Mother City News Mid December 2019

WARNING: May contain strong language

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DECEMBER 17, 2019 - JANUARY 15, 2020

Breaking the echo chamber in the city bowl and beyond.

Page 3 Milnerton lagoon a health risk

Page 5 Janis: Lost to the blues and the booze

Page 7 Greenmarket Square occupation to continue into new year

City ordered to stop abusing, harassing homeless people

Harassed for being homeless... (from left to right) Shaun Strydom, Carin Gelderblom, and Rameez Kemp express satisfaction that a September High Court order preventing the City from confiscating property, harrassing and abusing the homeless, was extended in full by Acting Judge Bernard Martin on Thursday 12 December. Photo: Steve Kretzmann

T

wo High Court judges have, on separate occasions, ordered the City of Cape Town to stop harassing and abusing homeless people, and confiscating their possessions.

The first order was made by Judge Lee Bozalek on 5 September after seven homeless people applied for an urgent

interim interdict against the City pending a review of the constitutionality of the 2007 Streets, Public Places and the Prevention of Noise Nuisance, and 2009 Integrated Waste Management bylaws.

The seven applicants brought an urgent appeal to the court on 22 August to stop the City from issuing and prosecuting fines

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issued in terms of these by-laws, from interfering with and confiscating personal property, and harassing and abusing the applicants and other homeless persons.

Advocates Nick de Jager and Adiel Nacerodien, instructed by attorney Lucien Lewin, are representing the seven applicants, who are homeless, pro-bono.

A mere two weeks after Bozalek granted the interim order on 5 September, the seven applicants brought an urgent application to have Mayor Dan Plato and mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, charged with contempt of court.

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DECEMBER 17, 2019 - JANUARY 15, 2020

From page 1

City ordered to stop abusing, harassing, homeless people According to the applicants, Plato and Smith, who are responsible for directing law enforcement, had violated Bozalek’s order by continuing to confiscate their property, harass and abuse them. However, the contempt of court case was later dropped.

Caryn Gootkin, an activist and board member of Souper Troopers, a non-profit organisation working with street people, said the charges were dropped as contempt of court proceedings “are very drastic” as they are penalised with imprisonment. This, said Gootkin, made the burden of proof on the applicant very high, and precedent in law was that if there was a contestation of the facts, the respondent, rather than the applicant, would be favoured.

“Because of that, we withdrew,” said Gootkin.

The parties convened in the High Court again on 12 December in order to settle what was initially an urgent application for relief pending review of the by-laws, and appeared before Acting Judge Bernard Martin.

At the start of the 12 December court session, Judge Martin took what all counsel present saw as an unprecedented step, delivering a 20 minute lecture on how, in cases that held questions of social justice at heart, it was the court’s duty to apply the principles of Ubuntu, and urged the parties involved to view the litigation as a constitutional issue regarding human rights rather than being limited to an interdict application.

“The Constitution demands the court work toward a just and caring society,” said Martin.

Advocate Kariesha Pillay, representing the City of Cape Town, argued that Martin was constrained to the papers as they stood before court.

Senior Counsel Johan de Waal, representing a grouping of business and ratepayer associations including the Gardens Neighbourhood Watch and Seapoint Ratepayers, whose application to join as amicus was granted by Martin, argued that the applicants were effectively asking to receive immunity from certain by-laws that applied to all, regardless of their actions.

De Waal said his clients wished to argue for a balance between the interests of the applicants and the interests of businesses and ratepayers in the city.

“People are undermining tourism because they are allowed to do what they want.” argued de Waal. This, he said, impacted businesses ability to create jobs.

An impression was being created, he argued, that “I’m not subject to any laws because I’m poor and homeless”.

Pillay defended the City by-laws, stating they passed constitutional muster, but was willing to work out an agreement with the seven applicants provided it did not extend to all homeless people.

De Jager, for the applicants, agreed there was “perhaps a prospect of coming to some agreement”, pending consultation with his clients, but said what was applied to the seven applicants needed to be applied to all homeless people in the city.

An agreement was then brokered between the parties during an adjournment and presented to Martin.

Although the agreement was not read out in court, a subsequent statement by Lewin said the agreement was for the City to refrain from taking any steps to prosecute fines issued to the seven applicants in the relation to the by-laws.

The City also agreed to desist from confiscating personal property of the

Dean Ramjoomia, who runs the church-based Nehemiah Call Initiative, helped organise a small protest outside the Western Cape High Court calling for homeless people to be afforded their human rights under the Constitution. Ramjoomia was supporting the order sought by seven applicants who are homeless, to prevent the City confiscating their belongings and fining them under bylaws which they argue discriminate against the poor and homeless.

Photo: Steve Kretzmann

applicants or any other homeless people, stated Lewin, and from harassing or abusing the applicants or any other homeless people in relation to the by-laws. The agreement also provided for a timetable for the conduct of the review proceedings, culminating in a hearing in June 2020.

But Martin produced his second surprise of the day when he stated the agreement did “not meet the over riding interests of justice” and the court was not there to merely “rubberstamp” what the lawyers had agreed. He then ordered Bozalek’s order of 5 September to be extended in its entirety pending the outcome of review proceedings.

Bozalek’s order was essentially very similar to the agreement, except it does not provide for a timetable for the conduct of the review proceedings.

De Waal objected that making a different order to the agreement provided to the court was procedurally incorrect, and wished that to reflect on the record.

A day later, on Friday 13 December, JP Smith stated in a media release that the City of Cape Town intends to appeal Judge Martin’s ruling.

Smith went on to state the “new order” permits the City to “issue fines to all people in the city, including street people in respect of contraventions of the by-laws concerned”.

He further said: “The fines issued to the seven applicants prior to the court case yesterday will not be prosecuted, but all new contraventions of the by-laws by them and all other persons will be prosecuted.”

But Judge Bozalek’s order, now reinstated

by Martin, clearly states the City may not enforce or prosecute fines or summonses issued to the seven applicants in respect of the “nuisance by-law” and the waste management by-law, and must “desist and refrain” from “interfering with or confiscating the personal property of the Applicants (and any other homeless people in the City of Cape Town) in ostensible reliance on the

By-Laws”.

Bozalek’s order further states the City must desist and refrain from “harassing or abusing the Applicants (and any other homeless people in the City of Cape Town) in ostensible reliance on the By-Laws”.

Outside court on Thursday, one of the seven applicants, Carin Gelderblom, who ended up on the streets eight years ago after her husband died and she could no longer afford rent on her home, said the application was brought because she could no longer stand to see old homeless people having “their cardboard ripped out from under them at three o’clock in the morning”.

“It’s raining and his plastic (sheeting) is taken from him. How do you do that to a person?” asked Gelderblom.

She said despite the interim order, homeless people were still being harassed and chased away from the Company’s

Gardens and other areas.

Shaun Strydom, who has been homeless for almost five years, said he still had his clothes, bedding, and even food, stolen by CCID officers “all the time”.

Strydom said he was a qualified hotel manager but could never accumulate the necessary clothes to interview for a job because of the actions of City officials.

Rameez Kemp, who has been on the streets for four years, said they now slept in De Waal park which was semiprivate so they were not harassed as much. Nonetheless, said Kemp, he and Strydom recently had a tarpaulin which was purchased for them slashed and stolen by City officials.

Gelderblom said she was happy with Judge Martin’s order as “anything that can protect us as homeless people is good, especially for older people”.

DECEMBER 17, 2019 - JANUARY 15, 2020

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Milnerton lagoon a health risk City polluting its own nature reserve Steve Kretzmann Milnerton lagoon, which is part of the Diep River estuary, is so polluted the Milnerton Canoe Club is not able to offer a beginner or development programme because of the danger of youngsters falling into the water.

This is despite the estuary being part of the City-run Table Bay Nature Reserve.

Milnerton Canoe Club chairperson Richard Allen said Lotto funds were available for development programmes, but the club, situated on the Milnerton Lagoon at Woodbridge Island, cannot risk children getting sick when they inevitably fall out of their canoe while getting the hang of the sport.

Allen said the club used to have about 20 youngsters in their beginner programme, but as parents got wind of the quality of the water, they pulled their children out.

“The last time we ran a beginners programme was about six or seven years ago.

Now we just have a group of about seven kids whose parents are aware of the water quality, but the kids are good enough not to overturn their canoe.”

He said not only was the polluted water a health risk, the club had to spend “many years of arguing and fighting” with City authorities before they eventually provided the results of the monthly water quality tests they conducted in the lagoon and at the rest of the estuary.

Allen sent the latest results he had after speaking to Mother City News in late November. They reveal bacteriological pollution levels up to 300 times the national guidelines for intermediate contact, which applies to activities such as canoeing, sailing, or fishing.

The national intermediate contact guideline is 1,000 or less colony forming units (CFU) of E.coli per 100ml. E.coli is used as a bacteriological indicator for pollution levels.

But results sent to Allen by the City of Cape Town Scientific Services from samples taken on 17 September reveal E.coli CFU counts of 99,000 per 100ml at the Loxton Road bridge to Woodbridge Island, right in the middle of the Milnerton Lagoon.

At the mouth of the Milnerton Lagoon, the E.coli count was five times the limit, at 5,000 CFU per 100ml.

The results clearly reveal pollution enters the estuary through stormwater channels and from the Postdam Waste Water Treatment Works, as the count at the stormwater outfall from Theo Marais Park – Montague Gardens was 250,000 CFU per 100ml and at the stormwater channel from Bayside Mall the count was 300,000 per 100ml.

The Potsdam Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) also discharges treated effluent into the Diep River. The results show that the effluent contained 270,000 E.coli

CFU per 100ml.

City is polluting its own nature reserve.

Beyond the extremely high bacteriological pollution, the fresh water flow into the estuary from Potsdam WWTW via a channel built in 1991, as well as from storm water channels, have led to long-term ecological changes, according to a Bsc. Honours research paper by Michal Viskich, published in 2014.

Viskich’s study revealed “unacceptably high microbial levels” recorded in the lagoon, and a “marked decrease in the number and abundance of invertebrate species”.

The permanent fresh water flows from city infrastructure such as the WWTW and storm water channels, had led to “massive changes in sand prawn abundance and distribution in the lagoon”, with sand prawn now only found in sections near the mouth where salinity from sea water flow was present.

These changes, noted Viskich, had occurred in a “relatively short time period of only 16 years”.

The changes and “disturbances” had also led to the “expansion and new introduction of exotic and invasive species” such as the European beach hopper (Orchestia gammarella), the highly invasive mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis) and the invasive reefbuilding worm (Ficopomatus enigmatica)”.

Childen at risk When Allen spoke to Mother City News he said the lagoon was “particularly disgusting”.

“In the summer months there is no flushing from the rain, so we’re dealing with the runoff from Jo Slovo informal settlement and Montague Gardens industrial area.”

He said the rehabilitation of the old wooden bridge to Woodbridge Island, which has just been completed, cost R23,4m, but “it is a bridge over a sewer”.

The canoe club had about 30 members, about half of which were “avid paddlers” and included Springboks and paddlers who regularly won major races. They very rarely if ever fell out of their canoes and knew to spit out any water which splashed into their faces.

However, he said there were regularly children to be found on the beach playing in the lagoon water flowing out to sea.

“There is a tiny signboard warning that you swim at your own risk but nobody reads it.”

Fighting for water quality data Head of the Milnerton Central Residents Association environment portfolio, Caroline Marx, said she had been dealing with the issue of pollution in the Diep River and Milnerton Lagoon “for the past six or seven years”.

Marx said there are 18 sites in the reserve where the City takes test samples every month and “some sites are better than others, it depends on where the stormwater drains are”. But the monthly tests were only for bacterial pollution, not for heavy metals such as mercury.

She said due to her position in the residents association, she received the monthly water quality test results, but in order to do so, had had to sign a nondisclosure agreement barring her from sharing the results with the press. She said she had this year had to sign this agreement again after initially signing it “some years ago”.

“Who I can share the results with is not clearly defined, so I don’t share them with anyone in case they leak them to the press.

It took me a lot of arguing to get them. I threatened to PAIA (submit a request under the Promotion of Access to Information Act)

Health risk... The stench of sewerage hung in the air when Mother City News took photos at the mouth of the Milnerton Lagoon on 16 December.

Troubled waters... The rehabilitated pedestrian bridge to Woodbridge Island cost R23,4m but is essentially a walkway over a sewer.

and the only reason is because I’m on the water quality working group in the PAAC (Protected Area Advisory Committee).”

She said she put a proposal to subcouncil that the water quality test results be made available to “all affected parties” and all the councilors voted in favour of the motion.

Allen said he was happy to share the results he had received with Mother City News as he had never signed a nondisclosure agreement.

Table Bay Nature Reserve Protect Area Advisory Committee chairperson Gordon Laing said the committee was “really concerned” about the water quality in the estuary and over three months ago a formal request was made to City to make the results of monthly water quality tests public.

“We are still awaiting a response,” said Laing at the end of November.

City response Since an initial assessment survey of the bulk sewers in Milnerton and Blaauwberg area conducted in 2015 at a cost of R3.5m in consultants fees, the City has been rehabilitating the system, according to mayco member for water and waste, Xanthea Limberg.

The completed projects are: • Rehabilitation and upgrade of the Sanddrift bulk sewer at a cost of R70m.

• Upgrading of bulk sewer in the Jo Slovo/Phoenix area, which involved upsizing the existing bulk sewer so it wouldn’t be blocked by foreign object being disposed into it. This cost R1.5m.

• Raising of sewer manholes in the Dunoon sewer outfall so that if the newly build Du Noon no 2 pump station failed, the existing Du Noon bulk sewer surcharges and the existing manholes would no longer overflow and spill into the Diep River Estuary system as the manholes were

raised above the level of the inlet to the pump station’s emergency retention pond. This cost R600,000.

Limberg stated the City was nearing completion on a low flow diversion system that would divert stormwater from Jo Slovo/ Phoenix – often contaminated with effluent from backyarders and informal settlements – to the sewer system feeding Potsdam WWTW. This was expected to be completed this month, at a cost of R2m.

Other projects are: • Diversion of the Du Noon Bulk Sewer which would upsize and divert the existing bulk sewer to prevent blockages caused by the “ongoing disposal of foreign materials into the existing system. This is expected to be completed by 2020 at a cost of R4m.

• A new Montague Drive bulk outfall sewer and the rehabilitation of the existing Montague Drive sewer system as extra capacity is needed.

The completion date is 2026 and estimated cost is R330m.

• Future bulk sewer rehabilitation projects in the Blaauwberg/Milnerton areas, with a budget of R200m to begin beyond 2026.

Regarding access to water quality data, Limberg said there was “an internal procedure for the provision of data to external parties” and all applicants are “asked to complete and sign a ‘Terms of use agreement’ and then the data is provided to them”.

She said the agreement “merely requires that the data not be distributed or published without the City’s consent”.

An inland water quality report is due to be compiled and completed by March next year, by consultants who are being paid up to R200,000 including VAT. A coastal water quality report, which Limberg’s department last year stated would be available early this year, has yet to be released.

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NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 16 | 2019

Cafe culture

Dalebook Café: perfect coffee nook down south Matilda Tullie 8am, Kalk Bay. The quirky seaside town is brimming with the upbeat hustle and bustle of summer vibes. First stop on this early morning was a chilly dip in the Dalebrook tidal pool. After a couple of laps and some tomfoolery with my friends, we set off to our next destination: the ever tempting and convenient Dalebrook Café. The rustic little restaurant is situated just opposite the tidal pool, along the main road in a historic building. When entering you are welcomed into a light space filled with peaceful nooks, and welcoming, friendly staff.

Settling down, we order our coffees. To find a good flat white in Cape Town can be quite the challenge. Most times it is confused with the popular cappuccino.

Which can be very disappointing. So, what’s the difference? A flat white has an espresso (single or double) shot of coffee that is topped with a small amount of steamed milk and a thin layer of microfoam. This also gives the barista an opportunity to impress with

some arty patterns. Well, Dalebrook Café has definitely got the memo when it comes to their flat white. A no-nonsense strong and creamy cuppa.

This morning coffee can only be improved by being paired with one of their fresh home-made croissants. The flaky and buttery pastry is sensational, and often still warm.

Dalebrook Café doesn’t just offer this idyllic pairing, but has a wide range of freshly baked products, and a full breakfast and lunch menu. I would highly recommend this spot, along with the ever-refreshing tidal pool swim, if you feel like getting out of the city and enjoying the seaside. If you are brave enough you can take the train and avoid the hectic holiday traffic. If you go by car, best get out the front door before 8am. An hour later and you’ll probably end up in breathing fumes as you inch along in the beach rush hour. Also, you don’t want to miss those croissants. They fly off the shelf pretty quickly, and if you are early enough, you get the early-bird coffee prices.

Buttery deliciousness... There’s good, even great coffee across the city, but the perfect croissant is evasive.

Wine

It’s the time of year to haul out the bubbly Sade Allcock Since Christmas is less than ten days away, I believe it is finally safe to say that the festive season is officially upon us. Christmas manages to unearth different emotions in all of us. There are those of us who despise this season of joviality and boozy fun. The so-called Grinches. This bunch mope about, bemoaning the influx of tourists and the Christmas decorations that seem to have appeared simultaneously overnight. These begrudging holiday makers are downers, putting a damper over the season for the rest of us, but the worst of the lot are the truly jolly sort. You know them, they have their Christmas presents pre-planned months in advance, they hang wreaths outside their doors on the first of December, they play Boney M’s Christmas album on repeat and attend as many carols by candlelight as they can possibly fit into their calendar. In short, their sheer enthusiasm can lead even the most amiable of us to the depths of the booze cabinet to locate the Old Brown Sherry. And rightly so; when surrounded by this kind of holiday maker, the only reasonable thing to do is sit back and sip a drink. And so, without further ado, here is your holiday guide to getting tiddly on bubbly. MCC (Méthode Cap Classique) is a niche market. Most of what you’ll find on the shelves during the festive season is wine that is simply pumped with sugar

and infused with CO2. I don’t recommend it. A good MCC on the other hand is an entirely different story, and Graham Beck stocks a fabulous range. Their non-vintage collection is enjoyable and well-priced, consisting of the Brut, Bliss Demi Sec and Brut Rosé. My favourite of this trio is the Brut Rosé, I find it delightfully refreshing and dry but not too dry. It pairs perfectly with a pavlova or a beautiful sunset. All three MCC’s are currently on sale at Checkers Liquorshop for R149.99 each, and any one of them would make a lovely addition to your Christmas lunch or New Year’s Eve celebrations. However, if you are looking for something really special, then High Constantia, a boutique winery hiding away in the Constantia valley, has only three weeks ago disgorged their 2018 MCC. This MCC is extremely dry, with just over one gram of residual sugar per litre and yet it remains light, fresh and zesty, with hints of ruby grapefruit on the nose and a burst of flavour on the tongue. It could lie for a couple more years but if you don’t have the patience then it is just as enjoyable now. At R390 a bottle it certainly is a Christmas treat, but then what is the use of the festive season if you can’t spoil yourself, or your loved ones, a little?

Please take care during the holidays and never drink and drive.

Alcohol only for people aged 18 years and older.

FOR THE RECORD - In our review of the Company’s Gardens Restaurant which appeared in the November 27 – December 16 edition, we incorrectly stated Roxy’s Late Night cafe was part of the Madame Zingara group.

The owner of Roxy’s used to work for Madame Zingara, which is how the error crept in.

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 16 | 2019

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Book Reviews

Janis: Lost to the blues and the booze

The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville

and unloved. George-Warren does not give into the temptation to psycho-analyse what drove Janis to the booze, the drugs, and heights she managed to achieve within her brief four-years of fame, but she hardly needs to; the need to be loved doomed every love affair to failure, which meant the orgiastic response she received from an audience blown away by her commitment and delivery had to fill the void.

“Onstage I make love to twenty-five thousand people, then I go home alone.”

Steve Kretzmann As with any biography written after the person has died, you know the ending. In Janis Joplin’s case, it was heroin overdose, which is likely to be known by anyone touched enough by her music – although scorched might be more apt – to be interested in reading a new biography on her.

The interest lies in what led up to that point; the facts, anecdotes, history, and, of course, ‘the scene’ that was the explosion of free rolling rock, blues and psychedelia of San Francisco in the 1960s. ‘Frisco’s golden decade. An all-too-brief New World rennaissance of anarchy, free thought, and experimentation with ideas and lifestyles that walked out the door of the constricted, uptight and repressed society of post WWII capitalism into an unbounded landscape of possibilities.

Janis was one of many who subsequently got lost in the woods and devoured by the wolves (poverty, crime, madness, drugs) just as the whole bangshoot of free love,

music, and LSD was legislated, reclaimed and repackaged by the corporate machine of conquest and avarice.

Haight-Ashbury and all that went with it was a beacon for every American teenager kicking against the straps. Seeded by the Beats, it burst into full bloom from about ‘64 to ‘69, and Janis, who felt misunderstood and out of place in her hometown of Port Arthur, Texas, heeded the call.

But success was not a straight ine.

Biographer Holly George-Warren delves into the conflict that pulled Janis away from what was apparently a quite secure home to the uninhibited life of parties and poverty on the west coast, and pushed her back, more than once, to her family and the security they represented.

Researching reams of interviews, writeups, and reviews, old school and college year-books, as well as getting hold of people able to provide first-hand info, GeorgeWarren tells the story of a talented and ambitious artist who had a deep need for acceptance and security, yet felt outcast

As much as the book occassionally, especially in the first half, is filled more with names and facts than narrative, the depth of George-Warren’s research reveals a woman whose free-loving, heavy-drinking, hippie public image belied her work ethic. Janis certainly had talent, but that would never have seen her named the best blues singer of her generation. She was studying the blues before she even knew she was a singer. She was listening closely to blues of Leadbelly and Bessie Smith while her peers in Port Arthur barely knew that ‘black music’ existed, skipping across to the other side of the river to see live acts. Her blues pedigree is clearly evident in songs such as Turtle Blues and I Need a Man to Love. Later she would study Otis Redding’s delivery in the same way Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Nirvan’s Kurt Cobain, amongst others, would study her. Her voice was an instrument she paid serious attention to, and her work ethic in the studio, as well as the energy she gave in live performance, impressed technicians and musicians.

The beauty of George-Warren’s attention to detail is that you can read the backstory to Big Brother’s outing at the Monterey Pop Festival where she wowed Mama Cass of the Mamas and the Papas, and then watch it on YouTube and get waves of goosebumps.

It also provides a window on the ‘Frisco scene through Janis’s adventures, with names such as Emmett Grogan and Peter Coyote of anarchist group The Diggers popping up, as well as the Hell’s Angels, who treated Janis as a sister. If youve read through Kerouac, Ginsberg, Kesey and Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, you’ll recognise many of the names and free love concerts. If not, this might spark your interest and go on to make you a little nostalgic for a time, place, and feeling never experienced.

The end, of course, is a downer, but then there is 300-odd pages in which to prepare yourself for the inevitable, and rediscovering Janis (because you cannot but help relistening to her songs) is so worth it.

Missing Person by Sarah Lotz Sarah’s last few books have been horror/thrillers and this is a complete change of pace. The book centres on an online group that tries to trace missing people, with some amateur detective work thrown in. Unsolved murder of a guy in a dress collides with a young Irish bookseller who discovers his long lost uncle might be missing or dead. The book contains the tropes of

thrillers, but it’s strength is more in the somewhat messed up characters who make up the sleuthing group. It’s okay, but not quite one thing or another.

Readable for someone looking for something light and diverting over the holidays, but not much more than that. - Mervyn

In response to the Nazi invasion, a Surrealist bomb detonates in Paris, manifesting vicious constructs from artists’ collective subconscious. The Nazis respond with demons. The pretentious language of artists suddenly becomes a matter of survival, which was fun. There’s a spy plot, Nazi experiments, and a Jewish black magician attempting to create a golem.

It felt a little rushed, but it is a novella (about a fifth the size of his usual books).

On the whole it felt very Miéville. He loves abstract concepts and handles them quite well, so while plot climaxes tend to go a little crazy, it feels like it was all pulled from substance he’s been working with throughout. Would recommend for anyone wondering if they would like him. - Josh

Girl, Woman, Other

by Bernadine Evaristo.

Joint winner of the Man Booker Prize with Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments.

I absolutely loved this novel. Very difficult to describe, it tells the stories of about 12 different women. Each section is divided into three chapters, with each chapter telling a woman’s story and the three chapters in each section featuring women related to each other in some way. Themes are gender, queerness, race etc, and it’s notable for a lack of punctuation which normally irritates the fuck out of me, but the quality of the writing meant I hardly noticed. Brilliant wonderful death to full stops – Mervyn

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

Koeberg Emergency Plan (EP) Calendar 2020 Dear Neighbour, We wish you and your family a merry Christmas and a prosperous 2020.

The 2020 Koeberg Nuclear Power Station Emergency Plan Calendar will be distributed to households, businesses, and schools in Atlantis, Mamre, Pella, Philadelphia, Duynefontein, Melkbosstrand, Van Riebeeckstrand, West Beach, Bloubergstrand, Bloubergrandt, Sunningdale,Table View, Parklands, and the farms surrounding Koeberg Nuclear Power Station.

Distribution of the calendar will be completed by the end of December 2019. Distribution to surrounding farms and schools within the 0-16km radius from Koeberg Nuclear Power Station will be completed by the end of January 2020.

Should you not have received a copy of the calendar by 31 January 2020, kindly contact the Koeberg Stakeholder Management Department at tel. +27 21 550 5133 during office hours.

DECEMBER 17, 2019 - JANUARY 15, 2020

7

Greenmarket Square occupation to continue into new year

Refugees who have been living at the Central Methodist Mission on Greenmarket Square attended the Cape High Court on Friday. In the middle wearing stripes is their leader JeanPierre Balous. Photo: Tariro Washinyira

Tariro Washinyira and GroundUp staff The Central Methodist Mission on Greenmarket Square has been overflowing with refugees for two months, with hundreds of people who cannot fit into the church living outside on Longmarket Street.

And after a court hearing on Friday, the situation will not be resolved until at least 22 January, when the next hearing in this case will be held.

The case is a continuation of an urgent interdict brought by the City of Cape Town on 9 December. The City wants the Cape High Court to order the refugees to stop disregarding health and safety by-laws.

The interdict would prevent those seeking refuge at the church from urinating and defecating outside, washing clothes outside, and making fires and cooking outside. The City also wants the refugees to refrain from intimidating, threatening, and harassing its officials.

Judge Kate Savage had postponed the 9 December hearing until Friday, in order to give the City, the Department of Home

Affairs and police an opportunity to meet and find a solution. The role of Home Affairs is to verify the refugees’ documentations.

The refugees have been protesting for months — previously outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office on St Georges Mall, before they were dispersed in a chaotic scene on 30 October. They have been demanding to be resettled in a third country, not in South Africa or their countries of origin (mostly central African countries).

But on Friday the City’s advocate Adiel Nacerodien told the court that the meeting had reached a deadlock.

At issue appears to be a disagreement between the City and Home Affairs over whether the refugees should be provided with emergency shelter. The City is arguing that the refugees do not require emergency shelter, as they have homes to go to, a position Home Affairs apparently disagrees with. The City is arguing that the refugees are staging a protest and are not homeless, while senior counsel for Home Affairs, Advocate Seth Nthai, argued that

ONLY SWIM BETWEEN THE FL AGS

In the open... Entire families have been living rough on Greenmarket Square since October when refugees first started gathering to request the UN move them to a safe country. Business owners have been complaining tourists are now avoiding the area. Photo: Steve Kretzmann.

the department cannot conduct verify the refugees under the current inhumane and cramped conditions they are living in at the church.

Nthai presented the court with a preliminary investigation conducted by Home Affairs. He said the number of people occupying the affected area is about 500, 100 of whom have asylum permits that have expired. A further 80 are undocumented and 68 claim to have lost their documents.

“There are 265 children between the ages of one month and seventeen years,” Nthai said.

Judge Kate Savage expressed frustration with the failure of the parties to resolve the deadlock.

Greenmarket Square traders, many of whom are themselves asylum seekers, refugees or immigrants, also expressed frustration with the ongoing situation when they wrote to Mayor Dan Plato in midNovember. They are concerned that the protest is causing them to lose business.

“For six weeks now there has been a protest by a fraction of the refugee and asylum seeking community in Cape Town.

Many of their grievances are valid and many of our own traders suffer the same injustices particularly from the Department of Home Affairs. We have enormous sympathy for the most vulnerable people among the protestors,” their letter stated.

But the traders said that the central demand of the protest leaders, to be resettled to a third country as a group is “misguided and unrealistic”.

Jean-Pierre Balous, the leader of the refugees, represented them on Friday.

He told the court that the group had not committed any crime and was not intimidating tourists. “They even come inside the church, talk to refugees and take pictures,” he said. “We even stopped robbers who wanted to rob tourists twice and the police are aware of what we have done.”

He blamed the City for the fact that people are cooking and urinating outside the church. “They are the ones who instructed the people in the area not to give water or allow refugees to use their toilets,” he said. - GroundUp

WHERE IS IT SAFE TO SWIM AT THE BEACH? F

FIND the flags and swim between them.

L

LOOK at the safety signs.

A ASK a lifeguard for some good advice.

G GET a friend to swim with you.

S

FOR EMERGENCIES CALL 021 480 7700 FROM ANY PHONE OR 107 FROM A LANDLINE

STICK your hand up for help.

Breaking the echo chamber in the city bowl and beyond

FREE COPY

DECEMBER 17, 2019 - JANUARY 15, 2020

Yep! Here we are. They have Boney M playing in Shoprite (someone email and tell us what they’re playing in Woolies – we never venture in, too scary). We strongly advise you not to do any Christmas shopping. Just sketch a tree for your mom on the back of the envelope the Standard Bank special personal loan offer came in. She’ll appreciate it, promise. She is your mom. Rather save your energy for escaping family to go to the few decent jols and live shows scattered amongst the plethora of kitsch smothering the entire world from now until New Years. Also, we have no New Year’s party suggestions. You are on your own and best be prepared for disappointment.

Love you, we’ll be back at the end of Jan, provided someone, somewhere, buys some advertising. Stay safe.

Theatre Vulture Productions showcase at The Baxter Masambe Theatre on December 18 at 8pm.

It is a one-off triple bill with Jeremeo Le Cordeur in Jerry, An Unconventional Hero and Dude, Wa’s My Bakkie? as well as Chenal Kock in Mama.

Each show is 30mins and tickets cost R120.

Christmas goes with Cabaret, right? Oh! Well, actually, nevermind. Just consider it cabaret in red costumes with silly hats at Alexander Bar (76 Strand Street). The Kitty Kat Club will tease and astound you with Cape Town’s most indulgent and inspiring performance in, not the upstairs theatre, but the downstairs bar. This has never been done before, folks. There will be music, movement, spectacle and a whole variety of styles. Get into the spirit of giving and receiving on Fri 20 and Sat 21 December, 8pm. Tickets cost R180 at the door or alexanderbar.co.za Chester Missing is no longer missing. He (Conrad Koch) has returned with How to End Racism with Chester Missing. Expect Chester to turn on Conrad and tjune him some licks about his white privilege and racist assumptions. It’s his most confrontational work yet (ha, ha).

It promises to be a great way to get the new year going. Chester appears in a red carpet event on Sat 11 January from 7pm, and then plays Wed 15 to Sat 18 January at 8pm.

Tickets cost R180, book through alexanderbar.co.za, but if you’re a Steve Hofmeyer fan, you might feel rather uncomfortable.

It sounds like it’s terrible and the poster doesn’t help, but apparently Benny Bushwacker, played by Ben Voss, is really good. That was the word on the street when it played at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda this year, and none other than the amazing actor and acapella singer Graham Weir has given it the thumbs up. In a rare Facebook post, Graham said Voss’s “vocal range is extraordinary”. He also said his physical energy onstage “is manic yet nuanced and disciplined”. If you enjoy Jim Carrey’s comedic style, you’ll get a kick out of Benny.

Benny Bushwacker is written by John van der Riet (Spud fame) and directed by Janice Honeyman and plays at The Baxter until 18 January at 8.15pm. There are also matinee shows. Check baxter.co.za for the schedule and to book tickets.

Marc Lottering’s Aunty Merle, It’s a Girl!, also at The Baxter, will get you tuned in to a part of Cape Town that not even the people who live there understand. Marc has added the latest installment 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 up until 1 February every Tues to Sat at 7.30pm, with quite a few extra 3pm shows so check baxter.co.za or webtickets.

MUSIC After a successful crowdfunding campaign, local band of crazies, The Fishwives, are putting out their debut album Algae. The Critter received an early release and it is a joy to hear actual instruments coming together rather than electronic beeps and blips. There’s a long heritage of free rolling rock and vaudeville in there. Echoes of Grateful Dead, The Little River Band and CSN&Y in the string harmonies, a bit of bluesy Led Zep, even a touch of 10CC. Good things.

Production is clean and tight but not over produced. Lyrics! Oh yes, real lyrics and a touch of jazz here and there. Best of it all, it has a shadow, as if a dark cloud moved over the clear skies of idealism, retaining a King Lear-ish ‘bring it on’ sense of fatalism as we laugh - half cynically - and skip before the gathering storm.

Find it on Spotify or iTunes etc. and follow them on social for any launch that may come together should the stars align.

The Silo District concert Jan 3 7pm, free V&A Waterfront THIS THING CALLED SWING (3rd January 2020) If you love to Jump, Jive, Jitterbug, Swing or Hop, then this is your time. The Silo District Concerts presents a night dedicated to Swing dancing and Big Band Music. We have Swing DJ’s, and the 20 piece The Swinging All Stars Big Band, who will swing you through the thirties and forties. A dedicated dance floor will be waiting for you, so dress up, bring your dancing shoes.

Alaska 5000 is performing on Dec 20 if that’s your thong. Musically vacuous but digi-native socially en pointe, lover’s of RuPaul shall flock. And everybody loves RuPaul, right? Erm. Squirm. Yeah! Tickets are R450 on howler.co.za. The R1000 VIP meetandgreets are sold out.

Drag your arse to the District (61C Harrington St.)

For more new music to keep you chilled in the 16-hour peak traffic that besets Cape Town over krismis, and with which to impress your friends at the party you’re going to, Sylvestre Kabassidi has an new album Call Me Brother. If you’ve spent a reasonable amount of time in the CBD, you’ll recognise Sylvestre by his dreads, freckles, and ever-present

guitar. The man is a true troubadour and his Africa blues will have dreaming of the desert winds over Mali, even though he hails from the DRC. Singing mostly in lyrical French, he’s teamed up with a band of great musicians, with standouts being the clear percussion of Simon Annett and Cency, and Buddy Wells who sends the purest notes soaring from his sax. Ask around for his album, or hunt him down somewhere around Greenmarket Square and buy it direct from his hand. You can also find it on Spotify.

If you can stand to jostle through the V&A Waterfront at the height of summer, the Cape Town Jazzathon 2020. is on at V&A Waterfront. The parking may be far from free but the concert is. It features a diverse array of South African musicians and is suitable for all ages and cultures, including international tourists. It happens on January 9, 10, and 11 from 1pm.

Ras and strongboi are playing at Evol on December 22 before going off to play festivals and whatnot. Their YouTube vid is lo-fi ridiculous, white boi styles. Music similarly but also fun if you’re in the right mood, which would be the mood for silly. This then, would be the right date for it.

Details such as price and whatnot are not known, only that it sort of starts around 9pm.

If you really want to dance. Like, actually want to unleash the inner demon as opposed to sort of bopping around on the dance floor, the last Skrrrtcobain party of the year is happening at Evol (69 on Hope) on 28 December. You’re probably on holiday so there’s no excuse to move your ass, elbows, head and knees to the best music. We’re talking tracks that stand true: The Smiths, Bowie, Nina Hagen, Soft Cell, etc. There will be glitter, there will be mullets (of both kinds, but not the ones with gills).

R60 for a wrist stamp, starts from 9pm.

Markets and whatnot Episode 3 of the Craft Cannabis Sessions takes place at the City Hall on December 19 from 4.30pm.

The fact that it has something to do with cannabis and it happens at the City Hall makes it interesting enough to look at. Can’t make much sense of it though, which is unsurprising.

There are talks (lectures?) on “a range of fascinating topics” (dagga?) and a craft market with “special vendors” offering “an array of fantastic goods”. (Dagga? Hemp?). There’s also gin involved. (??).

Whadda hell?

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.