Mandela Day - launched in 2009 - to remember Mandela's contribution to the creation of a democratic South Africa calls on people to donate 67 minutes of their time to help those in need.
In honour of the day, IOL staff have put together 67 reasons to love South Africa. Here they are, in more or less alphabetical order, and in our own, idiomatic words:
Afrikaans - no way your swear words would have the same impact if they were said in English!
Apartheid Museum
Awesome scenery - almost everywhere
Barefoot kids playing rugby as if they were already Springboks
Being able to see the Big 7 – the usual plus great whites and whales - within a few hours of each other
Being able to love and marry whoever you want regardless of race or gender
Biltong
Black Coffee becoming an international phenomenon
Braaiing come wind, rain or shine, although thankfully for us it is mostly shine.
Bunny chows
Camping at Christmas ... or camping in general
Cape Town International Jazz Festival
Cheap petrol, by world standards
Cocktails on Clifton Beach
Democracy
Driving along the Garden Route
Each and every wonderful beach in the Eastern Cape
Fish and chips parcels
Fresh produce from roadside vendors
Gatsbys cut into four
Gautrain!
Getting a seat on a crowded Metrorail train
Great red wine
Having 4 seasons in one day
Hashtag protests
Johannesburg's purple sunsets (probably because of the pollution)
Kirstenbosch concerts
Koeksisters and coffee on a Sunday morning
Local TV shows like Our Perfect Wedding and Date My Family
MyCiti bus system in Cape Town
Mopani worms
Mrs Balls Chutney
Namaqualand's flower carpet
Nelson Mandela - his spirit lives on
Our adverts - sometimes so sweet and sometimes so cheeky
Our cultural diversity
Our eleven official languages
Our good-looking guys!
Our one-of-a-kind national flag
Our Olympic hopefuls - all 137 of them!
Our unique street style - from Mr Price to David Tlale in one outfit
Parliament - all the shenanigans
People wearing onesies in supermarkets
Pretoria's jacarandas
Reading the Sunday papers and smelling the neighbourhood braais
Shosholoza - the one song almost every South African manages to sing with immense pride... but completely wrong.
Singing the national anthem before the games... *proud much?
South Africanisms like “lekker”, “bakkie”, “braaivleis” , “robot” (for traffic lights) and “just now”
Spur restaurants
Stepping off a plane in Pee-Eee and hearing somebody say “yoh! yoh! yoh!”
Stoney (you can't get it anywhere else in the world)
Summer on the highveld - just perfect!
Taxis...you'll hear the bass coming - and chaotic taxi ranks, but somehow you get where you need to be.
The Dimension Data team in the Tour de France
The fact that no matter how politically far apart South Africans may be, when the music starts there are always some who’ll start dancing
The fact that our fuel stations are not self-service and that the attendants are always so cheerful
The false dusk caused by a looming storm and the smell of the first big drops of rain hitting the pavement
The smell of roasting mielies when you walk down Joburg CBD’s streets
The way we murder our vowels
The world's finest motorcycling roads
The view from Northcliff hill - the city looks gorgeous
Those tiny flowers in the Karoo that you don’t see until you really look for them
Twitter - especially SA tweeps’ humorous reactions to news stories
Walking along Sea Point promenade
We’re not Britain
WIMPY! - oooooo lekker breakfast
Winter in Durban: board shorts and flip flops... jealous much?