Foreign visitors to South Africa had risen by more than 350 000 for the first four months of this year as compared to the same period in 2009, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk has said.

During the past week, I came across the opinions of four South African influencers that showed just how difficult it is to decide what is perception and what is reality!The first was that of Gavin Lewis of the DA labelling me as indefatigable but muddled in my pursuit of 'good news' as I wrote about the Business Day's reluctance to engage in the Media Tribunal debate. Make of that what you will, but as Judge President Steyn (caretaker of the Namibian Independence handover) said when criticised about his role, it's like a duck's water running off my back! The second was an article by Allister Sparks, The swift trashing of our World Cup image (Business Day 18 August 2010) in which he claims that a few weeks later (after the World Cup) our government seems to be going out of its way to blot out our new image of investors beginning to reassess us as the realisation spread that South Africa was different from the rest of what many still perceived to be 'the hopeless continent' by delivering a series of public relations disasters .I am not sure that Africa is a hopeless continent anymore, but read on!

Vehicle sales in August showed improvement in comparison to the same period last year rising at 36.9 percent, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) said on Thursday.