Who would have thought that our very own e.tv daily soapie Rhythm City would make it to the Multi-billionaire and Microsoft founder Bill Gates list of 5 Reasons I’m Optimistic About Africa blog post.
Starting his list, Gates encouraged people to follow one of his favourite Instagram profiles named Everyday Africa which posts images captured by African photographers and narrates a beautiful, creative, and sometimes funny ways about African experiences.
He further confessed that he is not much of a photographer himself, however, a big admirer of people who can make one image tell a compelling story.
The big highlight for South Africa on Gates list was lucky number 5 as he named Rhythm City as his favourite soap opera under the heading My Favourite Soap Opera, Gates explains why he loves the soapie saying that “the show it really brings home how far South Africa has come since the end of apartheid”.
After the realisation of Gates blog post, e.tv tweeted in excitement saying, “we’re still freaking out! Bill Gates loves Rhythm City”.
Gates says: “When I was in South Africa last year for the International AIDS Conference, I caught a fascinating TV show one night. The show is called ‘Rhythm City’ and it’s the most popular soap opera in South Africa.
“The show, which has characters speaking in the four main languages of South Africa (Xhosa, Zulu, English, and Afrikaans), revolves around people trying to break into the music industry.
“Some of the storylines are a bit out there (it is a soap opera, after all), but when you see the show it really brings home how far South Africa has come since the end of apartheid.
“You take a step into the lives of everyday South Africans who are dealing with the relationship and business issues you’d see anywhere in the world. As the continent continues to develop and thrive, I predict we’ll see many other shows like this in other countries.”
Last year Gates delivered the keynote address at the 14th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture Series in Pretoria and spoke at the International HIV/Aids conference in Durban.
Last year the philanthropist pledged to donate another $5 billion (R72.8bn) to Africa in the next five years with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation reportedly having already invested more than $9 billion in Africa.
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