The red corvette rides into the sunset

The music world and the globe at large was shocked to learn late Thursday of the death of Prince Rogers Nelson, known to the world simply as Prince. He was the man behind ubiquitous hits such as When Doves Cry, Kiss, Purple Rain, Little Red Corvette, Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?, I Wanna Be Your Lover and The Most Beautiful Girl in The World among others. He also wrote the epic “Nothing Compares 2 U”, made famous by Sinead O’Connor.

Beyond his category busting-music, reflective of his wide vocal range and being a master of numerous instruments, Prince was also widely recognised for his eclectic stage presence and style. Also a record producer and actor, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the first year he was eligible for the honour. Ranked 27th on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, Prince was a funk, R&B, pop, rock and new wave icon.

He was 57. 

Phew… onto something a bit lighter… Starbucks in SA!

Thursday also saw the official opening of global coffee chain Starbuck’s first store in South Africa, in Rosebank, Johannesburg. The opening, characterised by much fanfare and typically long queues, will see the Rosebank store followed up by another at the Mall of Africa in northern Johannesburg when the mall opens on Thursday, 28 April.

One side benefit is it might shorten the length of the Krispy Kreme store, located close by in the same shopping precinct. Since it opened in September last year, the only way to get some Krispy Kreme doughnuts is to stand in a queue which typically snakes outside the store onto the pavement. Krispy Kreme lovers everywhere will be hoping that Starbucks will draw some of the traffic away.

Whitewashing the unwashable?

President Jacob Zuma can’t seem to be able to stay out of the news. If the Constitutional Court Nkandla ruling wasn’t enough to catch people’s attention, this week Zuma announced the Seriti Commission of Inquiry, founded to investigate allegations of corruption and fraud regarding the 1999 multi-billion rand arms deal. Zuma’s announcement was expected: there was no evidence of any wrong doing.

This prompted opposition parties, Twitterati members, pundits, and activists to call the commission and its findings report a farce. Having cost millions of rands to put together, the whole exercise was also cited as an epic white-washing exercising that wasted tax payers’ money.

Have we heard the end of arms deal saga? Who knows...

The patriarchy, rape and Rhodes University

This week also saw major protests at Rhodes University in Grahamstown following the release on social media of a list of alleged rapists who work and study at the institution. The protests, which led to the suspension of all academic activities till Friday, saw five students being arrested on Wednesday later released, while police used rubber bullets and stun grenades because students had become “aggressive”. 

The university has since agreed to some of the demands made by protesting students, including increasing the number of staff in the harassment office who deal with sexual abuse cases and to also set up a task team that will look into changing the university’s sexual harassment policy. 

The protests have once again highlighted the scourge of sexual violence that affects women every day in South Africa and how unchanging structures of patriarchy continue to undermine efforts to stop it. We still have a long way to go, that's for sure. 

That does it for Trend Report this week. See you next Friday.