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22 december 2011 | R20 | ISSUe 16

News reviews | Opinion | QuizWine | Books | Film | GadgetsPics | Cartoons | Sport heroesBESTOF2011

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playstation3 + game

win!PrizeS wOrth

r100 000

Top trendsDion Chang onwhat’s hot – P20

Arab springNorth Africa’srevolution – P12

How much?Prices: how SAcompares – P56

ANC in 2012will zuma stayor go? – P26

SlumsMagic amidthe muck – P80

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5 2 0 1 6Best

of

2011

arab spring

The people have spoken

LIKE a rolling desert sandstorm the “Arabspring” revolution swept through North Afri-ca on a hot wind of anger, hope and determi-nation before rolling onwards into the MiddleEast.

In the storm’s gritty wake lay the ruins ofonce unchallengable dictatorships and tyran-ny, revelations of grand-scale personal enrich-ment by the ruling few, the promise of long-lost liberties restored, a clear warning toresilient rulers to liberalise and the burden ofreconciling and rebuilding damaged societiesand psyches.

After an uprising reportedly ignited by thesuicide of a young street merchant frustratedby police harassment and red tape, Tunisia’sZine el-Abidine Ben Ali, in power since 1988,was ousted in January and fled his country.

His was a perfect police state – nobody hadpredicted his fall, Western media noted.

After 30 years in power Egypt’s stubbornpresident, Hosni Mubarak, finally resigned inFebruary amid a street revolution and wascharged with ordering the killing of protestersand criminally enriching himself and familymembers during his time in office. His initialcourt appearance provided public spectacleas he was wheeled in on a stretcher, apparent-ly ill with a heart complaint.

Mubarak’s fall coincided with the uprisingin neighbouring Libya where Muammar Gadd-afi’s eccentric and heavyhanded rule had keptLibya cowed for 42 years. In August the tight-ening rebel stranglehold reached Tripoli andGaddafi was spirited away, a fugitive – withgovernment cronies and family – from Inter-national Criminal Court arrest warrants.

Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC),

a semi-formalised body of assorted and evenrival tribal, political and religious groups,stalled elections and national reconstructionwhile the hunt for Gaddafi went on.

It ended with the “Brother Leader” corneredin a stormwater outlet as his birthplace, Sirte,fell to NTC fighters. Dramatic images flashedaround the world of a cowed and bloodiedGaddafi, further humiliated by the loss of hiscurly hairpiece exposing his balding head, be-ing manhandled by emotional rebels.

Then he was dead, the manner of his pass-ing blurred by the fog of mob madness but an-nounced hours later by the NTC amid celebra-tory gunfire and the exultation of huge crowdsin Tripoli.

In Syria President Bashar al Assad’s soldiersviolently cracked down on protesters demand-ing he step down (See pg 34).

How it was coveredCHANGE swept across North Africa from ear-ly 2011 with a momentum and surge of popu-

lar support that startled the world and un-nerved other autocratic leaders in the region.

News coverage streamed worldwide of theconflicts, the crowds, human suffering and thehopes of people sensing liberty.

“Not once in my 43 years have I thought thatI’d see an Arab leader toppled by his people,”Egyptian-born writer Mona Eltahawy com-mented in The Washington Post soon after BenAli was forced out.

“It is nothing short of poetic justice that itwas neither Islamists nor invasion-in-the-name-of-democracy that sent the waters rush-ing onto Ben Ali’s ship but rather the youth ofhis country.”

Similar sentiment was echoed when Egypt’sMubarak stepped down after 18 days of popu-lar protest, focused in huge numbers on Cai-ro’s Tahrir Square.

“I have waited, I have worked all my adultlife, to see the power of the people show itself.I am speechless,” campaigner Dina Magdi told

What happened

LibyaEgypt

Tunisia

12

Libyans celebratefollowing the

announcement ofthe country’s liberation

in Martyrs’ Square,Tripoli, three days after

Muammar Gaddafiwas captured

and killed.

Compiled by kevin jaCobsStoryof the year

By thenumbers 10% of Egyptians

are CopticChristians80m The total population of Egypt,

considered one of the mostpopulous countries in Africa 28 The number of states in the Nato alliance,

26 of them European, that aided Libyanrebels in bringing down Muammar Gaddafi

Al Jazeera TV on the jampacked square.“The moment is not only about Mubarak

stepping down, it is also about people’s pow-er to bring about the change no one thoughtpossible.”

Correspondent Craig Whitlock wrote onwashingtonpost.com, “Egyptians were suf-

The year Muammar Gaddafichanged Libya’s name to the Great

Socialist People’s Libyan ArabJamahiriyah (State of the Masses)

1977

ALL three countries faced challenges asthey tried to change ingrained patternsof government and living, analysts said.

In Tunisia seven million voters facedappeals for their support and trust asmore than 80 parties campaigned in ad­vance of an election in October. But trust,human rights campaigner Intissar Kherigiobserved, “is hard to find in a countrythat has lived through corruption, bru­tality and countless empty promises”.

Nonetheless the nation’s first demo­cratic election in decades gave the Islam­ic Ennahda party 41% of the vote, leavingit to form a government.

Egypt’s transition was initially stalledby violent clashes between members ofthe Coptic Christian minority and Mus­lims. Then renewed violence erupted

fused with a sense they had made world his-tory, on par with chapters such as the fall ofthe Berlin Wall and the collapse of commu-nism in Eastern Europe.

“In a region long devoid of democracy andstifled by repression, Egyptians celebratedwith fireworks, a cacophony of [car] horns anda sea of red-white-and-black national flags.”

After months of erratic fighting betweenarmed rebel formations and loyalist Gaddafisoldiers and aerial strikes by Nato warplaneson government targets, Tripoli fell and Liby-ans celebrated too.

“We are at last free of this dictator,” rebelfighter Wael Abu Khris told The Sydney Morn-ing Herald. “Libya is free at last. No more Gadd-afi. It is time for a new Libya that will shine.”

over the reluctance of the interim militarygovernment, the Supreme Council of theArmed Forces (SCAF), to call elections fora legislature and stand down.

Cairo’s Tahrir Square became a battle­ground again, pitting protesters againstthe police and army. But initial voting wentahead surprisingly peacefully in a complexprocess to create a parliament and a con­stitution­writing assembly by mid­2012.

Amid lingering suspicion of its intentions,the SCAF said it was committed to hand­ing ruling power to a civilian government.

Libya’s post­Gaddafi transition wouldnot be easy, observers said. “[It] is a coun­try shot through with rivalries, jealousiesand blood debts,” the University of Cam­bridge’s Tarak Barkawi wrote on aljazeera.net. “It has been torn apart by war. Now ithas lost the one thing that united much of

[it]: Hatred of Gaddafi and his regime.”Hours after Gaddafi’s death the NTC

declared an end to the uprising and thestart of a future of moderate Islamic rule.

The uprisings cost the affected coun­tries billions, Geopolicity estimated, ac­cording to The Tripoli Post. “Largely thisis a story of oil, the health of public bal­ance sheets and domestic trouble.”

Oil industry analyst John Hamilton saidit was crucial for Libya to get its wealth­generating oil flowing again, according tothe BBC.

The events “have shown bringing anend to despotic rule is possible only if thenation is willing to make sacrifices”, TheTimes noted. “Many countries are underoppressive rule. They should take note ofthe progress of the Arab spring and be­come the champions of their destiny.”

What now

SyriaBahrain Yemen

EXTRA SOURCES: ALJAZEERA.NET, THE NEW YORK TIMES

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By thenumbers 23 The number of years former

Tunisian president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was in powerR62tr The compensation for Africa

Muammar Gaddafi demandedfrom former colonial rulers 20 employees of a Ugandan

mosque were paid byGaddafi for 20 years

By thenumbers

Burning effigies marked protests againstSyria’s President Bashar al­Assad.

Business54-61

PeOPLe92-106

LifestyLe62-91

neWs3-53 13

What happenedTHEIR numbers are dropping –fast. And the decline in Africanrhino is accelerating by the year.

There are little more than 20 000in Africa today yet South Africahas seen record rates of rhino be-ing killed this year. About 370 weremaimed and murdered for theirhorn, up from 333 last year, ac-cording to estimates by the WorldWildlife Fund (WWF) and anti-poaching organisation stoprhino-poaching.com. It’s a shocking in-crease from the 13 rhino poachedin 2007, The Guardian noted.

The trade is lucrative: 1kg rhi-no horn can fetch up to R460 000by some estimates. Writing for theFM, Richard Slater-Jones notedit’s difficult to get exact figures be-cause black market rates are sounstable. “Some say 1kg is worthtwice as much as 1kg of gold.”

There is a great demand, theWWF said, especially in Asiancountries such as Vietnam, be-

LEGALISE horn trading is oneargument. “We’re forcingpeople who want rhino hornto kill the animals while thereare legitimate ways to obtainit,” game ranch owner JohnHume told Beeld.

Make the horns poisonousin a way that would affect hu-mans but not animals, otherssaid. The Rhino and LionNature Reserve in Joburgmade and inserted a mixtureof drugs into their rhinos’horns that cause convulsionsand headaches in people ifconsumed, News24 reported.

The chemical compositionof rhino horn should be syn-thesised, a reader comment-ed on mg.co.za. “[Flood] themarket then it’s no longer

economically sensible topoach.”

Dr Joseph Okori of theWWF said he was “extremelydisappointed” no prosecu-tions had been made in con-sumer states of rhino horn,despite 165 arrests in SA, theMail & Guardian reported.

The South African PoliceService is helping privateowners of rhino to get licenc-es for rifles as defenceagainst poachers armed withAK-47s, The Times noted.

Meanwhile, Molewa hasappointed the EndangeredWildlife Trust to researchwhether the dehorning ofrhinos causes behaviouraldisorders, according to vari-ous reports.

What now

the big one

More work needed to save our rhinoSOME progress has been madein the war against the senselesskillings of rhinos, Business Dayreported.

“The national parks are engag-ing the eyes and ears of local com-munities, beefing up foot patrols,providing rangers with ‘military-style’ training.”

But it’s clearly not enough. “De-mand for rhino horn is such thatan average of one rhino is butch-ered every 21 hours in SA,” wild-life veterinarian André Uys wrotefor the newspaper.

“Well-funded, well-connectedcrime syndicates are controlling

cause of the mistaken belief thehorn has medicinal value.

Syndicates pay big bucks to getlocals to track and kill the rhinofor their horns. But authoritiesstepped up efforts to stop themand so far more than 20 have beenkilled in shootouts with police.

A number of locals and Thai citi-zens were arrested, including aThai national who used Thai pros-titutes and strippers in SA to getrhino hunting permits, which hethen used to legally hunt the beastsand claim their horns.

Rangers also came under fire –one was shot by colleagues afterbeing mistaken for a poacher.

Environmental affairs ministerEdna Molewa eventually declaredgovernment would place a mora-torium on issuing rhino huntingpermits. She backed down afteran outcry – and legal threats – fromhunting farm owners but insisteda trained environmental inspec-tor be present at every rhino hunt.

the game and authorities are twosteps behind.”

Unscrupulous operators are de-stroying the legal rhino huntingindustry, the Globe and Mail not-ed. “Rhinos can be hunted legal-ly in SA where a permit is issuedand some sports hunters – oftenfrom North America – pay up to$100 000 (R800 000) for a chanceto kill a rhino in SA. But the per-mits are sometimes abused.”

The war against rhino poachingis not being won, The Citizen ar-gued. “Although the market forrhino horn is undoubtedly in theEast the actual killers are mainlySouth Africans.”

How it was covered

A rhino being airlifted out of a poaching area in the Eastern Cape.

Dehorning rhinos to prevent their murder is an option, some argue.

14

By thenumbers 5 The number of mines belonging

to a mining group operating with-out water licenses in MpumalangaR7,5bn The estimated value

of flood damage ineight provinces 23,6% The decline in the num-

ber of car hijackingscompared to 2009-2010

South Africa Compiled by liesl peyper14 South Africa

madiba

Frail but fine

Madiba’s deterioratinghealth caused panic.

HYSTERIA over the con-dition of former presidentNelson Mandela reachedfever pitch when he wasunexpectedly hospitalisedin January.

Initial silence from theNelson Mandela Founda-tion and governmentcaused wild speculationabout the state of Madiba’shealth. Crowds gatheredat his Houghton, Joburg,residence and ParktownWest hospital, accordingto the Sowetan.

The Foundation later re-vealed he was admitted foracute respiratory infection.

He recovered and in Julymoved to his birthplace,Qunu, Eastern Cape, intime for his 93rd birthday,IOL reported. It’s believedhe will settle there and notreturn to Houghton.

ONE lured women throughFacebook to rape them; theother raped women on a Sun-day. Now Thabo Bester (23),the Facebook rapist, and JacoSteyn (35), the Sunday rap-ist, are both behind barsafter they were arrested with-in days of each other.

Bester admitted to rapingtwo women and was sen-tenced to 50 years in jail,news outlets noted.

“Going to the court andseeing him getting his sen-tence was closure,” one ofthe victims’ parents told EastCoast Radio.

Bester, who also faces mur-der charges for allegedly kill-ing a 26-year-old model, in-tends to appeal, IOL reported.

Steyn confessed to rapingand killing Roodepoortschoolgirl Louise de Waalwhile his wife was at workand his six-year-old son wasat school, Beeld reported.

He allegedly raped a num-ber of young girls in Gautengand North West since 2008.“Most of the cases happenedon a Sunday,” detective Peetdu Toit told The Times.

Steyn, who appeared in theKrugersdorp Magistrate’scourt, faces at least 30 charg-es of raping and kidnapping.

In an exclusive interviewwith Rapport’s Hanlie Retief,Steyn’s wife, Melanie, saidshe never wanted to see herhusband again. “I’m relievedhe was caught. It’s over.”

COURTS were full of high-profile cases in 2011 and willbe well into 2012:

Chris Mahlangu (29) and a 16-year-old minor returnto court in January 2012 for the murder trial of slainAWB leader Eugene Terre’Blanche. His body was foundon his farm near Ventersdorp, North West.

Standing trial for the double murder of their parents,Johan and Riekie Lotter, were Hardus (23) and Nico-lette (29) Lotter. The siblings and Nicolette’s ex-boy-friend, Mathew Naidoo, pleaded not guilty. The Lottersblamed Naidoo, saying they acted on his instructionsbecause he’d claimed he was the third son of God.

Disgraced former top cop Jackie Selebi reported forjail 5 December – he must spend 15 years behind barsafter a failed appeal against his conviction and sentence.

Selebi was found guilty of corruption in 2010 after re-ceiving R166 000 in bribes from convicted drug traffickerGlenn Agliotti. Appeals Court Judge Kenneth Mthiyaneconfirmed the ruling that Selebi had received paymentfrom Agliotti.

How much mining magnate Patrice Motsepe,SA’s first black billionaire, is worth. He now

occupies the top spot on the Sunday TimesRich List

THERE was out­rage when sus­pended policecommissionerBheki Cele toldhis forces theycould shoot tokill criminals.

The orderwould lead to po­lice brutality,critics argued– and they werevindicated inApril when Ficks­burg residentAndries Tatanewas killed bycops. Footageshowing Tatane(33) being beatenand shot duringa service deliveryprotest shockedmany (see pg 17).

In July Mapha­seka Kunene ofWarden, FreeState, was para­lysed when shewas shot duringa demonstration.Police allegedlythreatened resi­dents would beshot, “like And­ries Tatane”,Beeld reported.

Civil claimsagainst the SouthAfrican PoliceService amount­ed to R11bn in the2010­’11 financialyear, politicsweb.com noted.

police

Harsh lawenforcers

crime

Serial rapists brought to book

trials

Facing the music

Facebook rapist Thabo Bester (RIGHT) got 50 years in jail.

R23bnFew

things gotus as hotunder thecollar asthe pro­posed NHI.See pg 50for moreon the NHI.

*Total taxable income. ** Including taxes for public health spending. *** Additional money government would need for the NHI.

National Health Insurance (NHI): What you could payANNuAl INcome

R200 000*

R400 000*

R600 000*

eSTImATedcoSTS uNdeR NHI

THe exTRA you mAyHAve To pAy A moNTH

R34 700 R455

R1 131

R1 805gRAPHicS24

R51 960

R84 360

R29 240

R38 387

R62 697

R5 460

R13 573

R21 663

HeAlTHcARecoSTS TodAy**

THe ANNuAlTAx gAp***

By thenumbers 40 The number of motorists who die

in accidents daily, according to thenational department of transport61% of South Africans

are either over-weight or obese 1,2m The number of passengers who’d

taken the Gautrain within its first50 days of operation

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40

SA women’s hockey team striker Pietie Coetzee in actionagainst Azerbaijan at the Wanderers Hockey Club in Joburgin January. The Proteas beat their Eurasian opponents 4-3,

with Coetzee scoring three of the goals.

Members of contemporary dancecompany Cloud Gate Dance Theatreof Taiwan perform their show White atLondon’s Sadler’s Wells theatre inNovember.

Powerful picturesA Guatemalan gymnast in action

at the Artistic Gymnastics WorldChampionships held in Tokyo inOctober. More than 500 gymnastsfrom 81 countries took part.

41

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Australian fly-half Quade Cooper (RIGHT) fails to stop NewZealand fullback Israel Dagg during their 2011 Rugby WorldCup semifinal match. New Zealand beat Australia 20-6.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic returns a shot to Spain’s RafaelNadal during the men’s final match of the US Open in FlushingMeadows, New York, in September. Djokovic beat Nadal 6-2,6-4, 6-7 and 6-1 to win his third 2011 Grand Slam title. He alsowon the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Konstantinos Filippidis of Greece competes in the men’spole vault qualification at the European Athletics IndoorChampionships in Paris, France, in March.

The US synchronised swimming team trains at the Scotia-bank Aquatic Center in Guadalajara, Mexico, during the PanAmerican Games in October.

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By thenumbers R450 Cost of a one-way tourist-class

ticket from Joburg to Cape Townon the Shosholoza Meyl train23% of international travel-

lerswillusemobilecheck-in for flights in 2012 R2 290 Cost of taking

your car onthe Meyl

Compiled by ANdReW doNAldSoNTravel

bargains

When the going got roughREGIME change, kidnapping, riots, strikes – 2011 was not agood year for some tourist-attracting countries. But if you’reprepared to chance it there are bargains in these places.

Tourism in Egypt has yet to recover from the Arab spring.The Sunday Times (UK) reported just 40 of about 300 Nile

cruisers sailing from Aswan are currently operating. This,according to Egyptologist George Hart, made it “the besttime I can remember for seeing Egypt’s antiquities”.

Sharm el-Sheikh, about 500km from Cairo, reported hoteloccupancy as low as 40%, and tour operators are offeringbig discounts.

Meanwhile, Somali pirates and militants kidnapping tour-ists and aid workers devastated Kenyan tourism.

In Greece, protests against austerity measures causedchaos in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patra and Heraklion.

IN JUNE msn.com approached 17 trav-el writers and editors and asked themto name the “worst places in the worldto get stuck in”. Travelsupermarket.com’s Bob Atkinson said this about thebus depot at Johannesburg’s Park Sta-tion: “One of my travel colleagues gotstuck there after taking a backpackingbudget coach from Cape Town to thelargest South African city. However, asthe arrival was late in the day his friendsin the city would not drive to this part

of town to pick him up nor could hesummon a decent private cab. Why? It’sin the middle of a high-crime zone thathas frequent muggings and murders sono one who could avoid it would go nearthe place.”

Hardly the Jozi we know.Other places on the list included:

Downtown Los Angeles; Caracas, Ven-ezuela; Edmonton, Canada; Moscow’sSheremetyevo Airport, Russia; Niger;and any golf resort, anywhere.

TRAVELLERS will have to fork outmuch more in 2012. According to travelcompanies’ forecasts the most sub-stantial increases will occur in “boom-ing” Latin America.

In Brazil, where “the strong demandfor travel services often outpaces sup-ply”, 2012’s second-half average hotelrates may be up more than 30%, Carl-son Wagonlit Travel’s (CWT) annualforecast said. Airfares across the regionmay increase by up to 6%, with popularColombia forecast to see the largest in-crease of 11%.

Airfare increases in the Asia/Pacificregion were expected to range between3% and 4%, according to CWT. Airfareincreases in China are expected to ap-proach 7%. For Australia and New Zea-land CWT predicted average daily ho-tel rates would grow as much as 5%.

In other regions, especially debt-stricken Europe, modest increases areanticipated.

TUNISIA used to enjoy the distinction of beingthe cheapest mass tourism destination on the Med-iterranean. But with former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s ousting the industry suffered amassive setback and tourism revenue plunged byalmost 50% in the first six months of 2011, Reu-ters reported.

But things are picking up again. The new re-gime won’t abandon mass tourism – and the in-

dustry hopes democracy will open up more of thishistoric and culturally diverse country to visitors.

As one Tunis hotel manager told The Irish Times:“It was hard to offer my guests anything otherthan a suntan [under Ben Ali].”

In addition to its cosmopolitan beach resortsattractions include the ancient ruins of Carthageand the Muslim and Jewish quarters of Djerba.

Book now.

Idyllic Tunisia is once again becoming a tourist hotspot. Democracy is expected to result in touristnumbers increasing because there are now more places visitors can access.

Moscow’sSheremetyevo

Airport is one ofthe worst places

in the world inwhich to get

stuck.

stuck

Think twice before you go there

budget

Travel costs will rise

trend

Hot new destination: Tunisia

The discount offered by some safarioperators to lure American travellers

to African game parks

40%

63

EXTRA SOURCES: SPACEPORTAMERICA.COM, AMAZON, REUTERS, ThE NEW YORK TIMES, TRAVEL UK, BUSINESS TRAVELLER, hOTEL NEWS RESOURCE, SA RAILWAYS

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VIRGIN Galactichas sold hun-dreds of ticketsfor commercialspace flightsand about 150of the intrepidticket-holdersattended theunveiling of the$209m (R1,6bn)SpaceportAmerica in NewMexico, theworld’s first ter-minal construct-ed solely for thespace travel ofprivate citizens.

Tickets for pri-vate passengersto enjoy an astro-naut’s view ofEarth cost about$200 000(R1,6m).

Chief pilotDavid Mackaytold The WallStreet Journalcommercialflights will start in2013 after manydelays.

Residents of Hyderabad in India will see more tourists.

Huanglong, declared a World Heritage Site in 1992, is a scenic setting in the northwest part ofSichuan, China. The area is known for its colourful pools formed by calcite deposits as well as diverseforest ecosystems, snow-capped peaks, waterfalls and hot springs. Huanglong is also home to manyendangered species including the giant panda and the Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey.

unexpected

To the ends of the Earthflighty

Space trek

travel libraryFIVE forthcoming releaseswe’ll be looking out for in 2012:

Best in Travel 2012 by theeditors of Lonely Planet. Thisguide to the top countries,regions, festivals and cities tovisit is a must-read.

The Unconquered: In Searchof the Amazon’s Last Un-contacted Tribes by ScottWallace (RIGHT). A grippingfirst-person account of a questto find the last survivors of a cul-ture that predated Columbus.

Secret Journeys of a Life-time, Volume II: 500 of theWorld’s Best Hidden TravelGems by the editors of NationalGeographic (RIGHT). Exactlywhat it promises: Insiders’ se-crets from roads less travelled.

The New Granta Book ofTravel edited by Liz Jobey, withan introduction by Jonathan Raban. An anthologyof the best travel writing published by the literarymagazine since 1991, when its last travel collectionwas published.

Holidays in Heck by PJ O’Rourke. Two decadesago the humourist published the classic Holidaysin Hell, his adventures as a war correspondent.Now he reports on even grimmer experiences –family vacations.

SMALL, obscure, under the radar – and growing in populari-ty. In his annual forecast of travel trends, Thomas Stanley,head of Cox & Kings, the world’s oldest travel brand, said,“Modern travellers are craving locales way off the radar –and in most cases that actually means ‘under the radar’.

“These sought-after spots include rarely visited Europeancountries such as Albania and Serbia, the Russian Far Eastand Greenland, Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistanand offshore destinations such as the Falkland Islands andPapua New Guinea.”

His top destinations for 2012 are Indonesia, Ghana, Malay-sia, Nepal, Romania, Iceland and Abu Dhabi. He predicted asurge in South American travel. Other must-visit cities in-clude Beirut in Lebanon, Luang Prabang in Laos, Hyderabadin India, Stockholm in Sweden and Tallinn in Estonia.

The expected growth in theluxury travel market over the

next five years due to theincrease in millionaires fromIndia and the subcontinent

15%

ethics

Going green helpsSUSTAINABLE travel is gaining impor-tance, according to Barbara Messing, amarketing executive at TripAdvisor.

“Travellers want to know more aboutthe green practices and environmentalreputation of hotels and seek to under-stand whether the hotel is part of theproblem or the solution in promotingbetter environment practices.

“A growing set of travellers wants tosee how their tourism dollars benefitthe local community in certain desti-nations,” she told eyefortravel.com.

Huanglong, Sichuan – China

460 The number of people from50 countries who have bookeda seat on SpaceShipTwo6 passengers, plus two pilots,

can be accommodated onVirgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo 5 The approximate time, in minutes, passengers

will experience weightlessness aboardSpaceShipTwo; flights last 2,5 hours

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EVERYONE loves a bargain so thegrowth in discount-offering websitesin South Africa has come as no surprise.

Local company Twangoo was boughtby US giant Groupon in January to be-come Groupon SA. “We all need treatseven when things are a bit tight,” WayneGosling, CEO of Groupon SA, told how-wemadeitinafrica.com.

“For the consumer the advantages ofbuying on Groupon is the obvious value-for-money deal and treat-yourself com-bination,” Loraine Stander wrote on thesite.

Groupon SA’s success wasn’t matched

by its competitors. Media houses Avusaand Naspers launched their block-buying sites, Zappon and Dealify re-spectively, then shut them down monthslater, mybroadband.co.za and meme-burn.com reported.

like

Social media boomsTHE appeal of social networking inSouth Africa escalated this year, mak-ing social media-use the most popularonline activity, according to a study byFuseware and World Wide Worx.

The South African Social Media Land-scape 2011 survey measured local inter-net users’ social media use from August2010 to August 2011.

MXit occupied the top spot with about

10 million active users, followed byFacebook with 4,2 million users. Linked-In, aimed at professionals, saw an 83%growth in South African users and nowhas about 1,1 million users.

“South Africans have embraced so-cial media as a core pillar of internetactivity in this country along with email,news and banking,” Rudolph Mullerwrote on mybroadband.co.za.

tweets a second weregenerated after Beyoncérevealed she was pregnant atthe MTV Video Music Awards

records

Breakingan entryTHIS was theyear of onlinerecords breaking.New GuinnessWorld Recordsincluded:

Lady Gagafor having themost Twitter fol­lowers – 11,3 mil­lion on 29 June2011 (16,3 millionby December).

Justin Bieber’svideo for his hitsong Baby wasnamed the mostpopular video ofany kind online,with 463,8 millionviews on 16 Feb­ruary pushing itinto the recordbooks.

Prince Williamand Kate Middle­ton’s nuptialshad the mostlive streams for asingle event with72 million viewerstuning in onlineto watch the cou­ple’s wedding.

8868bargains

Group discount sites take off

web domains

By any other nameUNTIL June 2011 anyone interest-ed in having a website had nochoice but to conform to an inter-net naming convention list that in-cludes.com, .net, .co, .web and .org.Then the Internet Corporation forAssigned Names and Numbers re-laxed the rules for what the end ofwebsites should be.

Now a domain name can be builtusing any combination of lettersand numbers, including non-Lat-in characters, CNN Tech reported.

From January 2012 companies,places and individuals will be giv-en the opportunity to registernames and category domains like.cars, .sports and .news, The Huff-ington Post noted.

security

Anonymous hacksHACKTIVIST group Anonymousshowed they have the skill to hackinto anything. They took credit forattacks on the Pentagon, NewsCorporation and Apple and threat-ened to take down Facebook forselling users’ details.

It also took on an undergroundporn network in a campaign titled“Operation Darknet”. A websitehousing inappropriate children’simages, Lolita City, was attackedand the details of 1 500 users ex-posed, The Periscope Post wrote.

MXit gets 40 000new usersevery day.

MOST USERS MOST GROWTH FASTEST GROWTH (in the second half of 2011)MXit and Facebook Twitter BlackBerry Messenger

1,1 million 4,2 million 1,1 million10 million

The number of South Africanswho used Twitter in 2011.That is a 20-fold growthin little more than a year.Not all Twitter users areactive. Most people chooseto follow others for freshnews.

The estimated numberof active MXit users

The number of SA Facebookusers in August 2011. Morethan three million visitedthe site in the past year.

The number of Linkedin usersin SA. This service is mainlyfor professionals. It grew by83% over the past year.

“This is partly a factor of manyusers moving on once thenovelty of the site had worn offas well as a result of the ficklenature of the youth market”– Michal Wronski, Fuseware

Just 40%of allTwitterusers areactive.

Twitter users who tweet

Twitter MXit Facebook LinkedInStill the most popular socialnetwork in SA.

MXit’s demographic: Howmany users are 18 years andolder?

MXit’s demo­graphic complete­ly differs from thepopular belief it’sdominated byteenagers.

Men 76%

Women 73%

600 000blogsA third arecompletely in­active and only

8%are very active.

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This graphic takes a closer look at how South Africans used social media in 2011.

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By thenumbers R79m The amount Zynga players

have raised for charity sincethe site’s launch in 200911% of SA adults use the inter-

net for social networking,up from 4% in 2009 10% of users on professio-

nal network LinkedInare business-owners

coMpilED BY BoNolo MoDisEOnline

active monthly usersaccess Zynga games

through variousplatforms including

cellphones

influential

Tweet forthe starsRISING fromalmost nowhereTwitter grew20-fold in SA injust more thana year.

“One of thedrivers of thegrowth is themedia obsessionwith the net-work,” ArthurGoldstuck, man-aging directorof World WideWorx, said.

It became aplayground forlocal celebrities,sports stars andeven politicians.Some memorablerants and tweets:

“All the YFMDJs I can doubleyour salaries. Sitdown or I will giveyou a loan.” – TVpresenter NonhleThema. Thisstarted a fightwith YFM jockand e.tv’s Club808 presenterDineo Ranaka.

“You keep ig-noring my ques-tions. Next thingyou’ll be beggingme for a vote.What are youdoing on Twitterif you avoid ques-tions.” – SingerSimphiwe Danataunted DA lead-er Helen Zille af-ter Zille claimedthe WesternCape was SouthAfrica’s best-runprovince.

“[Gaddafi was]a foster parent ofairline terrorismand a horrifyinglybad dresser.” –DJ Gareth Cliffafter MuammarGaddafi’s death.

232mwho’s the boss?

Internet big boysBehind every awesome innovation there’s a face that shiesaway from the spotlight. Who are these powerful captains ofindustry belonging to the internet moguls club? Here’s a lookat 2011’s online movers and shakers

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of FacebookTHE brains behind what has become the biggestsocial network in the world is just 27 – and hasalready amassed a net worth of $17,5bn (R140bn),according to Forbes.

Facebook, started in 2004, is now reportedlyapproaching 800 million users and has an esti-mated value of $50bn (R400bn).

Zuckerberg was ranked 52nd on Forbes’ 400global billionaires list and was the youngest inthe US list at No 14.

Sergey Brin and Larry Page, The Google GuysMOST of us know Sergey Brin (LEFT) and busi-ness partner Larry Page’s product as primarily asearch engine but there are multiple pillars toGoogle, including its lucrative advertising arm.

Google has a market capitalisation of $193bn(R1,5tr) after going public in 2004. The 38-year-olds’ individual wealth is an estimated $16,7bn(R133,6bn) each and they ranked 24th on Forbes’400 billionaires list and 15th on the US list.

The Economist called Brin an EnlightenmentMan for the company’s “universally accessibleand useful” search functions.

Robin Li, founder and CEO of BaiduCHINESE internet giant Baidu is in the palm ofRobin Li, who founded it in 2000. The 43-year-old ranked second on the list of Forbes China’s400 richest entrepreneurs with an estimated networth of $9,2bn (R73,6bn), according to tech-orange.com.

Baidu listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in2005, becoming the first Chinese company onthe stock market’s Nasdaq-100 Index in 2007.The company, valued at $50bn (R400bn), is thetop search engine in China, claiming 70% of theChinese search market.

challenger

Google+ goes liveIT MADE waves during its early stages,drawing in 25 million by-invitation-only users before it opened to the pub-lic. And when the virtual gates openedto everyone in late September, Google+’sunique browser hits reached 60 millionbefore the hype died down, leaving itwith little more than 40 million activeusers, Mashable noted.

Features include live video chats thatdon’t require external providers likeSkype and groups that allow users todecide who forms part of their onlinesocial interactions.

five things to lookout for in 2012

THE universe might be kindenough to let us have decentinternet connection speeds.Telkom’s proposed sale of a20% stake to Korea’s KT Tele-coms and more undersea ca-bles could give us a big boost.

Commentators believe Face-book’s growth will lead to theprivately owned company go-ing public early in 2012. Thiswould mean the world’s big-gest social networking site willjoin tech giants like Oracle andGoogle on the New York StockExchange.

Will 2012 be the year onlineadvertising takes off? Internetbuffs have yet to find a winningformula but kudos to Google– they’re making a killing withtheir AdWords programme.

Keep an eye on Amazon andits ambitious plans to publishits own ebooks; in 2012 theymight ruffle many feathers.

The number of companiesremoving their apps fromiTunes and creating in-brows-er apps – as Amazon did withtheir Kindle app and the FTdid with theirs – could increasebecause of Apple’s 30% profit-cut demand.

Former Facebook executive SeanParker said Facebook’s clutter coulddrive a good chunk of fed-up Facebook“power-users” to Google+ and Twitter,The Telegraph reported.

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95% The percentage of traditionalretail shoppers eBay is tryingto get to shop online2014 The year by which 81% of post-

secondary US students will takesome or all of their classes online 340 The number of episodes of

the now defunct online videoshow Diggnation

business54-61

people92-106

news3-53

lifestyle62-91

THE health of Lu Hao (3) ofChina and Suman Khatun (6)of India weighs heavily ontheir parents’ minds – theyoungsters tip the scale at59kg and 92kg respectively.

Lu Hao’s father, Lu Yun­cheng, said his son can eatthree big bowls of rice in asitting and cries non­stop ifdenied food, The HuffingtonPost reported. He weighed2,6kg at birth but inexplica­

bly gained weight rapidlywhen he was three monthsold, The Sun reported.

Khatun takes the cake,however. She eats enoughevery week to feed her entirevillage and is still dissatis­fied, often asking neighboursfor food, ABC News noted.

Both are considered med­ical mysteries – doctors can­not explain the unusualweight gain.

giant

Not-so-littlelittle ones

spoilt

Pet’s paradiseMANY dog owners spoil their pooches once in a while.But some people take it to the extreme.

Louise Harris (32) forked out £20 000 (R240 000) onthe perfect wedding for her beloved Yorkshire Terrier,Lola, The Telegraph reported. According to allvoices.com, she invited 80 guests to the wedding bash, whichwas held in an outdoor marquee in the grounds of hermansion.

Harris spent £1 000 (R12 000) on flowers, £3 000(R36 000) on designers and £400 (R4 800) for a wed­ding planner, the Daily Mail reported.

She’s not alone in the pet­spoiling stakes. Lynn Ed­wards, owner of a pet grooming shop in New York, toldpoughkeepsiejournal.com owners spend thous­ands ontheir animals.

“Dogs are treated like people and our clients’ petsdon’t just get groomed, they get spa treatments.” Onedog at her shop gets pampered every two weeks andenjoys a facial, aromatherapy bath, conditioner, “pawd­icure”, cologne spritz and teeth brushing.

Being a bitch is not always a bad thing.

The number of prescription pills a NewYork man sold from his ice cream truck

40000BETTER in thangone was whatWilfredo Gonza­lez (30) thoughtwhen he swallow­ed the $1 600(R12 800) ringhe’d stolen.

Gonzalez wasworking on a re­modelling projectfor an Illinoiscouple when heasked to use thebathroom, ABCNews reported.When he returnedthe wife noticedher diamond ringwas missing andher husband con­fronted Gonzalez.

After a tussleGonzalez pulledthe ring from hisshoe, held it in hishand to keep itaway from thecouple then swal­lowed it, kdvr.comreported.

He was arrest­ed and givenmedication tomake it easier forhim to pass thering, which was“delivered” at4am on 8 August.

Gonzalez hasbeen chargedwith theft.

tasty bling

Whatgoes in . . .

IF YOU’RE going to smuggle your hus­band out of jail in a suitcase perhapstake one with wheels.

Maria del Mar Arjona (19) of Mexicocould’ve been successful in her attemptif she’d done that – cops became suspi­cious when she battled to carry the suit­case containing her husband, JuanRamirez Tijerina, out of the prison.

Maria was allowed to take the suit­case into the cell because the couplehad a scheduled conjugal visit, the BBCreported. But guards later opened it upand found him in the foetal position.

She was arrested and he was returnedto his cell, the Daily Beast noted.

More successful at escaping (at first,at least) was Bongani Moyo, SA’s mostwanted criminal.

He escaped from Boksburg Prison inMarch and was rearrested but walkedout of the Pretoria Magistrate’s Courtin August. Moyo was left unshackledbecause of his crutches and, accordingto iol.co.za, he handed the crutches toone of his co­accused before walkingout with a stack of papers. He was ar­rested three weeks after the escape.

jailbreak

Prisoner of love

fake

Not gay. Not a girl.Not in Damascus

Three­year­old Lu Hao weighs a hefty 59kg. Really.

Louise Harris with boyfriend Dan Hill and her terriers.

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By thenumbers R8m The amount US reality

TV star Holly Madison’sbreasts are insured for247 The number of live tarantulas

a German man mailed to theUS in a smuggling attempt 7 dogs ate their owner in Jakarta,

Indonesia after he abandonedthem without food for two weeks

Compiled bY muhammad NoormahomedWonderful & wacky

A BLOGGER – Gay Girl in Damascus –amassed a large following when she

wrote about life in Syria during the gov­ernment’s crackdown on Arab spring sup­

porters. Readers were gripped by her post­ings – and horrified when she was kidnapped (her cousinblogged the news).

News of the kidnapping spread rapidly – until the “lesbi­an blogger of Damascus” revealed “she” was actually anAmerican man named Tom MacMaster (ABOVE).

MacMaster (40) created the alias Amina Arraf, CNN re­ported. He eventually came clean with a blog entry “A Hoaxthat got way out of hand. I never meant to hurt anyone”, TheSeattle Times noted.

He hadn’t expected this kind of attention, he told report­ers. But, defiantly, he added, “It created an important voicefor issues I feel strongly about,” The Guardian wrote.