Hundreds of white farmers from Cullinan have quit the Freedom Front for the ANC to pursue nation-building – and escape farm invasions Jaspreet Kindra ‘Are you Robby?” a young black man stops George Dickinson on a street in Cullinan. Dickinson, chair of the African National Congress’s interim Roodeplaat branch and a retired policeman who served under the apartheid regime, smiles in response. The young man is overjoyed, grins, grips Dickinson’s hand African-style and hugs him. The young man is referring to Robby Sutherland, a former Freedom Front councillor who is now such a hero of the ANC-supporting black population in the area that all white men seen with any ANC office bearer are greeted as “Robby”. More than 1 000 white farmers from in and around Cullinan, many of them FF card- carrying members, moved across to the ANC in May this year. It appears that most of the FF stalwarts followed Dickinson and Sutherland because they believed that joining up with the ANC would help ward off the threat of Zimbabwe-style land invasions. “It was one of the reasons why we decided to join the ANC,” says Dickinson as he recalls their first overtures to the ANC in the run- up to the gene-ral election in Zimbabwe in June.
“There was a big fear among the white farmers following the propaganda by some parties that the country was going the way of Rhodesia. There still is fear. Now we find out there is no such thing,” says Dickinson.
“It took us a few months to decide and we realised that the ANC was the only party which could hold the nation together. We started our search for ANC members in our area and they put us in touch with the party structures.”
The ANC mayor of Greater Cullinan, Obed Mayila, says the party also actively recruited the farmers to “allay any fears” they might have had about their farms being invaded. “We have been reassuring them there is no one who will invade your property – that is not the mindset of the ANC.” Last week, while welcoming the farmers and others who have crossed over to the ANC, one of the leaders from the provincial structures announced: “Now you can see there are no plans to invade your farms.” Dickinson is reluctant to talk about his previous political home – if any. “Let’s just say I was part and parcel of the previous government.” He worked for the South African Police for 30 years and now runs a coffee shop and a garden nursery in Roodeplaat.
As he responds to the friendly waves of new- found comrades on the streets, the former FF member now reincarnated as a staunch ANC supporter says: “I say I joined to build and strengthen the movement – to work for the black community. To fight for change for the poorest of the poor.” The tiny diamond-mining town is on its way to becoming racially integrated. ANC Women’s League meeting posters adorn the window of the local dry-cleaning shop in the village square.
One resident says: “While some people still have a problem accepting black people working in town, everyone is gradually learning to respect each other.” Both Dickinson and Sutherland are standing for December’s local government elections as ANC candidates for two of the wards in Roodeplaat, which will now fall under the Greater Cullinan local authority. They will canvass votes from both the white and black constituencies.
Besides Dickinson and Sutherland, the ANC also has former FF member Dannie Wanneberg on the party’s candidate list for Pretoria and Monica Muller on its list for the North Eastern District in Gauteng. Dickinson already has plans chalked out to pursue his new-found passion to uplift the black masses: “I know it will take time, but we have plans to build houses for the black workers on the farms.” Mayila is “highly over-excited” about finally getting down to building, as he says in party-speak, a non-racial society as contained in the party’s Freedom Charter. “This [the defection] should have happened as early as yesterday.” He immediately gets down to conducting an impromptu roadside briefing. He is joined by Dickinson in addressing members of their constituency on a road in a former white suburb. They stand with their arms over each other’s shoulders. Seven years ago people would have raised eyebrows; 10 years ago Dickinson could have probably arrested Mayila for daring to stop in the street and organise a gathering. When the ironies are pointed out, Dickinson responds philosophically: “Yesterday is forever gone, tomorrow may never be, but today we have got opportunity.”