South Africa's Web portal is launched

The web portal - Safrica.info - provides a wide range of information about the country, covering everything from trade and investment to arts, from government services to sport.

It carries links to the Department of Trade and Industry, Proudly South African, South African Airways, Trade and Investment South Africa. It is not intended to replace existing web sites but to improve access to them.

Eventually all roads to every aspect of South African life will lead out of Safrica.info as the site grows into an entry point for all government online services, all parastatals and South African businesses. In addition, links have also been forged to the European Union, the Southern African Development Community and many more important international sites.

Safrica.info is part of a campaign undertaken by the International Marketing Council (IMC) to change perceptions about the country. The IMC was established by President Thabo Mbeki as a public-private sector initiative to improve the country's image, particularly amongst international investors. An effective way to reach opinion-makers and potential
investors around the world is via cyberspace.

The portal is aimed at four different audiences: potential foreign investors who need to know more about our business climate, opportunities and legal safeguards; tourists or business travellers, who want information about the country, including its attractions but also its history and institutions; South African residents who would welcome the opportunity to interact with government agencies online or need advice on their rights; and South Africans living abroad, who may need all of these services and may also want to contact other homesick South Africans.

For investors, there is a wealth of valuable material: a daily finance brief, which carries updates on business and market news as well as currency and the share market. The site is interactive and can assist investors with access to government services, information on South African trade agreements and even help in filling in the empowerment information on
tender documents. It offers news of investment opportunities and incentives and useful information about progress in spatial development and city regeneration initiatives.

There's more -- for example, the assistance available from government and private sources for importers, exporters and other business people, including the results of ongoing research carried out by the Department of Trade and Industry into FDI and markets.

Potential visitors are provided with more than information on our wildlife and our beaches -- although this kind of detail is included, indeed highlighted. But so are golf courses, restaurants, theatre, music, literature -- Culture with a capital C. Visitors are told how far their money will go, what to pack, how to get here, what red tape they will encounter and what the weather will be like. They will also find a guide to spoken Seffrican -- definitions of South African words and phrases that have not yet travelled beyond our borders. And one section is given over to sport in our sports-mad country.

Safrica.info takes a holistic view. So in addition, tourists and business travellers are informed that our constitution is the most liberal in the world and that elections are held regularly for representatives in three tiers of government -- national, provincial and local.

South African residents are offered invaluable information in negotiating a changing and wired - South Africa. How does the health system work? What is the status of restructuring in the country's universities and technikons? What are our language rights, and what progress has been made in the government's goal to promote empowerment in all spheres of national
life? What about gender issues?

Visitors to the site will find a consumer-friendly guide to public services and where possible, interactive services to make their lives easier. For example, in many cities residents will be able to pay traffic fines online. Through links to other web sites, they will be able to check their water and electricity accounts or complain about their rates assessments.

Like all web sites, Safrica.info is a work in progress -- that is the beauty of cyberspace. A team of journalists updates the portal daily with news about South Africa and issues that impact on our lives.

This innovative, pioneering portal will play an important part in our plan to build tourism, trade and investment in South Africa and thus contribute to realising our goal for South Africa to become one of the most admired and successful emerging economies. We believe that it will soon become the home page of all South Africans, at home and abroad.