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Proud’s Pizza ***½
Zinkwazi main beach car park
Zinkwazi, KwaZulu-Natal
Tel: 073-169-2367
Cyril Ramaphosa *****
Excellent ****
Good ***
Poor **
Supra Mahumapelo *
— FOOD FOR THOUGHT
The problem with this country is not that we have loads of bad news; it’s that it’s so hard to get to the good news. Too many distractions.
I was sitting there last week, grinning away, looking at a newspaper headline that said our economic prospects were great. "IMF predicts higher growth for SA," it said. I was well pleased.
As I was about to delve into the story my radio informed me that the former president of the republic had just had a baby with a 24-year-old. I mean, really? The man is 76.
My interest is not salacious. I am amazed that as the economy plunged to new lows last year former president Jacob Zuma was playing the field. No-one was concentrating on what really matters — jobs and more jobs.
But I soldiered on with the good news despite this rude interference. I learnt that the IMF says the SA economy will strengthen to 1.5% in 2018 and 1.7% in 2019. That’s a terrible figure, but it’s an improvement on where we would have been with Zuma in charge. I predict we will go to 3% next year.
Anyway, the smile was back on my face as I contemplated this glorious and profitable future. Then I saw my other newspaper reporting that the North West province was up in flames as residents told premier Supra Mahumapelo that he should pack his bags and go. I agree. Mahumapelo has run the place into the ground. The same newspaper said Mahumapelo had gifted Zuma with 25 Bonsmara cattle — all paid for by the taxpayer.
I plunged into a depression. But another report told me SA’s inflation rate had fallen to a seven-year low in March, moving further below the midpoint of the Reserve Bank’s target range.
Then I panicked. What bad news would come next?
I am amazed that as the economy plunged to new lows last year former president Jacob Zuma was playing the field
— Justice Malala
Fortunately I was in Zinkwazi, on the beautiful KwaZulu-Natal north coast. Zinkwazi is a sleepy holiday village, far from the madding crowds in other parts of the province. There isn’t much by way of restaurants in Zinkwazi.
If you are hungry you order a fresh pizza from Proud’s Pizza, a shipping container that nestles against the dunes out on the main beach car park. It’s not a sit-down restaurant: if you go in the day you pick up your pizza and have a picnic down on the beach. In the evening you take it home. You can use the bench while you wait.
The clientele is eclectic. On the one evening a local cop was behind the counter helping the staff get through their orders quicker so they could get to hers. It’s all go.
There are rules for Proud’s: it closes at 7pm. In the past it used to be cash only, but I was happy and proud to see it now takes cards.
The pizzas are made in a special wood-burning oven — you can order from the petite menu or you can order something that you put together yourself. For our house of eight we had a couple of margheritas, Hawaiians, a Siciliana (very tasty capers and anchovies) and our own version of a salami with extra chilli pizza.
Locals swear by Proud’s Pizza. Zinkwazians will tell you that this is the best pizza "ever".
I have to say I liked the pizzas. First, they are unique: unlike most pizzas, which start with a cheese base and the rest of the ingredients on top, Proud’s puts all the ingredients on and then smothers them with cheese. Very novel. Very nice. The salami and chilli pizza was extremely hot and delicious. We were all so happy that the kids went back for more a few days later.
And that’s a good news story, no?
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