SOUTH Africas main Freedom Day celebration in Pietersburg was off to a cheerful start on Friday despite cool and rainy weather. People packing the pavilion of the rugby stadium were unfazed by a slight drizzle as cultural performances got underway. The crowd will later in the day be addressed by Northern Province premier Ngoako Ramathlodi and President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki’s speech will round off a three-day tour of the province in what has been labelled as an initiative to reach out to ordinary people. Few whites were seen among the crowd. This should not be viewed as some kind of boycotting behaviour, Mbeki said in a local radio talk show on Thursday night. One should keep in mind that whites had different political traditions, he said. “The black population, having engaged in the struggle, is very much used to mass meetings and rallies. I wouldn’t say if whites don’t come that they are boycotting”, Mbeki said. “They have done things differently in the past. I don’t know when last you saw a mass meeting of whites.”