No love for Cape Town’s new logo

The City of Cape Town is getting a new logo and its citizens are baffled. The new emblem is made up of colourful concentric circles subtly shaped in the outline of Table Mountain. It was originally rumoured to cost millions, but Executive Mayor Patricia de Lille corrected these claims, explaining the City dished out only R313 720 on the logo design.

RA’EESA PATHER went to the streets of Cape Town to show locals their new badge and find out what they thought.

 

AletAlet de Klerk, government worker, Durbanville

They said that it was like Table Mountain in a circle, but no. You know what, this is a bladdy virus. Doesn’t represent Cape Town, not at all. It looks like a virus under a microscope, tell them that. Ja, they’ve got money to waste. It’s ridiculous! Well, they’ve been wasting a lot of money, but there are a lot of good causes that they can spend that money on. The old logo, if you see it you know “this is Cape Town”. This doesn’t do it. They say they want to modernise, but there’s no need to modernise the logo. If you’ve got an icon like Table Mountain why the hell… you can’t improve on that. That’s nature in itself. Why do they want to do that?

 

BruceBruce Slamat, security worker, Mitchell’s Plain

Are they now in India? It don’t look South African! The mountain represents us and that’s a flower. Even if it was of a Protea flower then it would look better, but that is not one of our symbols. It looks like a foreign country’s flag. R300 000 on this? They can give it to me, I would make good use of it. It’s got the yellow and our colours in it, but it don’t look nice. They must keep the old logo, it still looks nice.

 

 

MattMatt, IT, Strandfontein

I don’t like it. It doesn’t look Cape Town-ish. The old ones looks more “Cape Town” – it has the Table Mountain thing behind it. The money was probably worth it for them, but I don’t know. I just don’t like it.

 

 

 

 

FransFrans Jamson, cleaner, Mitchell’s Plain

Ja, it’s a nice one, it just doesn’t represent all the people in Cape Town. The old one represents the people of Cape Town. I can say to myself I am part of it, and that one you can’t say you’re part of it. R300 000? No, that R300 000 can provide for the poor people.

 

 

 

SeanSean Inns, plumber, Durbanville

 

To tell you the truth I like the old one. It has Table Mountain. R300 000? To change a logo? Fuck, they can give me the money rather!

 

 

 

AshrafAshraf Gorridon, maintenance worker, Grassy Park

It looks alright, but the old one looks better. I say this one represents Cape Town better. There’s Table Mountain there and it goes right around. The old one had just one Table Mountain. The only thing is there’s no flag in this one. The colours…they don’t represent anything. Did it cost much? Yoh, that’s then mad. They could’ve spent their money on making a better logo for us!

 

 

ShiraazShiraaz Viagaro, welder, Kuil’s River

It’s like a police badge. It doesn’t look nice. It looks a bit plain and almost like the old South African police emblem. I think the old one with the mountain represents Cape Town better. The mountain is the symbol of Cape Town – the people recognise the mountain. Over R300 000? They could’ve used it on housing. The poor people walking around here… Feed the people and give them bread. It’s a waste of money.

 

 

JennaJenna, legal worker, Northern Suburbs

No. How does that represent the city of Cape Town? Cape Town is known by the mountain. It’s ugly. What a waste! They love to waste money. Come on, don’t they see all the people walking around with no jobs? I mean they can do something better than spend it on a logo. We need a democratic vote for the logo, they can’t just change it!

 

 

 

IsgaakIsgaak Benjamin, travel agent, Mitchell’s Plain

Nee, dis skoonig nie! Listen, that colourful thing… that is rubbish. That’s for Helen Zille. It doesn’t identify as Cape Town. That is just a round circle with a few scrolls in there. At least the current logo has got a background of Table Mountain with the colours. Whoever designed it was brilliant. Cape Town gives you Table Mountain. It makes sense. It’s a waste of money! That corrupt ANC doesn’t think like this. They steal money, but the DA wastes money.

 

 

MishkaMishka, travel agent, Crawford

I think it’s nice, but the thing is the expenditure. It cost a lot of money and I think it could have been used differently. I don’t know why it was necessary. They could have used it for housing, facilities, jobs creation, policing, gangs – there’s a lot happening in Cape Town at the moment. It does represent Cape Town because you can make out Table Mountain and Devil’s Peak, but the other one was more clear. I like the old one better.

 

 

EvidenceEvidence Tongai, taxi driver, Khayelitsha

Ja, I think it’s nice. It’s got meaning, I see Table Mountain when I look at it. That’s one of the biggest things that people come to Cape Town for, so ja, it’s got meaning. What? R300 000? The graphic designer, or what? That’s like overpriced… No, I think it’s too much. I don’t know the pricing for this stuff, so I mean maybe it’s okay for the city.