SOUTH AFRICA--THE RAINBOW NATION
South Africa is the most sophisticated destination in Africa. This nation has fascinated me for years. First, there were the horror stories of apartheid; then I read Michener's "The Covenant", Nelson Mandela's poignant autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom" (in my opinion a must read), and "Country of My Skull", the story of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Fellow travelers return from South Africa with reports of breathtaking beauty. The nation's history, now one of incredible and inspiring political transformation, intrigues me. And, to top it all off, it has outstanding nature preserves and wildlife.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu christened it the "Rainbow Nation," which speaks to its cultural and racial diversity. The guides at Robben Island, all of whom are ex-prisoners, mention the "Rainbow Nation" with pride and promise. The promise is that of all races building a nation together and the reconciliation and forgiveness of the travesties of the past done by, but not equally to, Whites, Africaners, Blacks, and Coloreds--designations commonly used to refer to these diverse populations.*
The South African couple I sat next to on the plane invited me to spend a few days with them in their beach house and offered to pick me up in Cape Town. Unfortunately, I did not have the time, but their offer of hospitality was indicative of the spirit of the South Africans I met. It is also the most polite country I have been in. Services are rendered with a smile and "with pleasure."
Cape Town is a lovely, modern city, blessed by a relatively mild climate, dramatic Table Mountain, and lots of ocean frontage. Not far to the north are some of the finest vineyards in the world and to the south at the very tip of Africa is the Cape of Good Hope. One route to the Cape is by car along a spectacularly scenic road precariously perched, often at dizzying heights, along the mountainous coast. Recently opened after millions of dollars were spent to reinforce the banks against rock slides, the road closed down again shortly after our trip to the Cape due to still more rock slides.
Mandela's story is one of the most heroic of the 20th century, and he, one of the most inspirational of all human beings. After arriving in Cape Town, I set off immediately to visit Robben Island for I wanted to see and feel this formidable prison and the rock quarries where Mandela had labored. Mandela wrote much of his autobiography while in prison. A copy of the manuscript was found by the authorities and confiscated but the original was safely smuggled out of the prison. Some of the cells contained a photograph of the cell's former occupant and a recorded message in the prisoner's voice about himself, his "crime," and the prison experience. It is this historical perspective that makes the visit to Robben Island so impressive and touching. Today, Mandela is admired and loved by everyone. Many with whom I spoke beamed with pride when I shared my own admiration for the man. Some worried about what might happen when he dies, for his very existence provides sustenance to the balance of this nation. But what made sense to me was one gentleman's assessment that because the nation's progress has been so great, coupled with the fact that there are so many diverse economic power bases, it is highly unlikely that any one power base could topple the current structure and take total control as has happened in other African countries.
All is not perfect, however. Crime and violence are severe problems. The couple on the plane warned me to be careful. "It is not just a problem in Johannesburg, but in Cape Town also. Do not walk alone in the evening." Near dusk one afternoon after a meal, I asked a waitress if it was safe to walk the six blocks to my hotel. She said "no." I started to walk anyway, and then, listening to my gut, turned around and walked back to catch a cab. Everyone knows someone who has had their car hijacked. The ex-judge who kindly drove me to a photo workshop both of us were attending several hours north of Cape Town, was quite upset with the violence and felt he was a prisoner in his own home as he did not feel safe going out at night. This is not a reason to avoid coming here. I did plenty of walking in Cape Town alone during the day and felt perfectly safe.
Although I was in Johannesburg only briefly, the city surprised me with it modern buildings and attractive skyline. But it is notoriously unsafe. While I was there, the executive producer of River Dance, which was performing there, was killed in a robbery. When driving through beautiful neighborhoods on our way to the hotel from the airport, all of the homes I could see had high electric fences around them.
The factors driving the crime rate are the high unemployment and the tens of thousands of refugees from other African countries like Zimbabwe, Sudan, and the Congo who have fled to South Africa. This is a huge problem for the government. There are simply not enough jobs.
On the outskirts of Cape Town, one drives by several "townships" where the very poor live, but, I was told, the government has provided them with electricity, sewers, and toilets. Several TV antennas dot the roofs of tin and cardboard shacks. Once in a while there are sturdier block structures. Many of the service workers commute long distances from villages outside of Cape Town. Along the highways (which, by the way, are excellent) on Friday evenings, one sees many hitchhikers returning home for the weekend and, on Sundays, going back to the city for the work week.
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I asked the ex-judge, who was an Africaner, for his comments about the fall of apartheid. "There was such hope," he said, "but the dream has,to date, fallen short. The country suffered a terrible brain drain when this all started and thousands of talented whites fled." He spoke about having left the bench after several years of what was equivalent to our affirmative action programs. "People were appointed to judgeships because of their color, not because of their qualifications, and I got tired of doing my work and theirs also." He spoke of large, productive farms that had been broken up to give people land and the productivity of the farm lost. He spoke of the general tribal black mentality that was focused only on today, not tomorrow, so that planning, productivity, and progress often got lost in the translation. But he was optimistic and acknowledged that the country was moving in the right direction, that things were much improved, and felt Mandela had had no choice except to implement some of the programs he did to force more integration. "It will just take time." I empathized and pointed out that some of the seeming inequities that arose from affirmative action had been problems in our country as well. In the end, however, affirmative action had worked to help even the playing field.
On safari, I asked a black ranger about life after apartheid. He said that, before the changes, he never would have had the opportunity to become a ranger or have gotten the education he did, so life was indeed much better. But he spoke also about areas, such as Johannesburg where there is a concentration of Africaners, many of whom remain bitter and feel disenfranchised due to these changes. There, he said, he would be asked to leave certain establishments were he to enter them. In speaking about his own people, he regretted that their own historical mindsets often got in the way of them being able to pursue the opportunities that were now available. He, too, felt it will just take time. But the overriding concept of the Rainbow Nation and its message of healing and optimism is strong, and, to me, the political transition in the years beginning with Mandela's presidency is remarkable, if not downright miraculous.
In South Africa, I had some of the most exciting game drives of my trip. At one camp, the rangers were a little wild. My friend, Phyllis, and I found ourselves laughing almost uncontrollably as we bounced crazily over the roads and off the roads hot on the trail of a leopard. One day we were again tracking a leopard through the thick, high grasses in the bottom of the river bed when we ended up at a forty-five degree angle in a ditch that was hidden from view. Another jeep came and pulled us out, however, and we chalked it up to another adventure. It was on a game drive from this camp that we witnessed leopards mating, one of the rarest of safari experiences. The female flirts and approaches the male leopard. The mating is over quickly after much growling, and she snarls and snaps at him afterwards. The male knows enough to leap out of the way.
During a game drive at another lodge, the ranger circled an area several times. He knew a female lion and four cubs were in there somewhere. Watching for paw prints, he finally located where she had gone into the bush. He pulled off the road and left us in the jeep while he and the tracker walked into the bush to find them. About twenty minutes later, they came running back whooping for joy and off we went. These guys loved their work. Oblivious to our presence, the lions remained where they were. We must have spent an hour watching the four little lion cubs roughhouse with each other, pounce on their mother and tug at her ears and tail. The mother lion patiently tolerated their frisky attacks, all the while gently nudging and licking them. What a pleasure!
Things got a little hairy one day when the ranger was distracted and turned onto a road directly into the path of a massive bull elephant in musth (yes, that is spelled correctly) which means he was looking for a mate and very aggressive. Not a great situation. The elephant charged and was so close that, in my excitement, I only got a close-up photo of his ear. We left in a hurry. The elephant chased us down the road for at least a mile, trumpeting angrily at us, probably most distressed by the fact that we were not a female elephant.
One day during a lull in activity on a game drive, our ranger shared an unusual story. He had previously referred to himself as being separated from his wife. On this day he explained that his use of the word "separated" was not what we might think. He lived separately from his wife and children for a very unusual reason. After he was married, the father of the bride confessed that his wife was the wife of another man who, in fact, was the ghost of a man the bride's father had killed. It seems that in order to be forgiven by the man he had killed, the bride's father had promised his, at that time, very young daughter to the dead man's ghost as his wife. This presented a bit of a predicament for the couple. It was believed that if the ranger continued to live with his wife, the ghost would surely come to kill him. His mother-in-law was especially upset and insisted that her daughter and the children come live with her. It had now been a few years and the separation was causing such misery to the wife that the mother-in-law began to be receptive to some other resolution. The solution appeared to be the offering of a young daughter of the wife's uncle to the ghost as a substitute. The village sangoma (witch doctor) would conduct the ceremony. The ranger felt that the ceremony in addition to his going to church, living a good life, and praying a lot (he assured us he was a Christian) would keep him safe from the dead man's ghost. Thus, you have the tribal beliefs neatly integrated with the Christian conscience. Fascinating, as is Africa itself. I can't wait to return.
*As far as I could discern, "Africaners" are whites who have a long history in the country and are related to the early Boers who settled there many years ago. "Coloreds" are people of mixed race.
MOVIE: I highly recommend the movie "Hotel Rwanda"
NEXT MUSELETTER - Namaqualand, South Africa: A Special Teacher in a Special Land
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WINGS Vol. IV, No 1, February, 2005
