Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Premier Helen Zille


Above: Helen Zille (in the cobalt-blue jacket) arrives at Cape Town International airport from the Johannesburg operations centre during the 2009 South African elections.

Yesterday Helen Zille, leader of the DA (Democratic Alliance), former mayor of Cape Town, World Mayor Of The Year 2008, was sworn in as the Western Cape province's latest premier.

A few weeks ago, two days after we all cast our votes in South Africa's general election and two days before the final results were announced, I unknowingly arrived back in Cape Town from a press function in Johannesburg at the same time as Helen Zille had also flown back to the city from the election operations in Johannesburg. (As far as I know we were not on the same plane - I read somewhere that she was on an executive jet.)

As I walked past the bag-collection area at the airport I could hear an overwhelming amount of singing and chanting coming from the domestic-arrivals reception area of the airport and as I rounded the corner I walked in to a media throng on one side and a massive DA supper base on the other. Realising what was up I grabbed my cameras and started taking photos and video. The supporters were holding up signs saying "Premier Helen Zille", even though at that stage it was unclear as to whether her party had won the election in the Western Cape (for days the results drifted around the 49% to 51% marks) but in the minds of these supporters she had won.

The energy was electric and everyone at the airport got caught up in it. The crowd erupted when Helen walked out a few minutes later and the press began to swarm around her, taking photos from all angles. Helen acknowledged her supporters and, even though she was surrounded by security personnel, she moved as close as she could get to the supporters a few times so that they could shake her hand and, well, honestly - a lot of them were a lot more grabby than that. I thought it was quite cool of her to allow herself almost to be mauled by the supporters, who were so excited to see her and at the DA's imminent victory.


Above: The press swarms around Helen Zille (she's buried somewhere in the middle there).

I don't agree with the stances the DA takes on a number of issues but there's no denying that the party actively stands against corruption and ineptitude and has done the best job of running the city of Cape Town since South Africa became a democracy in 1994. If the party can translate those skills into running the Western Cape province... well I can't complain - we can quibble about issues when our democracy has become more mature and service delivery, health, education, and crime aren't such huge problems that urgently need to be addressed.

This year's election was the most exciting one we've had since the first democratic elections in 1994. There was a buzz in the air for a few days and for a while, while we voted and then waited for the results, everyone was equal and the problems and issues that plague us on a daily basis seemed more distant. Additionally, this year, the worry that the ANC (African National Congress) would continue to have its two-thirds majority, which it won in the 2004 election and which enables a party to have powers to change the country's constitution, spurred many non voters into action and not only did many people who have never voted before (but have happily complained about the government) actually vote, but we had a high voter turnout at around 77% - when it comes to elections it's the one time that South Africans are not apathetic.

When the results were finally announced most of the country breathed a collective sigh of relief and the festivities continued, though for different reasons: the ANC won by a huge margin, satisfying 65.9% of the electorate, but didn't quite reach the two-thirds majority, satisfying the rest of the electorate, so it was win-win all round for everyone, and marked the end of a very exciting period in our democratic history.

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Alex Hamilton's Afrotize

Alex Hamilton's Afrotize, Cape Town

Above: The vinyl collection

Alex Hamilton is an artist based in Cape Town whose work is heavily influenced by, and reflective of, pop culture. If you are interested in learning more about his art, influences, and processes you can read my November 2008 interview with him for brainwavez.org, which concerned his previous exhibition, Cast & Crew.

Alex Hamilton's Afrotize, Cape Town

Above: rastamadonna

Alex's latest exhibition is Afrotize, "a satirical comment on colonialism, fashion, popular iconography and, of course, hair". I attended the opening a few weeks ago and the exhibition is still running at his studio in Woodstock.

Much of the artwork for Afrotize focuses on stencilled pop-culture icons, past and present, who have been reinvented in quite a fascinating manner with an afro or rasta stylings. There is also some artwork that has been done on vinyl records and a few larger pieces that are reminiscent of 1970s pop art, but with a contemporary edge.

Alex Hamilton's Afrotize, Cape Town

Above: The topless biker babe that had all the men attending the exhibiton's opening quite mesmerised.

The work is firmly tongue in cheek and amusing to behold and, as much as I find reinvented uses for vinyl records (assuming they are not scratched beyond further use) to be a form of sacrilege, I quite liked the vinyl pop art (you can see examples of it in this post's lead picture).

The exhibition is running until the end of the week, so you have time to visit to see Alex's work (and partake of a free drink or two if you go to the exhibition's closing on Friday evening - and who doesn't like art and a free drink?). There's even free parking at the back of the building so you have no excuse not to go.

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Monday, May 04, 2009

Free Comic Book Day 2009: Cape Town

Free Comic Book Day 2009, Cape Town

Last year I was off in KwaZulu-Natal having adventures and missed Free Comic Book Day. This year my two local comic shops (Reader's Den in Claremont and Outer Limits in the city centre) both participated (as did, I believe, a store in the northern suburbs but I don't know its name). I went to Reader's Den again this year as it is closer to my home and has become a (semi) annual event as I usually meet some friends there and we hang out for a couple of hours and enjoy the festivities.

Every year Reader's Den makes quite an event out of Free Comic Book Day and, once again, it had lots of specials for shoppers and gave out great lucky-draw prizes to some of the people that had made purchases on the day. Spider-man and Superman made special appearances, posed for photos, and gave out chips to the kids.

Free Comic Book Day 2009, Cape Town

This year Reader's Den also gave out prizes to those who dared to appear in costume. A few people wore costumes from notable comics and science-fiction universes including Watchmen, Batman, and Harry Potter. The quality and selection was very good and the participants put a lot of effort into bringing their characters to life.

For my free comic I chose the Star Wars: the Clone Wars comic [preview: 666 KB PDF] from Dark Horse Comics, which included pages for Emily The Strange, Usagi Yojimbo, and Indiana Jones. It was a tough decision as I was also keen to get Bongo Comics Free-For-All! from Bongo Comics [preview: 1.7 MB PDF].

Free Comic Book Day is held on the first Saturday in May, and the comics are specially produced by the publishing companies for the day so, no matter what city or country you're in, you'll be able to choose from the same titles as your friends all over the world. Diarise the date - I hope to see you at one of the events in Cape Town next year!

Free Comic Book Day 2009, Cape Town


Previously on Cape Town > South Africa > Africa > Earth:
* Free Comic Book Day 2007: Cape Town

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