First Impressions of Cape Town

We have been in Cape Town for just a few days, and it is already clear how different the two cities are. Upon landing in the airport, we were all struck by the beautiful landscape with one side of looming mountains and another of crashing waves and beaches. The excitement was evident on our faces immediately. At the start, it was difficult to remember that we were on a trip to learn and not a beach vacation. But as we began to dig a little deeper, it was apparent that a stunning exterior does not necessarily extend to its interior.

            Our first outing in Cape Town was an event called First Thursdays located in the city center. On the first Thursday of each month art galleries are open and restaurants have deals to create a vibrant night experience. This was the first time in 2 weeks we had been in a space with a majority population of white people. After being in Johannesburg, we have gotten a fairly negative view of white people in South Africa, so to be in that space felt, for lack of a better word, icky. Don’t get me wrong, the food was amazing and the artwork was beautiful, but when most of the black people we saw were working as bartenders or security personnel, it began to feel like we were on the wrong side of the event.

            After attending a few lectures, the reasons for the whiteness became more clear. Geographically, the city center of Cape Town is situated in a bowl surrounded by mountains. During the apartheid regime, non-whites were situated either on the Cape Flats or on the other side of the mountains. When apartheid fell, the geography made it more difficult for the city to become integrated. In the present-day, based on the few Capetonians we have talked to, the city center is hostile to black South Africans and assume that they will bring crime. Sea Point, where we are staying, also has a not-so-great reputation for dealing with their homeless population, which is primarily black. The methodology is to keep the city “clean” by removing those living on the street whenever possible, but the city government never actually deals with the issue. There are no homeless shelters in Sea Point, and the nearest one is in Woodstock, across the city.

            Many have told us that Cape Town is the safer city of the two, but at what cost? Remnants of apartheid are still very evident in the dramatic wealth difference between our neighborhood of Sea Point and the nearby townships. South Africa has one of the highest Gini Indexes in the world, and it isn’t hard to see why. This brings up the idea of our course: who has the right to the city? Do white people have a claim to the wealth of South Africa while the majority population suffers in poverty? How can we redistribute the wealth of country when those in the upper class fight to keep their privileged lifestyle?

            These are the questions that we will examine over the last few weeks here in Cape Town. I hope to get more solidified ideas of how wealth can be better distributed to the general black population and out of the hands of a small white few.

Ava Gallo