Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
It’s a wrap for 2017 – what a year!
4 Winds, drought, crime, fire and state capture dominated the headlines in and around Cape Town
STATE capture may well be the term of the year but politics and corruption were not the only topics that gripped the public’s attention.
Capetonians grieved over several youngsters who were raped and murdered and there were renewed calls for an official inquiry into the high incidence of child murders in the province.
Gang violence dominated daily life in much of the Cape Flats while there was speculation about a new protection racket operating in the city’s nightclubs and bars. Strife between top gang leaders reached as far as Cape Town International Airport where alleged gang boss Jerome “Donkie” Booysen was shot and seriously injured by unknown assailants in October – the third attempt on his life this year.
A vow to take on the gangsters by sending in the army was made by Police Minister Fikile Mbalula had not materialised by the end of the year.
Mother Nature delivered some hard blows.
The worst drought in decades affected Western Cape farmers and city dwellers. Capetonians were left entering the new year braced for a count down to Day Zero when the taps run dry.
In March wild winds saw the 40th edition of the Cape Town Cycle Tour cancelled as gusts up to 100km/h made it almost impossible for cyclists to stay on their bikes.
That was preceded by one of the worst fires in an informal settlement that Cape Town had experienced.
Thousands of structures were razed and tens of thousands of people affected by the blaze in Hout Bay’s Imizamo Yethu, and the public and civic authorities rallied around the community.
This was not the only large scale inferno.
In June tens of thousands of people fled their homes when the worst wildfires for many decades swept through Knysna and Plettenberg Bay on the Garden Route.
That same month a fierce storm had Capetonians battening down the hatches.
In August South Africans were agog at claims that the first lady of Zimbabwe, Grace Mugabe, had assaulted a model in a Sandton hotel where the Mugabe sons were staying. Mugabe fled South Africa in the aftermath.
An international groundswell of public denunciation of sexual predators reached SA shores ín October when singer and former MP Jennifer Ferguson went public with claims she was raped by prominent football executive and former mayor Danny Jordaan.
Many cheered when local hero of the Banting revolution Professor Tim Noakes won his round at the Health Professions Council hearing where he had been accused of unprofessional conduct.
The nation rejoiced when Stephen McGown returned to the arms of his family in August after being held captive for years in Mali.
Sport provided the nation with moments of elation as the Blitzboks secured the 2016-2017 World Rugby Sevens Series, beating perennial heavyweights England and Fiji to the crown in May. The team, led by coach Neil Powell and captain Philip Snyman, won five legs on their way to the title and also emerged victorious in 20172018 series opener in Dubai in December.
While the Springboks, the Proteas and Bafana Bafana didn’t have the best of times in 2017, some track athletes provided a much-needed upturn in fortunes. Global superstar Wayde van Niekerk secured gold in the 400m race at the 2017 World Championships in London. Our golden girl Caster Semenya silenced bitter rivals and lit up the 800m track on her way to first place in London. Long jumper Luvo Manyonga wrote another remarkable chapter in his colourful career. Manyonga, who was raised in poverty and suspended for tik use in 2012, found redemption when he jumped 8.48m to beat American Jarrion Lawson and countryman Ruswahl Samaai for gold.
And there were other local heroes too. In a somewhat retro moment a local beauty queen made world headlines. Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters was crowned Miss Universe in November.
Cape Town partied when Bishop Lavis teenager Paxton Fielies became the youngest winner of the SA Idols last month and when Elsies River native Craig Lucas emerged as the winner of the Voice SA in July.