Table Mountain lights up for diabetes

Table Mountain will light up the skyline in blue on Friday night to mark the United Nations World Diabetes Day.

"Table Mountain now joins more than 1 000 of the world's most famous landmarks, including New York's Empire State Building, the Sydney Opera House, the London Eye, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, that will be lit up in blue," said a joint statement issued by SA National Parks, the City of Cape Town and diabetes company Novo Nordisk.

"Every South African is being asked to show support on this truly momentous occasion by lighting a blue candle in observance of the day, and switching off all lights for just 15 minutes during the time that Table Mountain lights up, conserving energy and adding a touch of green to all that blue."

Table Mountain is scheduled to light up between 8pm and 10pm.

World Diabetes Day is celebrated on Saturday to mark the birthday of Frederick Banting who, along with Charles Best, first conceived the idea which led to the discovery of insulin in 1922.

An estimated 300 million people suffer from Type 2 diabetes world-wide. –(Sapa, November 2009)

Read more:
World Diabetes Day
Global diabetes run/walk