This is one of my favourite kinds of neighbourhoods - working class & cbd-adjacent with a history. As I am early for my meeting at Arctic Circle Brand Institute, I pop in to a take-aways shop for some hot tea and a chat with the locals. A friendly old man named Yusuf Davids tells me he worked in San Francisco as a steward/cook on boats heading to the Panama Canal. He's originally from the Malay Archipelago near Indonesia but now lives in the Woodstock neighbourhood Northeast of the cbd. He believes what I do - that young people have to create work for themselves, that handouts are de-motivating and lead to a culture of laziness. Funny how easy it is to get right to the point here discussing politics with South Africans. This is a highly politicized nation.
Like so many older neighbourhoods in the great cities of the world, the working-class community is rapidly being gentrified. Lower cost, more square footage, a good dose of deserved charm crumbling off the side of the building; who wouldn't be interested to move in? Yusuf tells me there used to be a parts factory nearby that created employment in the 70's but now it's closed. He says this is the best kind of employment and that Zuma should be focussing on this. He's worried what will happen after 2010 when the jobs stop, that the government won't retrench people and they will keep receiving income without working because there won't be any work. Should a government promise employment? Or housing? When people get things without working for them they usually don't take care of them very well. Like Dambiso Boyo writes in 'Dead Aid', after 40 years of aid in Africa, why are things worse?
Arctic Circle is a cutting-edge brand strategy firm where I have come to introduce my Fanya Kazi! TV show. If this works the way I think it should, Fanya Kazi! will need one key corporate partner and 2-3 weekly companies for the 52 weeks we will be in production. That's 150 of South Africa's most youth-friendly businesses committed to empower, educate and inspire a nation waiting to lift itself out of poverty. This is probably one of the coolest companies I have ever been inside and the guy who started it all is a dynamo. He gets the picture of what I am trying to do and commits to some follow up contact next week. He also mentions I should go talk to Helen Zille, the Premier of the Western Cape - probably the most controversial politician on the continent because she leads a provincial government and she is white. This would be ideal because the show will showcase the Western Cape as a foreign investment and tourism destination. Might as well try to get the boss on side.
As my husband has taken the shared car into town for work I head back to the main side of the road to wait for a 'taxi' which is what would be called a 'matatu' in Kenya; a Nissan minibus with a yellow stripe down the side. Within seconds I am in the vehicle. Love that private sector motivation. Five Rand into town, cool tunes on the radio and again, a good chat with the locals. Like in Kenya most Cape Tonians seem rather charmed by the 'American' in their company. Even though I am Canadian I tell everyone I'm American because the reaction is much better. Nobody seems to know anything about Canada here at all. A young Xhosa gal asked me if Canada was inside America which ironically was quite reassuring to know that America has not overtaken the local culture.
Back inside Yusuf's take aways shop, three courier guys have some good insight for me and agree to have their picture taken. They work for an Italian, are well-paid and are non-unionized labour providing a much needed service here in Cape Town. Oscar has excellent ideas about how their photograph should be composed and is a natural subject. He has the open heart, the warm smile, four children and the spirit of Africa that always gives me hope. He thinks leaders should be accountable and that it doesn't matter that Zille is white - it's what kind of a job she is doing. Which really should be the benchmark right? Not the colour of skin, faith or heritage. But South Africa's not there yet. The wounds haven't healed and new ones seem to be appearing on the skin of society.
Like so many older neighbourhoods in the great cities of the world, the working-class community is rapidly being gentrified. Lower cost, more square footage, a good dose of deserved charm crumbling off the side of the building; who wouldn't be interested to move in? Yusuf tells me there used to be a parts factory nearby that created employment in the 70's but now it's closed. He says this is the best kind of employment and that Zuma should be focussing on this. He's worried what will happen after 2010 when the jobs stop, that the government won't retrench people and they will keep receiving income without working because there won't be any work. Should a government promise employment? Or housing? When people get things without working for them they usually don't take care of them very well. Like Dambiso Boyo writes in 'Dead Aid', after 40 years of aid in Africa, why are things worse?
Arctic Circle is a cutting-edge brand strategy firm where I have come to introduce my Fanya Kazi! TV show. If this works the way I think it should, Fanya Kazi! will need one key corporate partner and 2-3 weekly companies for the 52 weeks we will be in production. That's 150 of South Africa's most youth-friendly businesses committed to empower, educate and inspire a nation waiting to lift itself out of poverty. This is probably one of the coolest companies I have ever been inside and the guy who started it all is a dynamo. He gets the picture of what I am trying to do and commits to some follow up contact next week. He also mentions I should go talk to Helen Zille, the Premier of the Western Cape - probably the most controversial politician on the continent because she leads a provincial government and she is white. This would be ideal because the show will showcase the Western Cape as a foreign investment and tourism destination. Might as well try to get the boss on side.
As my husband has taken the shared car into town for work I head back to the main side of the road to wait for a 'taxi' which is what would be called a 'matatu' in Kenya; a Nissan minibus with a yellow stripe down the side. Within seconds I am in the vehicle. Love that private sector motivation. Five Rand into town, cool tunes on the radio and again, a good chat with the locals. Like in Kenya most Cape Tonians seem rather charmed by the 'American' in their company. Even though I am Canadian I tell everyone I'm American because the reaction is much better. Nobody seems to know anything about Canada here at all. A young Xhosa gal asked me if Canada was inside America which ironically was quite reassuring to know that America has not overtaken the local culture.
Back inside Yusuf's take aways shop, three courier guys have some good insight for me and agree to have their picture taken. They work for an Italian, are well-paid and are non-unionized labour providing a much needed service here in Cape Town. Oscar has excellent ideas about how their photograph should be composed and is a natural subject. He has the open heart, the warm smile, four children and the spirit of Africa that always gives me hope. He thinks leaders should be accountable and that it doesn't matter that Zille is white - it's what kind of a job she is doing. Which really should be the benchmark right? Not the colour of skin, faith or heritage. But South Africa's not there yet. The wounds haven't healed and new ones seem to be appearing on the skin of society.
There is great fear here that South Africa will slip back into an autocratic state like Apartheid except this time, the black government will be doing the oppressing of the blacks. That in the government's effort to 'redistribute' opportunity to the poor, it will damage the fragile yet ambitious social contract before it even gets a chance to truly succeed. Thank god for the World Cup because it has put the economy and the government under a hot microscopic international lens where the world is watching every move made here. If the workers strike enough times to prevent the stadiums from being built in time, this will be a nation psychically damaged for decades to come. This is an opportunity South Africa worked incredibly hard for and greatly deserves - probably one of the most defining moments in its history.
Photos; Yusuf Davids (painter), Artic Circle Brand Strategy, Oscar and the boys - Woodstock Cape Town.
Photos; Yusuf Davids (painter), Artic Circle Brand Strategy, Oscar and the boys - Woodstock Cape Town.
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