It all started at the White House. This is where African National Congress leaders in the Free State held an impromptu rally last week in preparation for President Thabo Mbeki’s arrival to launch his drive to be elected for a second term as South Africa’s president.
The White House, for those who may not know, is a tuck shop, in the heart of Calabria (or Calaria, as some insist the township outside Virginia should be called). The real name should not matter much because Ace Magashule, who heads the list of nominations for the provincial legislature, told the crowd that the name will be changed “when the ANC is inaugurated as the government” on April 27.
The White House, which at present is more cream than it is white, also serves as the local market square, where ideas and issues that pressure the poverty-stricken community are discussed.
The grader at what would have to pass as the road leading to the area suggested a story about a community welcoming the president while searching for a road to a better life. It also spoke of their perception that their true circumstances were being hidden from the president who was about to visit their little township.
While local ANC leaders, including provincial ministers, mayors, local government councillors and others on the list for the provincial and national governments, went from door to door to canvass votes and a warm reception for Mbeki, others were fielding questions.
“Tuesday is the day we are supposed to collect pension and social grants. Will our grants be here?” was one.
The loudest cheer came for a woman named Mojabeng Mathibe, who asked that graders should not be used just because the president was arriving. “We want him to see the true state of the roads in this area. We also want him to enter inside the houses, so that he can see for himself what type of places we live in.”
As the grader had moved the earth, so Magashule was moving the crowds. “Do you think that the people of Soweto have such a short memory that they will allow Tony Leon who, as a former lance corporal in the apartheid army, has on his hands the blood of their children?” he said, referring to the Democratic Alliance launch in February of its campaign in Soweto.
The attack on Leon and the party was strategic because the ward where the White House is situated belongs to the DA. “They tell me that you people support the DA here. Is that true?” he asked. A resounding “no” answered him.
The ANC leaders reassured the people that the president would not take his cue from anyone and would visit anyone he wished to, and expect people to speak freely about their concerns.
Speak freely they did when Mbeki arrived in the Goldfields area the next day. He visited Odendaalsrus, Welkom and Virginia to a rapturous welcome.
Not even his being with the province’s unpopular Premier Winkie Direko — who appeared so low in the provincial list that the party saw fit to nominate her for the national Parliament — dimmed his appeal.
Mathibe got her wish. After about 15 minutes with the president in her house she was a subject of envy of her neighbours.
“I don’t know if you noticed that the president left with what looked like tears in his eyes. That’s because I [gave him a] piece of my mind. I told him about the roads in this area, [which] are so bad that taxis refuse to enter. I told him about the way our pensioners have to pay extra money to be delivered to their houses because taxis refuse to come here.
“I should have, but I forgot to tell him that we need to take our dead across two streets because hearses refuse to drive along these streets,” she told the Mail & Guardian.
“On windy nights we sit on our bums waiting for it to end. We fear that the wind could blow off our roofs while we sleep. We rather see it happen in front of our eyes.
“I also told him that I am proud about what he has done for me. This house was given to me by [former president Nelson] Mandela. I also showed them the groceries that I bought with the pension money they give me. I said to him ‘take my hand. I am happy with what you have done for us.’
“Unfortunately I did not get answers for my problems, only promises. We will see after the elections,” said Mathibe. She said she told the president that she had never met the local councillor, therefore did not know where to go with her problems.
“When they asked me who I was going to vote for, I told them ‘my vote is my secret’,” she said to the delight of a small crowd of neighbours gathered to hear about her day with the country’s number one citizen.
Back at the tuck shop, President Mbeki revealed who he would vote for and why: “I will vote for the ANC because I trust it.”
The crowd sang “Sibuthwel’ubumzima e Calaria [It is difficult in Calaria]” as the presidential motorcade left the White House.