PR in South Africa

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South Africa Welcomes Chinese Language, Influence in Schools

Anita Powell
March 10, 2014

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's education minister says the nation of 11 official languages will introduce Mandarin into its school curriculum. The move is part of a greater effort to get closer to major trading partner China, and has been criticized and welcomed.

If you want to say hello in South Africa, you have no shortage of options in this nation of 11 official languages. It’s "sawubona" in Zulu, "hallo" in Afrikaans and "dumelang" [in the plural form] in Setswana. And, of course, there is always, "hello."

But now, South Africa’s education ministry hopes to add another language to this polyglot nation, by saying "ni hao" to Mandarin Chinese.

An agreement this month between the two nations focuses on five areas of cooperation: curriculum development, math and science, teacher training, vocational education, and research and development in basic education.

New partnership

Ministry of Basic Education Spokeswoman Troy Martens said the new partnership is extremely valuable to both countries, though officials have not said how much the initiative will cost.

”It is very exciting because it takes the relationship between South Africa and China beyond just trade relations, and into the mutual development for both of our developing countries," said Martens. "So it is very exciting and both countries have indicated that for them education is a high priority, and that is why education is high on the agenda of collaboration between the two countries.”

The aspect of the plan that has garnered the most attention is a Mandarin language roll-out in schools.

”China is South Africa’s biggest trading partner," noted Martens. "So it is extremely beneficial to learners in South Africa to be exposed to the Mandarin language as well as Chinese culture.

"Now this will not be compulsory, it will not be for every school, and it will not be for every child," she added. "But for schools that feel they have the capacity to offer Mandarin as a subject, we think it is a great opportunity for South African learners to be exposed to this international type of language.”

Mandarin studies

South Africa’s census does not say how many native Chinese speakers there are in this country of nearly 51 million people, though they are likely somewhere within the 830,000 South Africans who told census-takers their first language was not among the 12 most popular.

Principal Lisette Noonan heads the Pretoria Chinese School, a kindergarten-to-grade-12 private school of about 500 students in the capital, Pretoria. Every student there studies Mandarin.

Noonan said the school, which has been around for 80 years, welcomes the new collaboration between the two nations.

”We were quite excited by the announcement. We do believe that it is in the best interests of children to know Mandarin, especially with China becoming such a huge economic power in the world,” she said.

South African schools suffer from the legacy of apartheid, which just two decades ago intentionally gave inferior education to the majority of the population. China has in that time drastically expanded its education system, and last year the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ranked students in Shanghai as the world’s top scorers in reading, science and mathematics.

South Africa hopes the alliance will not only better South African students, but also bring them some of China’s success.

 

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Ethnic Chinese people in South Africa are reclassified as black, to benefit from Affirmative Action.


South Africa Chinese 'become black'

The High Court in South Africa has ruled that Chinese South Africans are to be reclassified as black people.

It made the order so that ethnic Chinese can benefit from government policies aimed at ending white domination in the private sector.

The Chinese Association of South Africa took the government to court, saying its members had been discriminated against.

The association said their members often failed to qualify for business contracts and job promotions because they were regarded as whites.

The association said Chinese South Africans had faced widespread discrimination during the years of apartheid when they had been classified as people of mixed race.

The BBC's Mpho Lakaje in Johannesburg says the Broad-Based Economic Empowerment and the Employment Equity Acts were designed to eradicate the legacy of apartheid which left many black people impoverished.

The laws give people classed as blacks, Indians and coloureds (mixed-race) employment and other economic benefits over other racial groups.

The Black Economic Employment concept was initiated by the governing ANC to help previously disadvantaged individuals - to start their own businesses or become part of existing companies - thus redressing the country's historic inequalities.

Whites still on top

Our correspondent says the ruling provides clarity for corporations in South Africa on the rights of their Chinese staff - who were declared "coloured" under apartheid but are generally regarded as white today.

An example cited in court papers includes an oil company that disqualified Chinese citizens from getting a slice of its biggest empowerment transaction to date.

The company says the group is not catered for in the Black Economic Empowerment codes.

Another example includes a Chinese national who was refused an opportunity to buy shares from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange two years ago.

None of the three government departments cited as respondents in the court case opposed the application.

A study released last month revealed that white South Africans still earn around 450% more than their black counterparts, 14 years after the end of apartheid.

 

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Business as usual for Chinese business owners

31 January 2014
Bianca Bothman

JOHANNESBURG - As the competition for cheap goods increases, China malls have appeared around the country.

And in the face of that competition, Chinese businessman Robin Xu and his colleagues will be working through the Chinese New Year celebrations -- which are set to continue for the next two weeks.

Xu has been living in Johannesburg for as long as South Africa’s democracy.

A successful businessman running several wholesale retail outlets around the country, Xu says coming to Africa was like venturing to an unknown world.

“I think very few Chinese people knew about Africa and even for me, for myself -- when my previous boss wanted to send me to South Africa -- I was surprised as I wasn’t familiar with the country,” he said.

Growing up in Changchun, the capital city of a very cold north-eastern province of Jilin, Xu says the first thing that struck him about the country when he arrived in 1994, was its beauty.

“The climate here is very good. We have been to the Kruger National Park and Cape Town very often,” said Xu.

With three China Malls in South Africa -- two in Johannesburg and one in Durban -- Xu’s business employs 170 people who work for him directly.

In their Amalgam China Mall there are 400 tenants, each with a minimum of three staff members.

Xu said the business is providing affordable commodities for South Africans while supporting local businesses.

One of Xu’s tenants at the Amalgam Mall, Chen Tao, has also been in South African since 1994.

“South Africa is beautiful and life is better here, less crowded.”

China is South Africa’s largest trading partner on both import and export fronts.

At a South African expo in September 2013, Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Elizabeth Thabethe said that the trade relationship between the two countries had increased dramatically.

“South Africa’s exports to China increased from R6.4-billion to just over R81-billion in 2012, while South Africa’s imports from China grew to R120-billion in 2012,” said Thabethe.

President Jacob Zuma has met with Chinese authorities on several occasions since his appointment to head of state.

On Wednesday, Zuma wished members of the Chinese South African community a happy and successful New Year in a statement, pledging to promote relations with China, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

"As South Africans we are appreciative of the role that your community is playing in everyday South African life. Your investments and the job creation through the entry of so many Chinese enterprises, contributes to a better life for all who live in our country," said Zuma in the statement.

The Chinese community has been in South Africa since gold was first discovered in the late 1880s, with many waves of migrations arriving after that, up until today.

“We learnt quite a lot from those Chinese old generations, they came to South Africa many, many years ago, and they built up the Chinese community in South Africa and we learnt some local cultures also from them, from the old Chinese generation in this country”

It’s estimated that the number of Chinese people in Africa is close to one million but it is difficult to determine the exact number because of the continent’s porous borders.

 

[da dick]

i dun understand why u want to advertises for ah tiong colonies. most sinkies, and even matlaysians like tonychat of umno, would rather avoid tiongs if they lives depend on it.

 

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2015 School fees for Pretoria Chinese School released

 

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Back by popular demand, Kevin Leo, the singing chef is back. Be entertained by the powerful voice of Kevin.

 

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Cape Town Police officers are now required to learn Chinese due to the exploding Chinese poplulations in major South African cities.

 

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The Ladies Omama of Durban performing a traditional Zulu women dance

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The

Chinese Nursing Association in Durban, South Africa

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Relaxing at the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa

 

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Certificate for a conversational course at

Confucius Institute of the Durban University of Technology

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Graduates of the conversational madarin course at Confucius Institute, Durban University of Technology

 

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Plenty of chinese shops, better than Ali Baba

China Town Parow

Address:
Shoprite Park, Corner Jean Simonis and Voortrekker Roads,
Parow, Cape Town,
South Africa

Hours: Monday to Sunday: 09H00 - 17H30; December Season Trading Times - 9am to 6pm 7 days a week
Contact: Russel Wang (Centre Manager)

 

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Check out this Singaporean woman finding success in Rwanda, Africa

[video=youtube;sLJgqAukNl0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=348&v=sLJgqAukNl0[/video]

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singaporean-woman-sets-up/2186728.html

Singaporean woman sets up Rwanda's first modern poultry farm

By Lam Shushan

SINGAPORE: Growing up, her family called her a chicken without feathers because of her tiny frame. Now, Lam Shumei (full disclosure, this writer's sister) is known as "Madame Poulet du Singapur" - the "Chicken Madam from Singapore" - because she is the biggest chicken farmer in Rwanda.

“When I meet people in Singapore and I say I have a chicken farm in Rwanda, their response is, 'Chicken farmer? Rwanda?'" she said, adding that most people back home know little about the East African nation apart from the genocide in 1994.

Thankfully, Rwanda has moved on from its violent past. According to the Global Law and Order 2015 report, the country is now the safest African country to live in.

Ms Lam was first introduced to Rwanda in 2011 while on a business trip to some African countries. She was surprised to find that chicken meat was the most expensive meat in the market, selling at over 3000RWF (S$5.60) per kilogramme, more than what most Rwandans could afford to have regularly.

“A large part of the economy is still driven by subsistence farming. A lot of things have to be imported because the country is relatively new,” she said. Poultry meat was being imported from as far away as Europe, and the lack of modern farming techniques locally have driven up the cost of production.

The following year she returned to set up a social enterprise, Poultry East Africa Ltd (PEAL), with the aim of providing affordable meat proteins to the nation. Rwanda still struggles with food security despite steady economic progress in the last two decades.

“The average Rwandan only eats meat once a week and typically it’s your goat or beef. So chicken was a luxury meat. Those in the local villages could only afford to have their local ‘Kampong’ chicken once a year,” she said.

RWANDA'S FIRST MODERN POULTRY FARM

PEAL is the first company to be running a modern chicken farm in Rwanda, and has the capability to output 8 tonnes of poultry meat every week.

“Farming is all about economies of scale. You have the same fixed cost, same fixed overheads which is shared over the number of chickens you produce,” Ms Lam said.

The farm is equipped with an automated feedmill, 4 semi-automated chicken houses with capacity to double, and a 400 bird-per-hour processing plant.

“We are looking at actually increasing our production capacity because we do not have sufficient supply for the markets,” Ms Lam said.

The farm began operations in December 2014, and within less than a year, the company has brought down the price of poultry meat by over 30 per cent.

“I believe that we have successfully entered the market to bring down the price of poultry meat, so more and more people are able to afford poultry chicken meat on a daily basis,” Ms Lam said.

MAKING A SOCIAL IMPACT

More than just a business, one of the main objectives of the project has been its social impact.

“Before we set up the farm in this area, the farm was pretty much bush land. We believe that we created a local economy by having a project here because more industries and houses are starting to pop up in our vicinity,” she said.

The project has helped generate employment in the Bugesera district, a 40 minute drive from Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city. At the moment, the farm employs 60 people who are mostly from the surrounding villages.

"WOW, I'M A CHICKEN FARMER"

But the journey has not been without its challenges. “Utilities are a day to day problem. The power goes off five times a day especially during the dry season. Water is also scarce," said Ms Lam.

Finding the right people for the job was also one of the initial challenges because modern poultry farming was a new concept in the country. “Teaching them managerial skills, following systems, generating reports are all very important parts of farming because it’s a process,” Ms Lam said.

“It’s very easy to get caught up in the day to day frustrations and challenges, but sometimes I have surreal moments where I realise wow, I’m a chicken farmer and providing opportunities for many people. It’s a really good feeling,” she said.

- CNA/ss

 

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Beautiful Cape Town... a walking tour