Breaking the echo chamber in the city bowl and beyond
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SEPTEMBER 25 - OCTOBER 25, 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 3 City breaks Cape Town Fringe promise
Page 4 Statements: Held back by homage
Page 7 Homeless take City to court for theft
Rivers of rubbish
Cape Town’s rivers are open streams of sewage, yet the City is not spending its budget
Toxic stream... Amateur fisherman Quinten Bouwer says he’s hauled fish out of the Black River deformed by plastic rings stuck around their bodies.
Steve Kretzmann Some of Cape Town’s rivers and canals are so polluted they are essentially open streams of sewage, and although the City of Cape Town is aware of this, the water and waste directorate has vastly underspent its budget for the past two financial years. Participants in the annual Peninsula
Paddle, an event organised by scientists and environmentalists to paddle the interlinked waterways from Muizenberg to Paarden Eiland, were taken aback by the state of the waterways when they kayaked the rivers and canals on 8 September. The plastic waste was the worst they had seen in ten years of the event, said Dr Kevin Winter of UCT’s Future Water Institute, who
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helps coordinate the Peninsula Paddle. The worst affected waterways were the Steenberg Canal and the Black River, which flows past Observatory and northwards along the M5, to exit to sea at Paarden Eiland. The Steenberg canal was filled not only with plastic trash, but dead dogs and cats, and electronic goods. And in the Black River,
the paddlers were surprised by a floating island of plastic trapped by hyacinth. Water samples taken in the Black River for E.coli – a microbiological indicator species – revealed colony forming unit (cfu) counts of up to, and in places over a million per 100ml. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
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SEPTEMBER 25 - OCTOBER 25 | 2019
From page 1
Rivers of rubbish
point that intermediate contact with the water is a risk, with 40% of them labelled as ‘unacceptable risk’. Of the inland water bodies, 21% are at the most extreme pollution category provided in the national water quality guidelines, which is ‘category 3’. The data presented reveals that the City is well aware that samples from the Black River show more than 100,000 E.coli cfu per 100ml, which places the river in ‘category 3’. This means there are “chronic ongoing or extreme pollution incidents”, that “urgent management intervention to trace the source of the contamination is necessary”, and that extra funding is likely to be required, not the directorate’s report. The other ‘category 3’ polluted waterways are the Khayelitsha stormwater system and the Big and Little Lotus Rivers. Although the City has water quality data
updated monthly for inland water bodies and fortnightly for coastal waters, it does not tell the public the results of the water quality tests. No results have been presented at subcouncil meetings since 2013 and the last data set available to the public is from 2016. A promised new report showing the results of the water quality tests across the metro has been delayed for almost a year, with no reason given other than the report has to proceed through council. A number of questions were sent to the City but no response was forthcoming by deadline. Questions included what urgent management intervention was taking place to prevent ongoing pollution of inland water bodies, and what the chronic source of pollution is.
Dumping ground… Plastic and other rubbish lies both in and on the banks of the Black River.
Underspent water and waste budgets There are an average of 400 sewage spills in the city daily, according to reports tabled in the City’s Water and Waste Portfolio Committee meeting on 5 September. Unless contained, these drain into waterways. Yet the water and sanitation department has vastly underspent its capital expenditure budget for the past two financial years. Reports tabled in the committee meeting note that only R1.5bn out of a water and sanitation department capital expenditure budget of R2.3bn had been spent in the 2018-19 financial year ending June 30. That is only 64.5% of the budget. In the previous financial year, only 55% of the capital expenditure budget was spent. And spending does not seem to have
improved so far this financial year. In July, the first month of the 2019-20 financial year, only R7.1m of the capital expenditure allocation of R36.6m for that month had been spent. Expenditure figures for August were not presented. The department believes expenditure will increase to reach the 90% spend target over the next 11 months. Only 10.1km of sewer mains were replaced in the 2018/19 financial year. The target was 23.6km. The maintenance and replacement of the sewerage network is sorely needed. The committee reports note there are 7,000 to 12,000 sewage spills across the metro every month. Work on replacing water mains went better, with the department replacing 15.9km of piping out of a target of 20.5km. The solid waste department’s operating budget - which could be used for cleaning the waterways - was also being underspent, with just with just R181m or 67.5% of the July allotment of R268.2m having being spent that month. The department noted there were 1,067 vacancies out of a staff establishment of 8,366. Reasons for underspending given by the water and sanitation department over the past financial year include: • slower than anticipated progress for groundwater exploration due to delays such as not getting access to properties • delays caused by suppliers • delays in awarding tenders due to non-responsive tenders and appeals against awarded tenders • delays in land acquisitions, obtaining approvals, as well as contractor performance. Water quality results Inland water quality results were also discussed in the portfolio committee meeting, and although full reports and data sets were not provided, results presented reveal that over half, or 55.5%, of the City’s inland waterways are polluted to the
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According to national guidelines for intermediate contact with water (such as kayaking and fishing) anything over 4,000 cfu per 100ml is ‘unacceptable’. Winter said counts of a million are consistent with untreated sewage. The pollution the paddlers found in the Black River was in spite of a citizen-led mass cleanup of the river in May this year. “As paddlers we shouldn’t even have been on the water,” Winter said. Avid fisherman Quinten Bouwer said he often stops at the Black River adjacent to the M5 on the way home from work and fishes while the rush hour traffic abates. Bouwer said he had pulled out a fish whose tail had developed around a plastic ring such as found beneath the tops of containers. “Every time you reel in, you hook plastic and rags,” said Bouwer, who added that City workers had recently pulled out massive piles of hyacinth and plastic. He said he would never eat the fish, as the knows how polluted the river is, but he knows of people who catch barbel and carp and sell them to restaurants who cater to foreign African nationals. A good size barbel would fetch R100, but these fish would be contaminated by heavy metals found by Winter and other UCT researchers to be present in the river.
SEPTEMBER 25 - OCTOBER 25 | 2019
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City breaks Cape Town Fringe promise
It took four years, but by 2017 the announced National Arts Festival got the model for it was put the Cape Town Fringe festival right, turned on hold to around some of its staunchest critics, helped prepare for artists launch careers, and boosted the the 2019 profile of independent theatre venues . edition. But the fifth Cape Town Fringe festival “We have didn’t take place last year, and neither is it put the Cape happening this year, despite public promises Town Fringe on from the City of Cape Town that they would pause while we raise ensure its continuity. additional funding to allow The Eastern Cape-based organisation us to execute our vision for this was lambasted during its inaugural 2014 Festival,” stated CEO Tony Lankester in July Fringe festival for not consulting local 2018. Lankester has since resigned after 12 arts organisations and excluding various years at the helm, leaving this month to take communities by being focused on inner city up a position in London. venues, with the Cape Town City Hall as the Late last month, Mother City News asked locus of the 11-day event featuring about Lankester what the situation with Cape 100 shows. But changes were made each Town Fringe was. “Cape Town Fringe will subsequent year of what became an 18-day happen next year (2020). We’re working festival of performing with the City to build a case for a JP Smith, stood arts providing a broader pot of funding and to use on stage and platform for artists and the event to rebuilt the arts fabric promised the independent venues. of the city,” he said. celebrating artists By 2017 the Cape He would not be drawn on he would ensure Town Fringe had whether the City’s funding offer the continuity of spread out to 10 of R1m had been finalised too late the festival. different venues across in the year for the NAF to secure the city, including additional funding and organise Khayelitsha, Rosebank, the 2019 event properly. Delft, Observatory, and Retreat, and was JP Smith said the City had set R1m aside celebrated for its inclusivity. At the final for the Cape Town Fringe this year provided awards ceremony, the City’s mayco member NAF “secured outside sponsorship”. Smith for safety, security, and events, JP Smith, said this condition was communicated to stood on stage and promised the celebrating NAF in 2018, as the City did not provide full artists he would ensure the continuity of the funding as a sole sponsor of events. festival. He said at a meeting with City officials But September 2018 came and went with on August 28, Lankester stated the 2019 no Fringe festival. An official release from the edition of the Cape Town Fringe would not National Arts Festival (NAF) in July that year take place.
Fan following... Samthing Soweto was mobbed by fans following a performance at Cape Town Fringe 2017, which saw audiences crossing the city’s Apartheid spatial barriers.
The South talk African Cultural to each Observatory other”, could calculated the 2017 have worked toward edition of the event improving the arts fabric of contributed R18m to the the city. city economy. A continuous annual Cape Town Beyond its contribution to the economy, Fringe “would have been huge boost for the contribution to the artists and indendent independent theatre” but after two years of theatre venues was invaluable, says Caroline disappointment, the relationship between Calburn, who runs the Theatre Arts Admin local artists and the City of Cape Town, Collective (TAAC) in Observatory. which was strained to begin with, has been Calburn says the 2017 Cape Town Fringe damaged further. happened in partnership with independent That the City has not ensured the venues and theatremakers and the benefits conti nuation of the Fringe festival “sends the “were massive”. message that they are not interested” in local She says the TAAC, which has a theatre artists, but only interested in big events that venue in an old church, “was transformed” brought international interest and boosted through partnership with the Fringe festival. tourism, such as the Cape Other venues, such as the Town Cycle Tour. Makhukhanye Art Room in A continuous Conversations she’d had Khayelitsha, had also received annual Cape with people who worked a significant boost through Town Fringe at NAF indicated the City “would have being a Cape Town Fringe only informed NAF of the been huge boost venue. for independent availability of funding in July, Beyond being given a theatre” but the Fringe festival took highly subsidised platform place in September. to present work, artists also This meant NAF had very benefitted from awards and litt le time to raise matching exposure. funding in time to put the word out, invite She said if the City had continued to artists, and organise venues. support the Cape Town Fringe, the model “How does anyone raise R1m in four could have been improved even further and weeks?” asked Calburn. the independent venues, “who don’t really
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SEPTEMBER 25 - OCTOBER 25 | 2019
Theatre review
Statements: Held back by homage
Liezel de Kock and Marlo Minnar play in Athol Fugard’s Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act, playing at The Fugard theatre.
Steve Kretzmann Two naked lovers on stage involved in the meanderings of post-coital conversation is riqué even as dusk falls on the 2010s. How risqué it was in 1972, when Statements After An Arrest Under the Immorality Act was first staged at The Space in Cape Town, most of us can only guess. What is certain is the two naked bodies on stage being of different races – she white, he coloured – must have been scandalous. Not to mention flirting with the law. The Immorality Act condemning extramarital sex between ‘Europeans’ and ‘natives’ had been in place since 1927. The Nats didn’t create the Act, they simply updated it in 1950 to ensure no white person was allowed to have sex with any ‘non-white’, and so ensured Asians and coloureds were included on the list. Of course the Nats in their race-obsession had drawn up the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act in 1949, so there was no way white and black South Africans of any hue could legally
have sex with each other, not even if they got married first. The Apartheid engineers didn’t even recognise mixed race marriages in other countries. So simply the staging of Athol Fugard’s Statements was highly contentious, before a word between the actors was uttered. That, almost by itself, makes it an important work and part of the South African theatre canon. It is also not simply a play about forbidden love across the colour barrier of our past. Fugard, although post Fallism we now roll our eyes when another one of his works is staged, is not revered for no good reason. Even in 1972 Statements was not that blackand-white. The coloured headmaster Errol Philander (played in current production by Marlo Minnaar) having an affair with white librarian Frieda Joubert (Liezel de Kock), is actually having an affair. He has a wife and child at home in the coloured Graaff-Reinet township. Thus the post-coital conversation of the first half or more of the play is not the easy-going to-and-fro of comfortable
lovers. Beyond the paranoia of being bust by security cops is the guilt of betrayal, and in this case it also plays itself out through the extremely heightened Apartheid race politics. Philander is not just a coloured man whose future is squashed beneath the government boot; as a married man, it is also held in the palm of his white lover, the tenderness of which he is uncertain even though in this instance her collusion provides a certain protection. There are many layers, many undercurrents at play as they lie on the floor of her library office overlooked, in this production, by a host of (now antique) cameras teetering their lenses down at them from extended wooden tripods. Yet under Greg Karvellas’s direction there is little sense of this tension. It is in the words, of course, but neither in the tone nor the bodies. Which is unnerving, particularly given de Kock’s proven ability to put her entire body into her roles, and gives this production a leaden feel that even the flashlight strobes and surreality of the latter half of the play
struggles to shake. The flat pitch, the paucity of emotional range, the Kentridgesque design by Wolf Britz, serve to make this production more a museum piece than the living, breathing, dramatic work it deserves to be. However, it remains well-made theatre and is part of our canon, so despite my misgivings, is certainly worth seeing. Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act is playing at The Fugard Studio Theatre this month. Directed by Greg Karvellas and starring Liezel de Kock and Marlo Minnaar, with set and lighting design by Wolf Britz, soundscape and sound design by CharlJohan Lingenfelder and sound design by David Claasen. Tues – Fri at 8pm, Sat at 3pm and 8pm. Tickets R160 – R220, book through thefugard. com
Wine
Warwick Estate: In love with the First Lady
Sade Allcock The beginning of Spring signals the bloom of flowers on the west coast, the arrival of whales on the east coast, and the start of many long summer days spent sipping
on sauvignon blanc in the shade. Indeed, as the world heats up, what better way to stay cool than to drink chilled chardonnay? With the summer spirit in mind I headed up to Warwick Wine Estate last weekend for
a wine tasting and a nibble (okay, a feast) on their legendary gourmet picnic baskets. The estate is beautiful. Established trees, rolling lawns and a dam, with picnic spots tucked here and there make it positively picturesque. Neither was the wine too shabby. Personally, I fell in love with their First Lady chardonnay. Honestly, I have tasted some wooded chardonnays that I simply could not abide, but Warwick’s unwooded version ticked every box in my book. Light, buttery and balanced with minerality and fresh citrus, it is the perfect accompaniment to any summer’s day. Their First Lady sauvignon blanc fared less well. It delivered notes of tropical fruit such as granadilla and kiwi, and since I have always preferred sauvignon blanc to have aromas of green pepper and asparagus, it wasn’t a personal favourite. I can’t be too hard on it however, since I was informed that the grapes are grown in soil that was previously planted with fruit trees and this contributes to the tropical nature of the wine. Furthermore, this versatile white is likely to pair well with almost any food,
making it a great edition to your summer luncheons. If it’s not a boozy afternoon that you’re after, then a glass of their First Lady dry rosé might be for you. With an alcohol content of just 11 percent, this rosé is so light you will barely feel it. As for the palate, think watermelon and strawberries with the slightest hint of ruby grapefruit. This rosé is a delightful starting point for more timid wine drinkers. Last but not least in their First Lady range is the cabernet sauvignon. This elegant wine is well rounded but not too heavy, a feat accomplished by choosing some of the grapes from their younger vines. Flavours of chocolate and red berries are detectable on the palate, and I can just imagine enjoying this cab sav with a gorgeous steak. Please don’t forget to always chill your whites, and even your reds if it is a particularly hot day. Tastings @ R50 pp Cellar prices: First Lady Chardonnay @ R85 First Lady Sauvignon Blanc @ R85 First Lady Dry Rosé @ R80 First Lady Cabernet Sauvignon @ R90
SEPTEMBER 25 - OCTOBER 25 | 2019
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Interview
A continental view Coffee with Rémy Ngamije, author of An Eternal Audience of One
Bongani Kona (on left) in conversation with Rémy Ngamije during the Open Book Festival. Photo: Retha Ferguson.
Steve Kretzmann It is interesting to note the rise of militant student protests at UCT, which led to violence and burning of property, coincided with the growth of the EFF following the party’s formation in 2013. It is a link worth further investigation and one of many observations novelist Rémy Ngamije, who studied at UCT from 2007 to 2010, makes during an interview with Mother City News in the midst of the bustling and stimulating Open Book Festival where he was a featured author. The red berets were always sotcking fires in the background andNgamije, whose novel The Eternal Audience of One which features the bars, nightclubs and social scene of Cape
Town and campus and was on of the bestselling books at Open Book, says there was very little radicalism on campus when he was a student. What radicalism did exist came from the South African Students Congress (Sasco). These were a small group who “seemed to be marginalised students from Polokwane” and other rural areas, “but they were never militant”. Ngamije, who migrated to Namibia with his parents when he was six-years-old in 1994 in the wake of the Rwandan genocide, said politics when he was at UCT was still premised on the rainbow nation idea of “trying to find the middle ground”. The focus was on dialogue, but #RhodesMustFall, which began in March 2015 when Chumani Maxwele staged the
tossing of faeces onto the statue of Cecil John Rhodes, changed the mood on campus. Ngamije says when he heard about the burning of artworks he thought “oh shit, it’s Farhenheit 451 all over again”. Yet militant action is sometimes needed “to shake things up”. Dialogue cannot continue indefinetely. While he talks, protestors outside the A4 Arts Foundation Building on Buitenkant Street can be heard singing and chanting against gender-based violence. But militant action also needs to be strategic and nuance needs to be recognised. The Fallists ended up “painting everything with the same brush”. “There has to come a stage where although I have a problem with The Man I need to realise so-and-so is not The Man. We can’t just treat anything and everything as if it’s The Man.” However, he says Fees Must Fall needs to spread to Windhoek as education in Namibia is equally unaffordable. Listening to Ngamije, it’s not hard to understand how he came to write a topselling 500-page novel. His mind fluidly links one subject to another, much the way his novel links the experience of one African country to another, shifting from Namibia to South Africa to Kenya, and to France and Brussels. Well travelled within the continent and holding informed opinions, his view on Cape Town is that we don’t know how good we have it. This comes with a warning. “Capetonians still have to come to grips
with the paradise they’ve been given. They don’t know what they have, so there’s no sense of what they could lose if it’s taken away… if they don’t solve the problems they have.” Naturally, the comparison with Namibia is raised and, as hard as we may think it is to make a living in Cape Town, Namibia is harder. Even rentals in Windhoek surprisingly, are higher. “But Namibians still have a latent sense of optimism and humour, which you need in a desert. “Namibians are fiercely independent and believe they will outlast any hardship. (This attitude) is something quite unique.” It is that stubborness, the ability to outlast hardship, that holds the book together, says Ngamije. “If you outlast any hardship you’ll have a killer story to tell.” He says it is one of few novels – at least in his wide reading experience – that deals with migration within the African continent. “We tend to think about migration as this thing that happens from Africa to the western world, but a lot of Africans stay on the continent. A lot of immigrant fiction is about ‘I never realised I was black until I touched down in the US’. Come on now.” As for the xenophobia intra-African migrants face, “those violent (xenophobic) mother f*ckers just need to read”. “You can’t be violent when you’re reading.”
Book reviews
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
I don’t want to spoil too much for those who are interested in reading so I’ll keep it basic. This is not quite a sequel to the Handmaid’s Tale, but is set in the same world and features a couple of familiar characters. The story follows three women who serve very different roles in the society (and none are handmaids) so she expands on the world-building from the previous book, giving back-stories and outsider perspective. As with any book with so much hype there are bound to be disappointed readers, but I enjoyed it. The last two or three of Atwood’s novels I found a bit disappointing but this is back to her general standard. I haven’t watched the show so I am unsure as to how closely they match up...
This is a memoir about three women, specifically their intimate/sexual relationships. One woman is a high schooler in a relationship with her teacher, one is a woman in a loveless marriage who has an affair, one is a woman who’s husband is a voyeur. This book has had a lot of hype, so I expected a lot. It was good, but not great. I felt like a lot more could have been done than merely telling their stories. At times it feels like Taddeo is about to get her teeth into something, and then she doesn’t. An easy read though, so not bad for mindless reading. A palate cleanser of a book.
The Stories You Tell by Kristen Lepionka
This is my fluff read of the month. It’s the third book featuring private investigator Roxane Weary. Decent plot, decent characters, decent writing. For people who feel like a dose of unchallenging escapism, it’s, well, decent.
Book reviews by staff at the best indi bookstore in town, The Book Lounge, cnr Buitenkant and Roeland St.
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SEPTEMBER 25 - OCTOBER 25 | 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 remaining PSIF meeting dates for this year are: • Thursday, 26 September 2019; and • 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.
SEPTEMBER 25 - OCTOBER 25 | 2019
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Homeless take City to court for theft
Homeless people in Cape Town claim the City is ignoring a court order to stop harassing them and confiscating their belongings. Archive photo: Masixole Feni
Raymond Joseph An urgent application by seven homeless people to have Cape Town’s Mayor, a member of the Mayoral Committee and the City’s head of safety and security imprisoned for 30 days for contempt of court will be heard in the Cape High Court on 26 September. Lawyers acting for the seven will argue that Mayor Dan Plato, Mayco member for Safety and Security JP Smith, and Cape Town’s executive director of Safety and Security, Richard Bosman, are in breach of a 5 September court order in which the City of Cape Town undertook not to confiscate their personal property or to harass or abuse them. The order also extended this undertaking to include other homeless people living on the streets of Cape Town. The seven had gone to court after accusations of sustained
harassment and fining of street people in Cape Town using the 2007 Streets, Public Places and the Prevention of Noise Nuisance and the 2009 Integrated Waste Management bylaws. Lawyers acting for the City argued at the time of the first urgent application that there was not sufficient time to respond. Instead, they negotiated an agreement, which was then made an order of the court. It was intended to remain in force until the matter could be heard in November. The new urgent application for Plato, Smith and Bosman to be imprisoned should be suspended until the November application had been determined, Lucien Lewin, the lawyer acted for the seven, said in papers. But the seven said the harassment and confiscation of personal property by law enforcement officials did not stop and that it appears that the City had not
communicated the terms of the order to its law enforcement officials. The primary purpose of the court application appears to be to get the respondents to order their officials to stop confiscations and the harassment of homeless people, rather than to actually have them imprisoned. Carin Gelderbloem ended up on the streets eight years ago after her husband died and she could no longer afford the rent on her home. On 10 September, just five days after the order was granted, the cardboard she used to sleep on and two bags of donated clothes were confiscated by members of the Green Point and Oranjekloof City Improvement District officials and a City official, she alleges. She was sleeping on cardboard as her sleeping bag had previously been confiscated. “I tried to argue and informed them of the
court order but was ignored,” Gelderbloem says. Two nights later, while she and a group of homeless people were sheltering from the rain outside St George’s Cathedral, she says they were approached by CCID officials and told “to move and go back to where we were born.” “I politely informed them that Mark Williams (a field worker for CCID) had told me that CCID could not move us when it was raining. They ignored my pleas and forced us to move into the rain,” says Geldebloem. “I told them about the order, and that they could not do this to us, but was immediately told by one of them that it was not his business. It was clear to me that these CCID members were not informed by the City about the order.” Interviews with other homeless people around Cape Town revealed that they too were facing harassment and the confiscation of their private property, says Geldebloem. Caryn Gootkin, an activist and board member of Souper Troopers, a non-profit organisation that works with street people, said in an affidavit that she had confronted law enforcement officials who had been ordered to remove structures built by homeless people at Die Bull on Upper Orange Street. “I then asked them whether they knew about the high court order which was granted …and prevented the City from confiscating the belongings of homeless people,” says Gootkin in her affidavit. “They replied that they did not know of any such order. I also asked them whether they knew JP Smith (the third respondent). They advised me that he was their boss, and that they, therefore, took instructions from him. … they told me that they were not management and that they did not ‘make the rules’. They were only tasked with enforcing them, which included taking the structures down and instructing the owners of these structures to throw them away.” The City was asked to respond to the allegations but had not done so by the time of publication. -- GroundUp
Dunoon taxi bosses keep foreigners safe Peter Luhanga Soon after the outbreak of xenophobic violence in parts of Johannesburg at the beginning of September, Dunoon taxi bosses started patrolling the township streets to prevent and disperse any gathering of residents intending to loot shops and attack foreigners from other African countries. “From the start (of the violence in Johannesburg) we had to deploy our defensive team to be alert for any xenophobic attack or violence. We deployed our team along Dumani Road, within the taxi rank, along Potsdam Road near to the bridge and near to Shoprite. These are hotspots of violent protests,” said Dunoon Taxi Association (DTA) secretary general Frank Qotyiwe. Qotyiwe said the association had earlier been accused of planning to initiate attacks on African immigrants in the township, and decided to counter the allegations by protecting them. “A number of commuters are foreigners so we would not support any attacks on them,”
he said, “ we are continuing with the patrols. It’s been two weeks now.” Community leader Kwanele Jezile said he had spent two weeks in Zimbabwe last year and was warmly welcomed. “It makes me feel ashamed to see some South Africans attacking black African brothers,” said Jezile. However, he said the government must take drastic measures to ensure that “whoever is coming into the country is documented and that all legal process is followed before entering”. “There is a need for control. Attacking people is not a solution and far from being a solution,” he said. When the violence flared up in Johannesburg, Dunoon residents discussed the events at length on the township’s popular social networking site, with xenophobia being condemned by leaders, said neighbourhood watch coordinator Noluthando Ludziya. Ludziya said residents recalled the impact of the xenophobic attacks in 2008. She said community leaders and the neighbourhood watch had gone to the
taxi rank to ask for assistance to prevent the xenophobic attacks spreading in the township. “ A lot of taxi owners rent shops underneath their extended RDP houses to Somali’s. They rent out rooms in their extended RDP houses to foreigners.
The xenophobic violence damage shops and homes. Taxi bosses don’t want that happening,” she said. She said another meeting was held at the taxi rank on Thursday, 19 September and it was agreed no xenophobic violence will be tolerated.
Breaking the echo chamber in the city bowl and beyond
FREE COPY
SEPTEMBER 25 - OCTOBER 25, 2019
We’ve given in to the fact that summer is now here. What about spring, you ask? This is Cape Town mos, spring is gone already. So if you want to escape the south-easter, the inside of a theatre is recommended. We have some good offerings for you.
Theatre: The avant-garde, the experimental, the cutting edge of Cape Town theatre is on show at the Alexander Upstairs theatre. The new, brand new, can be seen by you, too. Four pieces of new writing by at least two of our best theatremakers is being performed by Nicholas Pauling and Maggie Gericke. Writers include Jemma Kahn and Jon Keevy. Those are names you should know. The showcase of fresh stories is called Anthologies: Clean Break and runs from 8 to 19 October every day except Monday at 8pm. Characters include a pair of shipwrecked pirate perverts (or pervert pirates), a shrink and a suspicious client, and an estranged son circling his widowed step-mother. Each play is 10 to 20 minutes long. Tickets cost R120 online from alexanderbar.co.za, or R140 online. For a theatre experience bound to challeng your boundaries, there’s Tia Maji at the Theatre Arts Admin Collective on the corner of Milton Road and Wesley Street in Observatory. Qondiswa James is involved, and she knows how to make compelling theatre. She’s working with Bronwen Clacherty, presenting a show crossing present and past lives of women in Zanzibar. There is string, fabric, voices, field recordings, and of course the bodies on stage. There may be song. It’s on from 2 to 4 October at 7.30pm. Tickets cost R80, or R50 for concessions. Book via bronwenclacherty@gmail.com If your teenager is being a blerrie shit, it might be theatre they need. If they’re not, give them theatre as a treat. Either way works and you can get them away from their screens and watching actual people perform in Tusk. It’s a play directed by the inimitable Rosa-Karoo Loewe, specifically for those younger than 18-years-old. The young cast have taken the African myth of how the elephant got its tusks and adapted it to a different kind of watering hole – the school playground. It’s at TAAC (Methodist hall on corner Milton Road and Wesley Street, Observatory) on 5 and 7 October at 7pm, and 6 October at 2pm. Tickets cost R60, we presume you can buy them at the door. If you can gooi die taal there’s a treat at The Baxter for you this month. One of South Africa’s most celebrated actors, Sandra Prinsloo, stars in Kamphoer – die verhaal van Susan Nell, directed by Lara Foot. The story is adapted from The Boer Whore, a non-fiction book by Nico Moolman, and the best-selling romance Kamphoer by Francois Smit and is about a woman raped in a Boer war concentration camp. She ends up working as a psychiatrist in The Netherlands and serves a hospital in England during WWI. There her former rapist, now suffering shell shock, ends up being one of her patients. Lots of drama and emotion. Kamphoer plays in The Baxter Golden Arrow Studio from 9 – 26 October at 7.30pm. To matinee performances, starting at 2pm, play on 19 and 26 October. Tickets cost between R100 and R160. Book via webtickets or on baxter.co.za. Lovers of the body unite. That’s probably almost all of us. Let’s clarify: lovers of dance. The Baxter Dance Festival runs until 5 October. There’s a wide range on the programme, from ballet to forms of movement we probably don’t really have names for. There’s a Main programme, Off Main, and even, on the last day, a Fringe, although that’s at your own risk. The Main programme is at 8pm every night, check the programme available via baxter.co.za to check other times and dates. Tickets cost R40 for Fringe, R70 for Off Main, and R100 for work on the Main programme. The oke with the red vellies, oversize khaki chinos, and the VW bus is back. Okay, you may have been born after David Kramer made some ronds from being the face of the VW kombi. In which case, you should discover him. He’s a legend and has updated the hit musical Poison he wrote with the late Taliep Petersen in the ‘90s. It’s now called Danger in the Dark. Thankfully, it does not involve District Six but the Cape Flats where Pamela, a social worker, gets entangled as she tries to rescue her friend from a drug lord. Or something like that. Runs from 11 October at 7.30pm every night except Sundays. Saturday Matinees at 2pm. Tickets from R100 to R195. Book on webtickes or via baxter.co.za
Parties: The Unofficial Pink Party. Yes, that’s what it’s called and no, we have no idea what the official pink party is. If it’s the MCQP, this one’s probably more fun. It also happens every month. Don’t worry, it’s hetero-friendly so long as you’re homo-friendly, which you should be. If you’re not, seek professional help, and avoid church. It’s time to embrace yourself, and your partner if you have one (if not, the Unofficial Pink
Party might be a good place to find a playmate) and shake some ass this Saturday 5 October. Doors open at Botanik House (54 Queen Victoria St) from 9pm. Tickets R50 at the door.
It’s the Chicks with Dicks party. And who doesn’t love a title like that. Cheers to the Queers as the lesser known art of Drag King performances is brought to your shores. From big beards, thin moustaches and lamb chop sideys to satyrical humor with big dicks, there will be comedic, poetic, and musical performances as a bunch of Kings discover their masculinity on 18 October at Grounded Espresso Bar and Bistro (30 Highfield Rd, Greenpoint) Tickets cost R60 on Quicket and are already being sold out, so don’t be slow if you wanna go. Get down to the rhythm of Afrobeat and drop your booty at the celebration of Fela Kuti’s sound. It’s a Felabration at The Drawing Room (87 Station Rd, Obs) on October 26. More details to come, follow The Drawing Room Cafe on Facebook to find out.
Music: There’s and indie country group from Pretoria (where else?) playing at The Jagger Lounge (74 Shortmarket St) on 16 October. They’re called The Great Yawn but we suspect they’ll keep you wa weid wakker. Tickets from thejaggerlounge.com cost R100, show starts 6.30pm.
Markets: Don’t buy new shit, rather shop at the Obs-fficial Thrift Fest on 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.
Festivals: Forget about Rocking the Daisies, get real and go to the Empoloweni Festival in Khayelitsha from 24 to 27 October. It’s cheaper, for a start. VIP access will only cost R300, normal tickets R150. You’ll also be where shit is really happening on the hip-hop and house scene. There’s also Emplweni Gqom-X. Don’t ask us what that is all about, go find out first hand. It all happens at the Khayelitsha rugby stadium. Experience your city, book on Computicket, or at Shoprite, raait. Undoubtedly there will be smileys on sale at Empolweni, for something completely different, there’s Vegan Lifestyle Festival on October 8. If you’re vegan, or wondering about going vegan, or know someone who is vegan and trying to figure them out, you may have your questions answered. There’s the usual – stalls of food (of course) and drinks and crafts but also educational workshops, talks and demonstrations, live art installations. Careful, there are also artistic expression spaces. It takes place at Herzlia Primary School Sports Field from 10am to 6pm. Early bird tickets cost R50, with an Early Bird second phase at R80, and snapscan tickets can be bought on the day for R100. For the Early Birds, go to webtickets.
Blood and gore Yeah, we know this one’s weird, but you might like to see lawyers, accountants, and consultants beat each other up (who wouldn’t). Unfortunately, there’s no mention of politicians and bankers but the aforementioned white collar peeps have been doing some apparently intense boxing training for the past three months and they will be going for glory on 11 October. There will be a bar, sound system, and food - if the sight of blood doesn’t affect your appetite – at The Armoury in Unit B2, Buchanan Building, 160 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock. Tickets R120 in advance from The Armoury or R150 on the door
If you want your gig to be considered for our guide, email deets to westcapenews@gmail.com