In Johannesburg — the country’s largest city and the main gateway to South Africa — we see the Johannesburg Tourism Company (JTC) being disbanded and incorporated into the municipality, with an apparent scant regard for the industry’s interests.

I asked them some questions:

When will restructuring be completed?
“The process of integrating the JTC into the City of Johannesburg has begun and should be completed by the end of the financial year in June.”

What benefits does this restructuring offer?
“To ensure that the City of Johannesburg reaches its goal of a being a world class African city, the City announced that it is undergoing an Institutional Review Process (IRP).

“The IRP aims to align the activities of the city to the Growth and Development Strategy (GDS) – Joburg 2040 – which will result in an effective and modern system that will strengthen accountability, oversight, transparency and corporate governance.

“Changes to the institutional arrangements are prompted by the City’s quest to continually enhance service delivery; overall governance; and to respond to emerging needs of its communities. In recent times, some areas of duplication, span of control, clarity of lines of accountability, opportunities for economies of scale, efficiency and effectiveness have been identified, and needed to be addressed.”

Now that sounds like a load of bureaucratic hogwash to me!

Will Johannesburg’s tourism authority be more or will it be less accountable to the industry it serves; will it’s ties to the B&Bs and everybody else be closer or even more hidden in the bureaucratic maze of reports and processes?

Will they understand their customers — the tourists — better or are tourists the last thing on their minds, other than as statistics which they’ve played little role in growing?

I’ve been to the JTC offices several times and it gave the impression of a very elegant morgue.  Was it buzzing with tourists (…supposedly their bread and butter)?  No, I never saw a single tourist and the receptionist cast a lonely and bored sight.

Will tourism in Johannesburg be led by political agendas rather than the bottom line that sees everybody prosper?

In 2009, JTC hosted the Miss World pageant at a reported cost of R90 million.  What sort of return on the investment have they seen, or is this sort of detail unimportant in their, and the city’s, scheme of things?

At the tourism Indaba in Durban last year, Johannesurg, Durban and Cape Town announced that they would be working together on joint city marketing — urban tourism is the growth sector!  Since then, Johannesburg has pulled out.  Durban & Cape Town are going ahead with a joint campaign through National Geographic.

JTC’s response:  “The campaign with National Geographic will be relooked in the future following the full integration of the JTC into the City in light of the bigger City marketing and promotional strategies.

“The JTC has a multi pronged marketing and promotional strategy. Therefore, its non participation in the National Geographic initiative would not negatively impact tourism in the city.”

Is that convincing?  It sounds like more hogwash to me.

None of the tourism stakeholders I spoke to had any praise for JTC.  Not one!  None had any faith that the City of Johannesburg will do any better.  JTC was, after all, their creation with a board of directors they appointed.

Destination marketing requires shared ownership and participation by public & private sectors, and communities.

Yet Johannesburg has such potential as a tourist city which JTC has never capitalised upon… because it would have meant sharing or handing over control?  Johannesburg’s strength lies in the character of the different suburbs — effective destination marketing will only happen when there are effective public/private partnerships at regional levels.

Looking at the City of Johannesburg’s website, it’s impossible to find out which member of the executive committee is responsible for tourism.  It’s as though it doesn’t exist.

A search does show an undated, unattributed Tourism Strategy document.  It’s certainly no action plan for Johannesburg and could have been written by someone in Berlin or Bangkok!  Is this municipality a competent custodian of tourism?

Johannesburg needs a strong and independent destination marketing agency.

One wonders where representative bodies like Fedhasa and SATSA stand in all of this.  This is happening on their watch and they seem to be asleep, and certainly not representing the interests of their members.  (If municipal & provincial changes are a never-ending yawn, sometimes it is the private sector’s job to force the issue.  As Simon Anholt said, the only remaining superpower is public opinion.)  But please do comment and tell us if we’re wrong.

There’s also a poll to see what you think… please click here to vote!

It’s astounding
Time is fleeting
Madness takes its toll…

I’ve been somewhat underwhelmed by the announcements about the closure of Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU) — the Western Cape’s provincial tourism authority — and its incorporation into Wesgro — the provincial trade and investment promotion agency.

CTRU’s last media release on March 30 was a statement by Alan Winde, the provincial tourism minister, that he and the boards of CTRU and Wesgro had decided to incorporate trade, investment and tourism marketing under one roof from April 1.

On April 8, Wesgro issued a media release stating that this “would now be done by a single, ramped up executing agency to increase the province’s national and global competitiveness as a business and leisure destination.”

Why the italics?  Someone has yet to demonstrate how the agency has been “ramped up.”

The decision to disband CTRU is the correct one.  It was a fatally flawed structure from day one in 2003.  It became worse as time went by, and this was illustrated in our 2007 interview with Lynne Brown — then the Western Cape’s tourism minister.

A year before this interview, CTRU’s chairperson had agreed that the organisation’s corporate culture was wholly unsuited to a marketing organisation.  But it was all hunky-dory for Brown, a former schoolteacher, and her CTRU CEO, also a former schoolteacher.  Yet the interfence in the daily running of CTRU by the minister and her tourism department saw a chairperson and board director resign prematurely at various times.

In his comments on the Brown interview, Hugh von Zahn, a prominent businessman, wrote:

“I once wrote an essay on Napoleon the Third called ”A Tragedy of Good Intentions” which is apt when it comes to the organization of tourism marketing and development in our province.

“The real tragedy is that we have been traversing this ground in the same fashion for years, all to no avail.

“In order to understand why this type of failure happens in an organization like the CTRU you have to look at what is called “process” and how it impacts on service delivery. In the strange new world of contemporary SA we have elevated process to the level of a mantra, all to the exclusion of results.

“In the business world you focus on outcomes and results and decide on the shortest path to get there. This is standard business practice. In the weird world of the bureaucracy you follow a process, often to the exclusion of results. As long as you can show that you are following a process all will be well, the results are incidental.

“The real evil of this fixation on process is that bureaucracies create meaningless jobs filled by people who are function-directed rather than being held accountable for results achieved.

“You measure its effectiveness by hits and Rands generated. In the strange world of the bureaucracy everything is introverted. All things point to stasis. It is a form of navel gazing. So we see ”vision”, process writ large, pictures of staff, corporate manifestos, pledges and self-adulation – precious little about results.”

Shortly before publishing this post, I exchanged emails with Hugh and he said that little seems to have changed in the five years since he wrote that.

CTRU’s incorporation into Wesgro at this stage was rather puzzling, because the process to create an over-arching Economic Development Partnership is underway.

It seemed a rushed and stop-gap solution.  When I wrote to Winde’s media liaison person on March 12, asking who I could speak to about the changes, my request was ignored but I received the following bald statement:

• “The Western Cape Government’s tourism destination marketing functions will move to Wesgro from 01 April 2012.
• “A Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, CTRU and Wesgro, has been signed defining all roles and responsibilities.
• “A Memorandum of Agreement is currently being finalized which will further give effect the arrangements discussed.
• “All permanent CRTU staff will be transferred to Wesgro in line with labour regulations.
• “We look forward to marketing the region under a single brand in a more streamlined and efficient. (sic)”

Little more has been released subsequently, other than the fact that CTRU’s board will continue with quarterly oversight of tourism marketing until various bits of legislation have been changed.  Monthly reporting will be to the Wesgro board.

What happened here contrasted so to the plans given in our November 2011 interview with Andrew Boraine, who is leading the process for the Economic Development Partnership (EDP).  The EDP will be launched as a Section 21 company on April 26, 2012.

All agencies in the economic development, film and tourism spheres that receive any public funding in the Western Cape will be required to be part of this partnership… as a condition for future funding.

The EDP will “lead, coordinate and drive regional economic growth, development and inclusion under a single brand platform through a regional marketing alliance.”  Execution of these plans will still be at the agency level.

So, last month’s sidewideays shift of CTRU was probably just a bit of housekeeping by provincial government — a start at putting all marketing under one roof.  April 1 (appropriately!) is the start of government’s financial year and with CTRU employment contracts coming up for renewal, it made sense to have provincial government’s perennial problem child out of the way before the EDP is launched.

It is a pity the Winde and his PR people haven’t kept the tourism industry better informed.  So what we’re seeing is still an ongoing process rather than any solution.  Winde should acknowledge more openly because, at the end of the day, it’s the people (not the processes) that will make for succesful destination marketing.

I have no doubt that Wesgro will be a better home — for starters, its existence is controlled by the provincial Wesgro Act, and it doesn’t have the same strictures that bound CTRU.

Nils Flaatten, Wesgro CEO

Wesgro is also a far cry from the schoolroom corporate culture of CTRU.  Nils Flaatten, Wesgro’s CEO,  is regarded as a good manager and team leader.  For Province, he must have offered a safe bet to move forward.

But Flaaten must still prove Wesgro’s abilities as far as tourism is concerned, which is very different to trade and investment marketing.  He is concentrating on cross-over benefits to start — of which there are many — and he is sharp enough to grow Wesgro into a more diversified marketing agency.

In Boraine’s interview, he made the point that “fancy mandates and structures will mean nothing if they does not attract the right people — and that is the risk.  It needs a creative environment to achieve that.”

So there are few more jumps to the left, and the right, and some more shuffling before that will happen.  But it is a start in the right direction.

Internationally, Apple — the world’s most valuable company — understands that it cannot divorce the labour practices of its supplier companies in China from the Apple brand.  In South Africa, we’ve seen Cape Town become the most desirable SA city with the strongest brand — because locals have taken ownership and live their brand.

If any SA company stands out for doing the right thing when it comes to branding, surely FNB must top that list.  Until we get the CapeInfo interview with CEO Michael Jordaan, follow him on Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/MichaelJordaan).  He lives and champions his company’s brand better than almost any other CEO I can think of.

So… what’s Pick n Pay doing so badly wrong to justify this headline?

Before going on, you might wonder if I have it in for PnP.  No I don’t, although I have written a scathing attack in this blog once before (The worst Pick n Pay in SA).  I’ve known the Ackerman family for almost 30 years and have deep respect, admiration and fondness for Raymond Ackerman.  He always epitomised the CEO who lives his brand.

My experiences may be peculiar to just one branch so other consumers should judge for themselves.

Does Pick n Pay live up to its promises?

Firstly, let’s look at the Pick n Pay pledge which you should find on the wall of every branch.  Based on my experience it’s the biggest joke I’ve ever come across.

Secondly, PnP has shot itself in the foot with its house brands.  When the new ranges first appeared in their new packaging almost two years ago, they promised the start of a better shopping experience.  That fizzled out quickly.  No sooner had one become used to selecting the PnP margarine, or whatever, they disappeared from the shelves.

So, from that point of view, it’s not a brand you can trust.  Imagine buying a car where parts are not available?

The milk saga which formed the basis of the previous attack has never been resolved.  Buying PnP brand milk was like playing Russian Roulette — when was the next bottle or bag going to be sour?  In the end, the local supplier, Moordrift Dairy, invited me to visit the diary.  Lovely people but I left with the feeling that they’re using technology (for long-life milk which still needs refrigeration) to hide a problem they’ve always had.  And I changed from PnP milk to Clover.

After a year of avoiding PnP brand milk, I bought a bag again last week… and yes, it was sour.  I took it back and asked the customer service lady to confirm that, which she did.  Am I unlucky in the extreme or am I surrounded by poor consumers who don’t demand their rights, I asked.  She didn’t answer.

I’ve complained many times about empty shelves and basic products  absent from the shelves.  The worst was in the middle of March when I couldn’t find a single thing I needed.  “We’re busy with stock-taking,” I was told.  So the customer is not really that important it seems…

One can forgive almost anything if one is aware that people are trying hard and they address issues head-on when they go wrong.  All I get — when I complain — is lip service and the same excuses over and over again.  I get a manager who rarely greets customers, let alone acknowledges their presence.

Now that’s not what I expect from Pick n Pay.  Anyone who has walked around PnP’s head office or any of its stores with Raymond Ackerman will know how he stops to greet people (often by name) all the time; asking genuine questions and taking an interest in the answers.  If managers can’t do this, they shouldn’t be managers.

Now imagine if store managers took a lesson from FNB’s Michael Jordaan, and used Twitter to get closer to their customers and develop the brand…

Over the past year, CapeInfo has queried problems twice.  Both times we received prompt and courteous replies, but both indicated that all is not well at Bing.

The most recent query related to a sitemap that hadn’t been processed.  (Google processed it in a matter of minutes.)  Here is Bing’s reply on March 8:

Thank you for contacting Bing Technical Support. My name is Albert.

From what you wrote, the sitemap you submitted in Bing Webmaster Tools is stuck in pending status. I certainly know how important this is. Let me explain.

We have received numerous and similar reports about users experiencing the same issue. We have already reported this to our Product Group and this is currently being worked on. Please check again by the end of march if the sitemap status has changed.

Moreover, we assure you that the sitemap is submitted in the server. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you have additional questions, please let us know.

Sincerely,

Albert
Bing Technical Support

I went to bed thinking that while there was some merit in the content — something is being done — it fell horribly short.  Zuma was like a little boy with his hand in the cookie jar, handing out sweets to those (industry, business, labour) who could help him stay class captain.

Here are just seven reasons why I think he shold get a Fail:

• Tourism, which has overtaken mining in importance, received just ONE passing mention in the whole speech.

• Limpopo is to get vast infrastuctural expenditure to pave the way for new platinum, coal and other mines in the Waterberg region, which has the pristine Waterberg Biosphere at its heart.  There was not a mention of protecting the Waterberg’s most sustainable assets!

• He spoke about new rail infrastructure in Mpumalanga, because heavy trucks from the coal mines are damaging the roads.  Three years ago, then then CEO of Transnet was looking at a plan to get heavy trucks off all roads — as happens in Switzerland (and SA before democracy) — to utilize rail more effectively.  Even little Riebeek-West in the Western Cape would applaud this.

• Speaking before the President’s address, Speaker of the House Max Sisulu was interviewed about his expectations.  He hoped it would address the “knowledge economy” — a phrase completely absent in the President’s entire address!

• With infrastructure development at the fore — and the President needs to deliver on this now — Green issues will have to fight for their survival.  Having hosted COP17 does not guarantee government’s Green agenda and certainly not in the face of the tender frenzy that will be unleashed.

• The President seems unaware — which is understandable given his rural/agricultural background — of the social damage which so many mines bring to the towns where they operate.  They are colonisers in the imperial sense, and 99% of labour is “grunt” labour.  A new vision… or any real 21st century vision… is lacking.

• When it comes to housing and the provision of services, people are treated as statistics — because bureacrats and technocrats don’t know any better.  There’s no vision to combat rural and peri-urban sprawl and replace it with higher-density urban communities… in places offering identity, delight and opportunity.  Government’s housing policy, and achieving equality in services, is not sustainable and will never meet expectations of the wider populace.

The MeerKAT array, currently taking shape in South Africa's Karoo region. Image: http://www.ska.ac.za

If Neil Armstrong’s “One step for man, one giant leap for mankind” defined exploration — and the US’ role in the world — in the 20th century, the Square Kilometre Array Telescope (SKA) will provide the platform for exploration in the 21st century.

If the space programme contributed to the USA’s technological leadership, imagine what the SKA could do for South Africa.  South Africa’s bid to host the €1.5 billion (R18 billion) project is due to be adjudicated upon this month.

The SKA will be a virtual time machine, enabling scientists to explore the origins of galaxies, stars and planets. And South Africans are at the heart of its development.

South Africa, with eight other African countries, is competing against Australia & New Zealand to host an instrument 50-100 times more sensitive and 10,000 times faster than any radio imaging telescope yet built.

South Africa, allied with eight other African countries, is competing against Australia & New Zealand to host an instrument 50-100 times more sensitive and 10,000 times faster than any radio imaging telescope yet built.

The SKA will consist of approximately 4 000 dish-shaped antennae and other hybrid receiving technologies. It will have a core of several hundred antennae and outlying stations of 30 – 40 antennae spiralling out of the core. These stations will be spread over a vast area – up to 3,000 km. The combined collecting area of all these antennae will add up to one square kilometre (= one million square metres).

If South Africa wins the SKA bid, the core of this giant telescope will be constructed in the Karoo near the towns of Carnarvon and Williston, linked to a computing facility in Cape Town. However, the SKA is so huge that outlying stations will be spread over several African countries, including Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Mauritius, Madagascar, Kenya and Ghana.

This mega telescope will be powerful and sensitive enough to observe radio signals from the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang. It will search for Earth-like planets and potential life elsewhere in the universe, test theories of gravity and examine the mystery of dark energy. A prime objective of the SKA is to probe the so-called “dark ages”, when the early universe was in a gaseous form before stars and galaxies were formed. Scientists are optimistic that the SKA will allow many new discoveries about how the universe was formed and what it is made of.

South Africa is no newcomer to major league astronomy. The Northern Cape is already home to one of the world’s largest telescopes, the Southern African Large Telescope or SALT.

South Africa also works closely with neighbour Nambia on the HESS gamma ray telescope, and is currently building an 80-dish precursor instrument for the SKA, the Karoo Array Telescope (also known as the MeerKAT).

Regardless of whether South Africa wins the SKA bid, the MeerKAT will be a powerful scientific instrument in its own right, comprising 80 dishes each 13.5-metres in diameter. It is being built adjacent to the site proposed for the SKA, in a radio astronomy reserve near the small town of Carnarvon in the Northern Cape, where it is due to be commissioned in 2015.

An engineering test bed of seven dishes, called the KAT-7, is already complete.

In October 2010, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) announced that it would be installing a R100-million ultra-high speed broadband link between the Northern Cape sites of both the Square Kilometre Array and the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) and the SA National Research Network backbone in Cape Town.

The ultra-high speed link will enable local and international researchers to process data from SALT and the KAT-7/MeerKAT in near real time, and significantly boost South Africa’s bid to host the SKA.

Amazon

Amazon

The Amazon Rainforest, also known as Amazonia, the Amazon jungle or the Amazon Basin, encompasses seven million square kilometers (1.7 billion acres), though the forest itself occupies some 5.5 million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres), located within nine nations. The Amazon represents over half of the planet’s remaining rainforests and comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world. The Amazon River is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total flow greater than the top ten rivers worldwide combined. It accounts for approximately one-fifth of the total world river flow and has the biggest drainage basin on the planet. Not a single bridge crosses the Amazon.

Halong Bay

Halong Bay

Halong Bay is located in Quáng Ninh province, Vietnam. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. The bay has a 120 kilometre long coastline and is approximately 1,553 square kilometres in size with 1969 islets. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves, other support floating villages of fishermen, who ply the shallow waters for 200 species of fish and 450 different kinds of mollusks. Another specific feature of Halong Bay is the abundance of lakes inside the limestone islands, for example, Dau Be island has six enclosed lakes. All these island lakes occupy drowned dolines within fengcong karst.

Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls, in Iguazu River, are one of the world’s largest waterfalls. They extend over 2,700 m (nearly 2 miles)  in a semi-circular shape.  Of the 275 falls that collectively make up Iguassu Falls, “Devil’s Throat” is the tallest at 80 m in height. Iguazu Falls are on the border between the Brazilian state of Paraná and the Argentine province of Misiones, and are surrounded by two National Parks (BR/ARG). Both are subtropical rainforests that are host to hundreds of rare and endangered species of flora and fauna.

Jeju Island

Jeju Island

Jejudo is a volcanic island, 130 km from the southern coast of Korea. The largest island and smallest province in Korea, the island has a surface area of 1,846 sqkm. A central feature of Jeju is Hallasan, the tallest mountain in South Korea and a dormant volcano, which rises 1,950 m above sea level. 360 satellite volcanoes are around the main volcano.

Komodo

Komodo

Indonesia’s Komodo National Park includes the three larger islands Komodo, Rinca and Padar, as well as numerous smaller ones, for a total area of 1,817 square kilometers (603 square kilometers of it land). The national park was founded in 1980 to protect the Komodo dragon. Later, it was also dedicated to protecting other species, including marine animals. The islands of the national park are of volcanic origin.

Puerto Princesa Underground River

Puerto Princesa Underground River

The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park is located about 50 km north of the city of Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines. It features a limestone karst mountain landscape with an 8.2 km. navigable underground river. A distinguishing feature of the river is that it winds through a cave before flowing directly into the South China Sea. It includes major formations of stalactites and stalagmites, and several large chambers. The lower portion of the river is subject to tidal influences. The underground river is reputed to be the world’s longest. At the mouth of the cave, a clear lagoon is framed by ancient trees growing right to the water’s edge. Monkeys, large monitor lizards, and squirrels find their niche on the beach near the cave.

Table Mountain

Table Mountain

Table Mountain is a South African icon and the only natural site on the planet to have a constellation of stars named after it — Mensa, meaning “the table.” The flat-topped mountain has withstood six million years of erosion and hosts the richest, yet smallest floral kingdom on earth with over 1,470 floral species. Table Mountain boasts numerous rare and endangered species. It is the most recognized site in Cape Town, the gateway to Africa, owing to its unique flat-topped peaks which reach 1,086 m above sea level.

But now the DA is firmly entrenched in both the Province and the City.  MEC Alan Winde’s first attempt at bringing all the Province’s marketing bodies together didn’t find public favour… after all, it was written by the same people who wrote what exists now.  His new attempt draws extensively on the London Development Agency and others, and saw Andrew Boraine, CEO of the very successful Cape Town Partnership, developing the new initiative.

If anyone can pull this off, it is Boraine.  The Economic Development Partnership (EDP) draws on the lessons and successes of the Cape Town Partnership, established 12 years ago. It embraces everything that is the Cape Town success story CapeInfo wrote about recently — click here.

The EDP will not be a statutory body and government will be a client rather than the owner.  It will operate outside the bureacratic regulatory system with a business mandate.

Boraine concedes that fancy mandates and structures will mean nothing if it does not attract the right people — and that is the risk.  It needs a creative environment to achieve that.

Boraine and his team have started with the fundamentals rather than the big-budget, more glamourous marketing initiatives.

What will the EDP do?  The EDP will be a partnership-based organisation that will lead, coordinate and drive regional economic growth, development and inclusion by concentrating on:

1. Economic and market intelligence and monitoring to ensure evidence-led strategy and planning.
2. Economic vision and strategy through building leadership and a common agenda.
3. Business attraction, retention and expansion through building an improved business and investment climate.
4. Creation of a single brand platform through a regional marketing alliance.
5. Organisation of the economic system for optimum delivery through performance monitoring and on-going coordination of reform.

To see the complete Powerpoint presentation on the EDP, click here.  It is an impressive document.

A steering committee was announced last week and met for the first time, with the goal of opening the new organisation by April next year.

I polled two of the steering committee members.  Peter Bacon, former CEO of Sun International and chairperson of CTRU, said:

“I am in agreement with the need for a public/private sector initiative to bring together under the umbrella of one organization the private sector support needed to grow the provincial economy. The responsibility for strategic planning, spatial planning, brand development, facilitation, research etc. is not, in my view, being dealt with at a macro level and the EDP will hopefully get all those involved in the public sector ‘On the same page’ together with the private sector to ensure the best outcome.

“If we are to attract more investment to achieve the growth levels needed to make a positive impact on unemployment then, as a destination, we need to make ourselves attractive. Also we need to support those industries which have already attracted very substantial investments e.g. the tourism industry and ensure that we maximize the return on the limited funding available from the public sector to support them e.g. destination marketing. To achieve this we must address the current confusion, overlap and wasteful expenditure which will be a focus of the EDP process.

“Governments do not make money and need to support the private sector. The EDP will be mandated to do this.”

Otto Stehlek, Protea Hotels chairperson, said Alan Winde and Andrew Boraine need a round of applause.  “They have assembled a group of people who can be potentially effective.  And anything that makes the Western Cape more efficient must be welcomed.  South Africa does face difficulties competing at an international level and we must do everything we can to reduce these difficulties.

“This deserves our best shot.”

This time it must work — there must be a unified focus and efficiencies.  The bottom line — jobs, investment, tourists, etc — is more important than hype.

Are other provinces watching?  The depoliticisation of economic development and tourism is the only way to get them working.

The steering committe tasked with the job of making it happen comprises:

• Mr Ashoek Adhikari – General Counsel of Media24
• Mr Peter Bacon – Chairperson of Cape Town Routes Unlimited
• Dr Walter Baets – Director of the UCT Graduate School of Business
• Mr Michael Bagraim – President of the Cape Chamber of Commerce
• Professor Leon Campher – CEO of the Savings and Investment Association of South Africa
• Professor Brian Figaji – Director of Nedbank Group Limited and Chairperson of the DBSA Development Fund
• Mr Solly Fourie – Head of the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism
• Mr Ben Kodisang – MD of Old Mutual Investment Group Property Investments and Chairperson of Wesgro Board
• Ms Nontwenhle Mchunu – Entrepreneur and owner of Ezulwini Chocolat
• Ms Lele Mehlomakulu – Head of HR at Allan Gray
• Mr Jannie Mouton – Non-Executive Director of PSG Financial Services limited
• Mr Patrick Parring – Entrepreneur and co-founder of WECBOF
• Mr Conrad Sidego – Executive Mayor of Stellenbosch Municipality
• Mr Otto Stehlik – Executive Chairman of Protea Hotels
• Dr Iqbal Surve – Chief Executive of Sekunjalo Investments
• Alderman Belinda Walker – City of Cape Town Mayco Member for Economic Development
• Minister Alan Winde (Chair) – Western Cape Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism

After the announcement, the 3,000 conference-goers were treated to a glimpse of what to expect in Cape Town, in this stunning video by Muti Films and the sounds of Freshlyground.

In her acceptance speech Cape Town mayor Patricia De Lille said: “It is an honour for me to be addressing you here today as mayor of the first African city to be named a World Design Capital. A city belongs to its people and it must be designed for and with them and their communities. For many years, people have been applying innovative solutions to our challenges. They have been using design to transform various aspects of life. But they have often been working without an overarching social goal in mind.

“The World Design Capital bid process and title have helped to bring different initiatives together and have made us realise that design in all its forms, when added together, creates human and city development.

“The World Design Capital designation gives cities like Cape Town additional motivation to actively think of transformative design in development plans. We look forward to learning from other cities that are using design as a tool for transformation, including past winners Torino, Seoul and Helsinki and our fellow short-listed cities, Dublin and Bilbao. We are honoured to have been considered with them.”

The Cape Town Partnership started the World Design Capital bidding process over a year ago, on behalf of the City of Cape Town. A Bid Committee was tasked to frame the theme of the bid and to source content and case studies for the bid book. It included design case studies in the Stellenbosch area. On 31 March  2011 the 465-page bid book was formally submitted to the International Council for Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) in Canada, with the theme, “Live Design. Transform Life”.

Explaining the importance of the year 2014, De Lille said it will be the celebration of 20 years of democracy in South Africa,

“That celebration will allow for a time of reflection, to think about how far we have come as a country and a city. We will also be positioning ourselves to plan for the future. The next 20 years, and the 20 years after that, demand nothing less if we are to prosper as a city and a society and truly mature into our full potential.

“2014 then is the moment when the past and the future will come together for Cape Town, in contemplation and in action. In South Africa, cities were designed over decades to divide people. But since our new democratic era, we have been focused on trying to bring people together, to create a sustainable city that fosters real social inclusion.”

“The challenges faced by cities today are numerous. Sometimes, they seem unique. When we broaden our horizon, however, we discover the tremendous energy and innovation of individuals, communities and firms using design every day to create solutions. They are to be found within our city… and all over the world.

“In 2014, we will channel that energy into a series of events that celebrate design as a driver of social and economic change in the urban environment. We invite the global design community to become a part of our design journey, in our city, in Africa and in the world,” De Lille said.

Cape Town’s bid has gained widespread public and private sector support at City and Provincial level. It provides the opportunity to embed design thinking into urban development planning for social and economic growth. The accolade will also enhance Cape Town’s reputation globally as being a place that is known for more than just its natural beauty.

Previous World Design Capital title holders have seen increased visitor numbers as a result of the designation. Torino, Italy, World Design Capital for 2008, reported higher visitor numbers in their title year – which coincided with the global economic downturn – than in 2006, when they hosted the Winter Olympics.

Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, Managing Director of the Cape Town Partnership and co-ordinator of the bid on behalf of the City said: “It has been a long and rewarding journey to get to this point. The real key to our success has been the partnerships that have been forged during the bid process, and the unwavering support of the City of Cape Town and the Provincial Government of the Western Cape. Being named World Design Capital for 2014 is a unique opportunity for us to reposition Cape Town on the world stage as a city of innovation, creativity and caring – and to continue to foster and promote our design industries at home and abroad.”

The World Design Capital 2014 title results in a year-long programme of design-focused events that will see creative communities across the globe turning to Cape Town for social, economic and cultural solutions. These connections are vital in the long-term links the city will secure with global role-players within creative industries. This win also highlights how design innovation has led to growth in the Stellenbosch area, taking the bid beyond the city’s borders to acknowledge the design assets of the region.

Said Stellenbosch Mayor Conrad Sidego from Taipei, where the theme of the IDA Congress is “Design at the Edges”: “The edge is where design of the past and design of the future meet – in this moment we have the opportunity to shape a new design legacy for our region.”

Table Mountain seen from the vineyards of Durbanville Hills

The economic value of being voted as one of the New7Wonders of Nature has been estimated at R8 billion over five years for each winner. The projection is based on an independent impact report by Grant Thornton, an international organization of chartered accountants and management consultants.

According to Grant Thornton, South Africa could benefit by R1.6 billion a year, equivalent to over US$ 1 billion for the first five years, if Table Mountain is chosen one of the Official New7Wonders of Nature. Tourism to Cape Town would increase by up to 20 percent annually, with 70 percent of the visitors expected to come from overseas. “This would support around 11,000 employment opportunities in South Africa,” the Grant Thornton report said.

Table Mountain is one of 28 Official Finalists in the New7Wonders of Nature campaign. The winning seven will be announced on 11 November after an estimated one billion votes — online and via telephone and SMS — have been cast.

Grant Thornton’s projections are based on the campaign to choose the man-made Official New 7 Wonders of the World that culminated in 2007, in which 100 million votes were cast. Its report states that “measurable” results were seen at sites which made the top seven shortlisted in that campaign. “Visitors to Petra in Jordan increased by 61 percent and visitors to Christ the Redeemer in Brazil increased by 30 percent.”

The man-made Official New 7 Wonders of the World have “become part of school curriculums all over the world, and if the same happens to the New7Wonders of Nature, children from every corner of the globe will be learning about Table Mountain and South Africa as a destination.”

The Grant Thornton report was welcomed by Jean-Paul de la Fuente, Director of New7Wonders, who said that its findings confirmed the conclusions of an academic study released last year by the London-based publisher Pearson (publisher of the Financial Times newspaper) in which the worldwide economic contribution made by the campaign to elect the man-made New 7 Wonders of the World was valued at more than US$5 billion.

He also pointed out that the Grant Thornton report refers to purely economic value. “If you add the marketing, advertising, image and branding value, you would easily double the numbers, which means that the New7Wonders of Nature campaign is likely to generate well over US$10 billion in economic and marketing value globally” he said.

“This shows that New7Wonders is an extraordinarily positive force, bringing people together using modern, direct, interactive media, and in the end through this generating real economic plus-value for the world,” Jean-Paul de la Fuente added.

So vote now!

1. Visit www.votefortablemountain.com and cast your vote
2. SMS “Table” to 34874 at R2 an SMS
3. Vote via Mxit for free… and you can win Moola!
4. Vote on Facebook
5. Vote by phone