"STOP Inflation! Reject Integration! Save the Nation! Vote CP!" The rhyming election posters are hardly out of place in Nylstroom, the major town in the huge Waterberg constituency. Here, the CP has every reason to be light-hearted: this is the centre of the ultra-conservative Northern Transvaal.
Dr Andries Treurnicht, whose portrait smiles down from the lampposts at the passing voters, has held this seat for 16 years. There is little doubt he will retain it. Hannes van Zyl, the regional CP chairman, is a towering giant with a hearty, crushing handshake. "Today is a very busy day for Doctor," he explains. "He is addressing schoolchildren shortly, then there is the divisional council meeting this afternoon, and the 'saamtrek' tonight, of course." They all call him "Doctor" with a mixture of awe and admiration. "But we can make some time for you," Van Zyl assures me.
Treurnicht may look like a great leader on the posters. In real life, he is small in stature and wears platform heels. Yet he is an experienced politician, suave and sophisticated in an immaculate pinstripe suit with knife- edge creases. He is relaxed, on top of the world, shakes hands with the male party-workers, fools around with the women in pink and light blue who answer the phone and look after the voters' roll. On the wall hangs a CP-badge knitted in orange, blue and white, probably a gift from a loyal supporter.
Treurnicht, whose name, literally translated, means "mourn not", proudly shows me a CP sticker, "Vote CP and Trent-nicht, Vote NP and Treur-later," it declares. Another humorous salvo in this not-so-funny campaign. "John Vorster, a very pragmatic leader." Treurnicht points to a picture on the wall. "And there, HF Verwoerd, the great intellectual leader. And here, JG Strijdom, my great predecessor in the Waterberg constituency. A fiery leader. The 'Lion of the North'." "Where would you put yourself," I ask. "Fiery, pragmatic or intellectual?" He laughs, and points to the space between Strijdom and Verwoerd.
For the National Party, fighting this fiery intellectual, this new "Lion of the North", is especially difficult. The wounds caused by Treurnicht's breakaway from the NP in 1982 have not yet healed. In Waterberg, the instigator and leader of this betrayal has to be vanquished. It is a particularly bitter fight, which pervades the whole community. Neighbours who have known each other for decades no longer talk.
NP supporters do not buy in the shop of "a CP". No one can escape the dispute in a town where everyone knows everyone else. This the NP wants to exploit. Treurnicht is an outsider, not native to the region. "A Waterberger for Waterberg," is the motto of the NP. Their candidate: Johannes Lampbrecht, a 60-year-old man with pure white hair. He has lived here all his life, is known to everyone as "Oom Poem" and is, above aII, a world-renowned big game hunter. The new "Lion of the North" is meant to be his next prey. "A lion is much more difficult and I have shot 19 already," "Poem" Lampbrecht says confidently. "This enemy is not going to be so difficult."
We are sitting in the trophy room at his farm outside Ellisras. There is certainly no doubt that "Oom Poem" is an accomplished hunter. A huge lion peers over his shoulder, frozen in blood thirsty attack. Buffalo heads, a grizzly from Alaska and various kinds of buck grace the walls. They are all perfect specimens. After all, if you shoot 19 lions, you don't stuff every one of them.
Next door in the sitting room, where white lace doilies protect the red lounge suite, scores of silver cups are on display. Many a shooting and hunting competition was won by this man. There are also copper ashtrays, their base the foot of an ostrich or the hoof of an antelope. The white porcelain animals seem all too graceful and out of place.
"Oom Poem" is an engaging, straight-forward man. Church-going, a member of various committees; he's a pillar of the community. "Poem, that is an abbreviation of the name which the blacks gave me," he explains. "Poemisa' — he who can push. I can speak their language just as well as they can."
Lampbrecht is a millionaire but lives simply. His wife cooks on a traditional wood-burning stove. He owns six farms but concentrates on the game farms, where he receives wealthy trophy hunters from all over the world. For Lampbrecht being a loyal NP supporter in this region often means that he is classed with liberals and communists. For years, he has worked hard for the party. "I carried Treurnicht in on my right shoulder in 1981," he says somewhat sadly. "I want to be the one who carries him out." But party loyalty is not enough in this election battle.
"CP! CP! CP! CP!" chant the more than 600 people from all over the Northern Transvaal as Treurnicht walks into the Nylstroom town ball. The atmosphere at the "saamtrek" is heated and Treurnicht has to calm the crowd. These are hard people, many of them farmers with faces burned and lined from the sun. They have no time for communists and liberals. That includes PW Botha.
"The NP behaves, as if it had exclusive access to reform," Treurnicht roars. "But to let me tell you: when the CP comes to power, we will have to reform many of the things that PW Botha has mis-formed. We as whites demand that we are governed only by our own people, only by whites." He finishes off with another CP rhyme, sweet sounding yet unsavoury: "People with vision vote for partition!" In the thundering applause, he smiles benignly. That may be old-style, Verwoerdian Apartheid. But it has clarity, it seems to give direction. The voters can cheer with enthusiasm.
"Oom Poem", on the other hand, has, difficulty in stirring some life into the vague Heunis-speak of NP policy. "The blacks helped develop this country," he assures his audience. "We must talk to one another. They should also have rights in South Africa " However, deeply held convictions and upright indignation do not win election battles.
"Oom Poem", in his green suit and shiny tie, cannot touch Treurnicht's smooth performance. "I want to be able to go to the State President, PW Botha and say: "Mister President, here is the Waterberg, back, where it belongs'," he says hopefully.
But big game hunter Johannes "Poem" Lampbrecht does not have the experience to enter the political wilderness. The NP has not even given him the right weapons. The modern "Lion of the North" will, continue to rule the Waterberg.