Notes From Capetown

By Rick Powell
     Capetown, the tip of Africa where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean, is called the Mother City by the Dutch who colonized the country and it was the single place in all of Africa were white people were in the majority during apartheid because black people were forcibly removed. Nowadays things have changed and blacks live wherever they can afford. Living conditions here for blacks have mostly improved, thanks in part to unions like the Domestic Workers Union, organized in the mid 1990's and one of the strongest unions in the Cape. However, the Workers Library in Capetown has fallen on hard times. During the fight to end apartheid, the library stayed open despite two bombings, providing the South African labor movement with research and other valuable information. Because of recent budget restraints the Workers Library is now open just three days a week; the impact of these scalebacks has yet to be determined.
     The current provincial government is controlled by the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is led by the white female mayor of Capetown, and which hopes to someday challenge the African National Congress for control of the national government by becoming more racially diverse and building coalitions with other minority political parties. The DA focuses on crime and a controversial move to dislodge some informal tin shack townships from desirable areas. The national Parliament is also in Capetown and while some in the country look to the Cape as an example and goal of where all South Africa should be headed, many disagree.
Powell, the Metro Council’s Political Coordinator, just returned from traveling in South Africa. Capetown Workers Library, photo by Rick Powell