021

‘India gave South Africa a lawyer, and South Africa gave India a Mahatma’.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar, Gujarat in India on 2 October 1869. In 1888 he travelled to the United Kingdom where he studied law and as a young lawyer at the age of 24 he travelled to South Africa to take up a commercial case.

It is in South Africa that Gandhi experienced racism and he spent the next 21 years challenging racial discrimination in South Africa and it is here that he honed his political ideology, ethics and leadership skills which he used to challenge British colonialism in India.

Unlocking the Promise of Tomorrow from Patterns of the Past

Vijaye Lutchmun, High Commissioner of Mauritius, Gita Kamath, High Commissioner of Australia and Val Munsami, CEO of SANSA at the launch

8 October 2021

Gita Kamath, High Commissioner of Australia to South Africa hosted the launch of the Digital Earth Africa Program Management Office (PMO) on 6 October 2021, during World Space Week. The PMO will be hosted by the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) and, said SANSA’s CEO, Dr Val Munsami, while Australia and South Africa are rivals in especially the sporting fields, they also collaborate resulting in win-win situations. One such collaboration where Australia and South Africa work closely together is the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), the world's largest radio telescope.

Virtual Celebration of Egypt’s 48th Anniversary of the Glorious October War Victories

On Wednesday, October 6th, 2021, Egypt Defense Office in South Africa held a virtual celebration on the occasion of the 48th anniversary of the glorious victory of the Egyptian Armed Forces in October war 1973.

The Virtual occasion was organised by the Egyptian Defense Attaché in Pretoria, Dean of Military Attachés & Advisory Corps (MAAC), Brigadier-General Mohamed Harb, with the participation of: the Egyptian Ambassador to South Africa, Ahmed El Fadly, Chief of Staff of South Africa National Defense Force (SANDF) Lieutenant-General Lindile Yam, on behalf of Chief of SANDF, General Rudzani Maphwanya, members of MAAC, representatives of Al-Azhar as well as the Egyptian Church in South Africa, and figures and members of the Egyptian community in South Africa.

Special India Edition - Celebrating 75 Years of Independence of India 

India Independence: The rise of a space power

The space research activities were initiated in India during the early 1960s, when applications using satellites were in experimental stages even in the United States

As India completes 75 years of its independence, it is time to introspect the country’s space programme that has grown and evolved significantly in the last decades.

The programme originally focused on developing space assets that provided direct developmental benefits, for example, telecommunications and remote sensing satellites that helped both in improving communication facilities and giving direct assistance to India’s farmers.

Indiana James and the Legend of Diamond Lakes

Diamond Lakes

7 October 2021

James Campbell is somewhat of a celebrity in the world of geology, geophysics and diamonds. In Southern Africa, he is a legend in the diamond exploration and diamond mine development world. He is a graduate of the illustrious Imperial College in London with a degree in Mining Exploration and Geology. He did his honours project on what was to become the Venetia Mine while it was still an exploration project. This laid the foundation for him to go to work at DeBeers after his graduation.

Battle of Moscow (30 September 1941- 20 April 1942): Turning Point of World War II

Nazi Aggression and Red Army’s Glorious War Path

German soldiers surrender, 27 December 1941

6 October 2021

On 22 June 1941, at 4AM, while the country was sleeping peacefully, without a formal declaration of war, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa – a plan, designed to destroy the USSR, to literally wipe it from the face of the Earth and turn its citizens into slaves, in full accordance with the wicked Nazi theory of racial superiority. Thus, the Great Patriotic War (often dubbed in Western historiography as the WWII at the Eastern Front) had begun. It claimed the lives of more than 26,6 million Soviet citizens.