If you're celebrating your birthday at Mike's Kitchen, don't expect to hear "Happy Birthday". At this restaurant chain you'll be congratulated to the tune of Shosholoza.

Ninety-six percent of South Africans are now proud of their country, with white South Africans closing the patriotism gap with their black compatriots, according to the latest South African edition of the World Values Survey.

South African fashion designer Gavin Rajah has been appointed a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund, joining a host of other international celebrities in a quest to secure children's rights around the world.

The International Marketing Council's new television commercial highlights the remarkable ability of South Africa's people to beat the odds - as they did in 1994, defying the sceptics by turning out in their millions to vote peacefully in the country's first democratic elections.

South Africa's black middle class has grown by an astounding 30% in just over a year, and now wields an annual collective spending power of R180-billion, a new study finds. And according to the researchers, business has yet to tap the full potential of SA's most important, and dynamic, market segment.