Gauteng tackles millennium with gusto

THE Gauteng Tourism Agency (GTA) has launched its December 99/January 2000 Events Calendar which covers a period jam-packed with celebrations, events and festivities. The highlight of the events is the Gauteng Province's Millennium Celebrations at the Union Buildings on December 31 which will feature prominently on worldwide television, predicted to be viewed by some three billion people. The Events Calendar is one of many still to come, as the GTA plans to produce a comprehensive Calendar of Events for the entire millennium year. Each of the 12 months of the year 2000 will carry a theme and will be dedicated to a different activity, such as science and technology, the performing arts and the environment. Chief executive of the GTA, Sylvan Golden, said that the initiative forms part of a much wider local and international marketing drive to promote Gauteng which, he reports, is already generating the "enviable reputation of being the economic powerhouse of the country, the sporting mecca and gateway to South Africa". Jabu Moleketi, MEC of Finance and Economic Affairs and chairperson of GTA, is also upbeat about Gauteng's tourism prospects. "It is apt that Gauteng plays host to so many events as we are investing over R50m to improve infrastructure and tourism amenities next year. Furthermore, we are committed to improving the safety of our visitors." The Gauteng government last week came under fire from opposition parties who slammed the R2m being spent on the millennium celebrations. An indignant Moleketi, together with Clive Grinaker, executive chairman of Grinaker Sponsorship Marketing whose brief it was to raise sponsorship for the event, confirmed that the R2m comprises funds not only provided by the provincial government but also from the Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Council and the private sector. "In excess of R28m has been raised from the private sector, in part, to support this initiative," said Grinaker. "Global coverage of the official millennium celebrations will provide a wonderful opportunity to showcase the country's natural treasures and heritage." (Elizabeth Sheridan)