We made it to 2020. It was a bit touch and go at the end, but somehow us humans haven’t managed to drive ourselves to extinction yet. It’s also been the first full year of operating this platform and I can assure you that the sophomore season is going to be the best yet. To kick things off, let’s go through some of the things I thought I thought over the holiday period.
Alcohol raids in Cape Town had nothing to do with child safety
I don’t have many family traditions because growing up in a modest, single parent household doesn’t allow for much extravagance, but New Year’s Day was always a trip around the Cape Peninsula with my dad. My eldest sister and I have done our best to preserve this pilgrimage and it’s always good to see my people (read: people of colour) having a good time.
January 1, 2020 was a slow start at the popular spots along Baden Powell Drive that follows the less affluent – and more effluent – coastline along Strandfontein to Muizenberg. Usually the pavilions would be packed from early in the day. News reports would later boast of the thousands of units of alcohol that police had seized and destroyed. All for the sake of protecting the children.
Helen Zille would also tweet a video to underline the motive behind the hard line taken against alcohol on Cape Town beaches this summer.
This is one of the reasons that alcohol and swimming are a bad combination. There are many others, such as loud, raucous behaviour that disturbs others. pic.twitter.com/SR43jcIyj3
— Helen Zille (@helenzille) December 21, 2019
I don’t think she’s ever either been a victim of a near drowning or witnessed a drowning. That’s not how it happens and I’ve been in and been witness to a bunch of situations similar to the one depicted above.
My scorching take is that the DA is targeting poor people. Numbers were at historic lows at the popular beach spots on the traditional days and thus safety incidents were at a low. More people equals more incidents before you even factor in alcohol. Strangely there is no such ban on beachside drinking at the bars and restaurants along the Camps Bay strip.
Yes I am aware that the situation is slightly different, but getting drunk at a bar and then walking over to the beach presents exactly the same risk factors as those that were referred to as justification for the alcohol raids.
There was, happily, no shortage of my people smearing their humanity all long the pretty Camps Bay and Clifton coast, though. In the howling wind they were there in droves. I just wish we would clean up after ourselves, though. Take your rubbish with you.
If given the economic means, most people would choose an iPhone
It’s become customary for me to test the latest iPhone over the December holidays and it always brings about fascinating conversations. With iPhone 11 the conversation ends with three ponts: better battery, better camera and similar price. Outside of content creators who need manual controls or content consumers who want to transfer movies from thumb drives, most people would be better off on an iPhone.
I say better off because the app experience and UI navigation is far better than on Android. It’s a cliche, but things just work. But when they don’t it can be very frustrating.
Stormzy had the best finish to the decade than any other rapper
We had a Drake interview that revealed the true depth of his egotism, Kanye went gospel, Chance made a wedding album instead of his first proper commercial offering and Kendrick was quiet. All the while the big man from South London was going about his business. I’m still shook that he is headlining Rocking the Daisies this year.
Local artists really think we don’t have the internet
I was at Cassper’s #FillUpRoyalBafokeng and watched him rip off Stormzy’s iconic 2019 Glastonbury performance and the Beyonce set at the Global Citizen Festival. It was great to bring a world class production to the good people of the North West, but how are you gonna be taken seriously when all you do is bite other people’s style?
When is the Cape Minstrel Carnival going to get the respect it deserves?
With all the history and with it happening right in the middle of tourist season, why is the Minstrel Carnival (I refuse to call it the #CTStreetParade) not just the Cape Town Carnival? Racism, that’s why.
Again, I get that there is a lot of faction infighting among the different troops, but the City needs to step in with some proper cash and support to not let the Kaapse Klopse tradition die. It’s disrespectful to not have it on its traditional day and for the Nagtroepe and Malay Choirs to not parade from New Year’s Eve.
The lack of meaningful support (read: money) from the CoCT shows exactly where the priorities lay. Look how well funded the other illegitimate Cape Town Carnival is…
Leave a Reply