Mother City News August 2019

Breaking the echo chamber in the city bowl and beyond

FREE COPY

JULY 31 - AUGUST 29, 2019

Dedicated to fairness, accuracy, editorial integrity, and the use of the Oxford comma, Mother City News strives to be a newspaper you’ll enjoy reading.

Member of The Association of Independent Publishers | Editorial Tel.: 083 348 4936 , 021 424 2114 | Editorial Address: The Pinnacle, 6 Burg Street, Cape Town Page 3 Army won’t curb Cape Flats crime

Page 4 The Blue Cafe: It’s a special spot

Page 7 Plans for South African climate change model

Cultural initiatives struggle against City policy The Events By-law ‘one-size fits all’ approach makes life difficult for smaller organisations trying to do good work.

Cultural capital… Open Book festival is one of a number of organisations hampered by red tape surrounding the City’s Events Bylaw. Photo: Retha Ferguson

Steve Kretzmann

F

Four significant organisations believe the City’s Events By-law is geared for large, well-

rustration with the City’s funding procedures and event permit policies have been expressed by a number

of arts and culture organisations, with one

requirements.

Heal the Hood, a 20-year-old organisation

funded and well-staffed entities, and fails to

using hip hop to develop a sense of self-

acknowledge the challenges faced by smaller

worth among school children and young

initiatives in the arts and culture sector.

people living in suburbs of the Cape Flats,

Complaints include the cost of public

has simply given up pushing to obtain

internationally award-winning organisation

display permits for advertising posters,

funding from the City or organise their own

having given up on trying to deal with local

opaque application procedures for grant-in-

events.

government bureaucracy.

aid, and onerous and expensive event permit

we like what we write

thecritter.co.za

Heal the Hood was awarded the

international Hip Hop organisation of the year from Washington-based Words Beats and Life Inc in 2010 and has been recognised nationally for the work they do to empower youth, but senior administrator and coordinator Shaquile Southgate said it is easier to obtain international donor funding than support from the City of Cape Town.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

2

JULY 31 - AUGUST 29 | 2019 Mother City News is dedicated to fairness, accuracy, editorial integrity, and the use of the Oxford comma, Mother City News strives to be a newspaper you’ll enjoy reading.

From page 1

Managing Editor Peter Luhanga editor@isolabantunews.co.za 021 424 2114 084 229 6399 Editor Steve Kretzmann 083 348 4936 editor@westcapenews.com

Design and Layout Somtoo Mekowulu 078 595 8500 Publisher IRIS MEDIA SA Pty. LTD 6 Burg Street, Pinnacle Building, CBD Cape Town, 8000

DISCLAIMER The views and opinions of all contributors, writers and all columnists are not necessarily that of the publishers, editor or employees. While we take every reasonable precaution to deal with only ethical advertisers,

neither Mother City News and Guide nor its publishers, editor or employees are responsible for any loss, harm or damage arising out of, or contributed by, any transaction entered into pursuant to any advertisement, advertorial

or classified advertisement appearing in this publication.

Mother City News and Guide reserves the right to vary, alter or omit any advertisement and will not be held liable for any failure to publish.

Mother City News and Guide subscribes to the South African Press Code that prescribes news that is truthful, accurate, fair and balanced.

If we don’t live up to the code you can contact the Press Ombudsman at : 011 484 3612/8

Cultural initiatives struggle against City policy

Southgate said it seemed the City’s Arts and Culture Department was virtually “nonexistent” and city authorities were “not there to encourage the growth of smaller events and organisations”.

He said after last receiving support from the City in the form of the provision of a stage and sound equipment at their signature annual African Hip Hop Indaba in 2009, they did apply for grant-in-aid funding again last year.

“We attended a general public consultation held at the Civic Centre for grant-in-aid funding available for community and nonprofit organisations. We were told there was R8m available.”

He said their application was sent via their ward councillor in September and it apparently went to the subcouncil chairperson but they have received no feedback or response.

Grassy Park ward councillor Patricia van der Ross said there was no funding from the ward allocation available for Heal the Hood’s application and thus had sent it on to the subcouncil, and would follow up and provide feedback.

A massive blow to Heal the Hood was also the loss of use of the Good Hope Centre, which they hired from the City to host the annual African Hip Hop Indaba from 2001 to 2014.

But he said since 2014 the City decided to hire it out to filming companies and it was no longer available for events.

Questions sent to City regarding the use of the Good Hope Centre could not be answered before deadline.

The City Hall is available for events, but with its raked seating and smaller capacity, it did not suit the requirements for an international hip hop event, and venues such as the Cape Town International Convention Centre were too expensive at a starting cost of around R100 000 as opposed to approximately R20 000 they used to pay for the Good Hope Centre, said Southgate.

He said they lost 80% of attendees when they had to move the indaba to the Grace Performing Arts Centre in Epping in 2015 after becoming synonymous with the Good Hope Centre, to which people used to come attend from across the country. Since 2016, rather than go through laborious event permit requirements, they have placed the indaba under the banner of the Muizenberg Festival and held it at the Muizenberg High school or the Muizenberg community hall.

This year they are partnering with CPUT and plan to host it at the Bellville campus.

The five-day Open Book festival of literature, which hosts its ninth event next month, has also found dealing with the City a frustrating experience. Festival director Mervyn Sloman said the nub of the issue was that the costs of meeting the City’s requirements for obtaining an event permit amounted to over 25% of the funding received by the City.

Requirements included public liability insurance and an independent financial audit.

The problem was that the City’s Events By-law adopted a once-size-fits-all approach, said Open Streets Cape Town acting managing director Rebecca Campbell.

Open Streets fosters social cohesion by organising car-free days in communities, enabling residents to use the streets for recreational activities.

Flipping it… Heal the Hood have been empowering youth through B-boying, DJ-ing and grafitti since 2008 but say City bureaucracy is so bad they have all but given up trying to fulfil local government funding or event requirements. Photo: Steve Kretzmann Campbell was hesitant to level criticism at the City despite admitting being frustrated at the red tape involved in obtaining an event permit.

Open Streets submitted comment on the Events By-law in 2014, stating that while recognising the need for the City to regulate events, there was too much emphasis on regulation and not enough on facilitation, which ran contrary to principles stated in the by-law.

The by-law makes provision for a cumbersome and unclear process which event organisers at most levels find difficult to navigate, submitted Open Streets Cape Town. “Only those with significant financial resources are able to comply fairly easily with the bylaw process.” This effectively limits the scope for small organisations or community groups to engage with the formal process and limits potential opportunities for the City to engage with the community.”

Open Streets urged the City to consider distinguishing between community events and commercial events, but these suggestions were not included.

“The City stages big events really well,” says National Arts Festival CEO Tony Lankester, who was in charge of organising the Cape Town Fringe which ran from 2015

to 2017, “but when it comes to small events I’m not sure it knows how to handle them.”

The Cape Town Fringe was not held in 2018 despite promises from safety and security mayco member JP Smith at the closing of the 2017 event that funding for the 2018 event was guaranteed. Queried

by Mother City News, Smith said the City had numerous meetings with the National Arts Festival about their plans for the event, and following discussions, were informed National Arts Festival would not host the 2018 edition. A response as to why last year’s Fringe festival did not take place could not be obtained from Lankester before deadline, and it is not known whether Cape Town Fringe 2019 will take place. Smith said funding had been set aside for Cape Town Fringe this year, “subject to compliance and the event organisers meeting criteria”.

An email sent to events.applications@ capetown.gov.za, which is the email listed on the City website, inquiring what is required to organise the hosting of an event, and what costs were involved in receiving a permit, received no response over a period of four days.

In June the City officially launched its events e-permit system which allows permit applications to be submitted electronically.

JP Smith said this was part of the City’s efforts to modernise event bookings and make it easier for event organisors to do business.

“By the end of March 2019, the Events Office had issued 1 047 event permits. The number is likely to exceed the 1 277 permits issued in the previous financial year,” stated Smith, adding that R50m was budgeted to support these events.

Support for emerging artists The City’s Arts and Culture Branch in July announced an Emerging Artists Programme providing 21 emerging artists the opportunity to showcase their work at the Zeitz Mocaa art gallery. Mayco member for Community Services and Health, Zahid Badroodien said the initiative aimed to assist “under-resourced emerging artists based in Cape Town to access opportunities and build capacity”.

The artists who responded to the call earlier this year would also receive support in the form of mentorships and networks, and training and development, announced Badroodien in a press release. The exhibition, This is Me: A Rite of Passage, opened at Zeitz Mocca on July 2 and will also receive exposure at First Thursday events.

JULY 31 - AUGUST 29 | 2019

3

Army won’t curb Cape Flats crime in the long run, say residents

Temporary solution… Gangsters say they’ll lie low while the SANDF is deployed on the Cape Flats and then simply carry on as before. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp

Sandiso Phaliso Gang members in Nyanga say they will lay low while the army is deployed in crimeridden Cape Flats suburbs but will continue where they left off once the army is gone.

“The deployment is just a scare tactic,” said one gang member in reference to the deployment of the SANDF in nine crime riddled areas of the Cape flats for a threemonth period.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, gangsters told Mother City News that the army “cannot be everywhere at the same time”.

A spate of murders in gang hot-spots spurred President Cyril Ramaphosa to send the army in to assist the police to trace suspects with outstanding cases, conduct roadblocks, and root out violence

in Manenberg, Bishop Lavis, Delft, Mitchells Plain, Elsies River, Mfuleni, Kraaifontein, Philippi and the country’s number one murder capital, Nyanga.

However, the deployment has not been universally welcomed by residents of these areas, with many people interviewed saying the deployment – reported to be costing R23m—is a waste of time and resources, with concerns the presence of the army could further traumatise communities, particularly children The deployment came nearly 24 hours before the shooting of police officer Songezo Khethiwe, 32, who was stationed in Delft.

“The soldiers need to receive proper training on police rules and conduct before they can be deployed. Without this they wouldn’t know how to react when confronted with heavily armed gang

members,” said resident Mnikelo Ntlwasa.

“The army is issued with assault rifles, with machine guns, and so the possibility of a shootout happening in any of these spaces could have dire consequences for civilians who are in that space at any given time. The presence of the army will have psychological impact on communities,” said Philippi Community Police Forum chairperson Nolubabalo Sithongana.

Resident Andile Mntuyedwa said: “The biggest problem is that armies are not trained for law enforcement. They’re trained for warfare and to use maximum force.”

The army wouldn’t be able to help in combating crime in unpoliced informal settlements, said Sithongana.

“For their own safety, police don’t patrol in the alleys of informal settlements as there are no streets and no lighting, meaning the army would also not patrol these areas,” he said.

“The police have been unable to protect the citizens thus the deployment of the army, which is good, but three months is not enough to curb crime. What will happen after their time has expired? The soldiers should have a base and stay on our streets permanently.”

Self-proclaimed gangster see the deployment as a “joke” and will have no impact on their operations.

Social Justice Coalition (SJC) Head of Policy, Dalli Weyers, said the government would rather consider an equitable and rational allocation of police resources in affected communities.

Community leader Ncubeko Siphango said the solution to curbing crime lay in resolving socio-economic problems and developing an integrated approach which would include

Effects of state capture on everyday life Tariro Washinyira and GroundUp staff About 100 people gathered at the Central Methodist Church on Saturday 27 July to consider how state capture has been affecting their lives. The forum was organised by commuter activist group #UniteBehind.

Activists representing many organisations, including Reclaim the City, Ndifuna Ukwazi, Right to Know, and Sonke Gender Justice, suggested actions to answer the forum’s key question: “How do we fight the state capture fightback?”

In the wake of the deployment of the SANDF onto the Cape Flats, the participants also discussed whether the military can “cure problems caused by poverty”, whether Metrorail can be fixed and the meaning of the Zondo commission for most South Africans.

People living on the Cape Flats townships testified about their daily lives. Speaker after

speaker described horrible encounters with the army.

Washeem Abrahams and Rayarn Kennis, both 17, jointly described their experiences living in Manenberg.

Kenis said that during apartheid coloured people were evicted and moved to underdeveloped “ghettos”, like Manenberg.

Because of a lack of resources people formed gangs and started fighting for power and belittling the larger community. Gangs then started to make decisions, mostly wrong ones, for the Cape Flats. He said that the government failed to stop the formation of gangs, and now they don’t have a solution to them.

He then criticised the way the SANDF is behaving in Manenberg: “They are attacking us while we are chilling with our friends. One of my friends was slapped on the face and the other one was hit by a gun on the head.

The soldiers said to my friends they look suspicious,” he said.

getting social development, education and health departments together.

“It’s going to take much more than deploying the army to minimise crime. We need to understand the full picture of crime,” he said.

Retired soldier Moses Mlambo, 68, said he was “trained for the warfare, to be militant but not trained to control crowds or do roadblocks or make arrests”.

“I was trained to combat, shoot and kill. Soldiers use force and carry live ammunition,” said Mlambo.

Police department spokesperson Reneilwe Serero said the army’s main purpose is to maintain law and order.

“They are coming in as a force multiplier; right now as we speak our specialised units are on the ground. South African Police Service members are on the ground, they are conducting operations. They will then be joined by the SANDF to assist and multiply the members that are already on the ground.

Their role or their mandate they need to discharge is to assist the SAPS; they are under the command of the South African Police Service and to assist in combating and preventing crime, but most importantly, to maintain law and order and preserve the law.”

Meanwhile, shebeen owners said they were forced to close down their businesses because they don’t have licenses to sell liquor.

“Customers don’t come to our places since the deployment of the army because they fear they will be victimised. Business is not usual anymore,” said one shebeen owner who did not want to provide his name as he operated without a liquor license.

Washeem Abrahams and Rayarn Kennis of Manenberg address an activist forum in the Central Methodist Church in Cape Town on Saturday 27 July. Photo: Tariro Washinyira

Abrahams said: “I am here today, trying to figure out how I can help my community because they are too scared to say what is wrong. Mothers are being terrorised by their own sons. In places like mine you need to communicate with your neighbours but that is not happening because we don’t trust each other any more.”

Fredalene Booysen of Sonke Gender Justice said that a week ago someone living three streets from her in Elsies River was gunned down. “In many ways the abnormal has become normal in our community,” she said.

She said the army raided a friend’s house in Elsies River, while there was no one there.

She said they broke down the door. When her friend came home she found the whole house in a terrible state.

The Western Cape has seen a significant reduction in the number of police officers.

This has been against a background of allegations of police corruption and the

undermining of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, a damning report from an inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha, and a court finding that the allocation of policing in the Western Cape is discriminatory. #UniteBehind member Zackie Achmat described how Metrorail is dysfunctional because of state capture at PRASA during the Jacob Zuma era. He also criticised the current public protector for protecting “Jacob Zuma and his crooks instead of the public”.

But Achmat warned that organisations will not be able to fix PRASA unless they get onto the streets and start protesting. He said that they have been talking about safe trains for women and children for two and a half years. The next action needs to be sitting on a railway line and demanding a safety plan.

– GroundUp

4

JULY 31 - AUGUST 29 | 2019

Restaurant review

The Blue Cafe: It’s a special spot

Tab Leforto Before sidewalk coffee culture became a thing in Cape Town, there was a cafe up in Tamboerskloof where the locals caught up on the latest gossip around a few tables put out in the lee of the gracious double-storey Victorian terrace houses that provide the city bowl suburb with much of its charm.

From the entrance on Brownlow Street, it looks no bigger than a garage, with an awning over the pavement. It has probably always looked like that; it appears embedded in its surroundings, now more swish with Airbnbs and established guest houses.

Although, Tamboerskloof was always swish, or swisher, sitting behind Lion’s Head; there’s the grandeur of those turn-of-the-century mansions to show for it. Double-storeyed bay-windowed wrought-iron verandahed beauties. Imagine parasols on the hot

summer days.

It’s called The Blue Cafe but many Capetonians might know it as The Daily Deli.

There may even be a few old salts who recall Die Blou Kafee. It has been around since 1904 after all.

It likely started out as what we would now call a spaza shop, without the chips and plastic. A neighbourhood dealer trading fruits and veggies from surrounding gardens, a few exotics off the ships perhaps; spices from the east, liquorice and tobacco from the north and west. Fish, most likely, brought up in barrows from the docks. Dried, salted, and pickled things. Samoosas, koesisters freshly baked and cooked.

It seems to always have been a place to meet. Even on storm-tossed winter days the wind seems to back off and the clouds thin around lunchtime within the esconce

of the clear tarpaulin tie-downs. Its size is deceiving, leading down from the street level deli housing the counter and one large table surrounded by shelves of preserves and tasty goodies, there are wood and wrought-iron steps down to the inviting kitchen and the low, warm basement where people murmur conversations or compose emails on laptops.

Away from the hustle of Kloof Street, it is perfect for a tête-à-tête. A catch-up, a lekka skinner. Perfect menu to go with it too, providing a choice selection of options but still rooted in a home-cooked tradition of full fat, and a wide variety of dishes, but not too numerous.

You can pretend you’re in a genteel New York suburb (although with a mountain in its midst if you choose to look up) and order a dark-roasted cafe a lait with frothed almond milk accompanied by a pastrami on pretzel bread. The coffee certainly lived up to its name, the pastrami not quite – it would have disappointed a visiting Yankee. It did what it said – it was a pastrami sandwich, but it could be so much better. There’s a good Jewish heritage in the suburb. Lose the South African garnish of lettuce and tomatoes. Just load it up with meat and mustard and go bos on the butter.

But it hit the spot where it mattered. True to its Cape roots, it got the bobotie right.

Sweet as an auntie, with the undertones of spice as subtle as the yellow of her turmericstained fingertips; the egg custard topping almost making a dessert of the dish but the curry of the mince seducing it back to this side of the fence with the bay leaves keeping it real. The ideal dish for brunch, which is something to keep in mind as it is so often served as an evening meal. The fresh salad on the side offered a welcome lightness in response, with nearly transparent longitudinal peels of carrot. A solitary woman at the table behind us mentioned to the new manageress how she regularly walks a few blocks to enjoy the kitchen’s traditional Cape Malay dish.

The Blue Cafe also has a lentil butternut coconut cream bobotie which is vegan and wheat-free. Although we didn’t order it, our waitress, checking whether we had ordered the right bobotie, told us that one wasn’t available on the day.

Beyond that, their breakfasts are available until 4pm and range from a healthy fruit salad with Greek yogurt, or creamy oats with stewed fruit – which sounds like grandmother’s comfort in a bowl—to Paul Daly’s Full Monty which has scrambled eggs, bacon, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, white cheddar on a butter croissant or Turkish bread.

There’s the sandwiches – of which we had the pastrami – as well as three pasta options, and cafe food, the list of six items including the boboties, as well as an Asian broth, and Brie cheese with figs and toasted Turkish Bread. There are also pizzas from 4pm.

Note to tea lovers: the attention is not only lavished on the bean, there’s about 20 leaves on offer, including a hot crossed bun chai which you can also have as an espresso, and Cape Turkish apple. The Blue Cafe makes its own kefir and their own unsweetened ice tea for the days when the city bowl bakes and you need to get away from the fumes.

In tune with its roots, it still sells fresh vegetables from surrounding organic gardens from the deli, as well as a plethora of soups from the kitchen, rusks, cookies, lemonade, ginger beer, and other delights.

In some ways, not much but the name has changed in 115 years. The Blue Cafe is still a neighbourhood fresh food store, with all the goodness that entails, including the prices, which reflect the sedate city suburb rather than the flash and design of Upper Kloof only a few blocks away.

Two coffees, tea which we shared, bobotie and pastrami sandwich came to R240 with 20% tip, and even their pizzas are under R100.

Keep it in mind if you want to whisk someone special away for a jaw.

Wine

Boozing on a budget: A couple of reds

Sade Allcock There is something about red wine that serves to intimidate, fascinate and compel me and most other vino lovers more than its white and rosé counterparts. When red wine is crafted with love and executed with

finesse, it can bring tears to the eyes of even the most critical afficionados. When it fails, it can serve as a good alternative to paint thinner, and I’ve tasted more paint thinner than I care to admit. Thus, it is understandable that I am a very hesitant shopper when buying red wine. You know

that annoying person that hangs around the wine shelves for half an hour, reading the backs of all the bottles and asking random strangers who were minding their own business for an opinion? That’s me. Needless to say, a gorgeous red wine doesn’t exactly come cheap. Since I haven’t had the best luck in the wine department this past month; here are the reds that won’t give you rotgut but can still fit into your budget. Firstly, The Cape Town Wine Co. Cabernet Sauvignon.

I’d never heard of this cellar before and while I wasn’t blown away, I wasn’t disappointed either. Although the label boasts soft tannins, I found them to be quite distinctive, but thankfully not overpowering. A slight whiff of spice on the nose and berries on the palate make it enjoyable with a hearty meal such as a roast cauliflower curry, or a leg of tender lamb. This cellar is based off Chapman’s Peak Drive and I would be interested to try other wines in their range, perhaps on a lazy Sunday cruise of the peninsula. Secondly, the Excelsior Merlot, which I greatly enjoyed.

This is a softer, slightly sweeter and fruitier red boasting a beautiful dark ruby colour.

On the nose I found notes of cocoa and on the palate, strong flavours of plum and traces of cherry cola. I recommend that this wine be enjoyed as is, with good company.

Lastly, a few foot notes on red wine: It is best kept at room temperature. European room temperature that is, which means it is at its optimal between 12 – 18 degrees. Especially in our SA summer, I recommend that you refrigerate your red wine and decant it 30 – 90 mins before serving, to allow it to release the proper aromas. Decanting your wine by holding it steady and pouring slowly into a decanter also serves to eliminate the sediment that sometimes accumulates at the bottom of a good red. Please do not pour the entirety of your wine bottle into the decanter, as you will just end up with the sediment in your decanter and would have defeated the purpose of decanting it in the first place.

Cape Town Wine Co. Cabernet Sauvignon can be found at Woolworths @ R69.99 Excelsior Merlot can be found at Liquor City Claremont @ R84.99

JULY 31 - AUGUST 29 | 2019

5

Book review

The Blackridge House: Laying memory to rest

This is a book about death, and about dying. As much a meditation as a story. Not morbid though. For death to occur, there must have been a life, and it is life that fills the pages of The Blackridge House. The life of Julia Martins’s mother, as well as the people who made it possible for her, and made it possible for the author, as well as the circumstances that lead to particular people being in a particular place at a

particular time. It is also a quest, which is how the story continues, and a memoir of that quest, which is a word that conjures ideas of dragons, horses, swords and swarthy characters. There are not many of those, and only one swarthy character, who is a librarian. This a gentle quest, its departure a nursing home, one from which the room has a view of a syringa tree and the squirrels that scurrel along its branches. It involves family, old photographs, and assistance from genteel strangers, such as librarians and retiring civil servants in the urban planning bureau. It is about understanding, comingto-terms, awareness, which is what a good quest should achieve.

Julia is looking for a lost home, one that belonged to her mother, who is old and dying and suffering short term memory loss. Thus The Blackridge House is also an ode to the author’s mother. It doesn’t move very quickly. It is a slow read. It is also absorbing, and poetic. The gossamer threads of relationships based on natural curiosity, the small heroisms born of the inexplicable desire of strangers to assist swell in poignancy for actually haven taken place.

Although the quest is personal, internal and with no aim or prospect of achieving any effect beyond that of discovering the genesis of a parent’s memories and laying a second-

hand nostalgia to rest, the sweep of history is found in the particular; a sincere attempt to understand a place involves consideration of the many who have inhabited it during the preceding aeons – plants, animals, and people.

Being sincere, and not without a wry sense of humour, Julia journeys beyond the previous generation, unearths deeper layers that consider history and conquest and inheritance. Her memoir is also a work of psychospatiality – the intertwining influence landscape and people have on each other, how the natural world bears on the psychology of the people who inhabit it, and in the context of the industrial age’s accelerated movement of people, includes the baggage they bring along from other landscapes and the societies they have moulded, and how this baggage of the psyche is repurposed, or abandoned in a new reality.

It comes about, this psychospatiality (for the term psychogeography is too rooted in the urban environment) effortlessly, through observation and empathy rather than deliberate focus. Mention is made, for instance, of the railway line, symbol and achievement of empire, a catalyst for industry and property ownership, a progression of engineering and civilisation,

now torn up, abandoned, the contour returned to the dominion of grasses and flowers, beetles, rodents, and birds. A place cattle graze once more, but no longer quite as they used to; history’s full weight bears on the present.

Like a cartographer who is able to decode contours, lines, shadow and light to create a three dimensional vision of kloofs, peaks, vegetation density and type, rock strata and watercourses, Julia uses her intuition and intelligence to provide a nuanced view of the struggles, achievements, the hard-fought conquests over land and people and nature that provide a moment untrammeled in the sun, as well as the sorrow, dislocation, and violence these misguided ill-conceived struggles wield even as joy was and is ironically to be had in the fight. In this sense, Julia Martins’s book on the dying of her mother and her memories straddles the description of memoir and novel, for it is also an epic journey across the bloodstained soil of Africa in the south, all of which flows through its homes.

Julia Martin is a professor in the Department of English at the University of the Western Cape.

Theatre review

Cellist with Rabies: Get infected Don’t miss the compelling Jemma Kahn in her superb new work, Cellist with Rabies, at the Alexander Bar this month. Photo: Mark Wessels

Straight off the Main programme at National Arts Festival, Jemma Kahn’s intriguing play Cellist With Rabies comes to the Alexander Bar Upstairs Theatre this month.

You can pick a random entry in an encyclopedia, hand it to Jemma Kahn, and she would be able to write a play out of it.

Possibly an award-winning one. Dig deep enough into anything and a story is to be found. Actually, I suspect this may be her modus operandi, with the addition of what has become her trademark use of kamishibai – a Japanese street theatre technique of telling stories with pictures, basically.

In Cellist with Rabies, Jemma, who received the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for theatre last year, has pushed the boundaries of this form of illustrated narration to the point where it is barely recognisable. The bulky frames carrying the images have been whittled down to slides very cleverly projected. But this isn’t just projectors on stage. The solid kamishibai foundation makes them integral to the performance rather than – as is often the case – a redundant addition of spectacle.

Together with director Jaco Bouwer – who was Standard Bank Young Artist in 2008, the demands of the Japanese form have been segued with the conventions of western

theatre to create a wonderfully inventive post-modern performance that is eclectic, eccentric, inventive and, most importantly, compelling.

Compelling is a good word to describe Jemma as performer. If the standards of classic acting were applied, she’d probably just scrape through, which is possibly why we’ve never seen her act in a classic play.

Her winning quality is intelligence and an ability to make everyone in the audience think she is talking directly to them. Flirting, more like it. There’s a lot of mischief behind that forehead.

Jaco and Jemma are a fantastic creative match. Jaco has experimented with the

tensions of technology and stage and regularly transported us into magical realms of metatheatre, while Jemma has always seemed to create work that doesn’t so much occupy the space behind the fourth wall than break it down from our side. In Cellist they polish each other’s rough edges and come close to creating a space that is beyond theatre, yet very much of the theatre.

Their flirtation with the avant-garde has matured into a romance. It seems they individually set new parameters, kept refining them, and waited for the rest of us to catch up.

Much could go wrong: There’s a big(ish) set by Rocco Pool which seems to have a personality of its own interacting with technology, and a premise that one wrong move could set tumbling into the realm of farce.

The scornfully mistreated Joan (Jemma) is utterly charming as she falls in love with a virus, and David Viviers, who is its personification, is like a hypnotic cobra weaving in his basket – or in this case, petri dish. Together they are darkly hilarious.

Cellist with Rabies is a fascinating exploration of thwarted ambition, loneliness and our need for love and recognition, delivered in the vastly under-explored realm of scientific research. Its somewhat sketchy, albeit dramatic ending, has been developed since its showing at the National Arts Festival, promising an improvement on what was already a superb performance.

Cellist with Rabies is showing at the Alexander Bar from 6 to 17 August. Tickets cost R160 at the door and R140 online and are selling fast. All shows are at 8pm.

6

JULY 31 - AUGUST 29 | 2019

KOEBERG EMPLOYEES BRAVE THE COLD TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE ON MANDELA DAY “Action without vision is only passing time, vision without action is merely day dreaming, but vision with action can change the world.” ~Nelson Mandela

A

midst the rain, wind, and the bitter cold that Thursday, 18 July 2019 brought, volunteers from Koeberg Nuclear Power Station and their contractor partners made their way to Pella Moravian Primary School to make more than 67 minutes count in honour of the late, great Madiba.

The school is situated on the land of Pella Moravian Mission Station.

The land/school buildings are the property of the Moravian Church of South-Africa. The school receives norms and standards funds from Government and is a Section 21 no-fee school.

Last year, employees from Koeberg Power Station assisted in the school’s vegetable garden, and painted the perimeter wall of the school. Eskom’s contracting partner, Koebec, attended to the lighting issues which the school faced in their courtyard. Due to the need identified in Eskom’s interaction with the school since 2018, this year the school library received a much-needed makeover. This library not only serves the learners of the school, but also services the residents of the community of Pella. The library building is one of the original buildings erected approximately 150 years ago, and forms a part of the history of the community. Due to ageing, the roof of the library caved in during the course of 2018, making it unsafe and unusable – this meant that the library could not be used until the roof was fixed. Eskom, in partnership with Southey, fixed and performed maintenance on the roof, and Pella Primary will shortly officially open their school library as a community library!

Besides fixing the roof and gutters of the library, Koeberg volunteers also cleaned the inside of library, and painted the exterior wall and door, which was in desperate need of some TLC. Koeberg staff also donated several boxes of books to supplement the current book collection in the school library.

Koeberg’s Land Management Team also worked hard to clear a patch of undergrowth to establish a garden next to the library, which we will soon see blooming with beautiful flowers, creating a tranquil

reading garden for library users. This is all part of the strategy of the principal, Mrs Margaret Dyson, to change the aesthetic of the library in order to encourage a culture of reading which is entrenched in the school’s ethos.

Despite the intermittent rain showers, volunteers were determined to brighten the children’s day. While some were hard at work doing physical labour, other Koeberg volunteers handed out oranges, cupcakes, party packs, and freshly prepared boerewors rolls to all the learners and staff at the school. The smiles that lit up the children’s faces when they received their goodies were priceless.

All the donations were made possible by Koeberg employees and managers, who dug deep into their wallets and hearts to fund all the activities undertaken to promote the social welfare of the school (and indirectly, the community). Not only did many of them sacrifice their time but many more who could not attend, sent their donations - all in bid to make a difference and make their contribution count.

Mrs Dyson thanked Eskom for participating, and for their interest in uplifting the community.

Eskom encourages and values community partnerships as it is aligned with the organisation’s corporate social investment (CSI) strategy. One of the employees who participated in the initiative said, “I just wanted to do something nice for a change, because I know that there are others who are less fortunate.”

Mr Lewis Phidza, the Koeberg Stakeholder Management Manager, commended the school, saying, “The school leadership’s vision is in synch with Eskom’s CSI goals and objectives, hence the school was adopted as part of Eskom’s CSI initiatives. He also thanked his colleagues for their commitment to the cause.”

Here’s to an impact that is seen, felt and acknowledged which is at the heart of what Mandela Day is all about.

JULY 31 - AUGUST 29 | 2019

7

Ambitious plans underway for homegrown South African climate change model

Tony Carnie/GroundUp “We should not just sit and wait for others to bring us solutions. We should be part of the solution.”

Developing South Africa’s capacity to predict and adapt to the global climate crisis is critical, and local scientists have an ambitious plan to develop the country’s first “homegrown” weather and climate change modelling system.

Put in simple terms, a “numerical climate modelling system” involves using mathematical models of the atmosphere, land surface and oceans to simulate future climate scenarios. It makes use of supercomputers, parallel computing, satellites, radiosondes and other technology.

It depends on people with highly-specialised skills in areas such as mathematics, physics, numerical modelling and computer programming.

Such a project, led by a group of specialists from the South African Weather Service (SAWS), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the universities of Witwatersrand, Pretoria and Cape Town, has just received a major financial boost with a US$100,000 (R1.4 million) grant in a research scheme which involves the African Academy of Sciences, the United Nations, World Meteorological Organisation and other partners.

Dr Mary-Jane Bopape, SAWS chief scientist for weather research, expects it could take ten years, largely because there are currently not enough suitably-skilled climate boffins in South Africa – less than ten she estimates “who really understand how [climate] models work” and are able to make a clear contribution.

Bopape was one of 21 African scientists awarded funding in June through the Climate Research for Development (CR4D) initiative, which aims to improve weather and climate early warnings over Southern Africa.

A big chunk of these funds will be used to run a series of workshops on high performance computing systems in Southern Africa, model development and new products for the agriculture, water, health, energy and disaster risk reduction sectors.

The push to improve climate simulation skills comes at a time when local climatologists are warning that temperatures in Africa are rising faster compared to the global average. In sub-tropical Africa, they suggest temperatures are rising about 1.5 times faster – so if the average global temperature goes up by 2°C, this could translate to about 3°C over sub-tropical Africa.

According to research by leading SA climatologist Prof Francois Engelbrecht and colleagues, this has major ramifications for a continent where tens of millions of subsistence farmers depend on rainfed agriculture rather than irrigation.

That’s one of the reasons why the team wants to get a clearer picture of how climate change will impact on South Africa in particular.

Writing in the South African Journal of Science, Bopape and eight local colleagues outlined ambitions to develop local capacity in climate modelling skills and to become an independent developer of weather and climate models.

“The big international centres that have experience in developing models usually plan for a period of about ten years when they want to replace a model with a completely new one,” she said in an email interview.

However, model developers tended to focus on their own countries.

“In order for us to see increased effort on improving simulations over South Africa, we need to be involved. We should not just sit and wait for others to bring us solutions, we should be part of the solution.”

She also believes that in some cases,

In South Africa, the Department of Science and Technology has invested in the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC), which houses a high performance computing (HPC) system that is on the top 500 list of the biggest computers in the world.

“This system is available for South African scientists to conduct research that is on par with the international community – and the majority of the simulations will rely on this system,” she said.

The SA Weather Service and some universities also have HPC systems that can be used for research purposes, but because the SAWS system is needed to produce operational forecasts, opportunities for research remain very limited.

Bopape also sees a need for significantly increased funding from the public and private sector to support locally-developed models.

“There have been some investments towards the model development work that has already taken place. For example, support has in the past come from Water Research Commission, CSIR parliamentary grant, SAWS and the National Research Fund’s Thuthuka programme.

“However, the current funding is not nearly enough to put us in a position where we can work on par with nations that have been working on model development for decades. Also, the modellers we have in SA are usually multi-hatted and are working on other areas of research due to limited funding for model development.”

– GroundUp

GARDEN LANDSCAPING

Creative garden design and landscaping solutions.

• Garden design and implementation • Many years of experience landscaping in the Western Cape • Hard landscaping - dry pack stone retention walls, stone cladding, stairs and pathways • Fynbos and indigeneous garden experts

Cell: 072 480 2685 Email: info@livingscapes.co.za Web: www.livingscapes.co.za

-mcn-18x13

Computer simulations of rising temperatures in Africa for three future time slices: (2011–2040), (2041–2070) and (2071–2100), compared to the reference period (1981–2010). Image: CORDEX Africa

South African weather and climate researchers have the benefit of specialised local expertise, including knowledge of local thunderstorms and ocean processes in the seas adjacent to South Africa.

Bopape says computers have dramatically reduced the amount of time needed to generate weather and climate forecasts compared to the first numerically-modelled forecasts that were manually computed by Lewis Fry Richardson in the early 1920s.

Remote sensing using satellites has also helped to improve predictions on a continent that has fewer ground-based weather observation stations compared to Europe or the United States.

“Before the use of satellites as an input to numerical models, there was a large gap in skill over the northern hemisphere vs the southern hemisphere, which is covered by a large ocean area, and also has limited observations over land.”

Other major improvements have been made possible by super computers and the introduction of parallel computing. “In parallel computing, a simulation that would otherwise run on one computer is split up so that it runs on a number of computers at a time and therefore produces simulations faster than when using only one. Parallel computing has also resulted in increased resolution and models getting more sophisticated to represent the atmosphere better.”

Bopape believes machine learning will lead to further improvements in forecasting and, over time, the contribution of human forecasters is likely to decrease.

Breaking the echo chamber in the city bowl and beyond

FREE COPY

JULY 31 - AUGUST 29, 2019

Your curated excuses for getting out the house It’s winter, so what? It’s a chance to wear long coats and boots and leather jackets. Get out there!

Theatre: Kinky Boots is still showing at The Fugard if you’re into song, dance, and drag, but if you’re not so into glitter, The Old Man and the Sea is playing until 24 August. The actors are James Cairns and Taryn Bennet and they are really good. We seen most of their work but saw them again in a childen’s show at National Arts Festival and their acting brilliance shone through, entrancing the children and keeping us adults absorbed. The Old Man and the Sea, which is for adults, is sure to be a pleaser - this Jozi couple guarantee good theatre. Also a great opportunity to invite your parents or favourite aunt out, because you probably don’t share enough of your life with them.

Tuesday to Friday at 8pm, Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm. Tickets cost between R140 and R160.

The franchise that knows how to use an apostrophe, Tiger’s Milk, has Rob van Vuuren on the bill this Friday 2 August. Although we here think stand-up comedy is highly over-rated, we’ll vouch for Rob vv, so much so that we’ve put him under theatre rather than skopping him to the gulag of comedy. He’s at the Camps Bay venue (35 Victoria Rd) and entrance is free but the food isn’t – you’ll need to book a table. Phone 021 286 2106.

The gig starts at 8pm.

analogue interference in the binary code increasingly ruling our lives. The Matrix is being messed with on 31 August at Evol. It’s noisy, it’s experimental, it’s cathartic.

There are pre-sale tickets via Quicket, which provides upfront cash for the underground artists to make and do cool shit for you to enjoy at the event, or just rock up at the door if you can’t get your act together.

Pre-sales range from R40 to R60, rocking up at the door will set you back R80.

Festivals and whatnot: Don’t buy new shit, rather shop at the Obs-fficial Thrift Fest on August 4 at the Observatory Community Centre. This is your chance to reduce your carbon footprint by participating in the recycling and homegrown and home-made goods economy.

Last time we looked at their Facebook page they still had stalls available, going cheap at R150, so if you want to clean out your closet, or are a closet kimchi maker, consider applying to laurarnbrd@gmail.com.

Entrance costs R10 ( R5 for kids under 12 years), and there will be tunes and good vibes.

Jemma Kahn’s Cellist with Rabies is at the Alexander Bar from 6 August until 17 August. We think it is so good we gave it a full review on page 5. It’s probably the best theatre you’ll be able to see this month, possibly this year.

On at 8pm every night except Sundays, and tickets cost R140 online at R160 at the door.

Hurry, it is already beginning to sell out.

If you want to change the world by engendering empathy and self-reflection in the next generation, then take a child to theatre. Good theatre, that is, of which there will be plenty at the Assitej Cradle of Creativity from Tues 20 to Sunday 25 August. It is a biennial international festival of theatre for young children – even including for babies – as well as those of primary school age, as well as teens.

Venues are the Baxter Theatre Centre, Theatre Arts Admin Collective and Magnet Theatre in Observatory, and Guga S’Thebe in Langa.

Tickets will be available from Webtickets: Adults R80, children R50, Group Bookings R30.

Check assitej.org.za for programme details.

Since Capetonian powerhouse Mamela Nyama took over Joburg’s flailing Dance Umbrella and found a new home for it in the SA State Theatre in Pretoria, she has made it move.

Mamela’s latest initiative is overseeing the Dance Umbrella Africa Fringe, which is now on at Artscape until 3 August. Go to Artscape.co.za to see what’s on the programme.

Tickets in the region of R80

Music: Giulio Beltramo’s soulful groove pulling in all the Jack Johnson strings and lyrics including birds floating free and reality. Mellow vibes, lekka songs. Tunes you could braai a snoek or smaak a wyn toe. Folksy on Thursday 22 August at Mercury Live, but no snoek, only wyn (or beer, etc.) Also stepping up is Josh Bull & Lauren Norstrom. Mix and match. Vocals are sexsy.

Live act starts at 8.

You can swing a hip, bop, pogo, or even start a mosh pit to the oddly satisfying mixed beats of the Nomadic Orchestra and you don’t even have to pay for the pleasure at Aces’n’Spades Bar on Friday 23 August. The Friday Night Live 105 gig starts at 9pm and there’ll be DJs from 11 to ensure your Saturday morning begins bleary-eyed.

82 Hout Street, entrance free. Happy hour from 4 – 8pm if you need some Dutch courage.

Jolling: Get sweaty on the dance floor during the day at the Black Out party on Sunday 4 August.

Emphasis on day and presuming it’s not gonna be sunny, it’s one way to keep warm. Party starts at midday, which gives you just enough time to refuel with breakfast after Saturday night and keep going. If that is your choice you’re either under-25 or on drugs, or both (ROAR). DJ line-up has Blanka Mazimela, Fin., MKLY, Pierre Johnson, Ryan Hill, and Wulfsohn. Happening at Modular (34 Riebeeck St), tickets cost R100 or R80 before 2pm.

21+ Glitch Party IV is a interesting way to see out the month. Glitch Culture is about human or

Rob van Vuuren with a spotted tongue in 2002. Catch him at Tiger’s Milk in Camps Bay on 2 August.

If you want your gig to be considered for our guide, email deets to westcapenews@gmail.com