FREE
August 2014
A PROJECT OF THE CAPE TOWN PARTNERSHIP Molo | Hello | Goeiedag
STREET FOOD MAP
The tastes of Africa on the streets of Cape Town PAGES 6 & 7
ARRIVALS CITY
Why five people from three continents chose to make the Mother City home PAGES 8 & 9
The many faces of Cape Town
HOME AFFAIRS “I often wonder what it would take to move towards a hyphenated identity instead of being seen always as an immigrant”
The story of immigration in Cape Town
What’s the difference between an immigrant, an expat and a refugee?
BONGANI KONA
PAGES 4 & 5
PAGE 2
www.capetownpartnership.co.za
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MOLO August 2014
Molo. Hello. Goeiedag. Molo is a free community paper, focused on the people of Cape Town, and published by the Cape Town Partnership. Created by: Alan Cameron, Ambre Nicolson, Anneke Rautenbach, Bongani Kona, Jaxon Hsu, Jillian O’Hagan, Lisa Burnell, Maya Fowler, Nicole Cameron, Ru Du Toit, Sam Bainbridge, Jackie Lampard, Skye Grove, Steve Alfreds.
EDITORIAL
What does home mean? Is home about a place or a landscape, or is it about the people who live there?
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Designed by: Infestation T: 021 461 8601 www.infestation.co.za
hat do we mean when we talk about home? For me home will always be both be the place where I grew up near East London in the Eastern Cape and Cape Town, my urban home for the last 13 years. I think I share this feeling with many people, most of us are from more than one place. The wonderful thing about humans is that, unlike animals, for which a habitat is a static, environmentally specific thing, we can make almost anywhere home. Despite radical difference in climate, topography, culture and language, humans on the move can adapt to the highest mountain tops, the deepest tropics and the most foreign customs. And indeed we always have. Since the very first humans moved away from Africa, migration and movement have been general practice. Countless great cities throughout history have been raised by immigrants, and, as with New York or London, it is often the vibrancy and multiculturalism of these cities that make them such desirable places to live. Cape Town is no exception. Over generations, our city has been shaped by immigrants: from the Dutch and the British, to the slaves brought by the boatload from India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Madagascar, East and West Africa, to the Portuguese,
Published by: Cape Town Partnership 34 Bree Street T: 021 419 1881
How can I be a part of Molo? We are always on the look-out for compelling stories told by ordinary residents of Cape Town. If you or someone you know has an interesting story to tell, mail us at molo@capetownpartnership.co.za (no press releases, please). Every month, we’ll be continuing the conversations we start in the print edition of Molo online: Join us at www.capetownpartnership.co.za for more stories, more profiles and more citizen perspectives on this place we call home.
Where can I get the most recent edition of Molo? Molo is a bimonthly print publication. In the months it is not on street, it is supplemented by stories online. If you or your organisation would like to receive or distribute the print publication, please mail us at molo@capetownpartnership.co.za, including your postal address and the number of copies you’d like to receive.
Contact the creators of Molo:
@CTPartnership #Molo
Email: molo@capetownpartnership.co.za Tel: 021 419 1881
www.facebook.com/molocapetown
Molo, Cape Town Partnership, 10th Floor, 34 Bree Street, The Terraces, 8001
Cape Town Partnership vision Some say cities are the future We say people are the future This is our home This is our hope This is our chance
Believing
there is more that connects us than divides us
Speaking
the language of hope
Working
together for the common good
Building
from the ground up
Sharing
the spaces in between We can plant our tomorrows shape our future, heal ourselves We can make our city warm, open, welcoming, rich in opportunities for all
Cape Town A city with a past. A people with a future
Your say Congratulations I am writing with compliments, as I thoroughly enjoyed the last issue from cover to cover. Yewande Omotoso’s column was fresh and honest. Things aren’t perfect here, and I dislike when the media try to gloss over that fact.
Over generations, our city has been shaped by immigrants: from the Dutch and the British, to the slaves brought by the boatload from India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Madagascar, East and West Africa, to the Portuguese, Greeks, Italians, Germans, Xhosa and other cultures from South Africa, Africa and the world. Greeks, Italians, Germans, Xhosa and other cultures from South Africa, Africa and the world. Today we cannot even imagine our city without them. Sadly, this is something people tend to forget when faced with people who are different, and during troubled times it is often foreign minorities who suffer most. Restrictive immigration policies and xenophobic attitudes are constant reminders that, as long as we think as nations instead of as humans, people will never be equal. Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana Ceo cape town partnership
Readers’ letters Here’s what you have to say about Molo. Keep the feedback coming: email us at molo@capetownpartnership.co.za Thank you for giving a voice to those on the periphery. It makes me believe that the team who put this issue together really does want to represent the whole of Cape Town. T. Waja, Cape Town
In other words Our local language is as colourful as our history. We take a look at the origins of some of our best loved words. Source: Eish but is it English by Rajend Mesthrie
What about the northern suburbs? I just wanted to let you know that we really liked the issue of Molo that arrived at our house this week. Normally, the community newspapers that we get are quickly scanned and then chucked into the
recycling bin but we have read this from cover to cover. One criticism though is that I don’t see much info on happenings in the northern suburbs. I really look forward to future issues and hope that they will be as interesting as this one. Susan, Cape Town
Tso•tsi | ‘ˈtsotsi noun
Tsotsi has a murky history as a term for a gangster. Some say it’s a corruption of the word “zootsuit” because gangsters in the 50s were notorious for their narrow-legged and colourful suits. Others claim that it comes from the Sotho term “go tsotsa” which means “to rob”.
IN SHORT
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COLUMN
the imagined city Text by Bongani Kona Bongani Kona is a Zimbabwean freelance writer. His work has appeared before in The Mail & Guardian, The Sunday Times, Rolling Stone (SA), Chimurenga Chronic and other publications and websites.
Writer and journalist Bongani Kona thinks about identity, sharing space and finding home, wherever that may be.
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hen I was eight years old, my mother moved to Cape Town and I stayed behind with my grandmother, a retired primary school teacher. That remains the single most heartbreaking recollection of my childhood, waving goodbye to my mother as the taxi headed towards the airport. The year was 1993. We lived in Hatfield, a lower middle-class neighbourhood in the south of Harare. My mother would visit three times a year and she phoned every Sunday. Growing up, I had a sure idea what Cape Town looked like from our telephone conversations and the postcards she mailed. I knew about Table Mountain and the sea, but everything in between was the concoction of my boyhood imagination and at the centre of that imagined city was my mother. When I was 18, I also left Harare on a Greyhound coach
bound for Cape Town. I tried not to cry as I hugged my grandmother goodbye. I loved her for all that she’d done for me and it tore me apart leaving her behind in Zimbabwe when everything in the country was so uncertain. This is something you must understand: even if the crossing of borders between nation states has become a ubiquitous feature of modern life that most of us, at one time or another, by choice or by coercion, will have to endure, the decision to pack one’s bags and leave behind loved ones to settle in a foreign place is always fraught with emotion. With such departures, to borrow a phrase from Damon Galgut’s eloquent novel In a Strange Room, “travel isn’t celebration but a kind of mourning.” Travelling from Harare to Cape Town by bus is harrowing. The journey takes two nights and three days and I arrived at my mother’s two-bedroomed flat in Newlands smelling like a corpse. The year was 2004. Seeing Cape Town for the first time that summer, it struck me how different the city was from the one I had imagined. To begin with, it was infinitely bigger and more beautiful. And I hadn’t counted on meeting so many people from different parts of the continent – Somalia, Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroon, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo – and much further abroad. This vast mix
I often wonder what it would take to move towards a hyphenated identity instead of being seen always as an immigrant
of nationalities and languages is, to me, one of the things I treasure most about living here. Despite this, a truth that can’t be ignored is that the history of dark-skinned foreigners from elsewhere on the continent in this city, like the rest of the country, has not always been a pleasant one. Moreover, how Cape Town connects (and is connected) with Harare, Kinshasa, Bujumbura, Mogadishu, Luanda, Lagos, and other less affluent geographies and the people who populate them – some who have arrived here on a one-way ticket – is often viewed in a harsh light. This explains, in part, why even after ten years of living here, I still have difficulty calling Cape Town my home. I often wonder what it would take to move towards a hyphenated identity instead of being seen always as an immigrant; to become, say, Zimbabwean-Capetonian – an identity that not only speaks to my lineage and my present locale but also highlights the connection between the two in the formation of my identity. Identity, however, is not only a matter of how we label ourselves but also a matter of how we are seen by others. For such a hyphenated identity to have any purchase it would require a reimagining of Cape Town. It would mean revisiting our notion of who belongs here and who is a stranger. More importantly, it would mean finding a humane way to share the space we live in, and by so doing, finding a way to share the future.
Das•sie | d ˈ asē
Lar•ney | ‘la:ni (also larnie)
This small furred creature that can be spotted on Table Mountain is named from the Dutch word for little badger “dasje”.
Meaning posh or fancy, this word may come from the word Hollander, meaning someone who comes from the Netherlands.
noun
adjective
shorts
A snapshot on migration Around the world more than a million people submit applications to become refugees each year. These official applications are only a percentage of the number of people who seek asylum in foreign countries annually, due to conflict or social and economic instability in their home countries.
Around the world
3000 people
a day became refugees during 2012, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. This figure shows a fivefold increase from 2010.
When it comes to South Africa, reliable figures are hard to find. About
1,7 million of the country’s
51,7 million
population are “non-South African” citizens, according to the South Africa’s 2011 census report. According to the AfriCheck website, data collated by the World Bank and the United Nations also suggests a migrant population of about
1,86 million people
Given the controversy and stigma around being an asylum seeker and refugee in South Africa it is safe to assume that these figures are conservative.
According to AfriCheck, the IRIN news service, an “editorially independent, non-profit project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs”, reported that South Africa granted refugee status to very few asylum seekers, approving just
15,5% of the asylum applications it processed in 2011.
Census data shows that over the last four years
over
750 000 people
have moved to Cape Town from within the Western Cape and the rest of South Africa.
Statistics South Africa reported last year that almost 64% of permanent residence permits issued in 2012 were given to people hailing from: n Zimbabwe (20%)
n India (6%),
n UK (11%)
n Germany (5%)
n Congo (7%)
n Nigeria (5%)
n China (7%)
n DRC (3%)
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MOLO August 2014
From near and far
Text by Anneke Rautenbach Images by Lisa Burnell
What does it mean to call yourself a Capetonian? We trace the many waves of immigration that have given Cape Town its multicultural character.
While today the Khoikhoi population and culture has all but disappeared, traces of their clicks can still be heard in isiXhosa.
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here better to contemplate the long and dramatic history of this city than on the cobblestones of Heritage Square? Here the mix of Dutch and Georgian architecture is a clear reminder of colonialism, as are the street names: Bree, Shortmarket, Buitengracht. Take a short walk uphill and you will find the Bo-Kaap, with its technicolour row-houses, the former Malay Quarter. On the curb outside Rose’s Corner Café, you are met by the scent of cardamom, aniseed, cumin.
came as missionaries, as well as convicts and ship-deserters.
The slaves Even though most of the European population was working class, the really dirty work would be done by slaves. Ironically, the first Cape slave was a stowaway seeking refuge from his Dutch master in Batavia, the Dutch imperial capital in what is now Indonesia. He arrived in 1653, only to be set to work by the same regime in a different colony. By 1693, slaves in the Cape outnumbered free people for the first time, and were most easily
Languages mixed and traditions merged. A few generations down the line, it was almost impossible to untangle individual ethnicities. Even though there was a large Malay community, the term later became a generic one to denote Islam, so that today the term “Cape Malay” has little to do with Malaysia. Seventeenth-century Dutch combined with elements of Malay, French, Arabic and indigenous languages into the Afrikaans language. Because of Islamic slaves, the first book to be published in the Cape was in Arabic, and the first book to be published in Afrikaans was the Qu’ran.
The British The British always had a strong relationship with the Cape through the British East India Company, and occupied the area from the late 1700s. Along with cricket and rugby, they brought their street names and architecture, the Anglican Church and the abolition of slavery. English replaced Dutch as the official language of the Cape. Above: The statue of Queen Victoria that stands outside parliament is a testament to the British influence on the Cape during her reign. Top Right: Victorian and Edwardian townhouses are a British legacy. During apartheid Afrikaans joined English as an official language of business. Below right: Cape Town’s cobblestone streets are a legacy from the city’s colonial past.
Indeed, three centuries before, similar smells would have greeted Dutch sailors disembarking at Jan Van Riebeeck’s refreshment station at the Cape.
The Dutch As the settlement grew, there was a greater need for skilled workers, and many Company contractors stayed on to become “free burghers”, or free citizens, relieved of their duties to the Company. Dutch butchers, bakers and candlestick-makers would rub shoulders with French wine farmers, who came to the Cape to escape Protestant persecution in France. Add to the mix a number of other Europeans (like Germans), who
recognised by their bare feet. They came mainly from the East – from Bengal and South India, China, Madagascar, Malaysia, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and both coasts of Africa – bringing with them their culinary traditions, their artisanal skills and Islamic culture. Over time, the people of the Cape creolised. Slaves received Dutch names and could marry Europeans if they had been baptised in the Dutch Reformed Church. Later on they were able to buy their freedom with what they made from “side businesses” run on Sundays. Some became wealthy entrepreneurs and land owners, like Angela of Bengal, who managed several market gardens on the outskirts of the city.
Jewish, Catholic and other European immigrants From the late 19th century and continuing into the 20th, the Cape began to see the arrival of Eastern European Jews who were escaping persecution in Europe, bringing the religion to our shores. The apartheid regime ensured economic opportunities for white European immigrants, and saw the arrival of a number of Catholic Italians, Orthodox Greeks and Portuguese.
The Khoikhoi The various indigenous huntergatherer groups Van Riebeeck
encountered at the Cape are often referred to as the Khoikhoi, but the Khoikhoi were just one of many groups, including the !Kung and the !Xam, the Naro, Hailom and Tsoa. As far as anyone knows, they are the first people to have inhabited the slopes of Table Mountain, and in 2007, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People recognised them as the aboriginal people of southern Africa. The Dutch imitated the sounds of their language (“eina!” comes from “ena!”; “sies!” from “tsi!”) and today these words occur in Afrikaans, English and other local languages.
The Xhosa Make your way back down the hill from Bo-Kaap in the direction of Loop Street. You might pass a young man wearing a jacket and beret, a uniform to show that he has been initiated in accordance with Xhosa culture. While today the Khoikhoi population and culture has all but disappeared, traces of their clicks can still be heard in isiXhosa – the dominant language of the nearby Eastern Cape. But the Xhosa inhabited the Cape only much later, as historically they preferred summer rainfall and so tended to
FEATURE
Have you ever wondered where these Capetonian things come from? Cape wines
stay further north. The industrial revolution, apartheid and rural poverty forced many to migrate to the city in search of work, while systematically excluding them from its economic fruits. Townships like Langa and Nyanga (meaning “sun” and “moon” respectively) became important sites of the antiapartheid struggle. Today, isiXhosa is the third most widely spoken language in Cape Town. Many Capetonians claim Khoikhoi roots, and this has been especially prevalent among a young, local Rastafarian community. It has become a source of cultural pride, a link with the aboriginal people of the Cape, and as William Ellis of the University of the Western Cape points out, strongly linked with a “coloured” identity politics. “We are the original people of this country, and to free ourselves, we need to reclaim what was stolen from us: our identity and our land,” Barry Korana, a Rastafarian from Hangberg, told the Mail&Guardian. Ellis points out the dangers of this kind of thinking, saying that it can lead to a type of nationalism that alienates other South Africans. “Lots of Rastas are going with the Khoisan movement and, while it is good to embrace your roots, it shouldn’t be placed before Rastafari, because then you are creating a new kind of tribalism,” says Trevor Ebden, a Rastafarian from Cape Town.
By 1693, slaves in the Cape outnumbered free people for the first time, and were most easily recognised by their bare feet.
Wine-making in the Cape developed from the skills and knowledge brought by French Hugenots – the name given to French Protestants who relocated to the Cape via the Netherlands. Many converted to Dutch Calvinism and changed their names to Dutch spelling; for example Cronier became Cronje. Franschhoek (French corner) is named after the French who farmed there.
Cape Dutch architecture Because of the Cape’s limited resources and foreign topography and climate (where the Netherlands are flat, the Cape is mountainous), a unique architectural style developed, known as “Cape Dutch”. Buildings were often a single story with a thatched roof and curved gable, lime-plastered for waterproofing.
An African melting pot Dusk descends on the city. Crossing Loop and then Long, you return to the cobblestones, this time in Greenmarket Square. A metallic cacophony reverberates between the buildings; the traders are packing up their stands. They have spent the day selling fabrics, carved ornaments, leather bags, beaded necklaces and crafts of all kinds. Since the fall of apartheid, South Africa has opened up to the world. Today in Cape Town, many people you encounter are from all over Africa: Zimbabwe, Angola, Malawi, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria and others. Like the European immigrants of the 17th Century, they come in search of economic opportunity. Others, like the Hugenots and Jewish immigrants, seek safety from persecution. Like immigrants throughout history, they seek a khayelitsha – a new home. Together they bring new skills, new languages, dialects and slang, new culinary delights, new musical styles. How will they change the face of Cape Town in 100 years’ time?
Victorian townhouses All the way from Great Britain, the Victorian townhouse, with its brookielace terraces, is a familiar sight in Cape Town’s inner city, as well as suburbs like Woodstock and Observatory.
Snoek
Above: Traders from all over Africa set up their stalls in Greenmarket Square daily. TOP RIGHT AND LEFT: Crafts of all kinds are sold at Greenmarket Square, Cape Town’s first market place. Middle: Immigrants bring new skills, dialects, musical styles and culinary delights to their adopted homes.
First to eat the fish, the Dutch named it “snoek” after the Dutch word for pike, a popular part their diet. The fish is also easy to dry, and provided a longlasting source of protein for passing ships, giving rise to the delicacy, bokkoms. Slaves would catch the fish and sell them for a bit of money of their own, and snoek has become a popular feature of Cape Malay
cuisine, like smoorsnoek – smoked snoek – often served with fruit chutney, another Malay import.
Calamari Italian, Greek and Portuguese immigrants introduced Cape Town to its famous calamari and sole.
Cape Town Carnival The tradition developed in the Malay community and has its roots in slavery, marking the only annual holiday slaves were granted. On 2 January each year, minstrels take to the street in a musical parade, in colourful, sequined uniforms. After the abolition of slavery, the carnival tradition continued and evolved, adopting many elements of the minstrel culture of the American south.
Langa Though “Langa” means “sun”, it is also likely that the name of Cape Town’s oldest township (established in 1927) comes from the Natal area, derived from the name Langalibalele, a chief and prominent rainmaker who resisted the Natal government and was imprisoned on Robben Island in 1873. He is buried in nearby Pinelands, and so the land on which the township is built is often called “KwaLanga”, Xhosa for “place of Langa”.
Xhosa street food Snacks sold on station decks and taxi ranks across the city are often welcome imports from the Eastern Cape, like amagwinya (a type of vetkoek), mielies, Walkie Talkies (chicken heads and feet) and smileys (sheep’s heads).
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MOLO August 2014
street Food map
Taste the melting pot
My favourite is plantains and Cameroonian vetkoek from Bebe Rose inside the African Women Craft Market at 112 Long Street.
We seek out the best spots to taste street food from around the continent and right here at home.
Hannerie Visser, co-organiser of the Cape
Compiled by Ambre Nicolson Images by Jaxon Hsu and Lisa Burnell
MA SUZ EN
TO
HEL om
WALTER SISULU AVE
Str
ijd
h rt r f No ha are W qu S
ns Ha Thibault Square
Jetty er Pi lace P
HEERENGRACHT
HERTZOG BOULEVARD
vic re Ci ent C
Old Marine
DARLING C GO ASTL OD E O HO F PE
Harrington
Mechau
d an de Gr ara P
BUITENKANT
ty Ci all H
Caledon
Albertus
Barrack
Commercial
ROELAND
e
LOWER LONG
N W TO AY PE LW ON CA RAI ATI ST
Spin
05
04 Hop
Prestwich
St Georges Mall
ADDERLEY
PLEIN
HATFIELD
12
Parliament
Church Square
Lwr Burg
Riebeek
Parliament
Longmarket
Church
Government Ave
Burg
NB
TO SEA PO INT
WATERKANT
Burg
LOOP
STRAND
LONG
Queen Victoria
10
Castle
Keerom
BREE
Hout
Bloem
WALE
Dorp
Leeuwen
01 07
t ke SHORTMARKET ar e nm ar ee qu Gr S
Bloem
LOOP
The Company’s Garden
DF
Jan Sm
CANTERBURY
ND STRA
CHRISTIAAN BARNAR
SON MANDELA B NEL AD RO RY OW RL SI AD RO RY OW RL SI
Opening hours: Weekdays 09h00 to 18h00 n 112 Long Street TO AIRPORT
Boerie rolls, Blue Tent, Observatory 08
WOODSTOCK
basement of the African Women’s craft market on Long Street. She also makes vetkoek and plantains. Cost: R25
T KE AR M W NE
UT CP
Aisha Nalobowa has been serving Ugandan and other east African delicacies for the last six years from her hole in the wall restaurant in the
TO MUIZENBERG
This tiny stall has been a feature of Station Road in Obs for the last 20 years. Veroda Schaffer and Lorraine Clasens are the duo behind their famous boerie rolls along with their popular kassler pork chops. Cost: R18 for boerie roll Opening hours: Weekdays 09h00 to 15h00 n Station Road, opposite the Spar, Observatory N2
3
M
R&S Superette has worked up a huge following for their chicken tikka served from the corner of Royal and Kensington Streets in
DISTRICT SIX
Tikka chicken, Maitland
Ugandan chapatis and Matoke (beef stew), Aisha’s East African Cuisine, Long Street 07
AL WA DE
06
ROELA ND
Egusi is a traditional Nigerian dish that Gertrude Chukwu makes from powdered melon seed combined with meat, vegetables, dried fish and powdered crayfish. The ingredients make a tasty soup that you eat with pap. Her Nigerian food stall also sells other Nigerian favourites like Ogbono soup and okra with pap. Cost: Full portion meals start at R30 Opening hours: weekdays from 09h00 to 17h00 n African Food Court, Corner of Castle and Lower Plein streets, Grand Parade
Caledon
Nigerian egusi soup, Grand Parade, Cape Town 05
Maitland for seven years. Cost: R30 for a quarter chicken, roll and chips Opening hours: weekdays 08h00 to 17h00 n Corner Royal and Kensington Street, Maitland 3
Snoekies in HoutBay have been serving their fish and chips since 1951. Today, eating fried and battered fish and fat slap chips drenched in vinegar while overlooking the Hout Bay harbour is a famous local tradition. Cost: R45 for hake and chips parcel
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday 10h00 to 19h00 n Hout Bay harbour
M
Fish and chips, Snoekies, Hout Bay 04
BREE
LONG
D AN TL JU
Denningvleis curry (lamb curry with spicy tomato sauce) is just one of the local delicacies on offer DE at this roadhouse. Other PA WA RK AL popular menu items include bobotie, tomato bredie, salomis and gatsbys. Cost: A portion of denningvleis curry costs R65 served with roti or rice Opening hours: 11h00 to 01h00 (Mon-Sat), 12h00 to 00h00 (Sunday) n 21 Belgravia Road, Athlone
Heritage Square
New Church Buiten
curry, Wembley roadhouse, Athlone
BUITENGRAGT Orphan
BUITENSINGEL
03
LOOF KDenningvleis
VREDEHOEK
Arno Arpin has been selling his legendary koeksisters for 20 years. Crunchy on the outside, doughy on the inside and brimming with sweet syrup, it’s easy to see why these traditional sweets have stood the test of time. Cost: 12 for R30 Opening hours: Six days a week n The parking lot behind the McDonalds at N1 City Mall
KLOOF NEK
LL MI
Koeksisters, N1 City Mall
Rose
ANN AND ALE
ORANJEZICHT
02
Chiappini
GARDENS
These are a favourite of Hannerie Visser, the woman TO behind the recent TABLE MO UNTAIN Cape Town Street & CAM PS BAYFood Festival. Cameroonian vetkoek are lightly spiced fried dough balls and plantains look like small bananas but taste starchier. The kind that Bebe Rose makes at her restaurant of the same name are spiced and fried. Cost: Meals from R25 Opening hours: Weekdays 09h00 to 18h00 n 112 Long Street
TO CAMPS BAY
BO-KAAP
TAMBOERSKLOOF
Cameroonian vetkoek and plantains, Bebe Rose, Long Street 01
LVD
Town Street FooD Festival
FEATuRE n Mostert Street, where Plein Street meets Spin Street.
COnGOLESE MFuMbWA AnD FuFu (VEGETAbLE SAuCE AnD PAP), SHEMIMA’S, SALT RIVER 09
SOMALIAn bAASTO AnD SuuGO SuQAAR, bELLVILLE 11
A V&
Mfumbwa, which literally means “found” in Kikongo, is often described as wild spinach. At shimema’s Mfwumbwa is cooked the traditional way, simmered with peanut paste, onions, tomato and dried fish, and is delicious eaten with fufu (pap made from cassava flour). Cost: R30 Opening hours: 12h00 to 20h00 n 147 Malta Road, Salt River
T
N RO RF
E AT W
C IC CT
SEA POINT
CITY CENTRE
09 14
Balbyna, a native of Nigeria makes these slightly sweet dough balls herself at home and
serves them with freshly ground peanut butter which she grinds there and then from whole redskinned peanuts. Cost: R1 each Opening hours: weekdays from 08h30 to 18h00 n Corner Fenton and Albert Road, Salt River
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PAROW GOODWOOD NORTH BELLVILLE KENSINGTON BELLVILLE SOUTH PAROW 06 RUYTERWACHT VALLEY 08 RAVENSMEAD ELSIESRIVIER
LANGA 03 BONTEHEUWEL RONDEBOSCH
15
ATHLONE MANENBURG
NEWLANDS
muts
CLAREMONT
CONSTANTIA MITCHELLS PLAIN
04
PHILIPPI RETREAT
BLVD
MUIZENBERG
AMAGWInYA, LAnGA
Vetkoek is the bestseller at sozito African Food Restaurant and take Away, and they make approximately 800 to 900 a day. Vetkoek is
GUGULETHU DELFT
HANOVER PARK
WYNBERG
Martin
RD
nIGERIAn MIKATE (VETKOEK), MOnTSInAI STORE, SALT RIVER
GARDENS OBSERVATORY 13 15 WOODSTOCK
HARBOUR
Fo Ga un rd de en rs
Also known as a smiley, sheep’s heads (intloko yegusha) are prepared in an open-air informal kitchen. Mabayi Nshika first scorches the hair off over an open fire, then the head is butterflied and cooked in salted water for an hour. Cost: a whole head for R50 or a half for R25. Opening hours: Seven days a week, 09h00 to 20h00 n Rhodes Street, across from Chris Hani School
02
GREEN POINT
F Malan
InTLOKO YEGuSHA (SHEEPS HEAD), LAnGA
14
this local institution has been selling the iconic gatsby and many other local delights to passersby for over 20 years. Cost: R48 half portion,
N
OV &A WA TE RF RO NT
“Little Mogadishu” as some parts of the Bellville CBD has become known is the place to find somali food like Baasto (pasta) with spicy beef and tomato sauce (suugo suuqaar). Cost: R50 for a large plate of spaghetti and meat sauce Opening hours: weekdays from 08h00 to 17h00 n Blankenberg Street, Bellville CBD
POLOnY GATSbY, MARIAM’S KITCHEn, CAPE TOWn South Arm
Phyllis Mupfururi makes a variety of filled rolls but it’s her fried chicken rolls which are a daily sell out. Cost: R14 Opening hours: Weekdays 09h00 to 15h00
R90 full portion Opening hours: 06h30 to 17h00 n 101 St Georges Mall Arcade 13
12
CHICKEn ROLLS, SPIn STREET, CAPE TOWn 10
7
KHAYELITSHA
often enjoyed with deepfried Russians. Cost: One vetkoek costs R1 Opening hours: Seven days a week, 07h00– 19h00 n Lelorothori Avenue
What’s your favourite? Have we missed your favourite street food? We know that this is just a small fraction of the amazing flavours to be found on the streets of our city and we’d love to hear about other places to experience authentic African flavours. Email molo@capetownpartnership.co.za or let us know STRAND on Facebook.
L/ AR G PA TEN TO AU G
N1
My favourite joint is in langa on jungle walk just next to the old labour Quarter, there is a lady there who makes great liver with a sheep’s belly fat, the other one is the lady who braais at langa station (Madlamini 1). MIChAel leTlAlA, lOCAl FOOD TOuR GuIDe
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MOLO August 2014
real people
making the mother city home Text by Nicole Cameron Images by Lisa Burnell
We speak to people from Cameroon, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, England and Bulgaria to find out why they chose Cape Town to be the place they call home.
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Andrew Warth, Director of Zama Dance School, Gugulethu
John Ebako, owner of King Kong Leather, Woodstock
Meticulous craftsmanship and skilled design are synonymous with King Kong’s leather goods, which are becoming highly sought after locally and beyond. We chat to the man behind the brand, John Ebako, on how he built his business from Cameroon to Cape Town. “I came to Cape Town to earn a living. I wouldn’t say I chose the city directly, but after living in various places I ended up here and thought, ‘why not?’. That was twelve years ago. I stayed for a few reasons, one of them being that I met my wife, a South African. It seemed like a good place to make a life and raise my family. Two of my brothers also joined me here. I have lived in Ghana and Senegal and Cape Town is a very interesting and impressive city. I enjoy the climate here as Cameroon is tropical and sometimes very uncomfortable and hot and humid. While it’s tough to start a business anywhere, in Cape Town the market is open and it is easy to understand your competitors. I have always worked with
My dream is to extend my business – into the rest of South Africa, Africa and overseas. Especially overseas. That would be wonderful.
Andrew Warth came to Cape Town to dance in Carmen and was enchanted by the city’s cosmopolitan atmosphere. Twenty-four years on, he’s teaching township tots how to twirl.
leather and was selling goods in Cameroon too; I was fortunate to have many people teach me the craft along the way. Back in 2004 I worked on the set of 10 000BC here in Cape Town and started chatting to some American designers. We played around together and came up with different designs which I made into handbags, belts and shoes. At first I sold mostly at festivals like KKNK and the Grahamstown Festival, then on consignment and now from my shopfront opposite the Woodstock Exchange and on the Superbalist.com website. It’s a tough business to be in but we are trying!
The thing I miss most about home is the food – the food in Cameroon is amazing. My favourite dish is ndolé (a vegetable stew mixed with pistachio nuts) and fish; my little girl knows how to make it now. I also miss the people but we are lucky that we have a big community from Cameroon here in Cape Town and we meet up every week. I would say things are a lot more difficult here if you aren’t local. I have not experienced xenophobia first hand, but it has affected me in one way or another.
■ Find more about King Kong
Leathers on their Facebook page or www.superbalist.com.
Quag•ga | ’kwagə
Meal•ie | ‘mēlē
The name of the animal that looks like a mix between a donkey and a zebra comes from the Khoi language group and is based on the braying sound that the animal made.
This word comes from the Afrikaans “mielie” which in turn comes from the Portuguese “milho” which in turn comes from the Latin “millium”.
noun
noun
“I graduated from a Russian ballet school in England at 18 and went on to spend eight years dancing in Germany. In 1990, I was looking for a new opportunity and signed a short-term contract with the Cape Town City Ballet Company (then CAPAB). I was excited about the ballet mostly, and had to double check where exactly Cape Town was on the atlas! I ended up staying because … I don’t know ... it’s just so easy to get sucked up into Cape Town. I always tell my friends: ‘If you’re going to come on holiday, come for a couple of weeks. But be careful, because if you stay any longer you might not go home,’ and that’s the thing with this city; there’s something that draws you into it if you give it a chance. I arrived here at a very sensitive time in the country’s history and was party to all the exciting changes – I even got to vote in the first democratic election so that just sealed my sense of belonging. As a professional dancer, you get to travel all over the world, and in a way Cape Town feels like a mixture of all my favourite places. I’ve spent a lot of time in England, Germany and Italy and when I’m in Cape Town it’s as though I experience a little bit of each of them.
I always tell my friends: ‘If you’re going to come on holiday, come for a couple of weeks. But be careful, because if you stay any longer you might not go home When I retired eight years ago, a friend offered me a position as a teacher at a school she’d set up to teach ballet to children in the townships. I hadn’t taught children before, nor visited Gugulethu, so it was something completely new. We offer classical ballet classes to 128 children, mostly under twelve, and feed them a meal as well. Three years ago I became the school’s director. The dance school is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and so I guess my hope is that I will steer it into the next 25 years successfully. While it is wonderful to see pupils graduate into professional dancing, for me it is also about the 99% who won’t continue, but who will walk away with an enhanced sense of discipline, punctuality and selfesteem.”
■ www.zamadance.co.za
FEATURE
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stayed in Cape Town and started modelling.
What adaptations did you have to make to settle in here? Latoya: I was 17 when I came here so for me it was about adapting to living away from home, becoming a model and working. But the culture is very similar to Zimbabwe so it was easy to make friends and adjust to Cape Town life.
Nasco and Latoya with their Cape Town born-and-bred ‘Zimgarian’, Adrianna.
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Thandi Dlamini, kidney specialist returning to Swaziland
Thandi Dlamini left Swaziland in 1994 to begin a 20year journey towards becoming a nephrologist, or kidney specialist. As she returns home next month to set up her country’s first dialysis unit, she reflects on Cape Town, the city that’s shaped her professionally and personally. When and why did you decide to come to Cape Town? I came to study medicine at the University of Cape Town in 1994. I left in 1999 after graduating, but then returned in 2008 for specialist training at Groote Schuur Hospital and UCT.
What adaptations did you have to make to settle in? I had to get used to winter rain in Africa! On a more serious note, I had to make peace with the fact that I was living in a city emerging from a history of segregation. I slowly learnt to be forgiving and gracious with prejudices encountered from Capetonians of all the major ethnicities. This was initially difficult, coming from a country that did not share this history.
How do you feel Cape Town compares to other places you’ve lived? What do you like most about it? Unlike other places I have spent time in, apart from India, Cape Town gives one a taste of the developed world at its best, yet grounds one by the realities of a developing country. Of course
I love the amazing beauty of the scenery here, and I also love how creativity is embraced and encouraged in this city.
What do you miss about home? I miss the smell of the earth after a downpour of summer rain, with the sound of thunder and flashes of lightning. I also miss eating the delicious mangoes from my mother’s mango trees in December.
Have you found Cape Town to be a welcoming city? Do you feel you have experienced more challenges than locals? If so, how? I’ve had the privilege of witnessing a positive transition in Cape Town and have more recently had the impression that it has become a more welcoming city, with a place for everyone. My worst experience of Cape Town was by far the 2010 xenophobic attacks. When a security guard complained to me about foreign Africans, thinking I was local, and using the derogatory term ‘amaKwerekwere’, I informed him that I was saddened by his
attitude, because our countries had helped shelter and educate many South African freedom fighters during the apartheid era, thus contributing to the country’s freedom.
What are your plans now that you are returning to Swaziland? I am initially going to manage the dialysis unit at Mbabane government hospital, in the country’s capital. I look forward to teaching as well. Later, I hope to liaise with primary care centres with a view to strengthening measures to prevent kidney disease and to detect it early. I am very grateful for the training I have received in Cape Town, because it has given me skills that will enable me to make a difference in my country.
When a security guard complained to me about foreign Africans, I informed him I was saddened by his attitude, because our countries helped shelter and educate many SA freedom fighters during apartheid, thus contributing to the country’s freedom.
04 Nasco and Latoya Mihaylov, owners of Grace Models, Gardens Nasco and Latoya Mihaylov didn’t expect to be scouted as models when they came to Cape Town from Bulgaria and Zimbabwe respectively. They didn’t expect to meet and get married either, or start a modelling agency; but it seems the city they both fell in love with had exciting plans for their future. When and why did you decide to come to Cape Town? Latoya: I came on holiday here from Zimbabwe in 2004 to visit my best friend. I got scouted as a model, got a five-year visa and the rest is history! Nasco: I used to be a professional soccer player and in 1994 there was an opportunity for me to come to Cape Town and play for the team Ajax. I left Bulgaria, played for about a year and then broke my leg, which unfortunately ended my football career, but I
Nasco: The culture here is very different to Bulgaria and so I still struggle, even after twenty years, to adapt to the way locals think and deal with things. Bulgarians are by nature extroverts; they are blunt, expressive and can come across as rude or disrespectful but it’s just the way we are. Fortunately the modelling industry comes with lots of strong personalities so it works for me in that regard!
How do you feel Cape Town compares to other places you’ve lived? What do you like most about it? Latoya: Cape Town is like, seriously, the best place ever! I’ve been to many places but you simply cannot compare Cape Town to anywhere in the world. I love the fact that we can live down the road from the beach, and enjoy beautiful parks and places almost all year round – it’s unheard of elsewhere. Nasco: Cape Town is like Europe in the sun. That’s why so many Europeans come ... and end up staying. The economy is still relatively good, the job opportunities are good and we’ve got incredible locations. I have to admit that I do not miss Bulgaria one bit.
Can you tell us about your journey in setting up Grace Models? Nasco and Latoya: We’d both been in the industry a while and felt disillusioned with the way things were run. We came up with the idea of starting an agency that looks after models like they are our own family, and runs the business based on ethical principles. That was five years ago, and while we’ve had our highs and lows, this past year has been amazing and we are incredibly grateful. ■ www.gracemodels.co.za
Trek | trek
bun•ny chow | ’bənē CHou
This term which started off as a local Afrikaans term, has successfully made a transition into global English. As Mesthrie mentions in his book, the word can now be spotted in the English “pony trekkers”, American re-enactments of the “westward trek” and intergalactic Star Trek.
Like the delicious food it describes, this is a term which has been imported into the national vocabulary from Durban where the word bunny is thought to have come from the Gujarati word “banya” meaning merchant or trader.
noun/verb
noun
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MOLO August 2014
CHANGEMAKER Take ACTION Find out more about the work of Passop n www.passop.co.za 021 762 0322
The activist
Braam Hanekom This is the story of refugee rights activist Braam Hanekom. We ask what led to his decision to help found the local community based non-profit organisation PASSOP Text by Ambre Nicolson Images by Lisa Burnell (People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty).
W
hen I ask Braam how a Shonaspeaking boy with an Afrikaans name born to South African parents in Zimbabwe grew up to be a refugee rights activist in Cape Town, he laughs. “My story,” he says, “starts almost at the same time that Zimbabwe gained independence. In 1980, when Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, some people left. My parents on the other hand moved from Cape Town to Harare. I was born in Pariranyatwa hospital in Harare in 1984. My parents had met at university in Stellenbosch. My uncle jokingly claims my father should
be a professor because he spent so much time at university. But he was far more interested in student activism than he was in getting a degree. Today it is my mother who works as a lecturer at UCT. My parents moved to Harare because they wanted to have children who were not exposed to apartheid growing up. At the time of course Zimbabwe was thought of as a great example and experiment.” What kind of childhood did he have? “Up until I was 10 years old I was certain that I was going to join MK to go and fight for freedom in South Africa. My parents made sure that
the lady who worked in our house in Harare, Mrs Munema, who is still like a mother to me, only spoke Shona to me so that I could grow up speaking the language. They also let me accompany her when she went home to the rural area where her family lived. I remember days spent herding cattle and making
You see, that’s the thing, unless we continue to make a great city we won’t have the problem of immigrants coming here at all.
clay cows and grinding peanuts into peanut butter. I didn’t spend long there but I remember those moments well. “I think I was part of the Mandela generation in Zimbabwe. We were the bornfrees of Zimbabwe, although I don’t like the term ‘born free’. I never experienced racial segregation growing up. I went to a private Jesuit school. It was a privileged place but one that tried to instil a strong moral code in its students. I am not very religious but the strong sense of moral responsibility made an impression on me. I also experienced South Africa after 1994 when my father
returned to work for the ANC. My parents had divorced and my older brother and I would visit him in school holidays.” Braam left Harare in 2002 when he was still a teenager. “In 1999 there were food riots in Zimbabwe. It was very shocking for me. Things started to get very strange after that. I left school to get involved in politics. In 2002, after the election in Zimbabwe, I came to South Africa and I have not lived in Zimbabwe since. I was 17. “I thought that the situation would improve in Zimbabwe over the next ten years. I love Zimbabwe and it took quite a while for me to accept that I was South African. Living in Cape Town I saw how poor the Zimbabwean refugees I met were and I realised something had to be done. We had some meetings and that’s how Passop began. The organisation was named collectively with the intention that the name should reflect how the organisation could do many different things. Initially the aim was to put pressure on the SA government in relation to its
foreign policy in Zimbabwe. At the time Thabo Mbeki was saying there was no crisis in Zimbabwe but 200 000 people were being deported each year. I felt that either people must be accommodated here or South Africa must intervene and recognise the crisis that was happening there. Our point was to show that there was a crisis in Zimbabwe but in this community of diaspora I realised how much desperation existed and from there I discovered the huge rate of deportation which reached across nationalities. According to Braam, while there have been big gains over the last eight years when it comes to immigration policy and practice in South Africa, there is still much to be done. “I would say that 85% of refugees in the Western Cape now have some sort of documentation. Still, border relationships allow for the free migration of animals when there is a drought but there are not such agreements for human beings. During colonial rule many borders were drawn on a map with a ruler, and so today often you find that people in Limpopo have family across the border and that often groups in both countries speak the same language and share the same ethnicity and so the reality is that the difference between South Africa and Zimbabwe is 100 metres. What does he hope for? “Regulated immigration, better documentation, the ability for people to move between countries legally and safely. I think if I had children I would like them to grow up in a less segregated city and a city where racism is confronted more. I think it’s disgusting that so many people have never stepped outside of their own area: white teenagers that have never visited a township, black kids having no idea of life in a suburb. You see, that’s the thing, unless we continue to make a great city we won’t have the problem of immigrants coming here at all.”
Kwaito | ‘ˈkwʌitʌɪ əʊʊ
Guar•djie | ‘gaarchee
My tji•na | mī ‘CHīnə
This genre of music probably comes from urban Xhosa and Zulu from the word “kwai”, meaning “hot” or “smart” which in turn came from the Afrikaans for angry, “kwaai”.
A taxi driver’s assistant, this is a blending of English and Afrikaans meaning “small guard”.
This is a South African version of “my china” meaning “my friend”. It comes our way courtesy of the Cockney rhyming slang spoken in East London (capital of the UK, not city up the coast) in which plate rhymes with mate.
noun [mass noun]
noun
noun
FEATURE
11
my story
the immigrant
Harrison Mudukuti
This is the story of Harrison Mudukuti, musician, political activist, Zimbabwean, father, former illegal immigrant.
Y
ou want to know why I came here. My story is a long one, are you sure you want to hear it? Ok, here goes. I was born in 1980 in Bulawayo. My father was a polygamist, I come from a family
TAKE ACTION Africa Unite is a human rights and youth empowerment organisation that works with citizens, refugees and immigrants to prevent conflict and promote social cohesion. To find out more or how to get involved visit n www.africaunite.org.za
of eight children from two mothers. Today my brothers are spread around the world. I am the baby of the family. From 1997 up to 2000 there were a lot of changes happening in Zimbabwe, economically and politically. I was a spokesperson for the area that I lived in, like a microphone for the people, the part of the township named for Mzilikazi’s grandson, Nkulumani 12. You know Mzilikazi was a great Ndebele chief? He did the same journey I did but in reverse, when he founded Matabeleland. In 2002 I had to leave Bulawayo because ZanuPF were taking young men to the camps where they would give you marijuana and booze and then they give
you T-shirts and then take you to intimidate people. I didn’t want to do this so I sought refuge in Harare. There I stopped doing politics and pursued my musical career under my stage name Blaq Point. I even had some hit songs on ZBC. The longer I was there the more I wanted to say with my music but everyone warned me that it was dangerous. It was at that time that I decided to come to South Africa, I thought I could be more free here and more able to make my music. My older brother told me not to come here but I didn’t listen. In fact, I stole the VCR he had bought, and which he was very proud of, to pay the transporter. My first journey to South Africa took two weeks and was not blessed. After the car that was taking us broke down many times we arrived at the border. There the driver told us to walk through the bush to find the guide who would take us over the Limpopo, we call them the Ama Guma Guma, and many of them are very bad thugs. That time we walked across the river with the guide holding a long stick to check the depth of the water. We were lucky we made it across, there are crocodiles in that river! When I got to Joburg I had no one to call on and nowhere to stay. I was a township boy and it was very easy to get lost in such
Ro•bot | ‘rōbət
Sies! | səs
This word comes originally from the Czech word “robota”, a word for forced labour. From there it came to mean an intelligent machine. Of course, round here it means traffic light.
This exclamation may have had its origins in the Khoi exclamation, tsi!
noun
Exclamation
a big busy city. A guy I had met on the journey allowed me to stay with his brother. It was just one room in Hillbrow though, with 16 people staying there, in between curtains. His brother’s wife was pregnant and I realised that me staying there was making things very difficult. The next day I asked if I could have a shower and I left, never going back. For weeks I was living on the streets, until I started to be a parking guard and from there I met a guy who helped me get a job in a shebeen. It was a very hard time and after eight months the place where I was staying was raided and I was deported. I spent two months in a refugee camp near Johannesburg. There I met a Ugandan journalist who was posing as a refugee to write about the conditions there. Because I could speak English I again became a microphone for the people there, and, while I was speaking to the journalist the security guards there discovered that he was a journalist and beat us both very badly. The next day, while I was feeling very sick, I overheard them saying that they better deport me because they thought I was going to die. We were loaded onto a train headed for Messina. Every time we got to a station the police on the train would stand above us and shout “kop af!” Then we all had to put our heads down so that we couldn’t see where we were and try to jump off the train. When I got back to Zimbabwe I saw the tattered uniforms of the police and knew I was home but I had no money to get all the way back to Bulawayo so I turned around and came back to Johannesburg. I worked there until I was arrested again and repeated the whole
When I got to Joburg I had no one to call on and nowhere to stay. I was a township boy and it was very easy to get lost in such a big, busy city. journey. At that time my mom could feel I was not doing well, she would say, ‘My son, come back home.’ But I would always say, ‘No, I will never come back until I can come with something in my hands.’ After two years a friend of mine came from Zimbabwe, an artist, and he said that we should come here to Cape Town. When I first came here I was living in Woodstock. Every day I would walk to Camps Bay to look for a job. My thinking was that I should go where the rich tourists go. I found a job at Blues restaurant. There I started as cleaner, then I started to be a runner, then I became the assistant barman, then barman and eventually assistant bar manager. That is where I made my life. One morning I got a call to say that my mom had died. I was in great shock. I went back to Zimbabwe right away and when I came back there I carried a whole JVC home entertainment system with me. Not long after I come back to Cape Town I met my girlfriend. Two years later we had our son and now he is five years old. I look at him and I am happy that so far his life is different from mine.
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mOLO AuGuSt 2014
sTREET TALK
YARON WIESENBACHER
MIKE MAVUSA & STUART ZVANDAZIVA
where do you come from? The streets of Cape Town are just as cosmopolitan as we imagined.
FAbIEn CAPELLO
Images by lisa Burnell
JANINE ADAMS JOANNE KRIEL & CHRIS OXTOBY
It’s not always easy in the Mother City, but its better than joburg because that place has too much crime, it’s like Afghanistan.
KEVOL ADAMS
TIFFANY KUNG
NATHAN HENDRICKS BELINDA CLAASEN FABIEN CAPELLO & KOFI KINGSTON
BRIGHTON MUNARO
SInDISWA nCInAnE
I came here a long time ago to work. Now I can’t imagine being anywhere else ...
MAHLE NGCASANA
NORBERT NYAWASHA
MUHAMED OSMAAN FILDOYU & RIYLL ABDI SINDISWA NCINANE