Thebe Mabanga and photographer Nadine Hutton meandered through South Africa’s rural hinterland on polling day When Alan Paton wrote of a lovely road that runs from Ixopo into the hills, he sought to capture a unique aspect of his childhood and this beloved country. There are a number of other places that are of equally mesmerising splendour, such as the mountainous beauty of the Northern Province. Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn, harsh terrestrial scenery greets us as we wind our way to Messina on election day. SAfm’s John Perlman warns us of things to come when he tells us that the temperature in the game-farming town on the Zimbabwean border will exceed 30C. Around us, the land is light brown with sprinklings of greenery that seem to have forced their way through cracks in the rocky mountains. A group of Muslim men walking in the opposite direction capture our attention. They tell us that they are walking from Messina to Louis Trichardt, a distance of about 100km. Asked to explain, their leader becomes animated as fervour dominates fatigue. He tells us that their walk is a symbol of sacrifice to propagate love, peace and justice for Allah’s creation. It is part of the holy month of Ramadan, due to end a day after Christians celebrate Christmas. I ask if they feel accommodated by the democratic order. They say they do, and appreciate their religious freedom before their leader points out: “We are against the Constitution allowing abortion, gambling, alcohol, and fornication.” So who will they vote for? “Well we appreciate that it is everyone’s prerogative to vote, but we have not found anyone worth voting for.” Anyway, while half the nation was voting, some people were praying for a better life after the elections. When we reach Messina, Perlman’s warning seems understated it feels as though we are on the equator. At the three voting stations we visit one in town and the others in the nearby Nancefield township activity is low and relaxed. The longest queue to vote consisted of only 20 people. A good thing then that the candidates are interesting characters. We encountered two. The first was Brigadier General Gabriel Ramoshwana. The former leader of the Venda homeland looks markedly different without military regalia. The imposing figure that was the commander of the National Peace Keeping Force has become rather more approachable. He gives a candid reflection of his 1990 to 1994 tenure as a leader of the 142km stretch that constituted the “country” of Venda and now forms just five wards of the new municipality. “I do not think that life has changed [from the homeland era],” he says before recounting some of his achievements. These include brokering a peace deal between the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (Apla) and the South African Defence Force a few weeks before the death of Apla commander Sabelo Pama.
He says he quit politics to take a break before re-emerging this year as a ward candidate in Messina, his home town. He claims he was overwhelmed by calls for him to stand in Thohoyandou, the former Venda capital, from people nostalgic for the days of his presidential rule. Another interesting candidate we meet is Henry Stoop. He joined the Democratic Alliance at the start of the year and is standing as number one on the party’s proportional representation list. He relocated to Messina after being retrenched by Armscor/Denel in Kempton Park to “make way for a previously disadvantaged person”. He has since opened a bookkeeping practice he is a bookkeeper not a politician. So what prompted him to join the DA? “A desire to serve the people.” But why the DA? “Because of the deteriorating level of services and, and … the poor management.” It sounds rather like a desire to avenge a party that ousted you from a job. In the township, people’s assessment of life is heartening in its optimism. “Life is well but water is expensive,” says Daniel Manganyi, an unemployed, middle-aged man seated with a group that allows us to join them for a drink. The price of water in the Northern Province is relatively high because of its scarcity. The province needs quicker delivery on the promise for free basic services. Because of its proximity to Zimbabwe, residents feel the crunch of cheap labour provided by illegal immigrants. Not far from where we are seated, there is a traditional beer-brewing hall. It employs more than 50 Zimbabwean nationals who work for about R10 a day. Among the men in the group is Abel Mlawudzi. He is a bitter victim of exploitation and an impatient casualty of mismanagement. Mlawudzi was employee No 7516 at the M.T.D mine between 1966 and 1983. He was dismissed without compensation and has not had a permanent job since. Speaking in a fusion of TshiVenda and Sepedi, he states his simple wish: a place to stay. He has applied for government subsidised dwellings and this is no exaggeration 10 times. He does not blame the African National Congress for the mess, but he wants the ruling party’s leadership to come and see management incompetence. We leave Messina at lunchtime and embark on a day-long drive that proves to be a revelation. On our way to Thohoyandou a scenery of fruit farming and a string of villages keep us company. After the Levubu farm, an army tent voting station at the village of Tshakuma tempts us to a quick stop. According to presiding officer Hector Ndou, activity has ebbed somewhat. Of the 341 expected voters, less than half have pitched. He expects more people from the fields after working hours. This polling station is the stamping ground for the likes of the Ximoko Party and Dabalorhivuma Party. A DA agent is seated nearby. With Ndou translating I discover the agent joined the party last week because his sister is a candidate. He does not know who the chair of his branch is. Ndou feels that life under participative government is better than under the homeland system mainly because the community is now consulted when projects are undertaken, such as the sports facilities that are under construction a stone’s throw away. In the village of Shilango we meet a 20-year-old matriculant, Respect Chauke. He has just been to vote although the adults in his neighbourhood stayed away. Chauke tells us that he is looking forward to studying police management. But his prospects are only upbeat because his parents work in Kempton Park. They visit at the end of each month.
A gaze around reveals an odd feature. Life here is laid-back and subsistent, but the houses that these people have built look more stable than a Reconstruction and Development Programme unit. People here do not need houses as urgently as they need jobs and water. Chauke points out an illogical system of rationing water. Their taps are turned on once a week and they have to collect water for the rest of the week. The odd thing is that they have to do this at midnight on a Sunday. The villages are untainted by the commercialisation of indigenous culture, like the Ndebele. No huts with colourful, geometric designs. Just people living ordinary lives. About 200 years ago, a tribe known as baga Malatji settled here. They marvelled at the ideal weather, the wildlife that was to later form the Kruger National Park and the copper that was to later inspire a mining boom. They lived with rapid abundance and decided this place was “better than the south” and in Sepedi that is Phalaborwa. All this we are told by Daveyton Malatji, a member of the founding Malatji clan. The trouble began when mining was commercialised and the Malatji were forcibly removed. The mining boom led to the establishment of the Namakgale township and an influx of outsiders. Since then the natives of this place have been banished to a cluster of four villages, where 20 000 people live in destitution. Malatji resents the fact that people from Pietersburg, Tzaneen and other areas benefit from mining and tourism in the area. The best jobs his people can get are in domestic services. They feel like immigrants in the land of their forefathers. Malatji does not know what to call his xenophobia He hopes to help the tribe make a claim similar to that of the Bafokeng tribe in Rustenburg. Their aim is ambitious: it includes the Kruger National Park. To help his cause he has stood as the ward candidate for the DA, having joined the party in July. Our return home takes us through Mpumalanga. The scenery is captivating. Lush, varying shades of green, and acres of mountain space, which after passing through the tunnel to Waterval-Boven, turn to rolling hills much like Paton’s, I am sure.