Spring Special

Spring is in the air and we're celebrating by offering our loyal guests this fantastic deal.

BMW launch

BMW and My Pond Hotel

A shared Intelligence

Intelligence defines how we progress at BMW and at My Pond Hotel. We share the same standards and so we were more than happy to host the BMW group for their three day conference and new car launch. 

BMW Efficient Dynamics.‎

Less emissions. More driving pleasure.

 stands for the noticeable reduction of consumption and emissions with a simultaneous increase in performance and driving pleasure. Intelligent energy management and lightweight construction as well as aerodynamics and engine efficiency measures mean sustainable mobility is already standard in every BMW.

At My Pond Hotel, we are proud of our green footprint. We do all we can

To keep our carbon emissions to a minimum because we care about the future of our planet. 

Together, our intelligence can make for a more prosperous life for generations to come.

HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY SOUTH AFRICA

What are we celebrating?

1956 Women's March

On 9 August 1956, more than 20 000 South African women of all races staged a march on the Union Buildings in protest against the proposed amendments to the Urban Areas Act of 1950, commonly referred to as the "pass laws". The march was led by Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa and Sophia Williams. Other participants included Frances Baard, a statue of whom was unveiled by Northern Cape Premier Hazel Jenkins inKimberley (Frances Baard District Municipality) on National Women's Day 2009.The women left bundles of petitions containing more than 100 000 signatures at the office doors of prime minister J.G. Strijdom. The women stood silently for 30 minutes, singing a protest song that was composed in honour of the occasion: Wathint'Abafazi Wathint'imbokodo! (Now you have touched the women, you have struck a rock.). In the 54 years since, the phrase (or its latest incarnation: "you strike a woman, you strike a rock") has come to represent women's courage and strength in South Africa.

And as you see, this is plenty to be celebrating for because together,  we stand strong!

MyPondHotel creating Master Chefs!

The Eastern Cape Social Development department has set aside more than ten million Rands for a skills development programme targeting unemployed youth. Forty percent of young people are unemployed in the province. This year, 30 young people with a minimum qualification of Grade 12 will be trained as chefs at Stenden University in Port Alfred. Watch this video to find out more:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3N2QWxOVeyk

Winter Warmer

CELEBRATING SATIRE at the Grahamstown Festival

CELEBRATING SATIRE

With the spotlight on satire, esteemed satirist Pieter Dirk-Uys, who is popularly known for his character/alter ego Evita Bezhuidenhout, will be honoured by the festival for his contribution to genre. His productions, The Echo of a Noise, Never Too Naked and A Part Hate A Part Love, will be shown during the festival and he’ll also premiere his new play, African Times.

Uys has been in the field of theatre for close to 50 years and has written more than 20 plays. Three of his films: Farce About Uys; Adaptor Dye; and Skating on Thin Uys, will also get some time on the silver screen as part of the film festival. The overall film programme will explore “limits of expression and liberty”.

Pieter Dirk-Uys

Uys’s work has for years addressed the transformation, or lack of, in South Africa through satire. With productions such as Evita for President and Elections & Erections, the 69-year-old performer and social activist’s work is inspired by politicians. Social commentary tangled in comedy is what Uys does best.

His daring work has earned him the prestigious Truth and Reconciliation Award in 2001 and in 2012 he received both the FW de Klerk Goodwill Award and the German-Africa Award.

Satirist Conrad Koch of Late Night News with Loyiso Gola, will also take to the stage with his puppet Chester Missing in Missing, the personal story of Koch. Other comedians include Gola and Iain EWOK Robinson.

Grahamstown Arts Festival News

In interview with Mail & Guardian, Peter Rorvik, the secretary general of the creative civil society organisation, Arterial Network, said it is a fundamental role of the artist to make us think. This year the National Arts Festival moves towards a programme that prompts artists to engage in material that unwraps the moral fibre of South Africa and that mirrors the good and ugly side of society. Simply put, the festival this year is not catering for a passive audience.

The festival puts satire and freedom of expression at the core of the programme. The Oxford dictionary defines satire as the “use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticise people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues”. In The Satire as a Social Mirror, satire is defined as being helpful in “discussing serious social matters and asking questions that need to be asked”. Artists are challenged to hold a mirror up to the issues that affect Africans.

“The arts need to challenge and provoke,” said Ismail Mahomed, the Festival’s Artistic Director in a press statement. “South Africa’s satirists, cartoonists, commentators and court jesters need, now more than ever, to be given the opportunity to be the public voice, the conscience, of the nation.”