Local Learners Elected to Junior Town Council
Stellenbosch Municipality elected its first junior town council in late May. The Franschhoek Valley can be proud that it is well represented on the new junior town council with no fewer than three members.
Clayton Malgas of Franschhoek High School was elected as the junior mayor. Joining him in the leaderships is Kayleigh Cass of Groendal Secondary School, while Franschhoek High School’s Luandri Stadler was also elected to the council.
“This initiative gives young leaders a seat at the table – empowering them to learn about the inner workings of local government, get involved in community outreach and represent the voices of their peers,” said Stellenbosch Municipality in a statement.
“We’re incredibly proud of these future leaders and look forward to the ideas, energy and passion they will bring to their school and community outreaches!”
Text: Editorial Desk | Image: Stb Muni
Another African Best Beer
Clayton Malgas has been elected as Junior Mayor of Stellenbosch Municipality.
From Robertsvlei to Chelsea
The South African display at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show picked up another gold medal this year. Franschhoek can proudly claim to have had a hand in this. Not only is the display’s designer, horticulturist Leon Kluge, a resident but a very special flower from the valley was also part of the display.
The Blushing Bride, also known as the Pride of Franschhoek, or Serruria florida – to give it its botanical name – was part of the display. A member of the Proteaceae family of fynbos plants this beautiful flower that only grows naturally in the Assegaaibos Valley between Robertsvlei and Jonkershoek was long thought extinct before being rediscovered in the early part of the 20th century. This year’s display was inspired by the ocean and explored the influence of the Indian and Atlantic oceans on our flora. A dramatic canyon, with a Rooibos tea-infused stream at its base, cutting through a mountain of proteas dominated the design. It is here where Blushing Brides, grown commercially on GlenWood Vineyards found their spot among roughly 25 000 other stems. (In a magical twist, the Rooibos-infused waters attracted a nightly visitor. A curious fox made regular appearances, quietly drawn to the stream to sip from its soothing Rooibos waters under the cover of darkness. Only his delicate paw prints remained each morning as evidence of his approval.)
GlenWood owner, Alastair Wood, says that commercially growing Blushing Brides – as well as pincushions and giant proteas – is not only a way to diversify their farming operations but is also part of their commitment to environmental sustainability. (GlenWood was awarded WWF
Conservation Champion status in 2023.) “We’re very proud that our flowers, which we grow a proverbial stone’s throw from their natural habitat, were a small part of South Africa’s winning display and we congratulate all who were involved in creating it,” he concludes.
Text: Editorial Desk | Image: GlenWood Vineyards
Seeking a Safe Haven
Help us find a home for survivors of abuse
Every day, women and children escape abusive environments with nowhere safe to turn. La Refuge, a non-profit committed to offering shelter, support and hope, is urgently seeking premises to establish a safe house in Franschhoek.
What We Need
We are looking for a discreet, secure property— ideally a house or small building—that can serve as a confidential shelter for women and children fleeing domestic violence.
Key requirements include:
Privacy and safety: A quiet location is essential. Space: Ideally 3 or more bedrooms, common living space, and kitchen facilities.
Basic amenities: Bathroom/Shower facilities and electricity are essential.
Flexibility: Long low cost lease options are welcomed; but ultimately, a donated space would be deeply appreciated and acknowledged (with permission).
Why It Matters
Domestic abuse knows no boundaries—it affects individuals of every age, background and income level. A safe house can be the first step in a survivor’s
journey to freedom, healing, development and rebuilding. Without a physical space, many remain trapped in dangerous situations. We already have trained staff, support systems and programmes ready to help. What we lack is a roof to put over the heads of those in crisis.
How You Can Help
Do you own a property that might be suitable?
Are you part of an organization, or business or a farm or even a residential house with unused space? Would you be willing to donate a rental or offer reduced terms to help save lives?
All discussions will be handled with complete confidentiality and respect. We understand the sensitive nature of this work and prioritize security for our clients and our community partners.
Contact Us Today
If you or someone you know can help us secure a space, please contact Christine Loff at 0693905465 or email management@larefuge.co.za.
Together, we can create a sanctuary where safety and healing begin.
Text: Supplied
‘Knit and Natter’ at Fleur de Lis
Yes, you guessed it! This group of fifteen ladies at Fleur de Lis started a knitting circle in March of this year.
Mrs. Rosanna Lupini informed us that every Thursday afternoon, they gather to knit blankets for children. The lucky children are residents of De la Bat School for the deaf in Worcester. Divine intervention on both sides, you may say, when they received a call from someone requesting if the ladies at Fleur de Lis would like to donate hand-knitted blankets to the school. These blankets would be used during school lessons in cold classrooms.
Fleur de Lis’ knitting circle
friendships and a sense of belonging.
Mrs. Maryke le Roux, the manager at Fleur de Lis immediately rose to the occasion and shared this idea with the residents, who were interested in knitting for the school. So far, they have delivered 104 blankets to the children; however, they still require more blankets to complete the task.
The Knit and Natter group enjoys tea and cookies together in the cosy drawing room while listening to soft music. Being part of this social group with a purpose is particularly meaningful. This activity offers weekly social interaction and shared interests with like-minded folk. It encourages
Their first trip as a group to De la Bat School in Worcester was a wonderful excursion. Paarl Rock Tours generously arranged transport to the school. The ladies were very grateful for the opportunity of handing over the blankets in person to the children.
To continue this project, they require wool donations to keep knitting these much-needed blankets. Please consider donating fleece and wool to the win-win, Knit and Natter group of ladies at Fleur de Lis.
Text: René de Reuck | Image: Supplied
30,000 Meals Served
There are so many wonderful charities undertaking impactful work here in the Franschhoek Valley and one of the newest, the Langrug Community Centre, which opened its doors in April 2024 has already served 30,000 meals.
LCC provides food for children, vulnerable adults and the elderly. From the start, they offered a nutritional meal every Saturday to the community from their newly renovated venue. Thanks to the continuous support of visitors and some Franschhoek residents, they’ve now been able to start serving food during school holidays as well.
Talking to Janet Johnson, the dedicated chair of LCC, she commented “We are so proud of all the volunteers – whether helping financially in supporting the charity or helping preparing and serving the meals we do – without them we would not be where we are today. The milestone of serving 30,000 meals is a great achievement that our community should be proud of helping us achieve. We currently offer three meals a week during the school holidays. We very much would like to increase that to five days and would welcome any donations to help us achieve this. We are extremely grateful to local business ‘Motherdough’ who provide bread weekly and we would love to hear from any other business who would like to get involved”.
insightful offer to people visiting our beautiful valley.
If you are like me and periodically have a good clear-out of the family’s clothes, toys, etc, how about passing them on to LCC? They now operate a pop-up shop and donations are always gratefully received.
If you are a wine estate or local tourism business, LCC offers township tours for visitors. This has been a very successful addition in helping the local community and also offers a unique, fun and
Serving 30,000 meals is a great achievement, and with continued support and donations, the Langrug Community Centre is set to achieve so much more.
Text: Helen Wilde | Image: Supplied
Harvesting Blushing Brides at GlenWood Vineyards
The LCC team celebrates serving 30,000 meals.
What drew you to Franschhoek to settle as a pharmacist in your profession?
It’s quite an amusing story of chance. Nadia and I were joking (on our way to another grim day of working in Rustenburg) that we need to move out of our plateau of grayness and that we need beautiful scenery on our morning commute. An hour later, I received a surprise call from one of my varsity friends telling me that there is an opportunity in Franschhoek, and asking if we were interested in relocating? By lunchtime, we were scrolling on the internet for houses and, more importantly, where exactly was Franschhoek?
Well, as you can see, we moved down in 2007 and haven’t looked back.
How would you describe your experience of living in the Franschhoek Valley?
It was always my wish to work in a small-town pharmacy. If you had to choose a small town anywhere in South Africa, Franschhoek is perfect in every way for our family. We have breathtakingly beautiful stretches of nature trails for exercise and an abundance of wine farms, restaurants and festivals in season. When the rain clouds set in, the emptiness is a calm respite, and the cozy fires burn and beckon in every café. Safe streets for your children to grow up in are important, together with a tight-knit community, which makes living here very special. One doesn’t need the Yellow Pages to scroll through when you need something. By local businesses supporting one another, it encourages camaraderie and makes solid business sense.
Please describe your working environment and daily challenges.
I am blessed to be able to do what I love most.
Working with people and being able to make a difference, especially when the patient is feeling unwell. Dispensing (hieroglyphic deciphering) forms a large part of the day, together with a great deal of medicine management. It can be challenging to accurately manage the daily stock control. I completed the two-year PCTD pharmacist course in 2019, which assisted me greatly in the primary health care sector.
The clinic offers health screenings for blood pressure measurements, diabetes and cholesterol checks. The business side of the pharmacy interests me, which is a relief from the everyday humdrum. I am very fortunate to have a great team of staff, most of who have been at the pharmacy from the outset. I would describe us all working together as a well-oiled machine.
What qualifications prepared you for your professional career?
I completed four years at Northwest University in Potchefstroom and relocated to Rustenburg for my one-year internship, where I learnt all the essentials I required. I was lucky enough to stay on in Rustenburg for my community service year at the local state hospital.
How has your professional work in the pharmacy enriched your life?
The amount of hand gestures and Fanagolo that we use when all the visitors from all over the world are here, affords lots of laughter and understanding. When both parties eventually
communicate effectively, all parties are relieved to conclude the actual diagnosis for a prescription! Working in retail brings many challenges. Nothing gives more pleasure than helping someone and them returning to thank you the next day. Over the past 18 years we’ve laughed and cheered on babies being born, matric distinctions, and cried when patients receive dreaded diagnoses of severe illness. Over the past years, I have met the big trees of the village, who are sadly no longer with us.
How will AI affect your profession and business?
I think AI will play a major role in the pharmaceutical industry over the next few years. AI algorithms will design new paths for creating drug molecules to target diseases and interactions will be decreased. Side effects of drugs would decrease with a more accurate assessment. This, in turn, will lead to accelerated drug discovery at reduced costs. AI is already in our dispensing and ordering programs to manage and optimize inventory levels, predict demand, and improve supply chain efficiency. The role of the pharmacist will most definitely become simpler, but we will not be replaced that soon, by AI robots.
with Gerrit van der Walt of Franschhoek Pharmacy
Artistry in the Cellar
The new vintages of La Motte’s acclaimed duo of a Pierneef Syrah blend and Pierneef Sauvignon Blanc are always eagerly awaited and this year, these releases are more than Cellarmaster Edmund Terblanche’s artistic interpretation of the vintage, they also bring a new look and even a new name.
As a tribute to South African artist Jacob Hendrik Pierneef (1886 – 1957), the Pierneef Collection of wines celebrates Pierneef’s skill in portraying the beauty of South African landscapes and architecture. In a fresh interpretation to the classic label, two of Pierneef’s black and white linocuts feature on the labels: Kaaps Hollandse Huis Krommerivier on the red blend and Baobab on the Sauvignon Blanc.
2020 Pierneef Atelier: This acclaimed Syrah blend further acknowledges the importance of a creative space in contributing an artistic interpretation and in making the most of each vintage.
The 2020 Pierneef Atelier is a blend of 93% Elim Syrah and 7% co-fermented Viognier from the Franschhoek Valley. The grapes were hand sorted and fermented without stems at 25 degrees. After 15 days of maceration, maturation in 300-litre French oak barrels followed for a period of 24 months.
This unique blend offers perfumy rose petals and the depth of eastern spice on the nose. Voluptuous, but gentle, the palate finishes with intricate layers of liquorice, savoury salami and red peppercorns for a very classic character. The structure and spice of the Syrah as well as the floral nuances of the Viognier make this a very versatile red when it comes to the dinner table. Complementing beef, venison, charcuterie, aromatic curries, game birds such as quail and duck as well as reduced fruit flavours, the 2020 Pierneef Atelier is a wonderful choice as a winter red.
2024 Pierneef Sauvignon Blanc: Made from grapes from some of the most southerly vineyards in South Africa, the 2024 vintage release of La Motte’s premium Pierneef Sauvignon Blanc, is a highlight for anyone who enjoys the sophistication and style of a cool climate Sauvignon Blanc. The wine is a blend of 88% Sauvignon Blanc and 12% Semillon originating from Elim and as
such is certified as Wine of Origin Cape South Coast. Grapes were harvested at a sugar content of between 21- and 23-degrees Balling, with skin contact of approximately 16 hours and fermentation at 15 degrees. The wine was left on the fine lees for 2 months before blending and bottling in June 2024. 4000 x 6 were released.
The 2024 vintage is an elegant wine with a lingering minerality. The cool climate terroir results in aromas of citrus and passion fruit with nuances of green pepper and gooseberry. Although already a beautiful glass to enjoy, with the addition of 12% Semillon, this wine lends itself to exceptional bottle maturation while being an outstanding partner on the dinner table.
The 2024 Pierneef Sauvignon Blanc is a refined aperitif, pairs seamlessly with seafood and loves the crispness of salads. With its mineral undertone it makes for an excellent partner to flavours notoriously difficult to pair such as tomatoes (especially sundried tomatoes) and spicy Chinese or Thai cuisine.
Text: Editorial Desk | Image: La Motte
FROM THE FRANSCHHOEK
WINE VALLEY DESK
Winter may be wrapping our beloved valley in its crisp embrace, but Franschhoek is anything but hibernating! From Bastille’s iconic festivities to mystery weekend getaways and glorious winter offers from our restaurant and accommodation members, the coming weeks promise a winelands winter brimming with warmth, wonder and indulgence - even in our so-called ‘quiet’ months.
FRANSCHHOEK CELEBRATES BASTILLE
12 & 13 July 2025
Kicking off the season is the much-anticipated Franschhoek Bastille Festival on 12–13 July, with a bold new setting at the Hospice parking area in the heart of the village. In its 33rd year, this beloved celebration of French flair is packed with flowing fine wines, artisanal treats, street performances and dazzling live music. Highlights include the Uncorked Exclusive premium wine experience and the ever-popular best-dressed competition (think blue, white, and red fabulousness). With a wine glass and tokens in hand, festival-goers can toast to a weekend of joie de vivre!
Buy tickets: www.franschhoekbastille.co.za
EAT SLEEP DRINK
21 July - 11 August 2025
Franschhoek Wine Valley’s celebrated ‘EAT SLEEP DRINK’ returns this winter, reaffirming the region’s status as South Africa’s culinary capital. Building on the success of last year’s edition, the 2025 campaign invites South African residents to savour in the village’s renowned gastronomy and warm hospitalityall while enjoying outstanding value.
Diners can enjoy a R300 discount per person on every dinner reservation at participating Franschhoek restaurantswith the freedom to book at multiple venues and enjoy the same generous saving each time. Each restaurant will release a limited allocation of 150 dinner-only vouchers, available exclusively via Dineplan from 20 June.
To extend the indulgence, visitors can take advantage of exclusive winter rates at a curated selection of premier accommodation partners.
Simply quote “EAT SLEEP DRINK” when booking directly.
/ Yama
Eatery / Eleven Orangerie at Le Lude
OTHER WINTER OFFERS
Our
FRANSCHHOEK MYSTERY WEEKENDS
July & August 2025
For those craving a touch of surprise, the Mystery Weekends at the end of July (25 - 27) and end of August (29 - 31) promise all the thrill of a luxurious escape without any of the associated planning stress. It’s the perfect way to embrace spontaneity and indulge in a curated Franschhoek experience at its finest. For enquiries or reservations, contact mysteryweekend@franschhoek.org.za
Whether you’re in the mood for a festival, a surprise escape, or a leisurely weekend of fine wine and gourmet delights, Franschhoek is ready to welcome you!
The Recipes We Never Write Down
Some recipes don’t live on paper. They’re not bookmarked or clipped from magazines or carefully copied from cookbooks. They live in gestures. A hand showing you how much flour feels right. A glance to judge the colour of a simmering sauce. A fingertip tasting for salt. These are the recipes we never write down — the ones passed from person to person like stories, changing slightly with each telling.
I think about this more often in winter, when the days are shorter and the kitchen becomes a more intimate space. There’s time to linger, to stir a pot slowly, to remember. This is the season when my own cooking drifts toward the remembered and the instinctive. The stew my mother used to make with little more than onions, tomatoes, wine and
whatever meat was on hand. The way she’d toss in bay leaves and garlic and never measure the stock.
The lentil soup I once made alongside a Greek friend who taught me, not with instructions, but with a shrug and a squeeze of lemon. “You’ll know when it’s ready,” she said. And somehow, I always do.
There’s something deeply human about this kind of cooking — the kind that isn’t exact, that leaves room for forgetting and for discovery. It’s not designed for social media or glossy food blogs. It’s food that says: I’ve done this before, I’ve felt this flavour, and I trust myself to feel it again. We tend to think of recipes as fixed things — precise, measurable, reliable. And there’s certainly comfort in that. But the truth is, some of the most meaningful meals in our lives were made without a recipe at all. Think of a grandmother’s soup, a friend’s potato salad, the way someone used to
fry an egg just right. These dishes don’t ask to be recreated exactly. They ask to be remembered.
Franschhoek in July lends itself to this kind of cooking. The cold outside makes the inside warmer. The slower pace of the season makes space for ritual. For chopping without rushing. For cooking by feel. For honouring those who taught us without ever writing it down.
I’ve started jotting some of these half-recipes in the back of my notebook — not to publish, just to keep. A reminder of how food connects across time. A scribble: “Annie’s (my Gran) green bean dish – beans boiled too long, onions fried in butter, splash of vinegar, pinch of salt. Don’t skip the vinegar.” A small act of preservation.
But I like that some recipes remain elusive — known only by taste, by repetition, by heart. After all, not everything needs to be written down to be remembered.
Spaghetti Bolognese (as remembered, never written down): Start by softening a chopped onion in olive
More Than Just a Lost Bet. Grenadier is a Great 4X4
Larger than life Ineos a contradiction in terms that really works
Said to be the upshot of a bet placed during a binge at multinational chemical tycoon Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s favourite London pub, the Ineos Grenadier is a contradiction in itself. It has a Union Jack merged with the German schwarz-rot-gold flag badge on its right flank. But there’s a decal on the left rear side window proudly proclaiming its French heritage with a Tricoleur strip.
Sir Jim sponsored Mercedes, but the Grenadier is BMW-powered. And it thinks it’s a Defender, but it isn’t. Even though Land Rover tried to sue old Jim on trademark. But failed. So possibly because of all that, were never had great expectations about the Ineos Grenadier. But touch our hearts it certainly did. For all the wrong reasons perhaps, but it did.
The long story of this Ineos is it was indeed inspired by whatever transpired at that Grenadier pub. It’s one of those typical carmaker stories of a spawned rich guy who went out to do better. Like Lamborghini and Ferrari, Defender fan Ratcliffe approached JLR to acquire the original Landy tooling to continue building Defender after production ceased after 67 years at Solihull in 2016.
Land Rover blocked Ratcliffe. Tried to sue him too
Land Rover blocked the deal. So Ratcliffe created his Grenadier. He engaged Magna Steyr as engineering partner, signed BMW as powertrain supplier and unveiled the Grenadier concept online in 2020. It was supposed to be built in Wales, but Grenadier is now produced at Ineos Automotive’s ex-Mercedes-Smart plant in Hambach France since July 2022, with a maximum capacity of 25,000 units a year. If it ever needs that. While it may appear so at first glance and as the courts determined after JLR sued Ineos on trademark, the Ineos Grenadier is not a Land Rover Defender replica. But it is clear that the
mission was clearly to build a modern Defender. Ineos however took a broad look at the hardcore 4x4 market and carefully studied the likes of the Mercedes G-Wagen, Toyota Land Cruisers and Jeeps, Ford Bronco and Mitsubishi Pajero in its Grenadier development.
Ratcliffe promised an extremely capable, very honest and uncomplicated vehicle in durable and reliable 4x4 that would continue to handle the harshest environments long after others had given up. The upshot is a basic and familiar 4x4 that goes its own way while still paying homage to the classic Land Rover Defender. So much so that most people still think it’s a Defender. But it also looks a bit like a G Wagen, and there’s clearly a bit of Cruiser here and there too.
Grenadier certainly has a Defender ring to it Its squared off grill with LED auxiliary high beam headlamps seemingly jutting off angular pontoon fenders, a roof that doubles as a rack, tie bars and two-piece swing-open tailgate; exposed door hinges, multipurpose utility rails, and the rest, certainly have a Defender ring to them. But step aboard and the Ineos Grenadier is something of a revelation inside. Featuring Recaro seats and a Bluetooth hands-free, Auto and CarPlay infotainment set perched high on the dash with wireless streaming, calling and music, it’s the rest of that cockpit that really makes all the difference.
In a world where woke carmakers are besieged by creators who seem to suffer from an uncurable disease that mysteriously prevents them from designing buttons and knobs into their in car systems, the Ineos is a revelation. Swarming with great old fashioned switches, buttons, knobs, sliders and more, there’s a physical control for every function. Even a separate toot button for the cyclists. As you’d expect from the Ineos Grenadier’s Tour de France roots.
Even after a couple of days, the old hand knew exactly where to descend to turn or switch something. Subliminally, naturally and very normally. After a week, it knew where to go to do a lot more, from the dash to the airplane like overhead panel to the stiff and notchy low range lever, and the rest. No chance of getting lost in some tribute to the smartphone that should not be near a car. Yet we’re subjected to that crap in just about every other vehicle we drive. Bravo Ineos. We’d buy this car just for the buttons.
Many reasons to want a Grenadier
But there are other reasons we’d want a grenadier, too. Many of them. While our hearing aid beige Ineos Grenadier 3.0TD Fieldmaster wagon tester benefited a subtly detuned 183 kW 550 Nm BMW B57 single-turbo diesel straight six, you can also have it with a 210 kW 450 Nm BMW B58 turbo petrol. It turns a similar ZF eight-speed auto with manual override to a regular Beemer but gains a heavy duty torque converter and a Tremec 2.5:1 low-range for its permanent fourwheel drive.
Built on a traditional 4x4 box-section ladder frame chassis under a stive and modern engineered galvanised steel body, Grenadier has heavy duty Carraro solid axles suspended by Eibach-damped five-link coil suspension at each end with anti-roll bars for enhanced roadholding. Grenadier also packs sharp Brembo ventilated front and solid rear disc brakes and features power assisted recirculating ball steering.
With nine degrees of front axle articulation and 12 degrees at the rear, and, quite literally, the turning circle of the Titanic at 13.5 m, there’s a centre differential lock and skid plates front and rear for the heavy work. This 4.85 metre long 2.05 m tall Belstaff Wagon rides on a 2,92 m wheelbase. With 36.2 degree approach, 28.2 breakover and 36.1 degree departure angles and a 800 mm wading depth, this thing is pretty unstoppable in the wild. Grenadier is pretty unstoppable in the wild. Grenadier adds Off-Road and Wading modes and Pathfinder off-road navigation, towing eyes front and rear, roof rails and roof protection strips. There’s a full-size spare wheel and those 30/70 split rear doors open to a cavernous boot complete with a load bay mounting bar rated to carry 750 kilos of whatever you need to. That’s over and above Grenadier’s 3.5-ton braked towing capacity. And there’s also rear park assist with PDC for the backing up.
Fire it up by inserting the good old key in its hole and turning it. Grenadier burbles to life with a typical BMW straight six growl. Controls are easy and grenadier pulls strong, even stronger than Ineos’ most adequate 9.8 seconds 0-100 and effortless 160 km/h top end claims, as you will notice below. It sips 9.3 EU4 litres per hundred at 247 g/100 km CO2. It’s not exactly smooth on the
road, but you soon get used to and accept that grinding and groaning and 4x4 tyre noise on the tar. It’s all part of the deal.
Not sure if it’s intentional, but the Grenadier also adheres to that good old Land Rover Defender quirkiness very well. The doors do not close unless really slammed. It has more warning lights than it has switches behind the steering wheel backed by readout warnings on the screen. And there are inevitably a few of them glowing at any given time. For the door ajar, too much oil, too little tyre pressure. You name it. But next time you switch it on, they’re gone.
Quirks only add to monster Grenadier character
There’s a lot of other inexplicable stuff built in there too. Like the ramp under the driver’s left foot and a whole lot if switches we are yet to understand what they do. These quirks perhaps gave credence to our initial resistance. But having lived with it for a week, all they did was add even more to the monster character that is the Ineos Grenadier. Sure, it may be the product of a lost bet in the Grenadier pub. But this Ineos is so real, so honest and much larger than life, that it’s an absolute win. If you really want a most different and very real 4x4, maybe go check that Ineos Grenadier out after all. We’re pretty sure you be just as taken as we are.
ROAD TESTED: Ineos Grenadier 3.0TD Fieldmaster wagon Engine: 3-litre turbodiesel I6 Drive: 8-speed automatic 4x4 TESTED: 0-60 km/h:
*Catch all Michele & Giordano Lupini’s motoring adventuresonhttps://theauto.page
Gearing Up for Franschhoek Classic Car Festival 2025
After its sell-out success in 2024, preparations for the 2025 edition of the Franschhoek Classic Car Festival are gaining speed. This year’s festival will take place on 5 & 6 October.
Car enthusiasts are invited to head to Franschhoek for a slice of motoring heaven. On Saturday, 5 October, the grounds of the iconic Huguenot Monument at the end of Franschhoek’s main road will once again be the focus of attention. The festival’s signature ‘Forty of the Finest’ display consisting of forty cars from forty different brands will once again anchor the festival.
In celebration of MG’s recent centenary this beloved brand will feature in a display at the Monument, along with a number of Ford Peranas – South African speed icons built by Basil Green Motors with the blessing of the Ford Motor Corporation. Visitors will also be treated to a number of other curated displays at the Monument. This year the festival also expands to provide an area for car clubs, groups and dealers to display what they have to offer.
Visitors to the festival will also be able to enjoy the many attractions of Franschhoek’s bustling Huguenot St – only a short walk from the festival site. From boutiques, galleries and restaurants to the bustling Franschhoek Village Market the village offers something for everyone.
On Sunday, 6 October, the festival moves to the Franschhoek Motor Museum on L’Ormarins Wine
Estate. Here, a very special anniversary brand will be on display, while the 75th anniversary of Formula One will be the main attraction and suitably celebrated. Don’t miss the rare opportunity to see a Formula One Championship winning car in person! Sunday attendees will also be able to take in the regular displays at the Franschhoek Motor Museum.
Festival CEO Theo Lötter says: “We are working hard to build on last year’s hugely successful festival and growing it as SA’s most prestigious car festival with international relevance. Last year’s sell-out proves that our approach of hand picking each vehicle to ensure quality and variety resonates with the motor-loving public.”
For those wishing to make a weekend of it, @ Franschhoek Hotel will be offering a special weekend package to FCCF ticketholders. This new hotel offers a unique blend of luxury and heritage. Built on the same site as the ever popular Hey Joe Brewery the hotel invites guests to experience the charm of Franschhoek’s countryside alongside a unique craft beer culture.
Tickets for FCCF 2025 will be available via Webtickets at R200 per person for Saturday (Huguenot Monument) and R250 per person
for Sunday (Franschhoek Motor Museum).
Those wishing to attend both days’ events will be able to buy a weekend pass at R400 per person. Ticket numbers are limited, so keep an eye on our website and social media for when ticket sales open. www.fccf.co.za
The Forty of the Finest display is a highlight of the festival
FATHER’S DAY FESTIVITIES
This year’s Father’s Day activities at FMM was a roaring success in more ways than one. Apart from many of the 80 cars in the four display halls being shown with ‘bonnets up’, at five-minute intervals throughout the day more than 40 other cars – ranging from a 1911 Ford Model T to a 2007 Alfa Romeo Brera – and motorcycles from the collection were demo driven around the quad. But without doubt the highlight of the day was when the ex-Scheckter 1974 Tyrrell-Ford Formula 1 car was brought out and fired up and blipped to peak revs, the exhaust roar being enthusiastically applauded by the excited visitors who all stood safely by to savour the moment.
Other highlights of the proceedings included the always popular rides around the L’Ormarins Estate on the museum’s 1950s Merryweather fire engine with the machine’s ‘dee dah dee dah’ siren accompanying its progress. A classic Packard convertible and a vintage Chevrolet tourer were made available for visitors to climb aboard and have
photographs taken, an opportunity that was taken up by many of the families present.
Shane Fourie provided a model toy display on show in Hall B, which proved popular for the kids and their Dads. Throughout the day the museum’s Pit Stop Deli and visiting vendors Food Glorious Food and Conversations Coffee were kept busy keeping visitors fed and watered, and sales of the estate’s products and wines were also taking place.
Top Sound provided smooth background music, interspersed with commentary by Mike Monk on the vehicles being driven and other happenings, while a special display of two of the latest Ineos Grenadier models drew a lot of interest.
The day’s activities were split into two sessions, and despite falling in the middle of a long weekend a total of 811 people visited FMM. “It was another fantastic Father’s Day at FMM,” enthused museum curator Sian Theron. “I would like to extend a warm thank you to all the families who joined us to celebrate that special person known as ‘Dad’.
Ansche’s People
ANSCHE LÖTTER
Jeanette Le Roux
Movement, Joy and Faith in Motion
When asked to describe Jeanette Le Roux, the answer comes easily: a bundle of joy, ready to spread her passion and energy to all those around her.
Jeanette grew up on a dairy farm outside Swellendam, nestled against the beautiful Langeberg mountains. As the youngest of three siblings — and the only daughter — she quickly learned to throw herself into every opportunity. From sports and music to dance, she participated in all her school had to offer.
She fondly recalls the influence of her parents. Her mom, still a teacher in Swellendam, often said: “Energy gives off energy” and “Just begin.” Her father, always on the move and always on time, set an example of loving discipline. Holidays were spent exploring different parts of South Africa — though the Kruger National Park remained a firm family favourite. After school, Jeanette went on to study BSc Sport Science at Stellenbosch University. It was during this time that she attended a birthday party in Franschhoek and had her first glimpse of the valley she would one day call home.
One weekend, while visiting Swellendam, she attended a braai where a family friend’s girlfriend introduced her to her cousin, Inas. He was intrigued by Jeanette from the start. She left her number for him to remember — and what started as a friendship soon turned into something more. Inas was farming in Franschhoek at the time, which made Jeanette’s move to the valley feel almost inevitable. She began teaching at Wes-Eind Primary School in 2016, but after a few months, she realised it wasn’t quite the right fit.
A temporary position at Country Kids Prep School opened up, and Jeanette quickly found her feet there. Not long after, Inas proposed, and within a year they were married. They moved into a house on the farm and started building a life together. A few years later, she was offered the position of head of the Prep School. After prayer and careful thought, she accepted.
Along the way, Jeanette discovered a new love: Pilates. She first joined Vanora van der Merwe’s local classes and eventually began helping out with instruction. When Vanora offered Jeanette
First Law Clinic for Groendal
‘I am trusting in the Lord and a good lawyer’–Oliver North.
While we would not dare equate the Lord with a good lawyer, accessible legal assistance is needed by many members of the community who may face socio-economic and language barriers to justice and be unaware of their legal rights in various important areas. This critically important service which will initially offer quarterly in-person consultations and any subsequently needed telephonic communications, is being launched proudly by FRANCO courtesy of a qualified lawyer, Sibuthe Nkonyana. Sibuthe was financially assisted by FRANCO in pursuing his legal studies at Rhodes University and currently practises in East London. He however wishes to contribute to the community he is from and grew up in. His law firm in East London has 72 clients some of whom are pro bono and some paying. This sums up the spirit of FRANCO. We so appreciate it when students we assist and see flourish as individuals want to help and assist their community.
Sibuthe focuses on civil, criminal, immigration and family law and will offer free consultations, legal document drafting and court representation to those in the community who might not normally be able to afford such services. Pro bono access, however, will be means-tested. FRANCO will coordinate and arrange the quarterly meetings with those who seek his legal advice. Applications will soon be available online on FRANCO’s website. He will also conduct educational seminars to enlighten the community about their legal rights and related processes. Depending on the degree of interest shown, his visits could become more
the chance to take over the classes, she embraced the opportunity.
At first, Jeanette taught Pilates, Zumba and even children’s development classes from the garage on the farm. When she and Inas moved to a new home — while she was pregnant with their first child — her father-in-law offered her a larger space: an old farm warehouse. Inspired, she bought three rebounders (mini trampolines) and added Rebound classes to her schedule.
After the birth of their second daughter in 2023, Jeanette realised that balancing her role as school principal, fitness instructor, and mom had become too much. She made a bold decision: she stepped away from the school and devoted herself full-time to her fitness work. She expanded her schedule and now runs a full calendar of classes in the warm, welcoming space at Active at La Bri.
“I love connecting with different groups of people — of all ages and backgrounds,” Jeanette says. “Exercise is a beautiful way to connect.” She believes nothing in life is ever wasted. “Even though I’m not working in the field I studied, I’m still using those skills daily.”
Looking back, Jeanette sees God's hand guiding her journey. Today, she continues to learn from her daughters – especially the gift of childlike faith and dreaming big. And for every class she leads, she feels the privilege of brightening someone’s day, whether through a feel-good song or a highenergy Rebound session.
For more information about Pilates and Rebound classes at Active at La Bri, contact Jeanette Le Roux at 072 305 9059.
FRANCO Chair, Raffaella Goedvolk receives a cheque of R70 000 from Dr Waldo Scribante President of the Mercedes Benz National Committee, with Mercedes Club members in attendance.
frequent in future. This service with all relevant contact details will be advertised on local social media platforms soon. Watch this space! In last month’s Tatler article, we featured the Mercedes Club of South Africa’s generous donation to us of over R60 000 arising from their charity auction at their 40th annual AGM and gathering held locally. We are extremely grateful to their members for choosing to support our activities. For those seeking to assist us in the many ways we work in the community, please contact our chief operating officer, Tzilka Watson on 060 3740353 or via info@francosa.co.za Our website www.francosa.co.za provides much relevant information about us and our role in the community, including our focus on educational financial support.
Fleur de Lis News
ANITA GOUWS
If you’re feeling like you are taking more notice of Fleur de Lis Home for the Aged as you drive past, you won’t be surprised to learn that our Home’s curb appeal has undergone an upgrade.
A bequest has enabled us to lay a paved path through the garden along the front and side of the Home. Residents have enjoyed it – and the seating areas along the way – since the very first day. Many of them were too frail to walk on the soft, uneven lawn but can now enjoy the garden, some fresh air and some exercise without leaving the safety of our secured perimeter.
The building’s façade has also had a fresh coat of paint and is looking like new again – also thanks to a bequest.
FVCSC News
First Quarter Sport Highlights
The Franschhoek Valley Community Sport Centre (FVCSC) celebrated several achievements in the first quarter of 2025 – our 10th anniversary year.
June was Youth Month and so we thought it appropriate to not only celebrate sporting (and officiating!) achievements, the introduction of new sporting codes such as volleyball and ladies' football and even school sports achievements.
Fourteen-year-old Sidney Sampson officially umpired junior league matches of the Cape Winelands Netball Federation. Can you believe it?
Sidney, who hails from Groendal, is a passionate male netball player at the centre. While there aren't official junior matches for boys his age, that hasn't stopped him. Instead of stepping back, Sidney stepped up – learnt the rules, studied the game and is now an umpire!
His journey is powered by dedication and love for netball. He never misses a session! We're so proud of Sidney and incredibly grateful to coach Sibrina and all the FVCSC mentors who support his journey. This is just the beginning. Sidney's future in netball looks bright! Let's keep cheering him on - Go for it, Sidney!
This is not the only highlight we want to share.
We also had more of our players selected to represent their federations and regions. Shumajya Smit represented the Cape Winelands U19 Netball team, who were crowned CHAMPIONS at the Malmesbury tournament. We also had two of our talented male players, Relton West and Christopher Moos, representing the Cape Winelands Men's Netball team.
Our footballers also made us proud as they joined the Stellenbosch LFA teams in the inter-LFA tournament at the Boy Louw fields in Paarl. Our teams were represented by: Mzi-Uyanda Mkhimba & Onika Dindala (U11), Nqoakoana Nkosiyabo (goalkeeper) & Lati-taa Kupiso (U13), Lisakhanya Soviti (goalkeeper) & Asavela Gosa (U15) and Annastacia Slade and Buhle Mbilana (U15 Girls).
Buhle Mbilana deserves special mention as she
CANSA and Hospice Health Drive a Great Success
Franschhoek Hospice’s recent health outreach drive, hosted in collaboration with CANSA, was a tremendous success. It provided health screenings and wellness checks to the local community of Franschhoek and focused on early detection and healthy living. There was a strong turnout and warm community spirit throughout the day.
CANSA led the cancer screening efforts, offering breast examinations, pap smears, and prostate exams. A heartfelt thank you goes to Naomi and her dedicated team of registered nurses from CANSA, whose professionalism and kindness ensured every participant received excellent care. Franschhoek Hospice focused on chronic health testing, including blood pressure, iron levels, blood sugar, height and weight measurements. These checks provided valuable insight for many patients offering participants a clearer picture of
was the top goal scorer in the girl's team with 6 goals and 1 assist. We're incredibly proud of our players. Your hard work, spirit and determination continue to inspire your peers and community!! Our school sports participants continue to shine! Two or our 13-year-olds at Franschhoek High School – Eninako Maziko and Chrystal Price – were selected to travel to Dubai for a netball tournament. Recently Faith Wolstenholme represented the Cape Winelands High School Netball team. Faith has been achieving since primary school and was selected from Wes-Eind Primary School to attend high school at Laborie High School – in itself already a significant achievement for a child from a disadvantaged background. We would like to send a huge word of ‘Thanks!’ to all our donors who continue to make all of this work and impact possible. We are calling for more support in future!
their overall health.
Special thanks to Atti from SCORE for generously providing the facility for the event, helping create a welcoming and accessible space for the whole community.
A sincere thank you also goes to the Franschhoek Hospice team, including the amazing volunteers who made the day extra special by preparing and providing warm soup and sandwiches. Every patient who visited left not only informed but also nourished and appreciated.
This successful initiative showcased the power of community collaboration and care. Thank you to everyone who took part and helped to make a difference!
Next time you’re in the neighbourhood, why don’t you drop in and see what we do for our senior citizens? You may be inspired to offer a helping hand!
Fleur de Lis’ new paving
ATHI NDAMANE
Faith Wolstenholme
Sidney Sampson
Ettienne van Heerden word beskou as die grootste, lewende Afrikaanse skrywer. Van Heerden daag die leser in sy roman, Gebeente, uit om magiese realisme en verbeelding te aanvaar of te verwerp. Hy verweef fiksie en nie-fiksie in ‘n merkwaardige verhaal. Karaktername speel ‘n belangrike rol regdeur die roman.
René de Reuck het hierdie litterêre meesterstuk op 10 Junie getakel om die kompleksiteit van eksperimentele letterkunde meer verteerbaar aan die lesers aan te bied. Sy het nie net daarin geslaag om die lesers te boei met haar grondige
kennis en begrip van hiedie vorm van letterkunde nie, maar sy het ook daarin geslaag om van Heerden as persoon voor te hou en sy verskyning in sy eie werk uit te wys. Sy het die lesers in verwondering gelaat. Die vernude Afrikaans wat deurgaans in die roman verskyn is Afrikaanse juwele.
Die Leeskring sal in Julie geen boeke bespreek nie, maar ‘n sosiale funksie hou met ‘n effense kinkel.
Navrae: Hester Strümpfer 084 900 9060
Woman’s Day Perfume Workshop
Step into the world of perfume and discover the scent that resonates with you. Learn to weave your unique signature fragrance from authentic perfume oils at the first South African Perfumery and Museum in Franschhoek.
To celebrate Woman’s Day a special perfume workshop will be hosted by Daniela Kumanov, owner of the perfumery.
Date: Sunday, 10 August 2025
Time: 11h00 – 14h00
Where: The Perfumery, 2 Huguenot Street, Franschhoek
This is a unique workshop where each participant will make their own 60 ml perfume in a beautiful glass perfume bottle to take home.
The Friends of the Huguenot Memorial Museum is hosting this event at the special price of R450 pp including a glass of bubbly.
The Franschhoek Perfumery is housed in a late Victorian home situated opposite the Huguenot Monument where exclusive perfume scent making workshops take place. The décor in the Perfumery includes antique perfume bottles and perfume making equipment can also be viewed. There is limited space so to avoid disappointment please book ASAP.
072 2269158 (Ingrid) or friends.hugmus@gmail.com Text & Image: Supplied
Franschhoek Safety Initiative
A Word of Thanks to all friends, residents and businesses in Franschhoek from the Franschhoek Safety Initiative Steering Committee.
Following our communication in The Tatler June 2025 edition, explaining the situation we were in due to our finances running low, we have been impressed by your hugely positive responses.
From a situation where we could only commit to having two roving “Red Cap” guards in place on the Main Road until the end of June 2025 we have now managed, with all of your support, to ensure sufficient funding and pledges to keep the service going until the end of July 2025. So, we need more help to keep this service running – it will be a disaster to have to stop the foot patrols.
Our new drive for donations and sponsorship for season 4 will kick off at the beginning of September 2025. On 1 October 2025 we hope to start season 4 and as in the past, with your continued financial support, we will be back to 4 guards from 10h00 until 22h00 every day.
Our new rates will unfortunately have to be increased to cover our increased costs and therefore we are asking for R395/month or R3 950/ annum. From this year all donations will be issued with a Section 18A Tax Relief Certificate.
As in the past the banking details are as follows:Bank: First National Bank; Account Name: Franschhoek Safety Initiative; Bank Number: 63112167085; Bank Code: 250655; Swift Code: FIRNZAJJ Once again, a huge ‘Thank You’ to everyone who has supported the cause and please keep on supporting our initiative and encourage your neighbours and businesses you frequent to join because together we are making a difference. Below is the list of all businesses who have donated since October 2024 to date. Due to POPIA we cannot thank individuals but you know who you are! If you have donated and your details are not on here please contact Kim on fhoekpatrol@gmail.com
Thank you to the following donors: 52 Huguenot Pty Ltd, 7 Koppies, 8 on Tuin, African Touch Jewellery, Amarlo Properties, Anna & Grace, Antebellum, Antonij Rupert Wyne Pty Ltd, ATR Africa Safari, Auberge Clermont Pty Ltd, Auberge Daniella, B Spoke, Big Love, Bo la Motte Farm & Mad Hatter Pub, Bootleggers, Boutinout t/a Wildeberg
Editor’s Letter
Siegfried Schäfer
Dear Readers,
A good opening line, like a first impression, can do wonders. I was recently reminded of this when I started reading the autobiography of a Russian activist and politician which had a particularly good one. (More on that later.)
A quick internet search for memorable opening lines, after the third result, pretty much delivers the same ones in a different order; thus confirming my scepticism of large language models – garbage in, garbage out. I decided to go old school and rather consult the biographies & autobiographies section of my bookshelf. What follows are some of my physical search results. Unlike Google’s, they are unranked by how many times they’ve been repeated, rehashed, reposted, retweeted or otherwise re-anythinged.
“Early on the morning of August 19, 1946, I was born under a clear sky after a violent summer storm to a widowed mother in the Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, a town of about six thousand I south-west Arkansas, thirty-three miles east of the Texas border at Texarkana.”
Bill Clinton is off to a bad start here – at least with me! I find it terribly boring to start at the beginning. Surely a smooth-talking politician born in a town with such an evocative name could have done better? Ditto for the title of his autobiography ‘My Life’ (2004), which, incidentally, is also the title of Fidel Castro’s authorised biography. (I haven’t gotten around to reading that yet.)
Hillary Clinton did a bit better in ‘Living History’ (2003) when she wrote “I wasn’t born a first lady or a senator.” ‘Duh’, you might say but she does manage to rescue the situation with what follows in the rest of the first paragraph. (You’ll have to look that up yourself.) She still starts at the beginning though.
James Bond actor, Roger Moore, wrote five books on his life and career. The last one, ‘À Bientôt’ (2017), almost starts at the
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beginning, but not in quite the usual way.
“When contemplating how to start this book”, Moore writes, “I would cast my mind back to my earliest memories, which is not as easy as you might think.” Nor is writing an engaging memoir when you’ve already written four, but he does pull it off.
A certain finalist in my Worst Opening Line Award, which in fairness has probably been used by several individuals telling their life stories, was penned by Field-Marshal Montgomery. Monty actually starts off with “I was born in London”, to which he at least adds “in St Mark’s Vicarage, Kennington Oval, on 17 November 1887.” Madeleine Albright came up with a good one; not only an opening line but an entire book that is well worth reading. “I didn’t want it to end,” is how she starts ‘Madam Secretary: A Memoir’ (2003). Friends actor, Matthew Perry, starts the first chapter of ‘Friends, Lovers and the Big, Terrible Thing’ with “Nobody ever thinks that something really bad is going to happen to them. Until it does.” His book is also on my recommended reading list. Just don’t expect it to bear much resemblance to what you saw on ‘Friends’.
The last shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, writing after his ouster, produced an autobiography that is equal parts life story and self-justification. His ‘The Shah’s Story’ (1980) starts with “In order for history to pass judgement, our history must be known and understood.” Tennis star John McEnroe is out of the blocks with “I hate alarm clocks.” And by the end of the book, you’ll know he hates a few other things too, but mostly because he cares so passionately. ‘Serious’ (2002)
Now, back to where I started. I’m currently reading Alexei Navalny’s autobiography ‘Patriot’ (2024). He started with his poisoning by the Putin regime in 2020. The opening line reads, “Dying really didn’t hurt.” How’s that for attention-grabbing? And ironic, as he didn’t die on that occasion, but four years later in a brutal Siberian prison.
Is there a point to all the above? Perhaps it is that there is a lot of good literature out there that goes unrecognised by those who pass judgment on such things because it isn’t fiction. Until next time!
- JULY 2025 ISSUE
FHS Kulturele Uitblinkers
Twee Franschhoek Hoërskool leerders het onlangs op kulturele gebied uitgeblink.
Eduard de Villiers is gekies as een van die top 8 in the ATKV-DigiToneel kompetisie. ATKVDigiToneel is ‘n platform wat jong akteurs help groei. Deelnemers skryf en verfilm hul eie monoloog om in te skryf. Die finaliste kry die geleentheid om hul werk verder te ontwikkel en te verfilm vir die ATKV se TV realiteitsreeks ‘Gekies vir die Kollig’ – alles onder die wakend oog van mentors soos Jacques Bessenger, Marlo Minnaar, Lindsey Abrahams en Hannah Borthwick. Eduard het binnekort die geleentheid om die reeks se stel te besoek, voordat verfilming van die 2025 reeks begin.
Eduard is ondersteun in sy reis deur Mariza Claasen van Improv Studios wat die monoloog
geskryf het en met finansiering gehelp het en Juffrou Phyl-Mari Heyneke wat hom met die inskrywingsproses gehelp het en die redigering gedoen het.
Tromspeler Caleb Dlamini was suksesvol in sy oudisies vir die ‘Artscape Youth Jazz Series’. Hy het in Junie die geleentheid gehad om meesterklasse by te woon onder die leiding van ervare jazzmusikante. Die hoogtepunt van die Jazzreeks het op 13 en 14 Junie plaasgevind toe die soloiste en orkeste in die Artscape operahuis opgetree het.
Teks: Redaksie | Foto’s: Facebook
Caleb Dlamini Eduard de Villiers en Juffrou Phyl-Mari Heyneke
The winter solstice has always been a significant marker in ancient cultures. In the Southern Hemisphere, we have lost some of the significance since festivals surrounding it are not celebrated at this time of year. Mid-winter’s night meant the last of the feasts – the months of winter famine and scarcity were lying ahead. Most animals were sold or slaughtered so as not to feed them through winter. Supplies were down with mostly stored root crops and grains to carry families through the months to come. In most parts of South Africa, we do not suffer the harsh winters of the Northern Hemisphere and famine is due to economic reasons, not scarcity. The reality for many is that they simply cannot afford the food sold in our shops. We need to return to a culture of food growing and sharing. Let those of us who have the space, use these winter months to prepare our soils and get our early seedlings ready to feed our families and neighbourhoods.
The greenhouse is where I spend gloomy days. The winter cabbages, spinach and onions have been planted out and we have space to start with some early summer seedlings. It is too cold for most seeds and if your greenhouse is not heated you will need some heat mats for germination.
I am also hard at work in the Cannabis nursery
where I am getting seedlings ready for our first round of selection trials. When the sun’s out, it’s pruning time. All deciduous fruit must be pruned by the end of the month. This includes table grapes, but you can leave your wine grapes and roses until August.
Winter is also a great time to work on your soil health. There will be plenty of fallen leaves and cut branches to start a fresh compost pile. Making your own compost is an investment in your health. Compost made in your own garden has no rivals – by using resident materials you brew up an enriched blend of minerals and nutrients seeded with locally adapted microbes and soil organisms. For most of us, this will unfortunately still require the outside input of animal manure; even more reason to at least consider the benefits of keeping a few chickens or rabbits. Mulching is as important as ever. Not only does it prevent soil compaction from the rain, but also slowly improve the soil as it decomposes. We found that even raw manure mulch breaks down quickly in winter and leaves you with beautiful crumbly soil by spring. Walk your garden regularly and scout for pests and diseases. Grey mould and slugs can easily become a problem. Practice good garden hygiene, especially in the food garden. Remove old and damaged leaves regularly and never let fruit rot on the ground. Look out for storm damaged branches and stake trees and shrubs that need support. It is a busy season for tree surgeons, book them early should your oak trees need pruning. Also keep an eye out for signs of shot hole and other borers. Trees around the country are getting destroyed by this pest and early detection is key. Evergreen shrubs can be pruned to allow more light onto lower branches. Your lawn will probably be in a sad state, sprinkling a hand full of calcitic lime per square meter will help against compaction and acidification of the soil. If your garden looks a bit dull, it is a good idea to visit a nursery for some flowering seedlings. Colourful pansies have been brightening up our winter gardens for many years. Pick up a few packets of spring flowering seed. I have had great success in scattering bumper packs of both indigenous and exotic annuals wherever there is a bare patch in the garden. Also take a drive out to a nature reserve to take note of the Fynbos and aloes flowering for future garden planning. We have a bit of famine in our food garden as we transition from summer to winter crops. The cabbage seedlings are still small and the peas have weeks to go. I can’t wait for the first beetroot to start swelling. I love the young bulbs lightly cooked or sliced fresh into a salad. The leaves are also a great spinach substitute. Citrus fruit is available in abundance. I’ve never tried my hand at making marmalade – maybe this is the year. Happy gardening.
How to Hibernate with Granny Goose
Your winter retreat begins with good sleep
3 Essentials for When You’d Rather Stay In
1. Featherbed – A plush layer under your fi tted sheet for that fi ve-star, cloudlike comfort.
2. Pure Cotton Linen – Smooth, crisp, and breathable sheets that feel as good as they look.
3. Down Duvet – Light, breathable and ultra-warm sleep comfort
Limited time offer 20% off all Goose Down duvets. Ts&Cs apply.
Step into the Granny Goose Sleeplab in Franschhoek: a space for calm, comfort, and the kind of luxury that makes staying in feel like a treat.
Visit us for expert advice and experience our products fi rst-hand.
Shop 1, 22 Huguenot St, Franschhoek, 7690
Hours: Mon-Friday 9am – 6pm Weekends 9am – 5pm
Phone: 021 863 5505
Granny Goose is available in Granny Goose stores, @home stores and online www.athome.co.za/brand/granny-goose
Leadership Is About Change
We have far too many unemployed and unemployable people in our country. This must change. It is not only the responsibility of government. It is a collective responsibility. It’s our accountability to the next generation. It certainly cannot go on the way it has been. We have, including government, known for ages that our education system is not even adequate. We have known for all this time that many of our Grade Four kids are illiterate for understanding and comprehension and innumerate. How can they possibly survive in a sophisticated global economy?
We prepare kids to write an exam we call matric that is little more than a piece of paper which confirms that they have completed a high school career. Of course there are great schools which turn out well-rounded, well-educated youngsters year after year. We desperately need these centres of excellence as points of aspiration. We need all the thousands of other schools to aspire to be as good as, or even better, than some of these amazing schools that do such good work. They are not isolated in one province. They can be found around our country often in isolated, impoverished areas, shining like beacons of hope. We cannot stand aside and look on. We need to engage and contribute. We all breathe the same air; we all bleed red blood. We are all members of
the human race. We will sink or swim together. Let us plan to swim, ever more strongly. What is it that we can do?
Mandela said, “It is only impossible, until it is done!”
Improving the life-preparedness of the next generation is not impossible. Challenging, certainly; but not impossible.
This is not about managing what we have. It is about making change happen and this is what real leaders do. Like Janse van der Ryst, Headmaster of Queen’s College, who is mobilising the Queen’s College global network in a project called Project South Africa which aims to create a new and vibrant mindset of possibility throughout our country. The project is not exclusive to the Queen’s College network. Indeed, the more people who believe in the future and wish to contribute, the better.
Therefore, using this paradigm we must move away from managing what we have by maintaining the status quo to a determination to make change happen. Of course, we need to pressure government to do more about South Africa’s most important priority – providing quality appropriate education that truly prepares succeeding generations for a prosperous and thriving future. But that cannot be all we do.
Working with government is only a part of the strategy. All of us have schools in our immediate vicinity. There is not a school in South Africa that does not need community support and encouragement. This is where we all can play a role. We can help with school management, we can coach sport, we can help with academics, we can assist teachers with their administrative
burden, we can improve school facilities, we can enhance the appearance and usefulness of school grounds, we can help to secure those schools that are vulnerable, we can mentor both staff and pupils, we can provide supplementary funding, we can engage in fund-raising activities. We can provide hope to those that feel hopeless! It starts with the community creating a different and exciting, compelling view of a desired future. There is no-one who does not want a better future for themselves, for their children and for their neighbours. We can do this. It is not impossible.
We have seen this in action. The Aviation Development Foundation runs a programme for future leaders in the industry. These young folk come from all over the country. They are eager to grow and learn and thrive. They are keen to contribute. They just need the opportunity. This is a programme that started in 2020 and grew
organically with no resources to speak of. This year there are 45 Protégés taking part, with more wanting to be part of the programme. There was just not enough space to accommodate more. Another cohort will start later in the year. The new generation wants to be part of a successful thriving future. They are prepared to make their contribution. They just need the opportunity. It is something we can replicate all over the country. Not necessarily for aviation, but for retail, for agriculture, for manufacturing, for mining, for IT. It just takes one leader to make a difference; to make change happen.
We can do this! We cannot sit in the stands watching the game as spectators. We need to jump in and contribute, no matter how modest that contribution may be. Our future depends on it!
tony@siroccostrategy.com
How South African Businesses Can Weather Climate Risk
Earth Day was celebrated in April with the theme of ‘Our Power, Our Planet’. Daniel Stevens, Executive Head: Agriculture at Santam takes a look at what can be done to mitigate climate risk.
Stevens says that “As the toll of climate-related disasters rises, South African businesses need to take heed and strengthen their resilience. This applies not just to governments or global institutions, but to every business and community affected by our changing climate. The power to adapt, to plan, and to build a more resilient future lies with us.
At the heart of building resilience is understanding risk. Climate change may be a global challenge, but preparing for extreme weather events means looking closely at where and how a business operates. Insurance plays a unique role here in how it helps quantify and price risk in the first place. South Africa’s shortterm insurance industry has long had to account for weather volatility but today, the industry has advanced to meet new extremes.
At its core, short-term insurance helps businesses create a safety net that enables recovery after natural and extreme weather events. Now, we can geocode client addresses to enable precise peril assessment at individual property locations. This helps ensure that we price climate-related risks accurately and fairly and enables us to sustain cover into the future.
Insurance alone isn’t enough
Adaptation strategies are becoming essential across sectors. For farmers, this might mean
planting more drought-tolerant crops or using climate forecasts to guide planting decisions. For industrial operations, it could mean investing in more resilient infrastructure or switching to renewable energy, which brings both environmental and financial benefits.
One area seeing real innovation is agriculture.
Given its vulnerability to climate shifts, the sector is at the forefront of both risk and adaptation.
Santam Agriculture offers both named peril and multi-peril crop insurance that covers the main risks affecting agricultural production, including drought, floods, hail, and frost,” says Stevens. We also provide our agri clients with seasonal climate outlook, that allows them to make informed operational decisions.
Businesses don’t operate in isolation. They depend on functioning municipalities, infrastructure, and communities which is why building broader societal resilience is increasingly becoming part of the equation.
Our flagship programme, Partnering for Risk and Resilience (P4RR), supports over 100 municipalities with early warning systems and proactive risk management strategies. Through our partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), we also assist municipalities in developing climate change adaptation plans using data from the GreenBook, an online tool that
presents scientific evidence and practical adaptation actions for South African cities and towns.
Closing the protection gap
Despite these efforts, a large portion of businesses remain uninsured or underinsured against climate-related risk. In South Africa, Swiss Re data cites the cumulative protection gap from 2014 to 2023 at 71%. A large protection gap hampers both households and the economic recovery following disasters, reducing an economy’s resilience.
According to Stevens, the drivers behind this gap include slow economic growth, decaying infrastructure, affordability constraints, and the increasing number of people living in high-risk
areas. Over the past 10 years, weather-related catastrophe losses have doubled in size, occurring in an environment where we’re not seeing the continued uptake of insurance. Still, there’s cause for optimism. As more businesses recognise climate risk as a present reality, interest in proactive risk management is growing. The journey of capacitating our clients to better prepare for climate-related risks is progressing and will mature as the business also matures its response to climate change.
Text: Editorial Desk
Revenge Porn and a Fake Facebook
Profile – Online Defamation Costs a Couple R3.55m
“The scariest thing about digital abuse is how a victim can never know how far it went, how many people it reached, and how much those who saw it bought it.” (Psychology Today)
Our laws are always protective of our rights to privacy and dignity, and a recent High Court decision confirms that defamation can be a very costly business for perpetrators.
In serious cases such as those involving “revenge porn” (a term commonly used to describe “the publication of non-consensual intimate images, recordings or depictions”) offenders face criminal prosecution as well as substantial damages claims. As evidenced by a recent High Court default judgment ordering a husband and wife to pay their victim R3.55m in damages. This after they used a fake Facebook profile and other channels to disseminate explicit images and videos of her.
The victim (a highly qualified professional woman) was misled by a married man into thinking that he was single. A romantic relationship developed and deepened to the stage where he
proposed marriage, and she accepted. Six months down the line, the man’s wife appeared out of the ether with the shocking disclosure that he was already married – with one child at home and another on the way.
The victim immediately broke off the relationship, which is when her ordeal began. The husband and wife took turns to attack her, initially with reference to what the husband called “porno videos” –explicit and intimate images and videos which he had recorded without her knowledge or consent.
The husband refused to stop seeing his victim. He visited her workplace, ignored her attorney’s letter demanding he stop communicating with her, and threatened to send the videos to her attorney, family and friends.
He then created a fake Facebook profile in her name, sent her a video clip to show what he had on her, then invited her friends, family, and professional colleagues to join this fake profile. He went on to publish the videos, threatening to send them to “everyone” if she did not sleep with him. They were unfortunately seen by her friends, family, and strangers before she could get the page taken down.
The second perpetrator, the man’s wife, appears to have joined in at this stage, with comments
New CEO at Historic Wines
Historic Wines of the Cape, the managerial company of acclaimed wine brands, La Motte Wine Estate and Leopard’s Leap Wines, has appointment a new Chief Executive Officer - Kobie Lochner.
Lochner, who was previously the Senior Growth and Development Manager at Heineken Beverages International, joined Historic Wines of the Cape on 2 June 2025. He brings with him valuable experience, especially in the fields of leadership, strategic management and organisational development.
He will be succeeding current CEO and dynamic industry leader, Hein Koegelenberg, who will be retiring at the end of 2025 after 26 years of visionary leadership and pioneering efforts to establish a market for SA Wine in the Far East and to position the Cape Winelands as a leading wine tourism destination. The family and directors of the company are deeply grateful for his invaluable contribution and wish him all the best for the future.
Koegelenberg says: “Committed to performance and with a people focused approach, Kobie is the ideal person to lead our wine brands into a next phase of growth within a tough global environment. The team at Historic Wines of the Cape extends him a warm welcome and is looking forward to a new chapter under his leadership.”
To ensure continuity and a smooth transition, Lochner will be working closely with Koegelenberg until the end of 2025.
Text: Editorial Desk | Image: Supplied
on the victim’s fake Facebook profile “calculated to defame her and depict her as a dishonest, immoral, promiscuous and adulterous person who is a disgrace to her family and profession.”
The wife then took her attack directly to the victim’s workplace, barging in to her offices and making highly defamatory, embarrassing, and humiliating communications to her colleagues.
An email to the victim’s bosses stated that she was a homewrecker and “was not an asset to the company if she slept with married men.”
Embarrassed, humiliated and unable to continue working, the victim was so emotionally distressed that she considered suicide. Stressrelated medical problems, fear of going out or of forming personal relationships, and fears for her own and her family’s safety led to severe emotional trauma. She remains on medication for PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and is also under long term treatment by a psychologist.
The Court had no hesitation in awarding her both the damages she claimed in full – a precedent-setting R3.55m – and legal costs against the perpetrators on the punitive attorney and client scale.
But that’s not all – criminal liability could loom. The victim in this case had obtained a protection order against her tormentors. A breach of this could expose them to sentences of 5 years’ imprisonment if she decided to pursue the matter.
The husband and wife could also face serious criminal charges under the Films and Publications Amendment Act, with penalties of up to a R300 000 fine and 4 years’ imprisonment “for knowingly distributing private sexual photographs and films in any medium, including the Internet and social media, without the prior consent of the individual”. Moreover, the Cybercrimes Act criminalises “the disclosure of data messages of intimate images where the intimate image violates or offends the sexual integrity or dignity of the person or amounts to sexual exploitation”. That Act provides for fines and up to 3 years’ imprisonment for offenders. None of this does anything to change the victim’s suffering – but knowing that the law is on her side might provide her some solace as she inches towards recovery.
(Credit to LawDotNews)
Outgoing CEO Hein Koegelenberg and incoming CEO Kobie Lochner.
The Gallery at Grand Provence Vive l’art
Come and celebrate our freedom, equality and fraternity at the Gallery at Grand Provence, where you can appreciate diverse and complex expressions in different media. Art has contributed to freedom of expression, social and political action, mental and emotional well-being, cultural and intellectual exchange, and empowerment and resistance.
Pieter Lategan, the curator, invites you to view and discuss the following exciting and provocative paintings, sculptures, mixed media, and ceramics.
AD-Reflex is an award-winning art duo, Johan Conradie and Karl Gustav Sevenster. Their artist statement gives insight into their process and expression. The practice of AD-Reflex can be likened to a physical experience of the digital world. Combining digital elements and 3D modelling techniques with traditional painting, the work borders on the alchemical, where no clear distinction can be drawn between the painterly and the digital. An AD-Reflex painting is a fusion of opposites, uniting the gooey mess of paint with technology’s clean, polished, and
Mid-winter cold, and a world teetering on the brink of madness. Where does poetry fit into this? What does it offer us? In fact, what exactly is poetry?
Don Maclennan, in his poem ‘The Poetry Lesson’, claims not to know. His university student class “look at me expectantly / supposing that mysilence/isapedagogicaldevice:/theydon’t believeme/whenIsayit’signorance”
This typically bluff, tongue-in-cheek statement somehow reminds me of the amusing words of Ryokan, a Japanese poet and Zen monk, who is quoted – by Antony Osler in ‘Mzansi Zen’ (Jacana, 2016) – as asserting that “Seeing answers with dirty ears / Is like trying to touch the ocean bed with a pole”.
Recently I came across a definition by the late Breyten Breytenbach, posted on Facebook by a friend:
“Poetryisalove.Ofwhat?Ofthediscoveryand the celebration of words, things, feelings, ideas, undigested memories, insights, other people, yourself, other selves, mystery, sense, eternity, other eternities, nonsense, nothingness, the whales and the foam and the shadow of the
Air by John Boyne.
Publ. Penguin Books 166 pages.
Presently, John Boyne is the best-selling Irish author alive. He was one of the guest speakers at the recent Franschhoek Literary Festival and he charmed the audiences with his easy, relaxed presentation, his anecdotes and his total lack of pretentiousness.
His appearance coincided with the publication of his last novella, “Air”, in his ambitious four-part series based on the four elements. The others have appeared punctually every year since 2022, beginning with “Water”, “Earth” and “Fire.”
All four explore themes of sexual abuse, from different perspectives. All focus on a specific role: Enabler (Water), Accomplice (Earth), Perpetrator (Fire) and Victim (Air). They can be read in any
seductive veneer. Subsequently, their work forms a distinctly new visual language that is resolutely grounded in the ‘here and now’. AD-Reflex undermines the idea of flawless progress in the contemporary moment. Instead, everything can be mixed with everything, everything is possible, and in perpetual transformation.
Elizabeth Balcomb is an established sculptor working in bronze, whose work has enjoyed international exposure. Much of her work is a re-interpretation of classical sculpture, using the language of the Renaissance to explore and expose elements of human nature. Her work explores questions about humankind’s relationship to nature, individuation, technology, isolation, the politics of womanhood, and apartheid. Elizabeth states, “My pieces explore the relationship between human and animal worlds, suggesting that identity is fluid, mysterious and that consciousness is a common condition, not the sole attribute of human beings.”
Nusenu Prince Mawuli is a Ghanaian artist who has been recognized for his individual artistic vision. He pursued tertiary education in arts, textile design, and technology in Ghana. In 2012, he moved to South Africa, which initiated an exploration of art that combines painting and textile collage to create captivating artworks on canvas. Specialising in portrait painting and African print fabric collage, Mawuli’s work reflects a deep engagement with cultural identity. Ghana is renowned for its vibrant African prints and iconic Kente cloth, which serves
grass on the mountain, the bones of the dog buried in the garden. Of love itself. And it is an engagementwithalloftheabove.Itisalove-act. “Poetryisaloveofthatartofmakingwhichwill takeyouawayfromself-indulgence–forevenas youfashionit,ittakesonalifeofitsown.”
(Breyten Breytenbach: Intimate Stranger)
A love-act. Yes, this seems close, and love is certainly needed in the world at the moment. Sometimes, though, love takes strange forms and isn’t always recognised for what it is, as American poet Robert Hayden poignantly describes:
Those Winter Sundays Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. When the rooms were warm, he’d call, and slowly I would rise and dress, fearing the chronic angers of that house,
speaking indifferently to him, who had driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices?
Robert Hayden
order, but a minor character from each novella serves as the narrator for the next, creating a sense of connection between the stories.
Each novella has a stand-alone plot based on the specific element of the title. For instance “Water” is set on a lonely island surrounded by the troubled Irish Sea, and “Fire” is set in the burns section of the trauma unit of a hospital.
Arguably, it enriches your reading of “Air” to know that Aaron Umber, the central character, is the sexually exploited young man in “Fire” and that Vanessa, the ailing mother of his wife Rebecca, is the unnamed lonely woman in “Water.”
The result is that ”Air” can be seen as a sort of Rubik’s cube of characters that the clever, well-read reader can manipulate into different configurations.
However, the book can also be read on its own merits, and I regard it as the best of the four. It is perhaps the most benign of the elements, and the psychological issues that affect the characters are resolved, or at least alleviated, by some aspect of air. In the most obvious sense, Rebecca is an airline pilot, and most of the action of the book involves her husband and son on a long flight
as a vital source of inspiration. The artist perceives beauty in the interplay of colours and textures, conveying that Africa is blessed with a rich cultural heritage and colourful traditions. Portraits are created in series with careful consideration given to the themes explored. The artist ensures that both the chosen imagery and selected fabrics harmonize to tell compelling stories. With a profound passion for art, Prince views it as an essential aspect of culture and life, reflecting its omnipresence in the world around us.
Andrew Mogridge, with his large ceramic vases, makes the following statement about his work. “I embrace the absurd and value the power of impulse over preconception. With the help of acerbic humour, I explore themes of power, violence, and the farce of authority. My process is characterized by an approach that invites the unexpected and takes full advantage of unhappy accidents. Using titles and phrases, I attempt to satisfy our innate craving for meaning. Words, no matter how banal or disfigured, are comforting and familiar. As a multimedia artist, I play to the strengths of each medium, the immediacy of drawing, the directness of painting, the iteration and editioning of printmaking, and the temporality of film and music. Canvas rots, paper fades, and music falls out of fashion. As a medium, ceramics have one notable property, durability. Each piece has the potential to last a few thousand years, by which time the ideas of ownership of provenance are lost, and meaning
from ‘Angle of Ascent: New & Selected Poems’ (Liveright Publishing, 1966)
Returning to Don Maclennan, he describes waiting to read his poetry to a group gathered at an art gallery in Bathurst:
At a poetry reading Sunset; the first bite of winter in the air.
The gallery was crowded, people sitting comfortably, sipping wine, and waiting.
The walls were lined with paintings, landscapes, seascapes, sunset rivers that drew you into their placidity.
Void of people, they all spoke the painter’s personality, her love of light, tranquility, the sensual susurration of the sea.
Why, then, did I find it strange that every poem read seemed like a window to its author’s character? each poem a reflector of some hidden anger, a child-like wish for innocence, scars of a wretched breakdown,
from Australia to Ireland –literally in the air.
In a more abstract way the stifling relationship between Aaron and his teenage son Emmett gradually acquires a sort of emotional oxygen tat breathes new life into it. This is an important aspect of the narrative because in spite of the multiple furtive damaging sexual relations between the main adult characters, the book is actually about a father and his son becoming reconciled to their troubled history.
itself loses traction to history. Because of the pot's three-dimensionality, the full story doesn't unfold without a full rotation, and at all times, there is quite literally another side to the story. As the pot is rotated, there is a temporality that is shared with other media, such as film or music. The graphic nature and the highly activated surfaces of my work are, more than likely, the result of having worked in advertising for 20 years. Advertisers demand high impact. The ads themselves are visual hammers; blunt instruments in the service of consumption. “How can I help?”
www.gpgallery.co.za
old, ironic fatalism?
I thought of Tennyson, “with no language but a cry”. How did he sound when he read to grieving Queen Victoria? a wind among the pines?
We recognize poems when they come to us. Stevens calls them sounds passing through a momentary rightness.
We sat in a corner of the gallery waiting our turn to read, wondering if what we had to say would entertain, amuse, depress, yet hoping that our record of a day when something used us like an instrument would have its say.
Don Maclennan from ‘Collected Poems’ (Print Matters Heritage, 2013)
“Sounds passing through / a momentary rightness / … when something used us as an instrument”. This essential mysteriousness, and perhaps ultimate indefinability, of poetry is what makes it so magical and what invariably calls us back to it in trying times such as these. It is the language of hope.
Their exchanges are sensitively depicted and no easy answers are offered. Boyne shows empathy and understanding as father and son begin to understand what has to be given and what has to be demanded in an honest relationship. This is the positive note that is lacking in the other novellas.
Boyne is reticent about his plans for his next book (or books) but these four books are a remarkable achievement. I would recommend anyone embarking on the series to read them in the order of their appearance: Water, Earth, Fire and Air.
Bella, is a year old tabby with stunning tabby markings. She
i s e x c e l l e n t w i t h d o g s , affectionate and loves to sleep
n e x t t o y o u H e r f a m i l y i s moving and unfortunately can’t take her with them.
Cat Lovers of the Winelands
We need your help to nd homes for these two beautiful cats.
Both are looking for homes through no fault of their own. They are both sterilised, tested and vaccinated. And you can meet them right here in Franschhoek!
Suzanne: 078 493 7875 or Annette: 068 738 3339
Dixie, is not yet a one year old a f f e c t i o n a t e t a b b y w h o j u s t n i s h e d w e a n i n g k i t t e n s S h e has unique markings and has a ver y outgoing personality. She w o u l d d o w e l l w i t h a n a c t i v e family with children and a dog.
FRANSCHHOEK
New Kennels
We are delighted to announce that four beautiful new holding kennels have been built at our premises in La Provence Street, in Groendal.
D o n a t i o n s w e r e g r a t e f u l l y received from several suppor ters, and Jonathan from Franschhoek BuildIt generously donated the building materials.
‘Pat’s’ Bastille Boule Competition It is with sadness that we heared of the passing of one of our long ser ving suppor ters, Pat M o rg a n T h a n k yo u to a l l a t H o s p i c e wh o organised a ver y befitting memorial for Pat. She would be pleased that "her" boule competition is being organised by Franschhoek Boule Club. Please come along to play or suppor t during the Bastille Festival. Great prizes can be won and lots of fun is to be had. Please contact Alex Harris for details - 083 575 2270
We would like to thank a few constant suppor ters: Franschhoek Motors, Franschhoek IT, Franschhoek Wine Tram, La Laundr y. People who donate clothing etc., to our sale ever y first Friday of ever y month. This helps us and our community
Our Clinic is open ever y Monday and Wednesday from 17h00 - 18h00. Please let ever yone know who needs our help. Healthy Pets mean Healthy Families.
WE KNOW YOU CARE, WE KNOW YOU WANT TO HELP TO CHILDREN WHO BEG ON FRANSCHHOEK STREETS DO NOT GIVE MONEY OR DIRECT SUPPORT BUT PLEASE...
No matter how well-meaning, direct support keeps our children on the street: Giving money or support of any kind directly to children on the street might seem harmless, or helpful, to members of the public, tourists, and businesses. The truth is that it means keeping them out of school, on the streets, and locked in the hands of those exploiting them.
Unfortunately, once a child settles onto the street and allows the street to become their survival paradigm, they become locked into street life and resistant to change
The money they get from begging: No program, organization, centre, or school can compete for the child's attention when they can earn over R50 a day in our smaller provincial towns, never mind the odd foreign currency equivalent of R200. This money is not used for food or schooling needs but goes directly into substance abuse, or is handed over to support their guardians' substance abuse.
Food from restaurants and locals: Many restaurants, small businesses, and individuals feel sorry for the children, so give them food and even small jobs for money. This helps sustain the children on the street, validating their impression that life on the streets is better and
keeping them out of school and out of the programs set up to look after them.
Public support: Many well-meaning members of the public give the children shoes, clothes, and food items. Most of this is sold or traded and is used not only to sustain them on the street, and pay for drugs but also to encourage them to remain on the street. Many people want to help but often don’t know how to give responsibly. By donating to the FRANCO StreetKids Centre, you can make a significant impact on our children’s future. We offer daily hot meals, tutoring, mentoring, hygiene facilities, trauma counseling, sports, karate, yoga, and skills programs. Most importantly, we provide LOVE and RESPECT for their innocence.
‘Tis The Season To Sell
Winter can be a surprisingly strategic time to bring your property to market; those who list now benefit from reduced competition, allowing their home to take centre stage. Sure, some sellers hold back, waiting for spring, but the serious buyers are not hibernating – they’re actively searching for properties throughout the year, and with fewer to choose from, yours becomes a focal point – not merely another listing. And, winter offers the perfect opportunity to showcase a home’s warmth, comfort, and charm. A well-styled interior, glowing fireplace, and thoughtful lighting can create an emotional connection that resonates deeply with potential buyers.
Right now, buyer interest in Franschhoek and the surrounding winelands is at an all-time high and many sellers are getting their full asking prices or very close to. Over the last 12 months in Franschhoek, there’s been an upsurge of sales in lifestyle smallholdings, luxury homes and vacant land. There’s currently high demand for characterful residential and estate homes in Franschhoek, particularly from the semi-retired or retired clientele from abroad – in fact foreigners account for around 70% of our buyers over the last 12 months, which is largely due to our unique approach and platform; at Greeff Christie’s International Real Estate, we combine the strength of a world-renowned brand with a deeply personalised approach to deliver exceptional results for our clients. We employ a sophisticated, multi-channel marketing strategy tailored to each property.
As the exclusive South African affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate, and through our presence on prestigious platforms like James Edition, we connect our listings with discerning buyers worldwide. Our agency has been recognised as the Best Real Estate Agency in South Africa in our category – a testament to the calibre of our service and results.
Where to find us:
We’ve recently moved into a fantastic new space right above the Local Franschhoek Pharmacy. Coming soon: Guy and Tania will be hosting some great art and property events in future which we will advertise on social media platforms. Follow us @greeffchristiesfranschhoek
Healey and Tania van Deemter both have incredible local insight and knowledge of the property landscape. If you are curious about the current value of your home or are looking for an investment property, they will be able to give sound and professional advice. With attention to detail, and unwavering commitment to ensure no opportunity is missed and no client is ever left waiting, our sellers enjoy enhanced exposure, faster response times, and broader buyer networks.
Franschhoek Village
R23 950 000*
Franschhoek Village
Beds | 4 Baths | 2 Receptions
R13 900 000*
La Petite Provence
*Marketing Price
Guy
Exclusive Sole Mandate. This charming double storey 2 bedroom home is ideally located on a quiet residential street and boasts stunning views. Built within the last 10 years and immaculately designed and finished this beautiful home offers a rare opportunity to enjoy luxurious living in the heart of Franschhoek. Suitable as a permanent home and ideal as a lock-up-and-go, the property combines elegance, comfort and style.
Designed to take full advantage of the valley views the living area is located on the first floor. This light-filled space with striking doublevolume beamed ceiling comprises a spacious living/dining room with wood burning fireplace and open-plan chef’s kitchen. Glass sliding doors lead to a wrap around covered verandah with magnificent North and West facing valley views.
On the ground floor are two spacious ensuite bedrooms. The main bedroom includes a generous bathroom with bath and shower and patio doors leading out onto a small covered terrace overlooking the pool and garden. The garden includes mature trees and shrubs and indigenous planting. The property also includes a welcoming hallway, guest loo, separate laundry room, inverter power supply, single garage, and off street parking.
The contents of the home are available to purchase separately.
Tom Clode 079 955 3114
Terry-Lee George 082 650 9194
R9,950,000
Exclusive Sole Mandate; This exceptional heritage property, is just a short walk from Franschhoek’s restaurants, shops, and galleries. Originally built in 1857, the home has been sensitively restored to preserve its period charm while incorporating modern finishes. Features include oak wood floors, sash windows, and high ceilings, creating an elegant, timeless atmosphere.
The home offers 6 en-suite bedrooms, a guest bathroom, 5 living rooms, and 5 verandas, providing ample space for entertaining and hosting large groups. Its versatile floor plan allows for use as a spacious family home with additional guest accommodations or as a hospitality property. The tranquil garden, sparkling pool, and verandas are surrounded by
stunning mountain views and ancient oak trees.
Additional highlights include exclusive parking for 6 vehicles (4 garaged), a large solar system with power backup, and many high-end features. The property is part of the Riverside Oaks sectional scheme, which consists of three homes.
Tom Clode 079 955 3114
Terry-Lee George 082 650 9194
R27 900 000 + VAT
RARE LIFESTYLE FARM OPPORTUNITY
Exclusive Sole Mandate. This ±34-hectare vacant land lies within the prestigious Two Rivers Farm Estate in Franschhoek. It’s one of the last undeveloped properties in this sought-after location.
Perfect for a bespoke lifestyle farm or country retreat. Surrounded by indigenous fynbos and 360-degree mountain views, including Simonsberg.
Tom Clode 079 955 3114
Terry-Lee George 082 650 9194 R29 500 000 plus VAT
Exclusive Sole Mandate. A rare opportunity to own this 23ha Boutique Farm and Winery in a spectacular setting overlooking the Franschhoek valley This property presents many revenue possibilities to support your dream lifestyle. Includes 120t wine production and cellaring facility along with a 330m2 tasting and function venue. Five dwellings including a 4 bedroom main house and 3 bedroom farmhouse. This combination of natural beauty and a prized Franschhoek lifestyle is a unique opportunity for the right buyer.