Battle of the towns: Will it be Scottburgh or Pennington?
Battle of the towns: Will it be Scottburgh or Pennington?
Scottburgh and Pennington are going head-to-head in this year's kykNET Kwêla Dorp Van Die Jaar (Town of The Year) competition.
The mid-South Coast towns are two of the three finalists in KwaZulu-Natal, with the third being Paulpietersburg.
Since the announcement was made on kykNET on Monday this week, community members have been buzzing and are crossing fingers for their town of choice to win big.
The public can now vote for their favourite town from each region. This round only allows 30 votes per cell number. The town with the most votes will then represent the competition region as their finalist town in the final round.
Voting for this round is open until 12 noon on May 2. Simply SMS the name of the town you wish to vote for (Scottburgh or Pennington) to 33157. Votes cost R1.50 per SMS (free SMSes do not apply).
After this round, Kwêla will film an insert in each of the nine villages that made it to the final round. When all nine towns have been featured on Kwêla, the public will be able to vote for their winning town in July, and the winner will be announced in August.
The town wins R1m in marketing value from kykNET. Homebrew Films, the producers of Kwêla, will make a 45 second commercial about the town which will be broadcast during kykNET's advertising time.
There will be a big celebration in the winning town – music, food, fun and lots of that winning town spirit! Kwêla will be there again to film it, and it will be broadcast later in the year.
Lottoland will also donate a R1m cash prize for the town to invest back into itself, which will be audited by them. Each finalist town will be asked in advance to submit a business plan on what they intend to do with the potential prize money.
SCOTTBURGH:
Ward councillor Dana Daniels was ecstatic when the announcement for Scottburgh was made.
'Along with the Scottburgh community, I am thrilled about this nomination and give a heartfelt thanks to everyone who nominated us,' she said.
'Scottburgh could definitely benefit from a cash injection and a much-needed facelift, particularly around the beach area, which is a major drawcard for tourists. More visitors mean more jobs – a true win-win for our town!'
Daniels also mentioned that several local businesses have come on board with special offers – simply show your 30 SMS votes to qualify.
PENNINGTON:
When Viv Sandwith from Tidy Towns Pennington was contacted by kykNET to say that Pennington was one of the three finalists in KZN, there was much excitement.
'We received a follow-up email, which gave us only a few days to send in the full submission with 20 pictures, and looking through all the photos I had taken over the years made me realise how lucky we are to live in this little piece of paradise,' said Sandwith.
Tidy Towns Pennington has worked hard to improve the public spaces, car park, clean up the entrances, put up nice signage around Pennington and more.
'It made us so proud to watch the show the night the announcement was made, and see what Pennington looks like though other people's eyes. We have lots of plans in the pipeline to make Pennington the jewel of the South Coast.'
Aside from Paulpietersburg, will it be Scottburgh or Pennington? The choice is yours… so don't forget to vote.
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