I don't think "barely has a presence" is really the best way to describe the furry fandom in South Africa. While it's true the fandom is still relatively small, it has been present for over a decade, reasonably influential globally and has a growing media presence.
There is now a yearly furry convention, South Afrifur, which, while small, is still bigger than some European conventions and has attracted international visitors. South Afrifur also featured in furry news for having the highest rate of charity donations per person at a furry convention last year. South African has had a South African developer and has a South African ambassador. Two or three members of the Furry Writer's Guild are South Africa and one South African author's work appeared in Symbol of a Nation which was nominated for both an Ursa Major and a Leo Award. There's also the South Afrifur podcast which works in partnership with Swiss furry radio station FurryFM and interviews all sorts of prominent furs. The podcast was even nominated for an Ursa Major award. And while it would still be nice to have more furs, last year South African furs were interviewed on one of the largest radio stations in the country, with around 2 million listeners, and this year featured on a television segment.
There is also a problem with homophobia in parts of the country but lets not forget that South Africa was the fifth country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage and offers full constitutional protection against discrimination due to sexual orientation.Two winners of Mr Gay World have been South African and the competition has been hosted in South Africa four times in its eleven year history.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
I don't think "barely has a presence" is really the best way to describe the furry fandom in South Africa. While it's true the fandom is still relatively small, it has been present for over a decade, reasonably influential globally and has a growing media presence.
There is now a yearly furry convention, South Afrifur, which, while small, is still bigger than some European conventions and has attracted international visitors. South Afrifur also featured in furry news for having the highest rate of charity donations per person at a furry convention last year. South African has had a South African developer and has a South African ambassador. Two or three members of the Furry Writer's Guild are South Africa and one South African author's work appeared in Symbol of a Nation which was nominated for both an Ursa Major and a Leo Award. There's also the South Afrifur podcast which works in partnership with Swiss furry radio station FurryFM and interviews all sorts of prominent furs. The podcast was even nominated for an Ursa Major award. And while it would still be nice to have more furs, last year South African furs were interviewed on one of the largest radio stations in the country, with around 2 million listeners, and this year featured on a television segment.
There is also a problem with homophobia in parts of the country but lets not forget that South Africa was the fifth country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage and offers full constitutional protection against discrimination due to sexual orientation.Two winners of Mr Gay World have been South African and the competition has been hosted in South Africa four times in its eleven year history.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~