Ledig lies 35km from Rustenburg and a stone’s-throw from the royal kingdom of the Bafokeng. Entering the small village, we can already hear the low, monotonous thud of metal on metal that signals we’ve found the man we’ve come to see: Doctor Tsotetsi, a local makahenikhi [panelbeater] and by all accounts, the best in town. Tsotetsi, in worn out jeans and a greasy workman’s coat, is knocking mightily on a dent in a Nissan E20 minibus taxi with a hammer. Greeting us across his muddy front yard, he invites us into his “firm,” a six metre wide carport made out of the remnants of a ripped off corrugated iron road sign.
Doctor Tsotetsi, 44, Panel-beater, Ledig, Rustenburg, North-WestVote quote: “Though Lekota is Sotho like me, I think he’s still a boy compared to Msholozi.” (Photo: Oupa Nkosi)
His wife and sons gather around to welcome us too. Several scrappy cars are lined up against a rusty wire fence under a clump of morula and peach trees. Two other “Zola Budd” minibuses await service. “You see, ever since I bought this thing —” — he points to a deep red pump-like metal instrument — “drivers are always queuing here to get their taxis fixed,” he chuckles, revealing a set of chipped front teeth. Business, says Tsotetsi, is the least of his worries, and for now he is keeping his head above the turbulent economic waters and keeping up with the costs of his two youngest children who are still at school.
‘JOE’ SPEAKS
“When I first arrived in Rustenburg from the Free State, I found a job as a panelbeater. For 20 years I scraped, painted and polished white men’s cars for a pittance. There were times when things were so bad that by Sunday, my weekly wages were finished and I had no money for bus fare. I vowed that one day I would start my own business and won’t let my children go through the same ordeal. I did, 15 years later. But when I see my children going through the same problems I went through when I was young, it breaks my heart.
Unemployment and a lack of access to good education made me leave home in the 1980s and I see that my children are following in the same footsteps. When I voted for the first time in 1994 I hoped for great things. We had been promised heaven and earth and everybody was upbeat about the prospects of getting better jobs, free houses and free education. Things did happen afterwards but not as fast as we had anticipated. Even though I struggled in my youth and I see the same thing happening to my children today, I can’t stand here and blame the government for failing me. I believe that they are trying their best to create a better life for us. That’s why I am going to vote for the ANC again.
I feel that the ANC has done a lot to make this country what it is today. We black people were treated as skunks and humiliated for a long time. And I don’t see myself going that route again. The ANC is not perfect, neither are the other parties, hence I say we black people should rally behind the ANC and give it a chance to finish what it started 15 years ago—better the devil you know. Even though there’s infighting I think this is not the time to look for alternatives. When they fight, we still need to go and vote because we don’t really know what they are fighting about. All we need is change—we really don’t want to end up like Zimbabwe.
What I am trying to say is that we must never sell our votes to opportunistic parties like Cope and the DA. We don’t know what those parties represent. I’ll always vote for the ANC because it freed us from the chains of white oppression. For that reason alone, the ANC will always be my home and I don’t care whether the president is Zuma or not.
I believe that Zuma is the right man to do the job. He appears more like somebody whom I can trust with my vote—someone whom I would like to be my president, not Lekota and the other white woman. I think Zuma understands people like me and he knows our problems. Let him get his chance. Personally I would like to expand my business. But that does not mean that I am waiting for Zuma to make my dream come true.”