Investigative journalist Jacques Pauw had the Cape Town restaurant industry abuzz about an opinion piece he wrote in Daily Maverick last week about his arrest by the police in the Waterfront in 6 February 2021, after his credit card payment for the balance of his R1600 restaurant Hill was declined. The article was shared in the Cape Town Restaurants: The Good, Bad, and Nastyyyy Facebook Group, and attracted more than 400 comments, almost all expressing outrage. I and others called for the restaurant and its manager to be named and shamed! Restaurant lovers were speculating as to which restaurant it could have been.
Today Pauw Tweeted a correction and apology to everyone involved, blaming himself for the events.
Pauw’s 360 degree turnaround story of the events sounds suspicious, as if he struck a deal with the Waterfront and the police. As a minimum his reputation as a journalist is severely affected. Continue reading →
The Sweet Service Award goes to the City of Cape Town, for its generous once-off donation of 2000 garbage bags to Camps Bay Clean, my litter clean-up initiative in Camps Bay, facilitated by Camps Bay/Sea Point Councillor Nicola Jowell. Councillor Nicola personally delivered the bags to my home yesterday. 
The Sweet Service Award goes to Ben Weí Asian fusion sushi restaurant in Wembley Square, which spoilt my guest Stephanie Neubauer on her birthday. I had met Stephanie and her partner Jörg an hour before at the Gernan Embassy, and overheard their sad tale about a mugging in Woodstock they were subjected to, losing their valuables and passports. I took them with me, to fetch a spare cellphone at my home, to help them find an ATM to draw cash from an extra credit card they had, and spontaneously invited them to a birthday lunch at Ben Wei. I mentioned this to the waiter when I ordered a glass of bubbly for Stephanie, and the kitchen brought out a plate of salmon roses for the birthday girl. It was a lovely touch to make the couple feel much better after a traumatic 24 hours. 
