Musing on Mandela and South Africa

We arrived back on Friday to a green land pressed beneath black, brooding clouds. It may have been a dry start to the Wet but it looks like the rains have come just as they should.

It was a fairly smooth landing in Lilongwe and interesting to see the massive black clouds overhead as we drove away from the airport. I am sure the South African Airways pilots are used to weaving their way through storm clouds at this time of year. They had pretty seamlessly tracked their way through electrical storms when we landed in both Joburg and Cape Town. I have had rougher flights in Australia.

But there were two massive electrical storms while I was in Joburg. The windows in the hotel shook as the thunder smashed through the sky and the lighting was like knives cutting through cloud to find the earth. I always find storms impressive but prefer to be safely tucked up at 'home' when they are around. Not that one can choose at this time of year. It is the time of storms. But then Africa seems to be a place of storms of one kind or another.

It is always nice to be home after sleeping in hotel beds and living in hotel rooms. I had work to do and so spent a lot of time at the computer but then I was visiting places where I had lived so it wasn't as if there was much to discover. I am a lazy tourist at the best of times.

Five days in Joburg and five in Cape Town, returning to old haunts and old homes for that matter, was a pleasant respite. Joburg really constituted the airport and Sandton City and Cape Town the Cullinan Hotel and the Waterfront but having lived in both places, and given the 'complexities' of South Africa, I had no need and even less desire to play tourist.

But it was nice to have a facial, pedicure, haircut, massage and to buy some basics, like more flat, cool shoes and organic shampoo and conditioner. And books, lots and lots of books. Well, about eight actually or I would have been up for excess baggage on my travels.

We have been staying at the Sandton Sun for more than ten years now and there is a familiarity about the rooms (see pic above)which is comforting. Old homes for us for many, many years. We are creatures of habit. Familiarity breeds familiarity and we like it. Standards have dropped a tad though but the word was that the hotels got greedy about the World Cup and lost money as a result. Hence, no doubt, why mini-bars no longer exist and bathroom toiletries are of the modest (cheap) kind.

But it is still a comfortable hotel and the staff are lovely and it is what it is.
Sandton doesn't change much although they always seem to be working on it. It was interesting reading the South African newspapers again. A breakfast treat which we don't have here in Lilongwe. Although treat is probably not the right word given the murder, misery and mayhem which makes up most of it.

It's the V word which permeates SA newspapers; violence. Which means it is not a great breakfast read. I usually retreat to the feature pages and the letters to the editor.

But one 'letter to the editor'  did explain something which I had wondered about; the almost paranoid reaction of South Africans to the possible demise of Nelson Mandela. Of course he will die. We all do and he is old and he is unwell.

'Can't they see that,' I said to myself when I read online about the recent hysteria when he was admitted to hospital. But as always there is good reason for the response, I just did not have enough understanding of  what fuelled the perception and the fear.

According to the Joburg papers, at least in what I gauged from some letters to the editor, people are terrified of what will happen when Madiba dies. Madiba is the name by which he is affectionately known, his Xhosa name which means Father. What people fear, and this is understandable, is that the government restrains itself while Madiba is alive but once gone it will be no holds barred and many look to Zimbabwe and shudder at their possible future.

South Africans have a deep respect for Mandela and a deep gratitude for his guiding hand when it was needed and this applies to all South Africans, no matter how enlightened or ruthless they may be at any given moment.  And I qualify this by saying I am sure that enlightened people can be ruthless and vice versa.

It won't be the day that Mandela dies but in the weeks and months following that the government of the day will reveal just who it is and how it plans to act. At least this is what many South Africans believe. No doubt white South Africans more than the rest.

It does make sense. The Government was making noises last week about privatising the mining industry which would be truly insane and which would stop international investment in a nanosecond. But rationality can be in short supply in Africa where 'personal' needs are concerned. Sadly, many if not most African governments 'falter' in the second term and leaders seek to do anything they can to stay in power.

The death of Nelson Mandela will be a test for South Africa. Of that there is no doubt. I just hope that the fears are wrong and sanity will prevail. South Africans deserve as much; as in fact do all Africans. As in fact do all nations, looking as we have been at the Egyptian movement for freedom and democracy. One wonders why something so simple should be so hard to get and to keep. No doubt religion, tribal beliefs, traditions, arrogance, ignorance and habit all lock hands to keep people in their 'place.'

But I like to think the world has changed and it is now much harder not only to keep democracy out, and by that I mean true democracy.... there is a lot of pretend democracy around, particularly in Africa ...but to lie to people. Mandela at his age may not have a long and healthy life ahead of him but one can only hope South Africa does.

Capstadt actually looked a little cleaner, tidier and more vibrant than when I last saw it eight years ago. I am talking about the city centre. The Waterfront has always been clean, tidy and vibrant. Table Mountain still looms, sullen as ever, at least to my mind. Perhaps it broods a little more because the local paper said murders, robberies and muggings of tourists and hikers on the mountain have escalated massively in recent years; at some points averaging one a day. This is bad news for Cape Town as top tourist destination and sad news for such a beautiful mountain. I may find it sad and sullen but that makes it no less beautiful.

There are times when it pays to be relaxed about exercise and hiking was never going to attract me. Instead I took the hotel shuttle to the Waterfront one day and walked around as I had so many times when we lived there. It's a lovely shopping centre but a bit soulless although I do admit to bias because I am not a shopper at the best of times, unless I am in a food or antique market.

There is no denying though that on a sunny day, the harbour and views of the Table Mountain (safely away from muggers and thieves) are absolutely stunning. Scenically Cape Town has so much going for it, at least in a natural sense. My only hope is that one day I will drive from the airport to the city and the waterfront without passing mile upon mile of shacks and shanties. I am sure South Africans hope for exactly the same thing.

We had some excellent food in Cape Town and it has always been something of a foodie haven. We went to Groot Constantia for an Austrade function and had some good fun and good, but simple food. The Cape Dutch architecture is so pretty and the view from the vineyard at sunset is truly stunning. It reminded me of Adelaide where the lights spread far and wide at the foot of the hills.

We also went back to Aubergine, reputed to be one of Cape Town's best, if not the best and last visited nine years ago. It was also very good but not as good as it should have been. A bit too much salt, a little too much fiddling and a huge pinch of pretension took the edge off it for me.

As did the sommelier who recommended a ten year old Pinotage which had 'not lasted the distance' and when we said so to the waiter, who was very professional and courteous, was replaced with something else but without sight of or word from our original sommelier who had made the recommendation. Simply not good enough for a restaurant which considers itself to be top of the league. Perhaps he was embarrassed, but that is an excuse, not a reason.

But 95 Keerom (see pic above) was my favourite. Italian, simple, elegant and delicious food. The gnocchi I had the first night was brilliant and I figure if you can cook good gnocchi you can cook anything. They also had a warmed yellowtail (local fish) carpaccio which was superb.

I had black wilderbeast, springbok and kudu on my second visit as a main course and again, it was cooked perfectly. I won't say these meats have a great deal of flavour.... you may as well have steak.... but it is interesting to try them all the same. One of the nicest meats is ostrich because at least it has some distinctive taste.

But, food aside, I do weary of the penchant for fifties style decor which seems to have consumed restaurant designers around the world. It was pretty tasteless in that cream and brown way in the fifties and I don't think it has improved with age. Smart, yes, stylish, yes, boring, yes.

But what would I know? In the modern world there seems to be a 'sameness' to design wherever one goes. The Africans do still manage to introduce a bit of 'local design' but they too are being swallowed by the Fifties 'cream and brown' design monsters. No doubt this fashion, like all others, will also pass.

Or perhaps I will come to like Fifties design? Probably not but who knows?