Mother City News December 2019

Breaking the echo chamber in the city bowl and beyond

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NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 16, 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.

Page 4 Company’s Garden Restaurant: Time the great leveller

Page 4 Sauvignon Blanc: The Chameleon Grape

Page 7 From plastic bottle… to plastic bottle

Sold down the river

Province and City push for River Club development on sacred land

Pave paradise… Khoi Khoin representative Tauriq Jenkins surveys the site where a massive commercial, residential, and retail development comprising buildings up to ten-storeys high, is proposed on the River Club site in Observatory. The site is ground zero for the first displacement of indigenous people by South Africa’s waves of colonisers. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp

Steve Kretzmann

I

t was apparent during the heritage appeal tribunal hearing dealing with a proposed massive development at the River Club in Observatory, that the City and the Provincial governments are being led by the private developer.

Commercial interests are calling the shots,

rather than fitting into existing long-term frameworks, and the actions of provincial and local authorities over the last four years reveal they have been trying to change their own development frameworks so that the developers can pour concrete.

Appellant number one in the ongoing appeal against an existing two-year heritage protection order invoked to provide Heritage

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Western Cape the opportunity to investigate formal protection for the land under threat, is the developers Liesbeek Leisure Property Trust. Appellants two to four are the provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DEADP), provincial Department of Transport and Public Works, and the City of Cape Town.

However, their reasons for appealing the

provisional protection remained unheard at the tribunal hearing on 21 November, because the day was spent hearing their arguments for a postponement of the hearing of their appeal.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

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NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 16 | 2019

From page 1

Sold down the river Facing up against them in opposition to and argued the lack of historic meaningful the construction of ten-storey buildings and engagement with the First Nations was why 11.7ha of built environment in the middle HWC should be allowed the opportunity of an indisputably sacred site for the First to thoroughly investigate whether the site Nation peoples, is civic organisations and should be granted formal protection. traditional bodies. Heritage Western Cape, Jenkins, via email, stated: “It seems known to be under-resourced and underboth strange and inexplicable to see staffed, is caught in the middle. the extraordinary attempts to delay the The reasons for seeking a postponement, impending voice that will simply say, ‘this is voiced by LLPT legal representative Nicholas our beautiful and sacred heritage, please go Smith and Department of Transport and ahead and protect it.’

Public Works acting TRUP programme “They seem perhaps to fear the deepening manager Gerhard Gerber, was broadly understanding of ourselves as a nation, and that Heritage Western Cape (HWC) had want to withhold being witness to a single not met the tribunal’s January directive to moment of truth when we will utter from the meaningfully engage with the appellants and depths of our humanity that this is a place interested and affected parties (I&APs) in an of Ground Zero, of where it all happened. A effort to reach common ground. space where we as Africans can recognise This was despite both Smith and Gerber our collective restoration from a brutal past. stating at last week’s hearing that common A place that holds the Khoi soul.” ground was not to be found: the appellants A First Nation Report commissioned by favour the development, the I&APs want the province, although problematic in that it land protected. does not attribute quotes to specific First A nine-hole Mashie golf course currently Nation interviewees, unequivocally reveals exists on the River Club land, the historic and continued “They seem as well as a conference centre, significance of the perhaps to fear pub and other amenities which confluence of the Liesbeek the deepening were operated on a long term and Black Rivers. understanding of lease dating back to at least It was the epicentre ourselves as a nation, and 2008 between original property of the first resistance want to withhold being owners Transnet and what was against colonialism, where witness to a single moment Liesbeek Leisure (Pty) Ltd. the Gorinhaiqua fought of truth when we will utter Liesbeek Leisure was and killed the war faring from the depths reconstituted to Liesbeek Portuguese Viceroy of our humanity Leisure Properties Trust (LLPT) Francisco D’ Almeida in that this is a place and purchased the 14.8ha of 1510, only to later see of Ground Zero, of land from Transnet for R12m it become the first land where it all happened. ex VAT in 2015, six years into usurped by colonial powers the Jacob Zuma era of state capture. It was purchased in full knowledge that the site is on a flood plain and zoned as Open Space, and the surrounding Two Rivers Urban Park in which it is situated, afforded conservation status.

First Nations divided After tribunal chair Ashraf Mohammed gave two-and-a-half hours to the appellants arguments for postponement of their own appeal, the I&APs were given the opportunity to voice their opposition.

The I&APs were: Two Rivers Urban Park Association, Observatory Civic Association, Kai Bi’a Hennie van Wyk, Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council, and the Gorinhaiqua and Griqua traditional councils.

All were believed to be united but Kai Bi’a of the Gorachouqua, through his spokesperson Zenzile Khoisan, supported the motion to postpone the hearing of the appeal against the provisional two-year protection order.

Khoisan said they believed it “necessary for us not to place ourselves unnecessarily under the tyranny of the clock”.

There had not been sufficient meaningful interaction with the First Nations, said Khoisan.

“We want to, in a consolidated way, apply our minds to the proposal,” he said.

This was a surprise to Tauriq Jenkins, Supreme High Commissioner for the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Traditional Indigenous Council under Paramount Chief Aran.

There “seems to be a difference of opinion as far as the notion of public consultation is concerned”, said Jenkins after the weekend.

Advocate Winston Erasmus, representing the Gorinhaiqua and Griqua traditional councils, also appeared to be taken aback

by Khoisan’s support for the postponement,

and become a frontier of displacement which was four centuries later codified into law through Apartheid. It is also a sacred site of remembrance and heralding the ancestors.

Now LLPT seek to fill in the floodplain, build the bridge extending Berkley Road in Ndabeni across the Black River to Liesbeek Parkway, and construct 20 buildings, five of them ten storeys (47m) high, as well as provide parking, walkways and landscaping.

Most of the 150,000m² of floorspace proposed in the Basic Assessment Report compiled by SRK Consulting will be given to commercial office space (53%), followed by residential (20%), ancillary amenities such as a gym and hotel (16%), and retail (10.6%).

Shifting the goalposts LLPT purchased the property knowing any plans to develop it further was stymied by the Open Space zoning which was set down by the City to preserve the River Club site in the midst of the 240ha Two Rivers Urban Park (TRUP). The TRUP was established following a series of workshops with the various landowners between 2003 and 2009. It was then declared a “green space” in terms of the 2030 Spatial Development Framework for the City.

The spatial plan identifies the River Club site within TRUP as a “Conservation Area” where residential and commercial development, among other land uses, were declared undesirable.

TRUP Association chair Marc Turok likens it to wanting to build on Table Mountain, or Signal Hill, with the additional element of historical heritage going back prior to settlement by the Dutch.

But in the same year the land was transferred to LLPT, the City appointed Nisa Mammon and Associates as consultants in CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

On bended knee… Property mogul and River Club director Jody Aufrichtig, in blue blazer, kneels to speak to Kai Bi’a Hennie van Wyk (in head dress) and his spokesperson Zenzile Khoisan before the start of the Heritage Appeals Tribunal held at the Heritage Western Cape boardroom on Thursday 21 November. Khoisan surprised other First Nations representatives when in the tribunal he announced the Kai Bi’a’s support for the developer’s submission to postopone the hearing of their appeal against a provisional protection order on the development site.

Sacred land… Interested and affected parties protest against development at the River Club prior to the Heritage Appeals Tribunal hearing of 21 November held at the offices of Heritage Western Cape.

Contested site… The River Club, which is often flooded when the Liesbeek and Black Rivers overflow, is a relatively modest collection of facilities inherited from Transnet. Now Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust want to turn it into a massive commercial development. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp

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Member of The Association of Independent Publishers | Editorial Tel.: 083 348 4936 , 021 424 2114 | Editorial Address: The Pinnacle, 6 Burg Street, Cape Town FROM PAGE 2 what appears to have been an attempt to backtrack and enable development on the site.

According to the draft Two Rivers Local Spatial Development Framework produced on behalf of the City of Cape Town and provincial Department of Transport and Public Works, which was released in October, Nisa Mammon and Associates were “to update the previous work done to align with the new City of Cape Town Planning Bylaw, 2015” and to develop “the plan from a Contextual Framework to a Development Framework (DF) in terms of the package of plans approach”.

But Mammon and Associates did not provide the desired results, says Turok.

“She (Nisa Mammon) was squeezed (by City and Province) to the point where she said she’s not going to carry on,” said Turok.

“The impression was that she did a good job and had to walk away,” he said, as the results were “too restrictive to the developer”.

The new draft LSDF goes on to state Mammon’s plan “was incomplete and was not advertised for public comment”.

Crispian Olver, who this year published A House Divided, an examination of the City of Cape Town administration based on research for his PhD, gives credence to Turok’s view.

“The planners working on the spatial strategy for the Two Rivers Urban Park … came under significant pressure – from both the City and provincial authorities – to amend their despite the technical provisional reports, protection, which which advised freezes the site against and outlaws any changes the project in planning, the provincial as it was department of public conceived, on works and the City have the grounds during this period that it was been laying the located on a groundwork for a floodplain, new LSDF. which also happened to be of great historical significance. When they refused, their contracts were not renewed and the plan was put on hold,” states Olver on page 121 of his book.

Mammon was not available for comment.

Questions sent via email received an ‘out of office’ reply, stating she would be unavailable until 3 December.

Following Mammon’s departure, the TRUP was extended to include Ndabeni on the east of the Black River, and a new team of consultants led by ARG Design was hired by the City under De Lille in 2018. The new draft framework provides a positive assessment for the development.

Cynical ploy Turok believes the appeal, and the further move to postpone the appeal against the provisional protection order despite it ending in five months, is a cynical ploy to tie the HWC in paperwork and hamper their ability to investigate formal protection of the site.

The two-year provisional protection period cannot be extended or renewed, so if the HWC, which is known to be under-resourced and under-staffed, is unable to conduct a thorough investigation, any protection granted may be insufficient, or be open to legal challenge.

Turok’s concerns are informed by the fact that despite the provisional protection,

Bridge over troubled waters… Part of the proposed development of the River Club site involves building a bridge from Berkley Road in Ndabeni, which ends under the M5 on the east bank of the Black River, over the river to join Liesbeek Parkway. The confluence of the Liesbeek and Black Rivers is a sacred site for South African’s First Nations. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp

An impression of the proposed River Club development contained in the Basic Assessment Report, a public document produced by SRK Consulting.

Act would only be violated if the LSDF is which freezes the site and outlaws signed off prior to the end of the provisional any changes in planning, the provincial protection, but the fact the authorities have department of public works and the City appointed SRK Consulting to have during this period been “The planners develop the new LSDF before laying the groundwork for a working on the the grading is determined, new LSDF. spatial strategy reveals their intentions.

Section 29 of the National for the Two Rivers HWC CEO Mxolisi Heritage Resources Act states Urban Park … came under Dlamuka said the appeal does “[n]o person may… “subdivide significant pressure – from result “in additional tasks” or change the planning status both the City and provincial for the organisati on but had of a provisionally protected authorities – to amend not impacted its capacity to place”. their technical reports, investigate the site.

Yet the Two Rivers LSDF which advised Dlamuka said the HWC has been compiled during against the project was “not adequately the period of the provisional as it was conceived, capacitated” but was able to protection, since it was function fully and implement gazetted in April 2018. The its mandates. new LSDF seeks to change LLPT spokesperson Trace Venter denied the area’s planning status, and two open LLPT was cynically tying up the HWCs work, days – 23 October and 20 November - have been held for public comment. The claiming it was the HWC who persisted in

a “dual process” of invoking the provisional protection even though “comprehensive heritage impact assessments (HIAs) were being undertaken” by independent heritage experts as required for any development of the size proposed.

“The LLPT,” said Venter, “represented in particular by Mr Jody Aufrichtig, had a number of meetings with First Nations representatives over the past three years, over and above the required public participation processes prescribed by legislation.”

She said LLPT wished to memorialise the historical significance of the area.

The tribunal agreed to the postponement, with further engagement required by HWC. The appeal hearing was scheduled for 6 and 7 February next year, just two months before the provisional protection order ends.

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NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 16 | 2019

Cafe culture

Company’s Garden Restaurant: Time the great leveller Tucked away on the Queen Victoria Street side of the Company’s Gardens, shaded by the first trees planted by the old colonial marauder Van Riebeek and compatriots, is a respite amidst history, and a lunch break breath of nature for office workers.

It goes by the plain name of the Company’s Garden Restaurant, but then its predecessor, which survived on a City lease that lasted in the region of 40 years, was plainly known as the Gardens Tea Room. Eventually, the pace of the world, fueled by coffee, caught up, and tea lost its empire-propped position. The lease came up for renewal and the Madame Zingara company won the tender. That was back in 2014 and, as much as I like Madame Zingara’s restaurants – we regularly had parties in the original on Loop Street before it burnt down, and they’re doing a great job with Roxys – I mourned the loss of the old tea room.

It had a certain egalitarian charm in the midst of the inner-city oasis; the service was uniformly shocking, the prices low, and the tablecloths plastic. Tourists looked bewildered, the rest of us knew that if there was a need to get back to the office then you took it upon yourself to hunt down the waiter.

But nostalgia walks through life backwards.

The Company’s Garden Restaurant it is.

The trees are still there. As are the squirrels. And the rats, scurrying between bushes. The pigeons surprisingly not so much; you used to have to continually bat away descending flocks as soon as your food arrived. I guess service was slow enough for them to also get hungry.

The menu has been upgraded. Now there’s breakfast all day, starting with ‘a scrambled egg, cherry tomatoes and toast’ for R52 and going up to a ‘smoked salmon and mozzarella omelette’ for R130. Last breakfast orders at 11.30am.

In a nod to the old anchovy on toast for R10, there’s a slice of rye with tomato and avo for R29, which isn’t bad in 2019. If flush

you can compare it to the smoked salmon with goodies for R122. There’s an appetising selection of salads, mostly sitting around the R100 range, some traditional Capeinspired starters, light meals and mains that include pasta options, burgers, fis n tsips, or a 180buck Cape seafood linguine. There’s also melk tert, koeksisters, scones, and assorted cakes for dessert.

And, surprisingly for a lunch time garden restaurant, a pretty good wine list, Although a bit heavy on the markup but you can get a pricey glass instead of a pricey bottle. It also pays homage to the old tea room (which probably only served rooibos or Ceylon) with a selection of speciality teas and chai lattes.

Last time I had a meal there was not long after Madam Zingara took over. I chose the grass-fed beef burger and it was delicious, juicy, and full of pickles and shit; all the things a gourmet burger should be including being recommended for those with a large appetite. Everything seemed quite shiny and slick and pricey.

This time we went for the more classic weekday lunch toasted sarmie menu selection even though it was a Saturday. We chose a ‘chicken club with lettuce, sliced tomato, bacon and avocado’, and from the Huguenot Collection of toasted sarms, the

Form over function... The roast beef Huguenot collection sandwich looked better than it tasted.

‘roast beef sandwich with horseradish crème fraiche, pickles, a red onion jam and rocket’.

We also ordered a toasted cheese for our toddler. He was not impressed, and I can’t blame him. It was stodgy and tasteless. In true paternal fashion, I attempted to Hoover it up after the chicken club but left it alone after one bite. And I’ve hoovered tasteless leftovers. As for the chicken club, it was passable.

The roast beef with extras looked impressive on arrival but tasted less so.

The lettuce was old, the beef not the best quality, couldn’t taste the horseradish, and its construction made it difficult to eat, particularly as it was served on a teeny

wooden board. The onion jam was tasty, but alone couldn’t make up for its company.

Beyond the disappointment of the food, the cappuccinos were on the cold side of lukewarm.

Which means, when I go there again – because I will because the trees and the squirrels and the rats which I’m quite fond of – I will stick to coffee (insisting it be at least on the hot side of lukewarm) and, if I really feel peckish, order the slice of rye with tomato and avo for R30. It’ll be almost like old times. It just takes time.

Our meal came to R315 sans tip and it was fully paid for, by us.

Wine

Sauvignon Blanc: The Chameleon Grape Sade Allcock If you have opened a copy of Mother City News over the past few months and happened upon my column you might have surmised by now, due to the number of times that I have mentioned it, that sauvignon blanc is, perhaps, my favourite white cultivar.

Widely grown across the Western Cape, from the Swartland region to the famous Hemel en Aarde valley and even up to Mossel Bay, this grape captivates me due to its sheer diversity of flavour. The sauvignon blanc vine produces a vastly different wine depending on the climate and the soil in which it is grown, and the time at which it is picked. In cooler climates sauvignon blanc tends towards a high acidity and grassier aromas with flavours of asparagus, green bell pepper and tropical fruits such as granadilla.

In warmer climates this cultivar brings forth more developed fruit flavours such as peach, pear and upon occasion, grapefruit.

However, it risks losing its delicacy and acidity due to the grape becoming overripe and thus slightly sweet. I love a good sauvignon blanc that errs on the side of

peppers and acidity as I find it to be fresher, but this preference is entirely personal, and I know avid vino lovers who favour a slightly fruiter strain.

To date my favourite is Springfield’s Life from Stone. Set on the beautiful banks of the Breede river, Life from Stone Sauvignon Blanc is aptly named for the rocky ground and harsh climate in which the vines grow.

Harvested at night during the peak of our SA summer, this wine is distinctive due to its minerality and yet it still manages to remain fresh and balanced without being too acidic.

With a price point upwards of R120 it is likely it will be reserved for celebrations and special occasions, but boy-oh-boy is it worth it. Take your time when enjoying this wine to appreciate how hard the vines had to battle to produce a crop so spectacular in soil that is seventy percent quartz rock. Furthermore, the last time I visited, tastings at Springfield were free, and their stunning tasting room overlooks the river, so what’s not to love?

Don’t forget to keep your wine chill!

Springfield Life from Stone Sauvignon Blanc retails for R128 @ Liquor City Claremont

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Book Reviews

Looking out from the inside Steve Kretzmann An essay on Windhoek titled The Last Ticket out of Town, clues us in. Rémy Ngamije’s writing is bold, witty, and incisive.

Brash can be considered as a futher adjective, or, cocky might suit better, in both senses.

It is also good humoured, lashed with cynicism which, as his coming of age story unfolds we realise is a prerequisite for thinking while black. Also while a refugee. A ‘clever black’ is what Jacob Zuma infamously called people like Rémy. Except Ngamije is not South African and Zuma had no fear of his vote. This cynicism and well developed sense of irony, which we encounter through the protaganist Séraphin Turihamwe, is not a self-protective measure; it is a means to move through this world with sass, which is basically dignity while young.

It is a natural result of being intelligent, using one’s intelligence, and possessing a healthy amount of self-respect. This is not expounded in what is an entertaining story of coming-of-age between Cape Town and Windhoek with the weight of the Rwandan genocide transferred through the experience of parents, it becomes apparent as Ngamije provides the matter-of-fact experience of being young, gifted, and black in a place like Cape Town.

Of course there is conflict with place.

Being an honest narrator, Ngamije does not avoid the love-hate relationship that bedevils probably anyone who has ever lived through four consecutive seasons in

Heaven My Home by Attica Locke

Locke writes crime fiction set in Texas, overlaid with the racial politics of the deep south. This one is about a white kid who is part of an Aryan brotherhood family who goes missing in a small town with all sorts of tensions at the heart of the non-community.

Locke is really good at capturing the swampy atmosphere, the twangy drawl, and how generations of shit play out in the present. She’s also damn good at character and plot really enjoyed this, highly recommended. - Mervyn

Grace Year

by Kim Liggett

The way it’s written and how the story flows is definitely in the Young Adult genre, but the idea is adult fiction (more like Handmaidens Tale). The book explores the worst elements of patriarchy to the point that the stage of puberty for girls is considered ‘magic’ that seduces men and leads them to act “out of way”.

When girls turn 16 they are isolated for a year “so then can rid themselves of the magic” but the actual point is to break them down by poisoning their water with unpleasant hallucinogens. They then start torturing and killing each other. The book has so much unnecessary violence and Liggett doesn’t justify or explain it. It is just one horrible thing after another. If you’re looking for something to depress you for about a week, this is the one. Personally, I didn’t like it. - Unathi

the Mother City. She’s so sexy, so alluring, is so much fun. Until she’s not, and turns aggresively bitchy. Yet you still don’t want to leave, believing the sunny side must be just on the other side of a discrete and welltimed compliment.

Séraphin, you see, is a student at UCT, and The Eternal Audience of One largely narrates his adventures, exploits, conquests, challenges, and disappointments. And with Windhoek at his back, it’s no wonder Cape Town’s self-satisfied purr is so intoxicating.

The novel also touches on Paris, spends some time in Windhoek, and looks back at Rwanda, making it a rare tale of intra-African migration with a French twist.

It is hard not to like Séraphin. It seems he is Rémy’s alter-ego – although it can be argued all protagonists are their creator’s alter-ego – but still. There’s the feeling Rémy took himself, and bigged himself up.

Whatever the case, it worked. Sure Séraphin can be an arsehole at times, but he’s also got the last word, and it’s almost always the best one. His motley crew alternatively provide balance and provocation, and are almost as well-drawn as Séraphin. The antagonist is The Sauce, which in its most basic form, is sentimentality, but Séraphin, somewhat of a raconteur, does a much better job of explaining it.

The Eternal Audience of One does not tackle large themes – not directly at least. It opens a door to a romp through the vicissitudes, challenges, and satisfactions not only of being black in Cape Town, but, ironically, in Africa.

Paper Tiger by Alide Dasnois and Chris Whitfield Written by two former editors of the Cape Times, it’s a well written take-down of Iqbal Survé, whose company Sekunjalo Investments bought Independent Media a few years ago (including Cape Times, Argus, The Star, Sunday Independent etc).

Survé is in serious shit with various financial regulators and it looks like it’s only a matter of time before he drowns in the dark stuff. The book is actually quite funny in parts in relation to some of Survé’s outrageous claims - was Mandela’s personal physician, was a close friend of Michael Jackson, was personally responsible for getting Bafana Bafana winning, was a consultant to the Indian cricket team.

All bullshit. Tragic for “Independent” Media, tragic for anyone who cares about the future of journalism in this country. And also quite funny. In a tragicomedy kinda way. - Mervyn

– Short book reviews by staff at the best indi bookstore in town, The Book Lounge, cnr Buitenkant and Roeland Streets.

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NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 16 | 2019

About the Koeberg Public Safety Information Forum

Section 26(4) of the NNR Act states that “The holder of a nuclear installation license must establish a public safety information forum as prescribed in order to inform the persons living in the municipal area in respect of which an emergency plan has been established on nuclear safety and radiation safety matters.�

What is the Public Safety Information Forum (PSIF)?

The PSIF is a meeting which takes place four times a year. It is used as a platform for residents within the municipal boundary of Koeberg Nuclear Power Station to enquire about and receive nuclear safety related information from the facility.

Which topics are discussed?

The forum will address any topic that the members feel could impact their health, environment, and safety from a nuclear emergency preparedness point of view.

Who should attend?

All persons living within the municipal area around Koeberg, all affected and interested organisations or parties, and any other persons concerned about their health and safety from a nuclear and radiation safety point of view are welcome to attend the forum. Persons wishing to attend are requested to register as a member.

How do I register?

Kindly e-mail your details, i.e. full name, contact number, organisation (if applicable) or indicate whether you are a resident, to JoshuaD@eskom.co.za or contact tel. +27 21 550 4238.

When are the PSIF meetings held?

Dates for the meetings are published in the annual Koeberg Emergency Plan Calendar, which residents around the station would have received in January 2019. The last PSIF meeting for this year is on Thursday, 28 November 2019.

Who to talk to For more information, contact Lewis Phidza, Koeberg Stakeholder Management Manager, at tel. +27 21 550 5758 or send an email to PhidzaNL@eskom.co.za. Alternatively contact Debbie Joshua at tel. +27 21 550 4238 or send an email to JoshuaD@eskom.co.za.

Should you not have received a Koeberg Emergency Plan Calendar and are a resident in the 16km radius of the station (Urgent Protective Action Zone), please contact the Koeberg Stakeholder Management Department at tel. +27 21 550 5227.

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 16 | 2019

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From plastic bottle… to plastic bottle: how Cape Town recycles Plastics waiting to be sorted at the City of Cape Town’s Sea Point drop-off site. Photo: Drew Wayland

Drew Wayland/GroundUp Each year, South Africans produce about 40 million tonnes of general waste, only 10% of which is recycled, according to the State of Waste Report published by the Department of Environmental Affairs in 2018. The other 90% ends up in landfills or waste storage facilities around the country.

But what happens to the 10% of materials that have a second, third, or even a fourth chance at life?

The South African government lagged behind many countries in implementing public recycling programmes, with its pilot project in 2004 in Cape Town. Only in 2006 did public recycling come to Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, and then slowly spread to the rest of the country.

Many rural South Africans are still without access to public recycling, but engage in informal recycling, such as waste picking, at much higher rates than urban residents.

The Process

So after a quick deliberation, you’ve made the choice to throw that plastic bottle into the recycling bin instead of the rubbish bin. You walk away feeling good about your decision, but what happens to the bottle after it has entered into the long and winding chain of the City of Cape Town’s public recycling programme?

It will start the process in one of the City’s 26 public recycling drop-offs, dispersed throughout the Cape Metropolitan Area.

“People tend to associate places like this with a dump,” said Dexter Bruce of Lardex Trading, a waste management contractor.

“This is not a dump. This is a friendly place, a neighbourly place. We know our customers here.”

Bruce is the manager of the Sea Point drop-off site. He proudly showed GroundUp his facility, pointing out his two employees, Joseph Shawa and Fabrice Ndegeya.

“They’re the most important people in this

in Cape Town the bottle that you recycled this morning might be made into the very one you buy next month.

Decorations

The entrance to the Sea Pont site has been decorated with discarded items. Photo: Drew Wayland

entire industry,” said Bruce. “They make sure nothing gets through the first stages that could cause problems down the line.”

Ndegeya and Shawa comb through the loads of material dropped off by residents, businesses and public garbage trucks, and sort it into paper, plastic and glass. Then the loads are what Bruce calls “purified” by the removal of items that cannot be recycled, like styrofoam, or electronics containing heavy metals.

The plastics are then separated into categories such as clear plastic, green plastic, soft plastic and ‘sticky’ plastic that has been stained by food or dirt. The materials are crushed with hydraulic press machines and made into bales nearly two metres across.

The bales are loaded onto trucks and transported to washing facilities, which the City’s Head of Waste Minimisation Alison Davison calls “the bread and butter of South African recycling”.

Davison says there are two processes for washing recycled materials. “Virgin” plastics – plastic that has not yet been recycled – undergo a simple process called de-dusting to prepare them for the next stage. Virgin plastics are usually denoted by a symbol printed on the product itself, but Davison

notes the markings can be inconsistent.

If a material has been recycled, it is sent to a different facility, where it is spun rapidly in circles in a centrifuge, then soaked in cleansing chemicals.

Both facilities break down the material into tiny pellets after the initial cleaning. The pellets are then steam-cleaned to become the building blocks of new plastics.

“Think about the pellets as the atoms of the recycling world,” said Bruce. “The plastics industry can make just about anything out of the pellets these days.

Bottles, broom handles, toothbrushes, toilet paper.”

Glass, he says, is the only material that does not lose some mass during the recycling process.

Bruce sells the pellets to plastic manufacturers.

“It is a huge boost for business in this country,” he said, “and it adds value to the supply chain. We are just keeping in the system things that would normally be left for garbage.”

South Africa is unusual in its ability to sell materials discarded within the country to manufacturers that are also based here.

In Europe and North America much plastic rubbish is exported to poorer countries, but

“We like to think of this as ever-growing,” said Davison. “We have goals to increase interest, engagement and activism around reducing waste. We have come a long way in 15 years, but we have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Beginning in 2012, the City started to hold competitions between the public dropoffs, rewarding the best decorated sites.

Many of the materials brought there that cannot be recycled are used as decorations like pot for plants, chairs, sculptures or wall art. The entrance to the Sea Point site is surrounded with brightly coloured trinkets and art pieces made from old, onceabandoned things.

“I do think it’s beautiful, the way they have saved these things from a landfill and made them into something so lovely to look at,” said Davison.

The City, and much of South Africa, is fighting an ongoing battle with rampant illegal dumping, particularly in waterways.

“We want to curb that as much as we can by making this a place that is easy to get to and nice to be in,” said Bruce, “especially among young people.” Bruce and Davison agreed that the younger generations are the most vocal about environmental issues, but the least engaged in personal recycling.

“Most of my regular customers are older people,” said Bruce.

Despite some challenges, the City claims that public recycling programmes in Cape Town have processed more than 589,000 tons of plastic since their start in 2004.

“More important than all of this is to reduce your waste,” Bruce reminds his customers on their way out of the gate.

“Recycling saves money and saves waste, but one day the goal is still to have less of it to do.” – GroundUp (groundup.org.za)

Breaking the echo chamber in the city bowl and beyond

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NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 16, 2019

December means summertime. Like, officially. It is also the time of year when entertainment becomes cheesy. Almost as bad as Shoprite music cheesy. But you know, it also means the nights are short and you have to make the most of them. We have trawled the interwebs in an effort to find something decent to do after the sun performs its lightshow over the Atlantic.

THEATRE If you’re visiting, the best way to get up to speed with the place’s issues – its politics, foibles, obsessions, phobias – is to watch local stand-up comedians. They’re the person you want to be standing next to at the braai. But seen as it is unlikely you’ll be having a braai with them – not out of the question, anything is possible – they have a whole show you can go to. I mean, you got penguins to visit, mountains to climb, beaches to laze on and cocktails to drink. But the bonus here is the shit they have to say will enable you to hold your own at the braai or beach. They’re also not only kak funny, they can make you laugh, more often than expected.

And being krismis, they’re making themselves available.

Nik Rabinowitz is at the Baxter from now up until 14 December. His show, on at 8pm most nights, is directed by Rob van Vuuren. Nick’s calling his show Late Bloomer. There’s a photo of him trying to look like a flower, with tangerine pops.

He’s obviously seen designer Kim Jones’ latest collection for Dior.

Tickets cost between R140 and R180. Book through baxter. co.za or webtickets.

MUSIC Yndian Mynah are a mystic sonic wall. They call it experimental post-rock. We call it Stone Roses went to Delhi in their gap year and came back without their vocals. The Cape Town foursome are releasing their debut album Velvet Youth at Wonderland on cnr Buitenkant and Albertus streets in town. They hit the strings at around 9pm on 4 December. Tickets cost R100 at the door, R80 if you find them online.

If you want to clear your head and go back to bare-knuckle rock, you can do that at Aces n Spades on Dec 6 when Hellcats and Indika Black take it back to the primeval. It’s a Friday night Hell hath no fury party at 62 Hout Street.

If shaking your ass rather than your head is more your thing, Funk and some fine vocals are on offer as Androgenius release their second EP at The Raptor Room (79 Roeland St). The bass drops around 8pm on Friday December 13. Get yourself some fire. Tickets at Quicket, cost R85.

ART

Marc Lottering will get you tuned in to a part of Cape Town that not even the people who live there understand. He’s staging Aunty Merle – It’s a Girl also at the Baxter. Marc has added the latest instalment to the best and possibly only one-man theatrical soap opera in SA, if not the world. Dis egte Kaaps. Well, the Athlone part of it.

Show running currently and through the season every Tues to Sat at 7.30pm, with quite a few extra 3pm shows so check baxter.co.za or webtickets.

Marc’s tale of Belgravia Rd is directed by Lara Foot, who also directs Benny Bushwacker which starts on 10 December and runs through to January. Actor Ben Voss performs a story

by Johan van der Ruit of Spud fame. It looks dire, like a Raiders knock-off, but word at the National Arts Festival was that it is apparently really good and we should go see it. Shows at 8.45pm Tues to Saturday, with additional 4pm matinees. Check the schedule and book via baxter.co.za or webtickets.

A performance that will set your head buzzing and have you aghast at the mime/absurdist/ post-modern/physical theatrics of Gaëtan Schmidt, is Zombie Attack. It’s crazy shit. Simple, brilliant, and mad. The Critter said Gaëtan’s performance was “transfixing, mesmerizing, hypnotizing”. We forgot to add frenetic. Go see him at the Alexander Bar quickly before his show ends on Saturday 30 November.

It’s on at 9pm every night this week, and tickets cost R110 online at alexanderbar.co.za.

Stuart Lightbody is doing his magic show, Powers of Recall on Tues 3rd and Wed 4th December at 8pm. We haven’t every gone to watch him because from what we’ve heard we may have to burn him at the stake. Tickets cost R120 at the door, R110 online at alexanderbar.co.za.

At Alexander Bar there’s also the Flower Hunters at 7pm from Thurs 5th to Sat 7th December and a buffet of burlesque with the Gorgeous Geeks in a Foodlesque Adventure on Fri 6th and Sat 7th at 9pm. Flower Hunters looks a little serious, a little kooky, probably darkly funny, and costs R100 online. Burlesque is, well, this one appears to include edibles.

Also geeks. If this was WhatsApp we’d post a thumbs up sign. Costs R200 online. It might be advisable to not wear clothes that require dry cleaning.

The hit Kinky Boots is still showing at The Fugard. Promises to be a lot of fun. Tuesdays to Saturdays at 8pm, with 3pm matinees on Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets cost from R250, book through thefugard.com.

Linocut by Christiaan Diedericks

There’s an exhibition of linocuts running right until 13 January at Gallery F, 78 Shortmarket Street. The art is by participants in the Sans Frontier Linocut Printmaking Project published

by Hard Ground Printermakers. The great thing about linocuts is their graphic, high-contrast quality, which makes you look cool and edgy when you frame one and put it on your wall.

They’re also generally less expensive than paintings, because numerous editions can be printed. Thus you should buy one as a Christmas present for someone you like and want to impress. Way way better than some plastic schlock or a ‘beauty pack’, plus you’ll be supporting an artist.

We buy vinyl. If you have inherited a crateful, or shifted to digital, we’ll exchange for cash. Call 083 348 4936. We’ll come to you.