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Published: December 18th 2015
Lesedi Cultural Village
Didn't realize we would stay in a "beehive" later!With a few interruptions, I slept until 8:20 this morning! Even so, I managed to be almost late for the tour. From my one-day experience today, I think South Africa may run five-minutes early. Breakfast was a buffet at the hotel: a plentiful spread in a large, full dining room pulsating with business.
Our guide, Thabelo, was welcoming and cheerful. These four days in Johannesburg are an extension to the main tour, delivered by a local tour company. Three of us are taking the extension. Norm was quiet, but Jack and I kept asking questions and making observations after Thabelo had finished his short history of Johannesburg. I learned that Johannesburg is the administrative capital of South Africa; Pretoria is the judicial capital; and, Cape Town is the legislative capital.
According to Thabelo, downtown Johannesburg was gradually abandoned, because during the years of struggle (against apartheid) a criminal element took advantage of the turmoil, and security evaporated. Late in the tour, he said in response to my question that recently some large companies and developers have acquired and renovated some of the skyscrapers for offices, hotels, and apartments. Security now is generally much better, giving hope for the future.
Zulu guard
In every village a guard asked permission from the chief to let us enter. The drive west out of the city was through light industrial businesses. In anticipation of the next workweek, the city is suffering “load shedding” (rotating blackouts) by
Eskom, the electricity company, in an effort to conserve diesel and refill a dam, according to the TV news. Our guide’s personal opinion was that there is “hidden money” from the government that should have been used to improve electrical services. He tried to avoid the load shedding in one area only to run into a blackout on our alternate route. Large four lane roads were operating on an all-too-well-practiced four-way-stop protocol. When I remarked that people didn’t seem to walk much, he denied this. Still, seeing very few pedestrians, plus the sidewalks only on one side of highway roads, and car-oriented building access points sustained my private opinion.
As we left the city, we drove by
Cosmo City, a “
township”. (The word seems to have lost its sting from the apartheid days.) Again we saw the houses with solar panels for water heating. These are the new government-built houses, free for those living in “tin shacks”. Squatters built the tin shacks and, although they are not, they look like they are
Guide in Zulu costume
Weaving of grass mats, detail in the inset built from shipping containers. Some residents complain that the new houses are too small, with only two bedrooms for large families. They do look small, but they are waterproof and sturdy. The government wants to move everyone out of the tin shacks and into houses, but some residents sell their houses for ready cash (about 100,000 Rand), and illegal immigrants from “our neighbouring countries” (Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Malawi) build more tin shacks for their own shelter. A larger, more middle class house built by commercial developers sells for about 480,000 Rand on a 22-year mortgage – quite expensive.
The rest of our way gave us views of abandoned farmland – grass and trees. The main agricultural areas are no longer near the city; these landowners are just holding the land as speculation until the fast-growing city expands and needs it.
Lesedi Cultural Village is a purpose-built tourist attraction featuring “villages” from the
Zulu,
Xhosa and
Pedi tribes. (“Tribes” is their word.) Because of the traffic slowdown caused by load shedding, we only just made it to the Village in time to see the video of South Africa’s history. Interesting to hear it from their side - their own heroic portrayal
Pedi warriors
Students portraying their culture of history. The anti-apartheid story brought me to (discreet) tears, thinking about how I had been a tiny actor in a worldwide movement to sweep away apartheid.
Then an extremely animated young woman in an improbably pink, white and black beaded Zulu costume led us to the “villages”. In each, one or two people were acting as villagers in every day life. Although very good, they were not professional actors; they were students from each tribe, trained for these performances. Each village had typical houses that were also hotel rooms, where guests “lived the life” for the day. (Didn’t see any guests.) In the Xhosa village we were offered dried and toasted mealworms (about the size of a large peanut). I had heard of these many times, so had to try one. Only one other person tried. It was chewy, meaty, with a slightly bitter aftertaste. Not at all unpleasant. Full of nutritious protein. Finally all the students put on enthusiastic dance, hunting and fighting performances, culminating in a loud cascade of action and audience participation.
Lunch was a buffet. Many things were quite ordinary, but the ostrich stew, crocodile stew, and
pap (thickened corn flour similar to
Italian polenta or Caribbean coocoo) were different and tasty. Ostrich is a strong meat with a coarse grain.
Back at the hotel, I had a nap and lots of (my) green tea. Then with a bit of mental vigour, I propelled myself to the swimming pool. At first it felt cool and pleasant. By the time it felt warmer, two little girls came in, shivering excitedly in the chill. The older, named Shumla (sp?) was chatty and immediately made friends with me. She could swim quite well across the small pool. She was in Grade One and had learned to swim at school. Her sister, on arm floats, was more timid, but also proved to be a strong swimmer when she got her confidence. We all played, then they played more together, and I got out feeling pleasantly chilled.
Dinner at the hotel: chicken avocado salad and Sauvignon Blanc
View a
">video of dancing at Lesedi Village.
to Lesedi Village.
Isabel Gibson
non-member comment
How wonderful for you to see the country after so many years of being related to it, in absentia. Do you know why they have different capitals for the judiciary, legislators, and administrators?