This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

27th October 2007

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The night of the World Cup final started out quietly for us. We had a braai, watched the game, tensed up, cheered, laughed; then, fatefully, we decided to head out into the streets of Cape Town to join the public celebrations. Soon enough, we found ourselves amidst a small but highly inebriated crowd spilling out of pubs and nightclubs onto Main Road.

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

22nd September 2007

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Monday, 24th September 2007: another public holiday, another chance for South Africans to pursue their separate agendas. Politicians will take advantage of the feel-good factor, echoing a statement issued by the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology in 1996 claiming that the creation of Heritage Day would be “a powerful agent for promulgating a South African identity, fostering reconciliation and promoting the notion that variety is a national asset”. Some will be participating in National Braai Day. Some will be commemorating the day of King Shaka’s death in 1828.

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

14th July 2007

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Bill Flynn would, perhaps, have chuckled at the timing of it all. Just a few hours after he died of a heart attack on Wednesday, he was due to appear in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. No doubt he would also have been angry that he couldn’t perform in the play: based on the stage comedies of ancient Rome, it contains all the elements of farce that the actor exploited so adroitly during his long career. 

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

16th June 2007

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It goes without saying that June 16th will always be remembered in South Africa as a symbol of energy over oppression, of tragedy turned into victory, of struggle successfully fought. Or does it? Apart from a few well-attended rallies and the odd festive gathering, last year’s thirtieth anniversary celebrations were fairly low-key affairs. In many instances, the average age of participants suggested that most of those commemorating the student uprising were contemporaries of the class of 1976, again raising the familiar question: should we be concerned about the political apathy of South Africa’s youth? This is a difficult question to answer, phrased as it is in generalisations.

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

12th May 2007

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What’s a hamburger worth? Or, to ask a more definitive question: what would you pay for a burger? Under the neon-yellow arches, you can get a few slices of greasy cardboard for not much more than R5. R20 will buy you something a bit more tasty at one of our homegrown hamburger franchises; a combo with chips and a drink will set you back about R30. For something a little classier, you would expect to pay more – but do you have the bravado to cough up R699 for a truly extravagant burger-eating experience? That’s what it costs to buy the Gourmet Garage’s “Dom Burger”, a hamburger accompanied not by a coke or a milkshake, but by a glass of Dom Pérignon champagne (which typically sells at upwards of R3000 a bottle). 

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

7th April 2007

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Over the next few weeks and months, visitors to the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town will see both less and more than they might expect.