Jul 7, 2026 · 21 min · 7 segments
The Durban July, Opera at La Scala, and the Soccer World Cup: we are festooned with festivities, and we discuss them! Merchant banker Mark Barnes and journalist Tim Cohen are joined by arts writer and…
Sarah BuitendachGuestMark BarnesHost
Tim CohenHostI feel like, well, I- I mean, as a general theme, South Africans do well overseas, you know? We underrate ourselves, and, uh, there's one example.
The other example was a, a lady called Candice Desilets, I think is how you pronounce it, who's the first South African to graduate from the Vaganova Ballet School in Petersburg, Russia, which is a serious, serious achievement.
And I was talking just the other day about South African businesspeople abroad, and I'd back us anywhere.
And, and why is that? I mean, it's because we've got a life full of color and challenges and, and, and things, you know? And we have an extraordinary mixture of inputs to, to the personalities that are South African.
Is that, is that true in, in the culture? I mean, if we look at the dissection of our artists, of our music, of our, you know, of our writers, of our performers, we're kind of above our weight, don't we? We-
Well, [laughs] if you were Norwegian, you know, wouldn't you say that there's a l- you know, a lot of very successful Norwegians around? Because, you know, it's a sort of function of the media.
First of all, we've got that guy, Elon, who's, who's really done, he's done pretty well, I mean, for himself financially.
I feel like, well, I- I mean, as a general theme, South Africans do well overseas, you know? We underrate ourselves, and, uh, there's one example.
The other example was a, a lady called Candice Desilets, I think is how you pronounce it, who's the first South African to graduate from the Vaganova Ballet School in Petersburg, Russia, which is a serious, serious achievement.
And I was talking just the other day about South African businesspeople abroad, and I'd back us anywhere.
And, and why is that? I mean, it's because we've got a life full of color and challenges and, and, and things, you know? And we have an extraordinary mixture of inputs to, to the personalities that are South African.
Is that, is that true in, in the culture? I mean, if we look at the dissection of our artists, of our music, of our, you know, of our writers, of our performers, we're kind of above our weight, don't we? We-
Well, [laughs] if you were Norwegian, you know, wouldn't you say that there's a l- you know, a lot of very successful Norwegians around? Because, you know, it's a sort of function of the media.
First of all, we've got that guy, Elon, who's, who's really done, he's done pretty well, I mean, for himself financially.
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