President Thabo Mbeki was presented with a cow and an ox on Thursday morning as he kicked off two days of electioneering in the Eastern Cape.
The presentation was made at the Mngqesha Great Place of Maxhoba Sandile, king of the Rharhabe or Western Xhosa.
Standing outside the cattle kraal, Sandile told Mbeki the cow was for his elderly mother to milk and the black ox for him to feast on.
Women journalists were barred from the presentation by tribal officials, who said their presence was culturally taboo.
The bellowing ox was slaughtered almost immediately.
There was a flurry of excitement in the middle of the king’s speech when the cow charged photographers inside the enclosure and they exited in a panic.
Sandile’s spokesperson Xolile Burns Ncamashe said Mbeki had felt it necessary to pay a courtesy visit to the king at the beginning of his Eastern Cape programme.
Asked whether the scores of African National Congress posters and flags displayed at the Great Place meant the king was showing support for the ANC, he said: ”No. I think that first, the president is recognised by the king as the president of the Republic of South Africa. Yes, Contralesa [the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa] can recognise him as the president of the ANC, but here he is recognised as the president of the Republic of South Africa.”
Questioned on the fact that the visit was billed as part of Mbeki’s ANC electioneering programme, he said: ”Naturally the president belongs to an organisation … the members of that organisation are equally the subjects of the king, so whatever they do the king will support them.”
Mbeki is scheduled to walk about at various venues in the Buffalo City municipality, which includes King William’s Town and Mdantsane, later on Thursday. He will address a media briefing on Thursday afternoon.
The Mngqesha Great Place boasts a multipurpose community centre that was opened by Deputy President Jacob Zuma in 2001.
Work is expected to start soon on a R2-million palace for the king on the same site. He lives on a farm south of Stutterheim. — Sapa
Special Report: Elections 2004