Tag Archives: Artscape

Cape Town puts Nelson Mandela and Professor Chris Barnard on the streets

After two false starts, the City of Cape Town has approved the first four changes to street names in the city, honouring South African greats, reports the Cape Times.

Nelson Mandela Boulevard will be the new name of the Eastern Boulevard, while the world’s first heart transplant specialist Professor Christiaan Barnard will be honoured in the name of the street currently called Oswald Pirow Street.   Albert Lithuli, the first South African Nobel Peace Prize winner and an ANC President, will be honoured in the street section between the Civic Centre and Artscape.   A Khoisan leader Krotoa will be honoured in a section of Castle Street, between Adderley and Burg Street.

Cape Town is the last South African city to “rename apartheid era streets and places”, says the report.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com  Twitter: @WhaleCottage

POSTSCRIPT 1/1/2011: A relative of the Khoisan Krotoa has protested to the City of Cape Town about the use of his relative’s first name without her surname, given that the City has not consulted his family, reports the Cape Times.   Jakobus Faasen says that his relative was the first Khoi person to marry a Dutch person, and her married surname was Van Meerhoff.

Artscape Sweet and Col’Cacchio Foreshore Sour Service Awards

The Sweet Service Award goes to Artscape for hosting the Youth Music Festival in the Artscape Theatre last Saturday, providing a platform for twelve talented musicians to perform with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra.  The concert celebrated exceptional musical talent in the Western Cape, musicians ranging in age from 10 years (violinist Nicholas Bosman) to 25 years (soprano Hlengiwe Mkhwanazi).   All were beautifully dressed, especially the young girls, wearing lovely silk dresses.  Pianist Lourens Fick brought the house down with his Liszt performance.

The Sour Service Award goes to Col’Cacchio Foreshore, in the Spearhead building in Cape Town.  A first visit to this branch, after supporting the Franschhoek and Camps Bay branches in the past, was really bad, with a cheeky waitress Neena, and a non-effective manager Patrick.   It seemed obvious that there is no management hand in this outlet after hours, and that Neena had not been taught how to speak to customers.  She did not bring the company’s newspaper with the bill, nor the Lindt chocolate advertised in the bill holder, and had a silly excuse for forgetting these.  The massive footballs hanging from the ceiling look very dated, one month after the end of the World Cup.  Having to pay to park in an empty parking lot to eat at the restaurant in the evening was a further irritation, the cost of which should be borne by the restaurant.

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.  Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.