6 August 2016 – Cape Town

August 6, 2016

Greetings from Capetown – Whew… where to start?

Today was a bit more relaxed than previous days, but no less interesting and no less intense.

Started out pretty early – walking around the neighborhood and on Long Street to seek out some good African music to bring back to California. Then met up with Chris and we took off for the Biscuit Mill Saturday Market, in the Woodstock neighborhood of Capetown. This is clearly a gentrifying area and the market reflects that – but, dozens of amazing stalls selling all kinds of foods and delicacies from around the world… and accented by crafts stalls and a few interesting shops. South Africa has become very conscious of the local craft and locavore food movements – so everything is homemade and made with local ingredients. The place was buzzing with music and locals and tourists. But it was a mostly white crowd and predominantly young. On line at the ATM machine, met the young guy standing in front of us – a student at UW (Bothel Campus)!! Always a small world.

From there we headed north to Contantia Glen Winery – where two friends and the mother of one of the friends were waiting. We had a fantastic view of the vineyards and managed to down five bottles of wine + some bubblies, along with three platters of beautiful cheeses and charcuterie… and a platter of smoked trout. We ended with teas and coffees… Total bill was about $120! And the wine was fantastic… We drank and ate and talked politics for about five hours, before driving back to town. The area near the winery is stunning and contains many very large private homes. Clearly the elite live in this area.

So, now the elections, since many of you sent emails asking about the status:

While the ANC won nationally with about 54%of the total vote ( a huge defeat, showing their vulnerability), this was a series of provincial elections and the ANC lost and or has been in heated contention with the DA, including having the DA defeat the ANC in many municipalities
The DA won the province that Pretoria is in; they won the Western Cape (Capetown) by sizable amount
The ANC will need to perform much better to win in the Fall
This is a huge defeat overall for the ANC
Everyone points to corruption as the reason for the rise of DA and the downfall of Capetown
In many ways, this election could be a precursor to the national election that will take place in 2019 – given the obvious opposition to ANC candidates.

The people we were with seemed very disgruntled with the ANC leadership, qhich will be tested again,