The South African, Issue 545, 17 December 2013

17 - 23 December 2013 Issue 545

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p5 | Dreaming of a South African Xmas? Ten ways to make it feel like one…

INSIDE:p3 | The Fake Interpreter: attempted rape, murder, kidnapping, fraud

p6 | Without an effective poaching solution, rhinos could be extinct by 2022

The Nelson Mandela statue in Parliament Square was engulfed by tributes from the London public last week. As the sun sets on the Mandela Era, South Africans around the world are taking stock of the current state of the country and what needs to be done to ensure we do justice to Mandela’s legacy.

| The week of mourning for Nelson Mandela has seen us reflect on how South Africa has changed in the last 20 years. For some this will mean a renewed sense of loyalty to the ANC – for others this focus on Madiba’s values brings home how out of sync some of our leaders are with his vision

LIFE AFTER MADIBA: WHAT NOW FOR SA?BY HEATHER WALKER

IT’S been an unforgettable, emotional week of mourning for Nelson Mandela. As the world clamoured to pay tribute and claim him as theirs, South Africans at home and abroad came out to determined to show how much he remains our hero.

In 1994 people queued for miles to vote for Mandela and he was then inaugurated at the Union Buildings. The last 20 years of his life came full circle when more than 100,000 people queued over three days to pay their last respects to the former president as he lay in state in Pretoria. Instead of Night of the Long Knives we had Night of the Long Vigil. For a fleeting few days there was an atmosphere akin to that of the 1994 election, the 1995 rugby world cup and the 2010 football world cup as South Africans put aside their differences to weep together, dance together, comfort each other and share their memories of a great man.

In trying to make sense of the outpouring of emotion on Madiba’s death, the blogger David Carr suggests it’s because we are all desperate for hope, “desperate to feel unburdened by the weight of corruption, and social decay.”

“We so need relief from news of infants being raped, women being abused, corruption, schoolgirls having more chance of falling pregnant than passing matric. We were pleased to see taxi drivers

turning their aggression into sombreness and respect. We stood in unity as one rainbow nation.

“I am afraid that after all the dignitaries and celebrities have returned home, when the spotlights of the world have been diverted elsewhere, when the flags have been raised, when the news channels begin reporting other news, when Facebook profile pictures are changed back, that we will be bereft of the illusion that his week-long wake created.

“We will return to a place of fear and disillusion. We will once again hear alarming statistics of murders and domestic violence. Children will continue to get an inferior education while ministers spend millions on themselves. We will again lock ourselves in our homes. We will still be afraid of our police force and keep ‘fifty bucks’ in a pocket to avoid unjust harassment,” Carr said.

Mandela’s death came just when backlash against ‘Nkandlagate’ and e-tolls threatened to destroy Zuma. But we were happy to temporarily forget about such depressing issues in favour of remembering the man who fought for our freedom.

For many this was a time to reflect on how much the country has changed in the last 20 years thanks to the work of Mandela and the ANC. For some this will mean a renewed sense of loyalty to the ANC come the 2014 election.

While those who booed Zuma at Tuesday’s Johannesburg memorial service for Mandela are

not necessarily unhappy with the ANC, but rather with the party’s current leadership it seems this chance to focus on Mandela’s values has brought home how out of sync some of our leaders are with his original vision.

It remains to be seen whether citizens will remember this when they go to the ballots next year, but it seems certain that as ordinary South Africans face life without

Madiba, his legacy will continue to influence the political landscape of the country.

“South Africans love to look to the rainbow. Madiba’s death has recreated the optimism of his election, of the rugby and football world cups; his dream and his message. My wish is that when the crowds have returned to their lives we remember Mandela’s dream,” Carr added.

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Each week we profile one of the many writers who contribute to The South African.

Kameel Premhid

Kameel holds a BA and an LLB from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is currently reading for an MPhil in International Relations at the University of Oxford as the KZN Rhodes Scholar for 2013. Kameel writes extensively on politics, law, international relations and other subjects. Usually, he says things that get him into trouble. He also writes for News24voices (http://voices.news24.com/author/kameel-premhid/)Follow him on Twitter:@kameelpremhid

Nelson Mandela’s long walk ends at last

Boo Who?

BY STAFF REPORTER

NELSON Mandela was laid to rest alongside his father, Mphakanyiswa Gadla Henry, his mother Noqaphi Nosekeni and his son Magkatho Lewanika Mandela at the Mandela family farm in rural Qunu in the Eastern Cape shortly before 1pm on Sunday.

Mandela’s burial was part of a private ceremony at the family gravesite witnessed by about 400 invited guests, and accompanied by a South African Air Force fly-past, the sounding of the Last Post, and the performance of traditional rituals to ensure that the Father of the Nation was received by his ancestors.

This followed a moving funeral service at a specially erected giant marquee liberator of the twentieth century”.

Present at the service were royalty, current and former heads of state, and dignitaries including the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sinn Féin leader Jerry Adams, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson

BY KAMEEL PREMHID

SOUTH Africa and the world watched aghast as Jacob Zuma was resoundly booed by the crowd at the Nelson Mandela Memorial service at the FNB Stadium on Tuesday. What was so shocking was the crowd’s audacity to boo a sitting President in front of a world audience at an event of such magnitude.

Many suggest that this was an indication of worse things to come for the ANC. People expressed their voluble and palpable anger by humiliating Zuma for being the antithesis of Nelson Mandela’s legacy. Whereas the former President’s legacy is one of selflessness and sacrifice, of humility and respect for the rule of law, this one is quite the opposite. The argument goes further to say that unless the ANC ditches Zuma, they are going to be in big trouble.

While this is plausible, I would not set too much stock by it. George Osborne was booed at the Olympic Games in London in 2012 but the Tories (Osborne’s party) still enjoy a healthy lead in the polls for economic competence. I do not fancy calling elections based on momentary events.

However, what does draw my attention is the intriguing way in which people have reacted to the booing itself. Many people who are vehement critics of Zuma displayed the strangest double-takes in leaping to his defence. One of my friends

and US media personality Oprah Winfrey.

Famous actors were also in attendance, including Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker and Idris Elba, who has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Nelson Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

“Today marks an end of an extraordinary journey that began 95 years ago,” President Jacob Zuma said in his eulogy to Mandela. “Whilst your long walk to freedom in a physical sense ends, our own journey continues. We will not say goodbye. In our hearts, you will continue to live forever.”

Mandela’s burial brought to a close a 10-day official mourning period which will be remembered for a massive outpouring of love from ordinary people across the country.

Mandela passed away in the company of his family at around 8.50pm on 5 December, 2013 at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg

On Tuesday, a massive memorial

service was held at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium. Over 100 current and former heads of state, kings, sheiks, dignitaries and government representatives attended, as well as tens of thousands of South Africans who danced and sang in celebration of an extraordinary life.

Every morning and afternoon for three days starting on Wednesday, Mandela’s body was transported in procession, down streets lined with singing, cheering, weeping people, to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, where he lay in state under a specially erected structure at the

| Jacob Zuma’s humiliation at the Mandela Memorial at the FNB Stadium may have been distasteful, but it was an essential act of democracy, argues.Kameel Premhid.

who is a particularly sharp Zuma critic went so far so as to describe booing the President as ‘treasonous.’ Considering that he is an altogether rational person, I am going to suggest that this uncharacteristic defence of Zuma was as a result of the emotions that the solemnity of the day evoked.

When I engaged with him on this (and his opinions were widely circulated and liked), he agreed that he may have been overzealous in his characterisation of the President being an act of treason. But there are many, including him, that somehow think booing Zuma was an unspeakable act that deserves to be condemned. Indeed, the SACP and the ANC have said as much.

Choosing to boo Zuma at that particular time was distasteful. While the booing should not be thought of as a watershed moment – more as a passing embarrassing interlude in the Zuma Presidency – there is a lesson here. South Africans can get angry and they can display their anger. One only hopes that if those booing President Zuma are representative of a wider trend and feeling in the country, that people do not only boo President Zuma but that they vote him out too. As symbolic as booing Zuma may be, he remains President of the Republic. If the people have as much power to embarrass him, as the pundits have said, then the people should use their real power and dislodge him from the place they originally put him. Anything less is just some discomforting noise.

newly renamed Nelson Mandela Amphitheatre.

Ahmed Kathrada, in his address at the funeral service, gave perhaps the most heart-rending tribute for his close friend and fellow Robben Island prisoner, saying, “My life is in a void and I do not know who to turn to,” but also adding: “Today, mingled with our grief is the enormous pride that one of us has, during his lifetime and now, in death, united the people of South Africa and the entire world on a scale never seen in history.”

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Madiba Remembered: A London Farewell

The Fake Interpreter: attempted rape, murder, kidnapping, fraud| The fake interpreter who admitted to having hallucinations and visions of angels as his meaningless gestures robbed millions of the opportunity to share in Madiba’s memorial has a history of criminal accusations.

| Nelson Mandela’s friends and comrades paid tribute to the late former president on Wednesday in a London memorial service that was both distinctly British and infused with SA spirit.BY ANAÏS MUTUMBA

NELSON Mandela. A man who rose above his imperfections and changed the world. A testament to his legacy is that even in death he united nations and enemies who came together to remember him at the FNB stadium in Soweto on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, London said its own goodbye to the former president in a memorial service at St-Martin-in-the-Fields church, Trafalgar Square. The multicultural gathering was truly the rainbow nation he dreamed of. The South African national anthem, performed at Mandela’s inauguration in 1994 and the only neo-modal anthem to be sung in five of South Africa’s 11 official languages, was the perfect start to the service, after the initial welcome from Reverend Sam Wells, vicar of St-Martin-in-the-Fields.

Though the atmosphere was sombre, there was a buoyancy from all who got up and spoke. The Master of Ceremonies Reverend Jongi Zihle brought an injection of joviality to the proceedings in true South African style. Many kind words were said as, unified in our grief, we reminisced about the man that was.

Lord Joel Joffe CBE, one of the lawyers who defended Mandela

BY BRETT PETZER

IN an exclusive report, South Africa’s eNCA has been able to establish that the now globally-famous Mandela fake interpreter has faced a string of criminal accusations in the past. Thamsanqa Jantjie, has been convicted of theft in a 1995 case, although it is unclear whether he ever served his original three-year sentence. Jantjie has also been accused of murder, attempted murder and kidnapping (2003), malicious damage to property (1998) and rape (1994, acquitted). Claims have also emerged that

Jantjies is under investigation for fraud in relation to travel allowance claims totalling R1.7 million. To date, no one in government has been able to explain how Jantjies was vetted or how he received security clearance.

eNCA established the accusations and sentencing using court and police records, but several of the court records are incomplete beyond basic information. It is not known whether Jantjies served time, or what became of the accusations.The phalanx of security operatives surrounding a majority of the world’s major political figures are an adequate protection from most outside threats, but little could have been done had Jantjie – who has claimed to have suffered a schizophrenic attack involving hallucinations while standing next to Presidents Obama, Zuma and others – moved to harm one of the heads of state standing immediately beside him.

However, the consensus among DeafSA, the South African Translators’ Institute and local

and international sign language experts has been consistent: Jantjies signed with zero percent accuracy on the momentous occasion of Madiba’s memorial service. Further questions have been raised by the disappearance of the company that employed Jantjies, who is of modest means and who was allegedly paid only R850 for the whole day’s signing. Experienced sign-language interpreters usually charge in the region of R1200 per hour, and it is unheard of for an interpreter to work alone; a pair of professional interpreters will usually relieve each other at short intervals at this level of international event.

It remains to be seen whether, as emails from Washington and London and Beijing and New Delhi and the Vatican fly in over the next few days. It remains to be seen whether, as emails from Washington and London and Beijing and New Delhi and the Vatican fly in over the next few days, our leaders will be quite as deaf to foreign questioning as they are to the home-grown kind.

in the 1963-1964 Rivonia Trial spoke of the man willing to die for the freedom of others and the unforgettable manner with which he and his ANC comrades conducted themselves in court. He recited Mandela’s famous statement from the dock and a description of the courtroom situation that day.Unable to leave the podium without mention of Madiba’s lovely smile and mischievous humour, Lord Joffe told of a time when Mandela spotted him in the audience and said with a cheeky grin, “There is Joel Joffe, who sent me to prison for 27 years.”

Mama Thembi Nobadula, ANC veteran and a participant in the Women’s March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria in 1956, spoke of her second encounter with him – the time she and other women went to ask him why he was bending over backwards to appease those who

had oppressed him. “He treated us like comrades…with a firm handshake he greeted us. He said that the architects of apartheid were the very people that should be liberated first before anything’s done because if those were not liberated then South Africa would not be free. Mandela was a good man, a good listener, he didn’t make anybody feel small. U’Madiba was a man for Africa.”

Sir Sydney Kentridge KCMG, who defended Mandela at the Treason Trial and represented Steve Biko’s family, gave a touching tribute. “His soulfulness, his complete integrity, and above all some quality of leadership was obviously apparent.”

We were honouring Africa’s greatest son, and in that moment it felt like home. I couldn’t help but be hopeful that South Africa would be fine as Madiba showed us the way. It’s up to us now to charter our future.


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BY RONEL VAN ZYLLAST month a number of South Africans gathered in London to support Capetonian writer Marita van der Vyfer and raise funds for the Children’s Hospital Trust, South Africa and their Sarah Fox Foundation: Pallative Care Unit.

Marita van der Vyfer meets South Africans in London


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Dreaming of a South African Xmas? Ten ways to make it feel like one…| When Christmas comes calling I just want to call home. Here is a list of things you can do in the UK to make it feel like a South African Christmas.

BY NICÓL GROBLERCHRISTMAS can be filled with so much joy, everyone always seems to be in a splendid mood, Christmas cheer fills the air, the smell of wholesome food caresses the senses, and there are presents to open.

However, when you are living far away from home and your family is not nearby, Christmas can often leave you feeling nostalgic and a little less than cheerful.

Last year I spent Christmas in Bangkok. All I wanted was something that made it feel like home, but alas I spent it drinking Chang beer on legendary Koh San road, trying to communicate in Thai, while eating Pad Thai, and contemplating deep fried scorpions for dessert.

No Christmas should be spent without a touch of home and childhood memories, so here is a list of things you can do in the UK to make it feel like a South African Christmas.

Cook a potjieThere is nothing more homey than a hearty potjiekos pot. It will take your senses right back to spending evenings in the backyard preparing this appetizing pot, surrounded by laughter and fun.Go to Kew GardensIf you are from Cape Town and enjoyed Kirstenbosch Botanical

Gardens, this is the perfect place to rekindle those memories.

Make mulled wineYou can use any wine but if you

want South Africa’s signature wine go for a nice bottle of Pinotage. You can just drink it straight from the bottle if you are feeling seriously nostalgic, but a good mulled wine can really warm up the Christmas blues.

Make milk tart to have on Christmas EveIf there is any way to make you feel like a kid again, this would be it. Not only is homemade milk tart super yummy, it always seems justified to eat as much of it as possible. No I am mistaken, it seems compulsory to eat all of it, at once. Another option is to make a real ‘boere’ Christmas cake drenched in brandy.

Go to the Slug and Lettuce in WimbledonIf you want to meet some new Saffas or just have a general SA vibe on Christmas Eve, you will probably get it here.

Drink Dom Pedro’s on Christmas dayA delicious mix of vanilla ice-cream and your favourite liquor, preferably Amarula or Kahlua, or whiskey. This will always remind me of the ‘tannies’ in restaurants that religiously have Dom Pedro’s after their meals.

Watch a live bandSouth Africa’s music scene is thriving, and there is one thing that Saffas love to do, and that is go watch their favourite band. There is nothing better than getting lost in the sweet rhythms of a really good band. Whether they come from South Africa is irrelevant, it’s just good to go dancing to some ‘real’ music.

Have a Secret South African Santa

Secret Santa is a great way of getting everyone a cute or silly present, but imagine getting a gift like a packet of biltong or droëwors, Crème Soda, Nik Naks or even Ouma Buttermilk Rusks. Pure Genius! Do your Secret Santa shopping at a South African shop.

Have a spit braai partyGJ’s in Wandsworth will either

cater for you in their urban oasis or come to your place. A spitbraai is an ideal way to warm your winter bones. They marinate and season the pig and cook it to perfection on hot coals for up to eight hours until your party is ready to feasts.

Meet up with some SaffasIf there is anything that will make

you feel at home it will be the presence of other South Africans, better yet, get everyone together and do all of the above.

Would you like to help a child in Aaahfricaa?| What is it with the first world and wanting to fix all the problems on the African continent? It’s was not the first, nor, I imagine, will it be the last time in Australia that I’ll be asked whether I want to contribute to a charity that helps “Africans”.

BY PHILIPPA CROSS

THE children of Africa are used as props the world over to pull at the heartstrings of potential givers: when you’re in Australia, by almost every aid organisation and fundraising event; when you’re in South Africa, at the traffic lights at almost every street corner. But the only reason that those children are sick and hungry is because of corruption. Someone, somewhere, has bought a BMW with the tax money that could have made a huge difference. And I’m not giving another $2 towards a BMW. I have already bought seven. Very soon after I arrived in Australia, I attended a woman’s day fundraiser. I knew that the dinner was to raise funds for something to do with improving the life of women less fortunate than me, but I did not know exactly what that cause was. I discovered at the event that the money from my ticket was being put towards birthing kits for women in Sub Saharan Africa.

What is it with the first-world and wanting to fix all the problems on

the African continent? It’s was not the first, nor, I imagine, will it be the last time in Australia that I’ll be asked whether I want to contribute to a charity that helps “Africans”. I am regularly stopped by UNICEF volunteers on an <irritating> mission to make the world a better place. They call out to me as I negotiate my wayward trolley and two irritable children — “Hi there. Would you like to make a child in Africa’s day?”

Both the woman giving the presentation on birthing kits at the fundraiser and the UNICEF volunteers speak of Africa as if it is a single country, a homogenous place filled with lions and hunter-gatherers, hungry snotty-nosed children and women who would love a birthing kit.

Whenever these heartfelt appeals for charity destined for “Africa” appear before me, they are always accompanied by heart-wrenching pictures of starving women and children surrounded by poverty and disease. When you put $2 in a collection tray in Australia, you think it’s because that situation is unavoidable, sad, tragic, the state of

African countries.When you are South African, you

know that is simply not true.The only reason that those

children are sick and hungry is because of corruption. Someone, somewhere, has bought a BMW with the tax money that could have made a huge difference.

It has taken a lifetime to turn my heart into stone. I resisted for years. In the few years before I left South Africa, I looked around me, seeing decay and dysfunction in so many places, and I begged for the courage, the strength, and the faith to face it and get my hands dirty and be part of the solution.

But my light was not bright enough to withstand the darkness

The Darkness overtook me. I was filled with fear, not love. I was intolerant, not kind. I was dismissive, not caring. I could not be the person God wanted to me to be, nor the person South Africa needed me to be. It is a shame I will never let go of.

As much as you judge me while you read this, know this: I have judged myself a thousand times and found myself wanting, shallow and disappointing.



Khulu Nelson Mandela

TAKE the Hollywood praise and throw it in the sea.

Hollow vessel of fame to claim while withered flesh abates.

Turn from the noise and need.Breathe the dust of your

forefathers. They have been calling you.

Breathe the silence of cell and

loss,Life’s abandoned dreams to cry

alone, to cruelty.To barren stone.Breathe the patience of stars

aligned at last.Hold fast young man, for you

are young again.

You are rain, come to drench the barren land,

the stars to light the night sky with unbridled wonder.

To take our tired eyes, upwards to glory.

You are the lowly, the tired and the aged heart reborn.

The candle to flicker in the dark, to lead us home again.

In you, we are not lost. The mist will come with

daybreak,and in the morning the children

will find your grave.

Unafraid for stone is now your honour, not your shame.

KAREN DE VILLIERS

The OPTIMIST

| A powerful and poetic elegy for Nelson Mandela

Without an effective poaching solution, rhinos could be extinct by 2022

BY GAVRIELLE KIRK-COHEN

WORLD Rhino Day has been and gone in September, but with over 900 rhinos poached in South Africa this year alone, what is actually being done to deter rhino poaching?

The demand for rhino horn for the use of traditional medicine in Asia is leading to the near extinction of our rhinos and our government is debating various possible solutions, unsure as to what measures will actually stop the slaughter.

Various possible solutions have been tried and proposed, but as of yet nothing seems to be entirely effective, because we have now surpassed last year’s record number of rhinos poached in South Africa.

The South African government has been involved in ongoing debates about legalising the trade in rhino horn. The argument for legalising the trade is that it will enable the market to be regulated and will bring down the price for rhino horn thereby reducing the incentive to poach.

However, a recent study in Vietnam, sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), shows that the demand for rhino horn is actually far greater than originally assumed.

Besides the regular consumers of rhino horn, there is another group of potential consumer called “intenders” who intend to buy rhino horn as soon as it becomes affordable.

The demand for rhino horn is

fuelled not only by its popularity in traditional Asian medicine but also because it is seen as a status symbol.

The findings of this study have thus cast doubt on the feasibility of legalising the trade in rhino horn, as future demand will probably far surpass the supply of stockpiled and harvested horns.

In a letter posted on www.rhinodotcom.com, John

Hume suggests that the most viable option to deter poaching is by putting some of our rhino in the custody of the communities and black emergent farmers.

He feels that if game owners and breeders engage the local rural communities and teach them how to breed and look after the rhinos, it will generate an income for the communities and will encourage them to protect and guard the rhinos as it will be a part of their livelihoods. It will completely change local communities’ attitudes towards poaching and rhinos and will encourage more people to get involved in the conservation of our rhinos.

Hume suggests donating 4,800 rhinos to rural communities and he believes that if the communities are able to increase the rhino population as has been done over the last 50 years, as a result of conservation efforts, then in 25 years time the communities will own 29,000. However, he says that the only way in which this model will be successful is if the trade in rhino horn is legalised and the

| Various possible solutions have been tried and proposed, but as of yet nothing seems to be entirely effective – we have now surpassed last year’s record number of rhinos poached in South Africa.

communities can reap the rewards of selling farmed rhino horn.

Another, more controversial solution is to inject poison into the horns.

A large game reserve in South Africa, Sabi Sabi, has injected over 100 rhinos’ horns with a mixture of pesticides and indelible pink dye.

Consumption of these poisoned horns will not actually kill the consumer but will make them “seriously ill.”

The toxins are not harmful to the rhinos as it is merely injected into the horn and do not come near to the rhino’s blood stream. The pink dye acts as an indicator and clear warning to poachers and consumers alike that the horns have been poisoned. The dye is even visible once the horns have been ground into a fine powder and can also be detected by airport scanners.

And whilst this method is proving effective on the game farms which are poisoning the horns of all their rhinos, it is still problematic because it is a highly costly exercise and it is impossible to dye the horns of all the rhinos in the larger national parks because of a lack of resources.

The above solutions as well as 24/7 guards patrolling rhinos, increased anti-poaching units and dehorning are still not being done on a large enough scale to properly deter rhino poaching and if an effective solution is not found soon, we could lose all our rhinos by 2022.

They will spell your name and say:

‘Khulu Mandela, it is my time now’.

Rising in their blood again, they

will take the soil of Africaand throw it to the singing grass

before they start their journey. Taking you with them, young

man Mandela. Taking you with them.

You are the song in the singing grass. You are the wind and rain.

And you are whole again.Too great for this world to keep.

To great to be forgotten.Khulu Mandela. I bow and let

you sleep.

| Rhino horn treatment, dye and poison going in under pressure.

| Rhino horns are removed to prevent poaching.



BY STAFF REPORTERESTABLISHED in 1989, Bouchard Finlayson is a small, award-winning cellar dedicated to the quality production of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc of outstanding quality. Under the leadership of Victoria Tollman and renowned winemaker Peter Finlayson, the name Bouchard Finlayson has become internationally synonymous with excellence, making it one of the top wineries in South Africa.

Peter Finlayson tells us why winemaking is a sport, poetry and opera all rolled into one.How did you get involved in the wine industry?Pre-adolescence does not allow one to have a taste and interest in wine! But having grown up on a wine farm – my father owned Hartenberg from 1948-1976, I probably listened to more discussion surrounding the subject than I realised. The beauty of the Cape mountains also influenced my desire to remain in touch with these wonderful surroundings – wine would keep me in the Cape.

I graduated in oenology at Stellenbosch University and furthered my studies at Geisenheim in the Rheingau. A period at the fledgling Boschendal winery, between

| There are few places in the world where vineyards melt into the scenery more majestically than in the Hemel-en-Aarde (‘Heaven and Earth’) Valley – home to the Tollman family-owned Bouchard Finlayson Vineyard and Winery. Located on South Africa’s Southern Cape coast, the area is defined by the backdrop of magnificent mountains and the roar of the wild oceans of the southern seas.

‘Winemaking is sport, poetry and opera all rolled into one’

1976 and 1979, was followed by the challenge of setting up and running the first winery in the Hemel-en-Aarde valley.Tell us more about yourself?I love nature and follow the connoisseur’s experience of marvelling at all things scientific, in particular the living sciences. I also love photography coupled with nature and wildlife, going to sea, fishing and exploring. I like to explore new places and think out of the box. My holidays tend to be a little daring, visiting and discovering remote locations! Cooking and flavours are a natural fringe talent to winemaking. I also hope to get back into my Yoga discipline soon – an essential ingredient for a balanced life.Describe the craft of winemaking?I often describe winemaking as a sport, in the sense that the game starts when the harvest dictates – there’s no turning back. Then, at the other end of the winemaking journey, the wine in the bottle enjoys ‘spectator comment’. The bottling of 20 000 bottles will easily enjoy 50 000 spectators. The quality and taste interpretation of wine is highly subjective and as with sportsmen, winemakers can enjoy varied levels of popularity and respect which spills over into their efforts. Winemaking is also physically demanding, requiring both mental and body stamina

during harvest. It is a six week marathon, achieving the base product to work with for the rest of the year.At the same time there also seems to be an artistic element involved?Perhaps this is as much about the romance of the wine culture and the outer image surrounding vineyards and winemaking. Maintaining wine ambiance and knowing that one is working in harmony with the senses requires a constant need to be in touch with your feelings and respecting that outer perception. Thinking poetically and artistically is ever so important. Take our flagship Galpin Peak Pinot noir for example – the cultivar is like opera: when it is great it is pure seduction, almost hedonistic.

There is no middle road.Pinot Noir has a reputation for being a challenging varietal, yet it is your specialty. What is the secret?There is generally a battle to make good Pinot noir wines internationally, as it is in fact a ‘white wine variety’ and only makes great red Pinot noir wines under special conditions. The Hemel-en-Aarde Valley is actually quite unique in this regard – it has ideal conditions for Pinot noir, namely cool Atlantic Ocean moderating temperatures coupled with very dense heavy clay soils.Bouchard Finlayson produces a range of award-winning wines, but the Tête de Cuvée is undisputedly known as your Icon wine. What makes it so

special?Tête de Cuvée is my author’s licence to try and choose the best Pinot noir cuvée in the cellar. In solid vintages of real quality I select the best 12 barrels of Pinot noir in the cellar and produce a choice bottling, which is intended as the ‘cameo’ wine from the cellar. Normally it enjoys a high new content of first year French oak barrels. It has over the years been a big part of our success. We have just released the 2010 vintage which is our best Pinot noir vintage since 2005 and 2007. We already won Gold for it at the internationally renowned 2013 Decanter World Wine Awards in London, and it achieved a stellar 93 points in Wine Spectator Magazine USA.



| With Christmas approaching, Louis Holtzhausen presents a selection of five festive South African wines and bubblies.

Five festive South African wines and bubblies to share this Christmas

I recently went to South Africa and had a round trip of some of our wine producers. Seeing the wine making process in action just emphasised to me how wonderful some of these wines are.

With Christmas approaching I thought I would remind everyone of some of our festive treats:Fizz:BOSCHENDAL LE GRAND PAVILLION BRUT ROSE NV£11.10

Exceptionally pleasing on the eye as well as the palate, Le Grand Pavillion Brut Rosé sparkles with versatility, making it ideal for enjoying at the festive season. With enough body to be enjoyed with canapés and starters or for a toast with the Queens speech!White wines:KLEIN CONSTANTIA KC SAUVIGNON BLANC 2012£8.65

Cut grass on the nose gives the Sauvignon Blanc away! A fresh green appearance. Melon, green fig and kiwi fruit aromas abound. The complex palate is rich and juicy with a fresh, flinty finish.EUVRARD FAMILY ORANGERIE WHITE 2011£18.55

The grapes were hand selected

and vinified together for one reason only – just three barrels were made! Chenin Blanc is the base of this blend for the fruitiness; the Semillon gives in a way the freshness and the Viognier and Chardonnay the floral and fullness. A stonking white wine that will please even the fussiest of in-laws!Red Wines:AA BADENHORST SECATEUR RED 2011£9.45

The Secateurs Red Blend has a light raspberry, spicy and savoury scented bouquet that is vibrant and demonstrates wonderful clarity. The palate is medium-bodied with fresh, ripe raspberries and red currant fruit. Pure with supple tannins followed with a clean mineral finish!

Perfect for lighter Christmas fare!EUVRARD FAMILY ORANGERIE RED 2009£18.55

The aromas of dark cherry and savoury in the 2009 vintage comes to mind first and has a good long finish with some earthiness and firm tannins. I so enjoy Pieter’s wines and cannot praise it enough.

Great with any form of red meat and yet enough elegance to be thoroughly enjoyed with Turkey and all the trimmings! Once again only 600 bottles produced!

This wine can be enjoyed now or left for a couple of years before opening.

Let me know if we can help in any way with decision making over the festive season.

| She couldn’t have been a year younger than 80, could barely see over the dashboard, but there it was, sure enough, this little wrinkly hand that slowly reached up to the rear-view mirror with her middle finger outstretched, all the while scowling back at me.

BY KATYPOTATIE

THIS morning I was given the middle finger by a little grey-haired lady driving a Nissan Micra who had mistakenly read my flashing lights letting her pull into the gap in front of me, as something else.

I must hand it to her – She couldn’t have been a year younger than 80, could barely see over the dashboard, but there it was, sure enough, this little wrinkly hand that slowly reached up to the rear-view mirror with her middle finger outstretched, all the while scowling back at me.

I just smiled, and waved. As one does.

The pleasure of living in the countryside brings a wealth of amusing anecdotes that daily remind me that we all share a common humanity and need to feel accepted and respected. And the Micra-Driving-Old-Gal was no different.

Not too long ago in our village, I’d heard that our neighbour across the road had passed away and once the dust had settled, I decided to venture over to pay my respects to her children who were busy clearing out her home. I’d hardly spoken my first few words, and was rebuffed with a slight nose-turned-upwards, “Oh, we’d heard there was a Polish lady living in our street”. I didn’t have a chance to finish my sentence, but smiled, wished them well and calmly walked back home, as they continued to load the Welsh Dresser into the back of their Land Rover Discovery.

Pondering these interchanges, while sucking the Rooibos tea from my dunked Ouma rusk, it puzzles me. I want to understand why I find myself slightly ebbed at being referred to as an immigrant (because, technically, I am). But it’s the tone… immigrant. The “come-to-take-our-jobs” immigrant. The “living-

on-benefits-while-I-foot-the-bill” immigrant. That awkward silence that falls on conversation when someone makes an immigrant-based comment and then realises that you’re sitting in the room.

I start to think about the tiny one-horse-dorpie in the middle of a well-known, much-visited wine route in the Western Cape where Mom and Dad live. I think about the English-Afrikaans language barrier and I think about the “other side of town” that nobody really speaks about, or visits, except out of necessity. And I realise that this little interchange is no different. As foreign as I feel, it becomes clear to me that any little town, which has an intense focus on its local community, where everyone knows everyone (and subsequently everyone else’s business), is the same – regardless of where you travel to, or live. I experienced the same in the little town of Yuanlin, Taiwan, where I lived for 2 years. I experienced the same in the tiniest dorpies of South Africa, and now I am discovering the same in the UK. It is, unfortunately, the trademark of a small town: a tight-knit community who likes things as it is, and may not be keen for non-members to make changes to the idyllic part of their perfect picture. I understand that. I accept that.

But I am stubborn, and I want to belong.

So as my personal little mission continues to try and scrape through the heavy outer crust of the All Things Bright And Beautiful community, through the layers of Who-Dunnit and What’d-She-Say, hopefully (just hopefully), I’ll find that precious gem that lies beneath. That little piece of truth that Maslow called Self-Actualisation, and finally be able to plant my own roots in this little community that I am learning to call home.

I will belong. Armed with my Rooibos and an Ouma, I will.



| A young boy spends his days on the streets begging for money

| Johannesburg

| Springbok supporters get together to support the Bokke on the field.

| Mzoli’s, Cape Town, one of South Africa’s favourite hangouts on Saturdays.

On moving back to South AfricaBY SUSAN HAYDEN

WHEN I moved back to South Africa after spending nearly a decade in northern Europe, it was with no small measure of shock that I realised I had forgotten how to live in this country. It wasn’t just the small things like not knowing where to buy stuff or at what age kids here go to school – it was a culture shock which took me entirely by surprise, having longed and yearned for home during most of my time away. In retrospect, what happened was that I lost my tough outer shell.

During those years of living in a place where egalitarianism is the norm; where nobody goes hungry and almost everybody had a roof over their heads, the thick skin you need to live in South Africa had grown soft. I couldn’t cope with the children begging at the traffic lights and the thin women with babies who knocked on the front door asking for food. Once, in Pick n Pay, I found myself behind a woman with two things in her basket – pilchards and rice. That was obviously all she could afford. Yet, she continued to walk up and down the aisles as if, magically, the contents of her wallet would increase the longer she hung around. I had to leave the shop; I couldn’t bear it.

I gave to everyone who asked me. In those early months I parted with vast sums of money.

| During those years of living in a place where egalitarianism is the norm; where nobody goes hungry and almost everybody had a roof over their heads, the thick skin you need to live in SA had grown soft.

One morning I gave an old man nearly blind with cataracts R500 so that he wouldn’t be evicted from the room he shared with his son. I would stand behind people in queues and pay for all their groceries. I was in despair, and utterly outraged by the wealth surrounding the poverty and the collective blindness everyone down here seemed to practice. I shook my head at the people waving the children away from their 4X4s – as no doubt my friends shook their heads at me, wondering how I was ever going to survive living back in this country.

Then, slowly, I became immunised like everybody else. I started being more selective about who I helped; stopped taking every sob story at face value. One day a man whose groceries I was paying for asked me to hang on a second and dashed off for five minutes, coming back with wine, salmon pate and imported crackers. I hired somebody to clean and look after the girls. Before I knew it I was attending meetings with her grandson’s school principal; buying stationary for her cousin’s child, bankrolling the entire family and – by the way – being taken for the biggest ride. Slowly I started to realise I was behaving like a total imbecile, and if I couldn’t come to grips with my white guilt and accept South Africa for what it was I would be better off living in Perth.

Eventually, I stopped giving to people on the street. I guess I got tired of it – the constant, relentless need and the tales of woe coming at me each time I walked out my front door. And the gaping black hole no amount of R5 coins will ever fill. At first I was horrified by this callous version of myself. Now I’ve made peace with her. There is no other way. Random acts of kindness just don’t work down here. You need to get over yourself and understand where you’re living. The complexity of our socio-political context is impenetrable to foreigners, and you have to have lived here a long time to get it. It’s everything and nothing to do with race and colour. It’s the wild west where dog eats dog and survival of the fittest is the ethos you have to practice, even while you’re acutely aware of the injustices. It’s brutal, and you have no choice but to be as tough as nails.

You make a decision about how you’re going to give, whether of your time or your money, and then you draw the line. You pay people well, care about their families and behave like a decent human being, but you institute boundaries and you stick to them. And, paradoxically, South Africa remains the warmest, friendliest (dare I say ‘happiest’?) country I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to many. I live in a road with a couple of B&Bs. I’m regularly accosted by tourists who want to tell me how much they love my country and its people – how they’ve never encountered such warmth and generosity of spirit and that they can’t wait to come back. And I have to agree – it’s a crazy place, but it’s beautiful and vibrant and alive. It buzzes with a kind of energy that makes me feel like I can do anything I choose. And what I probably love most of all is the freedom and the open-endedness of life down here; there is something which makes the human spirit sing. A sort of wonder at being alive which Europe – for all its fabulous old buildings – lacks. For reasons I can’t really qualify, it seems to fill people with joy.

So, what I’ve learnt over the past four years is that I can’t save Africa and, frankly, I’ve started to wonder whether it needs my saving. A while back I got a whatsapp from a friend who receives daily words of wisdom and counsel from a sage by the

name of Abraham, and it was a message that challenged the way I see this country. It said, what if there is nothing ‘wrong’ with South Africa? What if it simply operates by a different set of standards and norms? What if the ‘problems’ are about us and our perceptions and that there is nothing, in fact, to fix?

Of course I interpret this in my personal paradigm that nothing is random and that this earth realm is the school of hard knocks. We come here for a certain type of experience, and we choose our setting accordingly. No, this doesn’t exempt us from doing the right thing and giving whatever we can, but it does serve as a

type of reminder not to take too much to heart; to step back a bit and observe rather than taking everything on as a personal battle. Practice love. Be a good human being. But, it is what it is. It was the a-ha moment I’d been needing all along. You don’t always have to understand things to love them. Sometimes it’s the complexity and the mystery that create the firmest grip on our hearts. We all have different ways of interpreting our truth, but I felt like I ‘got’ it at last. And what a relief to lay down my panga.Read more of Susan’s blog on http://discopantsblog.com


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BY COURTNEIGH HUMPHRISS

THE Rand continuously strengthened its standing against the Pound since last week. It has gradually gained its footing against all of the major currencies and seems to have solidified its standing at 16.85 GBP/ZAR this morning.

This week we will see important data coming out of the UK which may affect the Pound’s strength.

Rand strengthens more on last week’s recovery

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GBP Consumer Price Index and GBP Core Consumer Price Index data will be released on Tuesday morning. The CPI is the key measure of inflation for the UK and is used by the Bank of England in making interest rate decisions. This will therefore affect how the currency trades in markets.

There will also be a release of US Consumer Price Index data which has the same effect on inflation and purchasing power. As the

:: Note: The above exchange rates are based on “interbank” rates. Make use of a Rate Notifier to send you alerts when the South African exchange rate reaches levels you are looking for. For expert financial advice on tax, foreign exchange and more, make ‘first contact with us at 1stcontact.com

Pound and the US Dollar are two of the major world currencies, this would be good data to keep an eye on. It will be good to see the effect that both sets of data will have on the markets. USD Federal Open Market Committee Rate Decision data will be released on Wednesday afternoon which is also very important data that could have an effect on the markets. This will be the announcement of whether the Federal Reserve has

increased, decreased or maintained the key interest rate.

As seen above, although the Rand has stabilised itself, this could be uncertain due to the amount of high importance data for major currencies being released this week. I am sure this will keep traders watching the data closely with bated breath.

GBP / ZAR: 16.87EUR / ZAR: 14.21USD / ZAR: 10.33NZD / ZAR: 8.54Exchange rates as of 9:30

(GMT), 16 December 2013.


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Job creation in South Africa – two steps forward, one step back| SA, beset by massive long-term unemployment, has added a mere 1,000 non-farm private-sector jobs in the last quarterBY BRETT PETZER

THE release of Statistics South Africa’s (Stats SA) Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) this week shows in hard fact what many South Africans feel in their budgeting, their shopping and in their cities and rural areas: job creation is flatlining. In the same period in which growth slowed to a four-year low, South Africa produced only 1,000 non-farm private-sector jobs overall. The survey’s results were grimmer than expected partly because the Employment Survey is based on in-depth interviews with private sector managers, as opposed to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, which includes farm jobs.

The QES points towards a particularly grim financial 2012-3 in which manufacturing contracted, construction growth remained muted and job growth was lacklustre, with the only new hiring being done by the public sector. Total employment remains below South Africa’s peak leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, while the country has added just 1 160 jobs per month on average over the last 12 months.

Economists are in consensus that continuing weak economic growth is the main reason for the shedding of jobs in production and the minimal growth in service-sector jobs. None of this is likely to improve as South Africa prepares for what might well be the most consequential election since democracy in 1994.

BY BRETT PETZER

EXPATRIATES would be well advised to lock their pantries. Rooibos Limited, the tea giant that provides 90-95 per cent of South African rooibos and meets 50-60 per cent of world demand, has announced that the price of the tea will rise sharply in the coming year on the back of growing demand in South Africa and abroad, as well as a poor 2013 harvest.

The iconic South African tea (Aspalathus linearis) grows only in the Cederberg Mountains 250km north of Cape Town. This small geographic range ties the fortunes of the rooibos industry to the fragile climate of this semi-desert region, in which climate change

British citizenship and unresolved tax issues

BY STAFF REPORTER

IT is important to keep in mind that the UK Home Office undertakes certain checks in relation to applications for British citizenship including a check that an applicant’s tax affairs are up to date. This is all pertaining to the good character requirement that an applicant is required to fulfill, which includes the duty and

obligation to pay income tax and National Insurance contributions. When signing your application form for British citizenship, you will be giving consent to the UK Home Office to check with H.M. Revenue & Customs to confirm that your tax affairs are in order.

If someone has unsolved tax issues, there is a substantial risk that the application will be rejected. If citizenship is refused,

the UK Home Office will not cancel the Indefinite Leave to Remain, but may well confirm that a further application for citizenship can only be submitted after the tax issues has been resolved.

BIC therefore strongly recommends that persons wanting to apply for British citizenship ensure that all outstanding tax and NI issues are resolved before submitting an application.

For more information, please contact our offices at [email protected] or phone us in London on 0845 074 0514.JP BreytenbachDirector of BIC, Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants Limited.www.bic-immigration.com or [email protected]

Rooibos price shoots up on back of worldwide demand

| Sometimes clients have outstanding tax issues when they get to a point where they should be able to qualify for British citizenship.

| Prices for rooibos, a tea consumed in a growing number of countries, are expected to rise sharply on the back of weak 2013 harvests and strong worldwide and South African demand. Lock your pantries, expats! is already beginning to make

itself felt in the form of long-term drying and warming.

Rooibos, as many expats cut off from their usual supply will know, has a unique taste that refreshes but also contains no caffeine. These and other, subtler health benefits have driven demand for the tea overseas. They have also spurred the greed of international cosmetics and health food supplement companies, some of whom have tried – as yet unsuccessfully – to appropriate and even copyright the plant.

However, in the event that supply is interrupted, expats in the UK might head down to London’s Trafalgar Hotel for a ‘roispresso’, a shot of antioxidant-rich rooibos combined with superfoods like ginseng or guarana and warm milk.

12 | 17 - 23 December2013 | thesouthafrican.com

Follow us on Twitter:@TheSAnewsBusiness: Classifieds

CAMBRIDGE & VILLAGESToft Shop – Village Shop & Post OfficeWith a South African section selling all your favourite tastes from home! Pop in and pick up your treats – Biltong; Boerewors; Koeksisters; Rusks; Sweets; Chips; Groceries etc. Web: www.ToftShop.co.ukTel: 01223 262 204. CB23 2RL

SUSMAN’S BEST BEEF BILTONG CO LTDIf you’re missing home give us a call, supplying you with all your favourite South African products and more. Phone: 01273 516160 Fax: 01273 51665 Web:www.biltong.co.uk Email:[email protected]

NO1 SOUTH AFRICAN SHOPLots of lekker stuff for a taste of home. Including fantastic biltong, droewors and boerewors. 5 Marlow Drive, St Catherines Hill, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 2RR. The shop is about 2 miles north-west of Christchurch town centre and 6 miles north-east of Bournemouth town centre. There’s loads of free parking and the shop is easy to get to from the A338. Tel: 01202 49604110’ish to 6pm 7 days a week.www.no1southafricanshop.co.uk

THE CHICHESTER BILTONG COMPANYwww.biltongcompany.co.ukThe best of British from a friendly bunch of South Africans who made Sussex our home. But there was one thing we couldnt live without from our native land..Biltong! So we made our own using traditional recipes handed down through generations. We only use the finest prime British beef!Get our “readers 10% EXTRA FREE” offer by using the VOUCHER CODE ‘SA10’

KALAHARI MOONThe Southern African Shop in Bristol.Wide range of stock including excellent boerewors and biltong. Centrally situated, friendly service. Connecting South Africans. Tel: 0117 929 9879 Address: 88 - 91 The Covered Market. st Nicholas Market, Corn Street, Bristol, BS1 1JQ Email: [email protected] Website: www.kalaharimoon.co.uk

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SAVANNAGood friendly customer service is Savanna’s core principle. Our standards are high, and our rapidly-expanding network of shops are clean and bright and well-laid out, with friendly first-rate staff. Find us at: 20-22 Worple Road, Wimbledon London SW19 4DH Call us at: 0208 971 9177 Online: [email protected]

ST MARCUSOne of the most amazing emporia the capital offers to the carnivorous gourmet. People have been flocking to St. Marcus for their amazing range of Biltong & BoereworsVisit us at: 1-3 Rockingham Close, Priory Lane, off Upper Richmond Road West, Roehampton, London SW15 5RWCall us at: 0208 878 1898Online: [email protected]

THE AFRICAN CORNER Three miles off Junction 26 of the M5 in the centre of Wellington, Somerset, TA21 8LS.A family run business for your Padkos. Biltong, Boerewors, Droewors, Rusks and other Nik Naks. Pull in if you’re in the West Country or find us online at www.theafricancorner.co.uk and we’ll come to you.Email: [email protected]: 01823 619184

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THE SPRINGBOK CAFÉThe Springbok Café offers traditional South African food, wine and beers served with a smile in a friendly atmosphere. All this plus the option to grab your favourite S.A. groceries before you leave after relaxing and kuierring with us for a while.The Springbok Café` Ltd, 1 East Reach, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 3EN, 01823 254966,thespringbokcafe.co.uk

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| The Mother City is pulling out all the stops this year to welcome visitors from SA and abroad. Aside from the breathtaking scenery and the lifestyle of the fairest Cape, the city has planned several major attractions to welcome holidaymakersBY BRETT PETZER

Cape Town Summer Market, 14-30 December and Langa Market, 20-24 December

The Market formerly known as the Adderley Street Night Market opens from Saturday to the next Sunday and spreads wonderfully inventive food stalls down the length of Government Avenue and the Company’s Garden.

Quality hand-made gifts and refreshments can be had here for far less than in the shops, and the experience of shopping together and browsing lends a village ambiance to this most beautiful of public spaces. This year, the market will have a twin in Langa, Cape Town’s oldest township and a resurgent destination in its own right.

The Langa Summer Market will run from Friday to the following Tuesday in the Langa Quarter just off the N2.

Old Mutual Summer Sunset Concerts at Kirstenbosch

The Mother City’s most popular series of outdoor concerts returns as the Old Mutual Summer Sunset Concerts rock the music-loving

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens once again until April 2014.

Festive highlights include:22 Dec 2013: Mango Groove31 Dec 2013: New Year’s Eve

party with Goldfish | Yoav & Tailor

29 Dec 2013: Oliver Mtukudzi5 Jan 2014: The Parlotones12 Jan 2014: MACSTANLEY,

Craig Hinds, Ard Matthews19 Jan 2014: Johnny Clegg

Christmas Choirs, 24 December

The city’s bands and choirs will perform traditional and Christmas music in the city centre.

Cape Town New Year’s Eve at the Grande Parade , 31 December, 6pm

Count down to the New Year and to Cape Town’s World Design Capital status with thousands of locals and visitors at the Grand Parade in front of historic City Hall (visitors from the UK will be especially interested to know that, apart from the fact that Nelson Mandela spoke from here after being released from prison in 1990, Queen Elizabeth II had her 21st birthday in the main hall).

| The World Cup 2010 Fan-walk, Cape Town

From 6pm, some of the most acclaimed musicians in South Africa will be on stage, including DJs Ready D and DJ Fresh from 5fm as well as Toya DeLazy.

Nagtroepe/ Cape Minstrels Carnival

The New Year’s Eve “Nagtroupe” parade will commence after the New Year’s Eve party at 00:30 on

1 January 2014.On Saturday, 4 January 2014,

the minstrels will to ring in the New Year with the annual street march. The event has been changed to 4 January 2014 to accommodate Muslim residents and visitors who celebrate a holy night on Thursday, 2 January 2014.to religious reasons (Thursday being a Holy night for Muslims).

African Nations Championship 2014 (Football), 11 January – 1 February 2014

A variety of matches will be played at the city’s two flagship stadia, Athlone and Green Point’s Cape Town Stadium, during the championship. The city will also host the opening and closing ceremonies.

December with a big difference in Darling| Evita is ready to liven up your Christmas holiday and invites all South African expats to come home and join her in a very festive silly season in Darling.

BY STAFF REPORTER

HELLO, all you South Africans shivering in the freeze of a London winter! December is the perfect time to fly back to South Africa and visit Darling. It’s an hour from Cape Town up the R27. Come and spend a stress-free, hilarious few hours at Evita se Perron. Pieter-Dirk Uys will present Seven different shows during the festive season.

The Perron Café serves legendary dishes like melktert, koeksisters, Tannie Evita’s bobotie and Sophia’s Roast Chicken, as well as traditional delicacies like biltong, droewors, Darling olives, Darling beer and the best wines. Booking with Beryl is essential at [email protected] – 022 492 3930.

Shows exclusive to Evita se Perron during December and

January are:‘Tannie Evita Praat Kaktus’ – now

in its 15th year, this revisionist history of South Africa (in English) is a must for any visitor and a delight for any local. It also focuses on the upcoming General Election in 2014.

‘Desperate First Ladies’ sees Uys present a chorus line of characters, some real, some created and all inspired by the unique fact of four First Ladies and a local political circus that takes the breath away.

‘Adapt or Fly’ shows the state of our nation thirty years after Uys’s first one man show Adapt or Dye. It played to packed houses throughout South Africa, so if you missed it, here’s your chance to catch up with what happened yesterday.

‘Icons & Aikonas’ is a comedy specially written for the Perron and reflects those who were once leaders and those who are now statesmen. Led by Tannie Evita who believes that we must know where we come from, so we can celebrate where we are going, characters include former Police Minister Adrian Vlok washing Thabo Mbeki’s feet, Bennie the bergie with a mission to see Trevor Manuel as President, Winnie

Mandela and her remarkable staying power as the Mother of the Nation, Nowell Fine confrontin yet another kugel crisis, Mrs Mugabe singing her Bob’s praises, as well as a few new onslaughts against the battlements of Zuma’s Private Zulustan of Nkandlakosweti.

‘Tannie Evita’s Christmas tree’ celebrates with Christmas cheer, funny hats, a song or two, and all the presents from Evita that our politicians expect or dread coming their way this festive season.

‘Evita says Goodbye 2012’ can be shared those few days before this year says a tired totsiens, and we have a peep across the auld lang syne to 2013.

Evita se Perron is the ideal place to ask your loved ones in SA to take you as a birthday or Christmas treat, and as a welcome home from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA or Europe, or just for the fun of coming to a town called Darling to see South Africa’s most famous white woman in action. Just because Evita Bezuidenhout doesn’t exist, don’t mean she’s not real!

Check the website on www.evita.co.za

Heading South for Christmas? Cape Town set for best festive season yet


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Zimbabwe aims to be among Africa’s top five gold producers in next three years| Zimbabwe’s gold sector is slowly recovering after declining sharply in the last decade after output of the precious metal reached an all-time low of 3.0 tonnes in 2008 from a peak of 29 tonnes in 1999.NY STARFF REPORTER

ZIMBABWE is aiming to become one of the top five gold producing countries in Africa within the next three years, according to Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa.

Zimbabwe’s gold sector is slowly recovering after declining sharply in the last decade after output of the precious metal reached an all-time low of 3.0 tonnes in 2008 from a peak of 29 tonnes in 1999. Last year, Zimbabwe’s gold output reached 14 tonnes, while this year’s target is 17 tonnes.

Chinamasa said on Sunday that the government would implement various strategies to boost gold output. “Our intention is to re-organise the gold sector. We want to become one of the top five if not top four gold producing countries on the continent in the coming three years,” he said.

“We are going to seek to decriminalise gold panners, recognise their operations; we will seek to capacitate them with machinery and I have been talking to people who can assist in that regard.”

Chinamasa said legalising the operations of gold panners was crucial if the country was to realise a substantial increase in

gold output.He said Zimbabwe had more

than 20 000 gold panners whose output, if properly accounted for, would significantly increase the country’s gold output.

The Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe has said that gold production could reach 50 tonnes in the next five years. However, this was dependant on the gold sector securing 1.0 billion USD

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in fresh capital over the next five years, and the availability of reliable power supplies.

South Africa, which produced 290 tonnes of gold last year, is the top producer of the yellow metal on the continent, followed by Ghana which produced about 89 tonnes in 2012. Mali, Tanzania and Guinea complete the top five gold producing countries in Africa. – SAnews.gov.za

15thesouthafrican.com | 17 - 23 December |

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Active Touch is the best indoor sport

Meet Tokelo ‘TK’ Rantie, AFC Bournemouth’s new South African footballer| We interview Tokelo “TK” Rantie, one of Bafana Bafana’s glowing talents, now playing for recently promoted Championship side AFC Bournemouth.

BY TRACY ANDREW

FULLY loaded and ready to go, it’s that time of year that we all await. Finals week! Next week will see the culmination of skills learnt over the past Active Touch season put on show. An awesome game incorporating elements of touch, netball, ultimate Frisbee and basketball, Active Touch is the game taking the UK by storm. Kicking off its origins in the lovely Scottish Highlands, this newly developed game is highly addictive, and after one game we KNOW you will be hooked (as told by many of this seasons new players). Played with four players on the field at any one time (per team), you must have a minimum of two females.

Continuing again this season was our Putney/Wandsworth venue along with our NEW venue at Canary Wharf! A well-known London Touch Rugby club, Hot Custard, has this season been showing their well rivalled skill set on both Tuesday and Thursday nights. Dominating both nights, will this be enough game play for them to take on the reigning champs Bareback Riders on Thursday night? With the Barebacks only losing one game this season, they will be bringing out their A-game to keep the winner’s trophy in their corner.

JUSTIN COHEN

THE diverse nationalities represented in the English Premier League are well documented and South African footballers have been coming to UK shores for decades now.

One of the country’s recently promoted Championship sides, AFC Bournemouth, is now home to one of Bafana Bafana’s glowing talents, Tokelo “TK” Rantie. Our reporter in Bournemouth, Justin Cohen, caught up with TK for a chat after his first game for “The Cherries”.English football in South Africa is hugely popular. Was there a specific point when you remember wanting to play overseas?When you’re in South Africa, it’s seen as a thrill to play in England. Most players will tell you they want to play over here. For me to be given the opportunity to be over here, it’s something huge. I’ve been dreaming about this for years!Did you follow an English team when you were growing up?Yes, I am a BIG Man United fan! I’ve been watching them since I was young.Any favourite players?Not really when growing up, but since I started taking football seriously, I’ve started liking Wayne Rooney a lot. I admire his style of play which is so different to most

As this season has progressed, so has the way in which the game is played. Players, both new and old have learnt to incorporate many new tactics in how to play the game. With each week, the knowledge gained has bought about some extremely good game play. Skills have improved, and from the beginning of the season to now, the game runs a lot more smoothly with many plays being carried out looking effortless.

Not only does the game incorporate the skills of various sports, but it is also a game that teaches you to think and react quickly. Testing your reaction time, whilst also showing that timing is everything. It has taught players to slow down and speed up the ‘play’ when needed. Players have also learnt that communication is key, helping the newer players to learn the game with much more ease.

Our finals at both Canary Wharf and Putney/Wandsworth will see games played down to the wire. It will be fast paced, and competition mode with kick in to all players. Playing with an ‘In it to win it’ attitude, make sure to keep an eye out for the results next week. The games are set to be nail biters!If anyone is interested in entering a team or even entering as an individual for our 2014 Winter Active Touch Leagues then please feel free to email [email protected] or you can have a look at our website for some more information, www.in2touch.com

other players.You’ve played in a few countries now (Orlando Pirates in SA, Malmo FC in Sweden, AFC Bournemouth in UK). How does this style of football differ?You know, in SA, players are so skilful. But the style is so different here. The tempo is really high – in every aspect of the game! I feel like there is so much I can learn here – I’m happy that this opportunity came at the right time, while I’m in a process of learning.What are your future ambitions?I want to play where my talent is appreciated. I don’t worry about where I am in country or club, I just want to work hard for my team. I do have one team that I’d love to play for later in my career, which is Real Madrid. But I don’t want to think about that now – it’s something that will come if I’m ready in the future. A bonus!In your first game for The Cherries you came on in the second half and almost scored within a couple of minutes. How was it for you?It was made easy for me by my team mates. I’ve only been here a few days, but they’ve really made me feel welcome – like I’m home. The game was an amazing feeling and the fans are incredible.Do you do anything else to keep fit?

Yes, I’m actually looking for a private gym to join! But the training at the club keeps me in shape anyway.What you miss most about SA?I’ve been out of South Africa since I was 18, and the thing I miss most is family of course. Being away from home is hard, especially as my mom is sick. But I use it as added motivation. I also miss some foods from home, like “mogodu” (offal) and boerewors (I directed TK to our local #1 South African shop in

Christchurch – they kindly gave me a package of biltong to give to TK to welcome him!).

With a terrific attitude and clearly focused determination, TK’s signing to Bournemouth on a four-year contract will strengthen his ability, as well as within the Bafana Bafana squad. And with a good source of local boerewors now secured, we look forward to many great goals from this talented player!

To read more about AFC Bournemouth, visit www.afcb.co.uk

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SPORT17 - 23 December 2013 NEWS FOR GLOBAL SOUTH AFRICANS www.thesouthafrican.com

MEET TOKELO ‘TK’ RANTIE - P15ACTIVE TOUCH IS THE BEST INDOOR SPORT - P15

OLYMPIC GAMES IN SOUTH AFRICA? | Sam Ramsamy, an IOC executive board member and the man who oversaw SA’s reentry into the Olympic movement, has confirmed that a South African bid to host the 2024 or 2028 Olympics is ‘definitely coming’BY BRETT PETZER

ALTHOUGH some might doubt the wisdom of a country with South Africa’s set of problems hosting a major international event as costly as the Olympic Games, the people in charge of handing them out seem to think differently. That’s the message from International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, who said that he would like to see Africa host an Olympic games during his presidency. Judging by the timescale of the last IOC head, Jacques Rogge this could mean that Bach intends to see the five interlinked rings hoisted on African soil some time around 2024 – when the next Games to be awarded (after Tokyo 2020) will take place.

Since 1932, when the Olympics left Europe for the first time, every continent has worn the laurel wreath – except Africa and South America. Indeed, the Games had never even taken place in a developing country until Beijing in 2000, a Games so heavy with nationalist symbolism and bravado that it reminded many of the Cold War era Olympic statecraft that so

often overshadowed the supposed Olympic spirit at past contests. The awarding of the Summer Games of 2016 to Rio de Janeiro is, then, a gesture that also marks Brazil’s arrival as an incipient regional superpower on the world stage.

But what does this mean for SA? Is the expense of the Olympics an appropriate investment for a country that is counting the cost of the 2010 World Cup? The argument for or against bringing the Olympics to a poor country depend on whether one uses the statistics and studies commissioned by those who benefited directly from the 2010 Fifa World Cup or those who were supposed to benefit indirectly.

The former group is smaller than expected, with a spending fillip from tourism that was lighter than expected. The latter group includes all 5o million South Africans who have not seen an appreciable difference in our well-being since the Cup that we all paid for. Sam Ramsamy, an IOC executive board member, has confirmed that a renewed SA bid is ‘definitely coming’, a bid that Bach, currently in Johannesburg for a sport doping conference, promised would enjoy ‘great sympathy’ at the IOC. | MOSES MABHIDA STADIUM: Durban is likely to lead the bid to host the Olympics in South Africa

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The South African, Issue 545, 17 December 2013