sport

The Rand Show has been hailed as the most consistently successful consumer exhibition in Africa. The organisers reckon up to half a million people will turn up for this year's event - and they've lined up a stunning range of entertainment and shopping opportunities for visitors.

South African swimmer Terence Parkin set a new standard at the Melbourne 2005 Deaflympics, becoming the most successful competitor in the history of the Games by winning an astonishing 12 gold medals.

South Africa boasts the two largest individually timed cycle races in the world, the Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour and the Pick 'n Pay 94.7 Cycle Challenge. The former is contested around the picturesque Cape Point, the latter is raced in and around Joburg. Now Durban is getting in on the act.

President Thabo Mbeki has wrapped up a two-day visit to Tunisia with the signing of three cooperation agreements on jobs, culture and health.

South Africa ranks among the world's top 12 maritime trading nations, commanding 6% of the world's sea trade. Yet much of the shipping industry is foreign-owned. Now a new black-owned shipping line - largely owned by former Robben Island inmates - is making waves in the industry.

Way back in January 1988, at the age of 16, Amanda Coetzer turned professional. Now, after 16 years on the pro tennis circuit, she has called it quits, bringing the curtain down on a career as courageous as it was successful.

"I feel like a young man of 15", Nelson Mandela joked after South Africa was awarded the right to host the 2010 Football World Cup. But, typically, his first thought was for others - the people of rival bidders Morocco, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.

South Africa's stadiums have hosted a number of massive sporting events, with some of the country's venues rated among the best in the world.

South Africa's national carrier, SA Airways, is facing increasingly stiff competition from no-frills airlines offering budget deals to local and international fliers - the most recent player being Civair, which will offer low-budget flights direct from the UK to Cape Town and Durban later in 2004.

Conrad Botes, the South African artist internationally known as one of the founders of the irreverent comic publication Bitterkomix, is holding his first solo exhibition in the United States.