The ring of fire ignites

"Cape Town is surrounded by a ring of fire"; Clem Sunter. "Cape Town may be surrounded by a ring of fire, but there is no burning platform"; Mike Freedman. "The ring of fire has ignited, and we can only hope that the fire will not spread"; Guy Lundy. In March 2007 ACT held a workshop with more than 20 senior Cape business leaders. It took the form of a scenario planning session and was facilitated by Clem Sunter. At that session Clem made a statement that I have been repeating whenever I've been asked to give a presentation. He said "Cape Town is surrounded by a ring of fire". He meant that the beautiful city that one sees in tourist brochures is surrounded by a ring of poverty, inequality and frustration, which threatens to erupt in a way similar to how Paris erupted last year, with angry youths resorting to burning and looting to get their point across. This week's violent protests on the N2 by people angry at being moved to make way for the N2 Gateway housing project, no matter how unacceptable they may have been, represents exactly what I've been warning audiences about. The ring of fire has ignited, and we can only hope that the fire will not spread.