Greatest South Africans profiled

The top 100 was arrived at following an intensive nationwide SABC campaign earlier this year where South Africans were asked to nominate their greatest South African of all time by phone, sms or through the SABC3 website. The response was overwhelming and surpassed all expectations. More than 2000 candidates from all walks of life were put forward.

The results were then collated and audited and from this came the top 100 that will be counted down in order from 100 to 11 in the Great South Africans launch programme on Sunday, September 26 at 18h30 followed by the announcement of the top 10 in alphabetical order.

A weekly broadcast of 10 documentaries, each profiling one of the top 10 will be broadcast every Sunday at 17h30 from October 3 until December 5. Each of these documentaries will be presented by a high profile "champion" whose single function is to motivate to the public, why his or her chosen individual is the Greatest South African of them all. As these documentaries are rolled-out, the public are encouraged to rally behind their favourite in the top 10 and vote.

Hosts Denis Becket and Noeleen Maholwana Sangqu will be giving a brief update on how the voting is going at the end of each programme and viewers can check out the latest voting and rating results at any time on the SABC3 website (www.SABC3.co.za).

The December 9 final episode features a live debate, hosted by Denis and Noeleen, where the celebrity champions argue for their great South African for the final time. Voting closes at the end of the show and the top 10, in order as voted for by the public will be revealed.

The South African project is modeled on the acclaimed and successful BBC production Great Britons when the British public voted Sir Winston Churchill the Greatest Briton of all time.

Great South Africans will be produced for SABC3 by film and television production company, Videovision Entertainment, headed by well-known film producer, Anant Singh, who says: "This project has certainly caught the imagination of the public. The response to the call for nominations surpassed all our expectations. We were overwhelmed with the reaction from South Africans from around the country and from all walks of life. We were delighted with the names that were submitted. Our country has produced brilliant men and women over the years and it is a great cause to celebrate these personalities in this year in as we celebrate 10 years of democracy. We look forward to September 26 when we will reveal the top 100 that this country has produced. We believe that this series will be compulsive viewing."

Great South Africans is sponsored by South African Breweries. Tony van Kralingen, managing director of South African Breweries Limited said: "We are pleased to be the sponsor of the Great South Africans series, which we believe fits extremely well with our corporate acknowledgement of inspired leadership in South Africa."

National Film & Video Foundation are co-funders of Great South Africans and have jointly with SABC3 selected the 10 documentary directors from a national call for applications to participate in the project.

Penguin South African will be publishing an accompanying book on Great South Africans which will be available in store from the 27th September 2004.