WULF UTIAN’S ONLY LETTER FROM CAPE TOWN 2024-2025 – THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN

WULF UTIAN’S ONLY LETTER FROM CAPE TOWN 2024-2025

THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN

This year I did not publish my monthly newsletter, rather spending the time working on a book draft. But I cannot let the season end without at least once presenting highlights and a few observations from a Southern African perspective of a world apparently gone insane. Consequently, this is the only Letter From Cape Town this season

I hope to convince you that the Western Cape is a wonderful bubble in which to escape some of the insanity.

We departed Cleveland mid-November, stunned by the election result and escaped the world on a 28-day cruise from Barcelona down the West Coast of Africa arriving in Cape Town in mid-December. We enjoyed the cruise as much as a previous one, details of which I published as A SLOW BOAT TO CAPE TOWN, so no need for repetition.

What a delight and a turnaround we found on arrival! In recent years the USA has appeared normal with an economy the envy of the world. South Africa on the other hand, under the utterly corrupt and inept ANC government, seemed to be in a death spiral. The ANC lost the election in May 2024 and dominance after 30 years, resulting in a delicately balanced coalition government, the Government of national Unity (GNU). While still economically challenged, and with wide income disparity, there is a greater air of calmness and confidence about the place, nowhere greater than in the Western Cape with its skyrocketing growth and inundation by world tourists.

I will not repeat anything described in previous newsletters. For my recommended places to visit, stay, tour, or eat in the Western Cape, cruise my Utianllc.com website (Letters from Cape Town). This overview of new highlights and observations, political and otherwise, is presented as our glorious southern hemisphere summer gradually and inevitably progressed into Fall.

Our base for the season has been the President Apartments in Bantry Bay, adjacent to the President Hotel which is favored by tourists for its location and proximity to the ocean. Sea Point is exciting, an oceanfront hub of residential, multicultural shopping, and restaurant activity. It is also an important site geologically. Opposite our balcony is the Sea Point rock contact area first described by Clark Abel in 1818 and visited by Charles Darwin towards the end of his round-the-world voyage on the HMS Beagle in 1836. Over 500 million years ago molten granite intruded into the older darker metamorphosed siltstone and this contact was influential in developing and understanding of the geology of the earth.

THE SEA POINT CONTACT POINT OF THE MOLTEN GRANITE (LIGHT COLORED ROCk AND METAMORPHOSED SILTSTONE (DARK ROCKS).

 

 

 

 

 

Cape Town is a cultural paradise, theater and the arts thriving. Indeed, there is so much activity, we have only been able to sample a fraction. Theater is at international levels, well exemplified by a recent production of William Kentridge’s Faustus in Africa, dramatically presented with an amalgam of live actors, puppets, video art, and music. Local productions abound which focus on local culture. A recent production by Cape Ballet of a local choreographers Breathwords ballet superbly danced to the Rachmaninoff 2^nd Piano Concerto with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) drew rave reviews and was breathtaking to watch. International performers have added SA to their roster. Visual art is everywhere. The Annual Investec Cape Town Art Fair has become the city’s equivalent of Art Basel. In April, after my linking Yaron Kohlberg, Artistic Director of Piano Cleveland to the CPO, he finally arrived and gave an extraordinary solo piano presentation of Prokofiev’s 3^rd piano concerto to a sellout audience at the Cape Town City Hall, met with a seemingly endless standing ovation. Cape Town loves its orchestra. I could go on, but you get the message.

 

 

THE GLOBALLY ACCLAIMED SOUTH AFRICAN ARTIST, SUE WILLIAMSON, RETROSPECTIVE AT THE IZIKO SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL GALLERY, YOUTH FACING HISTORY – THERE IS SOMETHING I MUST TELL YOU, IS POIGNANT AND GUT-WRENCHING, A DEEP INSIGHT INTO AN IMPACT OF APARTHEID.

 

 

 

 

Cape Town, regularly topping world charts as one of the must-visit cities of the world, has also over the past 2 decades became a venue for multiple international conferences, conventions, and meetings. The Cape Town International Convention Center (CTICC) has been expanded and expanded and is still booked years in advance. As a newly elected Board member of the Africa Institute of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), I was privileged in early April to participate in the Africa Jewish Conference 2025, held in both the historic Old Gardens Synagogue, and the Kaplan Center for Jewish Studies on the campus of the University of Cape Town.

 

 

As someone who has always thought I had a reasonable knowledge of Jewish history, the conference was an eye opener and a learning experience. Attended by over 40 active participants, not all Jewish, from about 20 countries, the conference objective was to focus on Resilience, Identity, and Hope. I believe it achieved those objectives, but beyond that it raised many ideas, and provided thought provoking information. It also gave inklings of some key problems challenging contemporary world Jewry. This newsletter is not the venue for a detailed explanation, but some of the key issues discussed were Who and What is a Jew, as Jewish presence is shrinking worldwide and concentrating in fewer countries and fewer main urban centers, people worldwide are less likely than ever to come in contact with Jewish people, and remarkable philanthropists and volunteers are working to restore vestiges of dead communities like cemeteries, digitizing old documents, and converting unused synagogues into museums. Other issues included the question of whether there is a difference between Israelites and Jews, noting that Judaism started as an African religion, that Eastern European Jewish Customs only date back to the Middle Ages, and the explosion of antisemitism after October 7. New pockets of Jewry have been discovered. Finally, while resilience and Identity have been Jewish strengths, hope is a more difficult issue to address. Fortunately, AI will accelerate new lines of research.

I am frequently asked if we are concerned about antisemitism in South Africa. Certainly, I am concerned about antisemitism anywhere. The hypocrisy of the South African government with its negative stance on Israel as opposed to complete silence about Russia-Ukraine, the Sudan, Myanmar, Central Africa, and China, is as inexplicable as it is disgusting. Yes, we have seen pro-Palestinian protests in Cape Town but, no, we have not been concerned about our personal safety. Like all parts of the world, the local Jewish community devotes major efforts to ensure security, but thus far from what we have heard from friends in Europe and Australia, for example, the local scene has been far less toxic.

As for the recent USA action of granting special immigration status to White Afrikaners, all I can say is that this is utter insanity. We have visited and keenly observed this county every year since emigrating in 1976, just traveled South Africa for 6 months, and our conclusion is that quite to the contrary, Afrikaners are the luckiest group of people in the world. After the Nationalist (Afrikaner) party’s brutal regime of apartheid ended, other than a Truth and Reconciliation Commission which allowed some emotional catharsis but resulted in no criminal convictions, the Afrikaners have been living wonderful lives. Sure, some have lost sinecure jobs, but as a group their lives are extremely privileged. The Trump administration is evidencing the most heinous hypocrisy when they expel women and children from the States back to areas where their lives are genuinely at risk and then come up with this ludicrous plan.

I had to make an unexpected visit to Mossel Bay, once a small village at the western end of the Garden Route, and now a thriving town. Here once again the rapid growth of the Western Cape is evidenced. This beautiful area, by the way, is predominantly Afrikaans.

 

 

 

We constantly seek new places to stay and explore. Close to Somerset West, east of Cape Town, is the Vergenoegd Low Wine Estate, established in 1696, later to be almost forgotten and overgrown, until faithfully restored with beautiful gardens, 18th century Dutch buildings, and walking trails through the extensive vineyards. The high-end boutique accommodation is truly luxurious, ours being a free-standing villa with its own private pool.

 

 

 

Another real find was the Thatch House in Hermanus, once a resort village east of Cape Town and now a thriving town. The view from our private verandah was to the mountains behind.

 

 

This year we have continued the joy of staying in and exploring small towns. Montagu, on the historic Route 62, lies in the heart of one of the Western Cape fruit growing regions. The Montagu Country Hotel is an architectural gem, an art deco hotel opened in 1875 that is in excellent condition including the art and furnishings. The town itself is quaint and dotted with historic homes.

GETTING THERE IS ALWAYS PART OF THE FUN. KOGMANSKLOOF PASS BETWEEN MONTAGU AND ASHTON ON R62 IS AWESOME.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Blue Train between Cape Town and Pretoria is regarded as one of the Great Train Rides of the world, a luxury enjoyed by kings, presidents, and those who can afford the indulgence. Moira and I finally checked it off our bucket list in late April.

The good news is that the Blue Train is definitely a world class deluxe hotel on wheels. The bad news is that it runs on South African railways. We realize it is available only to the truly privileged, and looking from the train windows the discrepancy between haves and have nots in South Africa is driven home. I described this disparity on a much shorter luxury train ride last year: A VINTAGE TRAIN RIDE PRESENTS A METAPHOR FOR CURRENT SOUTH AFRICA

A double page spread that addressed the same message, the opulence of the train compared to some of the views from the windows, was published in the New York Times just weeks before our trip: A Journey on the Blue Train: Gilded Luxury in the World’s ‘Most Unequal Country’ .

Instead of repetition, the following were some of our highlights. Firstly, there is the excitement of boarding at Cape Town Station and the warm welcome from the exceptional staff. Then in no order are the quality of the dining experiences, the breathtaking views from the large windows, especially in the Observation Lounge at the rear of the train, the sensation of being rocked to sleep in a comfortable bed, the discussions with strangers, the visit to DeBeers Diamonds’ Big Hole in Kimberley, the diamond mine that changed South African history, and the quality time spent with our traveling partners Lester and Anne. Let some photos do the talking.

 

 

 

 

 

Then there is the bad news side. It is depressing to witness abject poverty and the sheer destruction of what was once one of the finest railway systems in the world. For example, there is only a single line in use meaning that occasionally we would be diverted to a siding so traffic could proceed in the opposite direction. Again, let the photos speak for themselves.

 

 

Around midnight on the second night the train ground to a halt and did not move. Getting up early to find out what was going on, I learned that copper cable thieves had cut and removed overhead cables further down the line. Two electric trains ahead of us were blocking the railway track, and we were to be deboarded early on our final afternoon at Klerksdorp, and put on road transport to Pretoria, our final destination 3 hours away. Klerksdorp looked like it had been hit by a tornado and we were pleased our car did not get swallowed up by the chuck holes in the road. We did reach on time our hotel that had been scheduled for our final night before we were to fly back to Cape Town. The Irene Country Lodge was delightful, but we were saddened to be told that the Blue Train that was to return from Pretoria to Cape Town the following day had been cancelled. Imagine the disappointment of people who had booked ages before , most of whom were arriving from overseas , to be deprived of the experience and stranded in Pretoria!

 

My prediction, should the South Africa Government not get its act together and fast, is that the world-famous Blue Train and the Rovos Rail trains of equal luxury will be doomed to become historical relics of the past. You cannot have a luxury train if you do not have a railway system on which it can depend. Sad… We were fortunate not to miss the experience.

Even after all these years, we still continue to discover wonderful places close to Cape Town. One recent surprise was the Hazendal Wine Estate dating back to 1699 with its old Homestead, beautiful gardens, and vineyards. We had gone there to view Leon Kluge’s internationally acclaimed botanical landscape exhibition Between Two Worlds, recreated at Hazendal after winning gold medal Best on Show at the Singapore Garden Festival. After the viewing we enjoyed a light lunch in the modernistic bar lounge of their Hazendal Hotel.

 

 

Literary fairs abound in South Africa. We enjoyed two very different experiences. The first was the one-day Jewish Literary Festival 2025 held in the Gardens Community Center of the Gardens Shul.

 

The second was an intense and high level 3-day immersion in the book world at the Franschoek Literary Festival 2025. I have described the picturesque town of Franschoek and its gourmet restaurants numerous times in the past. This was a totally different experience. Imagine being immersed in a book world of 10 venues within walking distance populated by national and international authors and publishers presenting 114 different programs, fiction and non-fiction, with subjects ranging through politics, religion, economics, romance, travel, technology, how to publish workshops, history, and on and on. Add to that a friendly and diverse crowd of book lovers engaging in discussions and debates at virtually every turn in the center of Franschoek. This was one of our best experiences of our entire season.

 

I always end my season in South Africa with a final hike in my favorite place in all the world, the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. You do not have to be religious when hiking a trail alone, but it is impossible to not sense the spirituality of nature. And I can think of no better way to escape the craziness of the world than to hike, hear the sounds of birds and running water, smell the forest, and think of nothing else.

 

 

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Years ago, I described South Africa to be a flawed diamond. It still is, perhaps even more so. For tourists and the affluent it is a sort of nirvana, not so for the majority poor.

This year we leave South Africa with mixed feelings, land of our birth, current home of our children, and the place we will never get out of our systems. Beyond all the wonders of the Western Cape, this is a troubled land, made cruelly apparent on our Blue Train ride. The private sector is the Blue Train holding things together, but all that is being built rests on a crumbling infrastructure. Will the GNU hold? Will damage be repaired? Can the economy be made to grow and unemployment reduced from a record 42%? For the moment Cape Town is a bubble, an absolutely beautiful bubble.

We will return to Cleveland with a sense of dread. We are American citizens by choice. The country we chose, America of the bicentennial of 1976, is very different to the Trumpian dystopian America of 2025. The sense I have gained over 6 months speaking and communicating with friends, colleagues, family, and total strangers from all quarters of the globe, is that the USA is no longer considered to be the promised land, the shining object on a hill. Rather there is an evolving sense that a new ‘iron curtain’ has descended and it surrounds a dis-United States of America that can no longer be trusted . Hostility to America and Americans is a growing reality. The rest of the world is separating and forming new alliances. The global world is evolving and the USA will no longer be dominant. Tragically, Moira and I are faced with the dilemma of where we will personally engage or disengage. Stay tuned.

With my best wishes to you all

Wulf Utian

Cape Town, December 15, 2024 – May 28, 2025