The Sun King Cashes in his Chips Sol Kerzner, founder of the Southern Sun hotel group, Sun International and Kerzner International, has died of cancer at the age of 84. KERZNER WAS a titan of the hotel and casino industry who redefined the scale and scope of integrated destination resorts worldwide. The son of Russian immigrants, Kerzner was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1935. The youngest of four and the only son, he was a working class boy from a rough neighbourhood but he would grow up to become one of the most influential entrepreneurs in South Africa. Having founded the country’s two largest hotel groups - Southern Sun and Sun International - Kerzner would go on to achieve international prominence with groundbreaking resorts that helped transform the tourism industries not only of his home
country but of Mauritius, the Maldives, the Bahamas, Dubai and other important international destinations. Kerzner set up the first casino across the border from South Africa in the former Bophutatswana, when gambling was still
illegal in neighbouring South Africa. Sun City became famous world-wide as a result of his pioneering vision of bringing Vegas-style resort casinos to Africa, and South Africans flocked in droves across the border to sample this never-beforeseen style of gambling and entertainment. Known to those who worked with him in the early days as a tireless, yet irascible perfectionist, he laid the groudwork for what would eventually become South Africa’s burgeoning casino industry. Sol’s glamorous lifestyle in the early days as celebritries, musicians and beauty queens flocked to Sun City made him famous and firmly entrenched his celebrity status, earning him the tabloid-moniker the ‘Sun King’
R100 000 pledged to PinkDrive to take testing to those who need it most Gambling giant Hollywoodbets has donated R100 000 to aid with getting free Coronavirus testing to those who need it most! They have made a donation to the well-known PinkDrive organisation who are currently conducting tests in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal as well as in various smaller suburbs around the Tygerberg hospital. THE COMPANY chose to get involved in this way as they believe it is important to join the fight at the root of the problem and assist with getting the necessary tests done for those South Africans who do not have access to medical aid and are therefore unable to know their health status. The hope is that this free testing will help diagnose people earlier, thereby significantly curbing the spread of the virus. Hollywoodbets’ Transformation Consultant Babongile Mkhize is thrilled that the company is able to play such an important role in assisting those who are truly in need. “At Hollywoodbets we firmly believe in supporting our communities through our annual My Community Programme where hundreds of beneficiaries around South Africa are supported each year. Basically each Hollywoodbets branch supports one April / May 2020
charitable organisation and one development sports team so we can create change where we work. Right now with the situation in our country being what it is, it is important for all of us to unite and do our part to ensure that our people are protected from the spread of COVID-19. We believe in the importance of offering free testing to those who are unable to afford it, because it will play an incredibly important role in stopping the virus from spreading in the long run. When PinkDrive approached us with this opportunity we gladly got involved because we have worked with them many times in the past, so we have faith that they will help change the lives of people in these communities who need it most! Thank you to all of their staff on the ground who will be going out and working hard to keep people safe,” said Mkhize. “We have mobilised all our resources and
appealed to Corporates, Foreign Embassies and Philanthropic Organisations to partner us by funding the initiative to support the NDoH at this critical time. We would like to thank those organisations that have heeded the call. These include Austrian Embassy SA, Citadel Wealth Management, Hollywoodbets, Investec, MiWay, Numatic, OUTsurance, Standard Bank, Super Group and Vedanta Zinc International. We are incredibly humbled by the commitment of these organisations by partnering with the PinkDrive in the COVID-19 testing rollout call by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. Like all health professionals on the frontline of this pandemic we salute the PinkDrive medical staff and management who have selflessly taken up the challenge to provide these screening services to the South African communities.” Shares Noelene Kotschan, CEO and Founder of PinkDrive.
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