African Asylum: Academic Nirvana

Today I died and went to university heaven. The University of Cape Town (UCT), set on at the foot of Table Mountain, must be the most stunning university in the world. It’s in keeping with the rest of Cape Town, which is spectacular, but to me the combination of university and mountains is almost swoon-inducing!

On my first visit to South Africa, in January this year, someone told me that Cape Town is ‘not really Africa’. I can see why. To be blunt, it is much ‘whiter’ than Johannesburg, and therefore probably the rest of Africa. Though as well as there being more (or at least more visible) white South Africans in central Cape Town, there are also many more Indians, Muslims and Asians. The free city magazine I read over my coffee this morning proclaims Cape Town as ‘one of the most multicultural cities in the world’.

Cape Town is also far more touristy than Jo’burg. The thick British accent ordering Butter Chicken at the table next to me one evening (I visited the same Indian restaurant in Cape Town every night) would never be heard in Jo’burg, at least not in the city. And the daily market in the Green Market Square, with leopard print handbags and beaded necklaces, is evidently not directed at locals.

But the foreigners here are not all tourists. The owner of the old art deco building that my hotel (The Glam – I am staying in the Sophia Loren room) is Irish – he spends half his year in Cape Town and half in Ireland. The taxi drivers I spoke with – to and from the university and airport – were almost all from Zimbabwe. They all want to return, but only when the country is more stable and the economy improves. (The only source of hope is Mugabe’s frequent visits to a hospital in Singapore – which have apparently sent the Zimbabwe’s national airline broke and fed local rumours that he has prostate cancer.)

It seems to me that the blend of nationalities and cultures in Cape Town is part of modern South Africa, in somewhat the same way that Shanghai – the Paris of the East – is part of modern China. In fact, I am sometimes been struck by the similarities between the two countries. Both rapidly developing and having undergone (relatively) recent major political change, they are places where the urban landscape changes daily and the middle class is booming. Both are undoubtedly lands of opportunity, but not for everyone – in both, the gap between rich and poor is growing. And as in China, South African people are on the move. I read recently that the biggest migration in South Africa does not originate outside the country, but from within, as rural populations increasingly come to cities like Cape Town to try their luck.

But frankly, it’s easy to see why the whole world would want to be in Cape Town. It’s spectacular. It’s also safer than it’s northern counterpart. I visit my local Indian restaurant in the evening, and while I don’t exactly wander the streets after dark, it’s a pleasant novelty to stroll a block back to my hotel after dinner. And the cafes are great. The Haas Coffee Collective – a café/studio in Bo Kaap, the original Malay settlement on the side of the mountain – does easily the best soy latte I’ve had in South Africa.

This visit to Cape Town was work-focussed. I met with a local barrister, who is the former director of UCT’s Refugee Law Clinic and legal advisor to the Minister for Human Affairs, and with the current Clinic director and one of their senior attorneys. I also had lunch on the waterfront with a current government official – the first who has agreed to speak to me, though sadly not ‘on the record’. Somewhat hilariously, this same official phoned the lawyer I met at the UCT Clinic while I was in her office, to ask if she had any guidelines on the African refugee definition, the topic of our meeting.

So for now, my views of the mountains and coastline have been mainly in passing, between the airport and hotel, hotel and interview appointments. But I’ll be back in Cape Town at the end of next week with Richard, and I’m saving my hike up Table Mountain, train trip along the coast and winelands tour for then! So more pictures will follow, but here’s a few to give you the general idea…