It’s actually a pretty typical South
African vibe, as our driver was describing, same as our guide did yesterday.
Extremes of rich and poor, it’s the African way, so far, it seems – and Zuma
has done nothing but perpetuate it for his own benefit. I realise Nelson
Mandela is a hard act to follow, but still…
Taking a private tour with Johan, politics
were unavoidable. They are in any capital city, of course, but even more so
here, where they impact so much on everyday life. To begin with, though, there
were beautiful, if razor-wired, leafy mansions; an unseasonably dry nature
reserve complete with blue wildebeest, zebra and a mongoose; and long views
over the even leafier city with its universities, government buildings and
monuments. The Voortrekker Monument is pre-eminent on its hill, literally (for
a long time, no building was allowed to be higher) and tells an exhausting
story of effort, struggle and battle. The Great Trek it commemorates, of the
Dutch away from British colonisation, is aptly named.
The downtown area is full of lovely
Victorian stately buildings heavy on the turrets and pillars, but also of
loiterers who make wandering around with cameras a bit of a dodgy undertaking,
so we didn’t. We drove instead up to the Presidential offices on their hill,
surrounded by neat gardens and overlooking the 9m high Nelson Mandela statue,
arms widespread and friendly grin on his face. It seemed a shame that the conversation
with Johan begun at his feet was all about how difficult life is in South
Africa, especially from the downtrodden white person’s angle. The pendulum has
swung too far, and the country truly is the worse for it. It’s such a shame.
And then we drove away, past black men
pushing a trolley full of spinach, and awkwardly carrying three wooden ironing
boards, back to Waterkloof Ridge with its elegant high-walled mansions, to the
Castello di Monte’s echoing halls and antique furniture. South Africa is full
of ironies.
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