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Is it the combination of the "Big Five" or "Soweto" (!!!) ?

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Hunt is On for SA's Defining Symbol

Sunday Times, Johannesburg
February 23, 2003

Dingilizwe Ntuli
Johannesburg

THE US has the Statue of Liberty, Australia has the Sydney Opera House, Britain has Big Ben and France has the Eiffel Tower as their identifying symbols.

Now South Africa is in search of its own national icon to be marketed to tourists as an enduring symbol of the country.

The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has delegated South African Tourism to identify icons to be used for marketing the country, and the tourism body has already drawn up a shortlist of 16 possible images encompassing cultural, wildlife and natural features.

Didi Moyle, acting chief marketing officer of SA Tourism, said the body was researching the attractiveness and recognition level of about 16 provincial tourist icons.

Moyle said the research was being done in consultation with provincial authorities, the tourism industry and other interested parties.

"The most recognisable icons will be sent to a joint committee of ministers and MECs from all provinces for approval before being used to support SA Tourism's international marketing campaigns," said Moyle.

In the event of failure to agree on one icon, several will be used in different marketing campaigns.

The icons shortlisted for the national symbol award are:

Cape Point in the Cape Peninsula, the most southwesterly point of Africa;

Table Mountain, a sandstone plateau rising above Cape Town;

Robben Island, the island just off Cape Town where former President Nelson Mandela spent 18 years with other political prisoners;

Cape Town, a city dominated by its towering, table-shaped mountain, set on a peninsula of soaring, rocky heights and lush valleys;

The Zulus (people and culture);

The Big Five, referring to five of Africa's greatest wild animals - lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino;

Soweto, originally temporary living quarters for mineworkers before being declared a ghetto for the black population of Johannesburg by the infamous Urban Areas Act in 1923;

Johannesburg, a bustling hive of activity and unquestionably the unofficial commercial capital of South Africa;

The Drakensberg, the country's highest and most impressive mountain range, rising to more than 3 000m. Known to the Zulu people as uKhahlamba, or "Barrier of Spears", the Mountains of the Dragon provide a magnificent semicircular border between KwaZulu-Natal and the inland mountain kingdom of Lesotho;

The Garden Route, a lush coastal belt running along the Western Cape coast, backed by a ridge of amazing folded quartzite mountains;

The Blyde River Canyon, a breathtaking gorge - the third-largest in the world, and one of the country's scenic wonders;

The flowers of Namaqualand, which have an ability to survive and multiply in a somewhat hostile environment that is dry and hot and dusty for much of the year ;

Sun City, which is internationally renowned as the country's top holiday resort, offering a multitude of attractions and activities;

The Union Buildings, one of the most beautiful seats of government in the

world. Built in the English monumental style from light sandstone, it looks majestic and lends a solemn environment to the official acts of South African presidents; and

Durban, a city blessed with balmy weather all year round, making it the country's perfect holiday paradise.

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