As the overused saying goes: perception is stronger than fact.
Just a few years ahead of the dawn of democracy, expectations among South Africans devastated by the system of Apartheid were unbelievably sky high.
Let me start by an extraordinary example of the day I practised a golf swing at a driving range alongside former Apartheid policeman, boxer and a fine golfer, Kallie Knoetze, at the Brits Golf Estate.
Kallie took me by complete surprise when he produced his ANC membership card from his wallet, proudly putting his colours to the mast.
The reason why he joined the ANC, “Die Boomstraat Bek” told me, was that he had gone to the US during the height of Apartheid to finalise a boxing deal, when he stumbled into the greatest of
them all, Mohammed Ali.
Kallie said he was devastated when Ali refused to shake hands with him, all because he was a white South African and a former cop, nogal.
Against this background, Kallie said he had joined Mandela’s party to hit back at what Apartheid did to him, with specific reference to the Ali encounter.
Also at the dawn of democracy, I watched a TV talk show based on the state of the arts.
One of the guests, Joe “S’dumo” Mafela, complained that when US veteran comedian Bill Cosby had a one-on-one with Mandela, he (Mafela) was not invited, “and they call me the Bill Cosby of
South Africa”.
Weeks after the talk show I stumbled into Bra Joe at the Penguin Films studio in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg.
I introduced myself as then news editor at Sunday Sun, and dared Bra Joe that I was proud of him as the Joe Mafela of South Africa, and not the Bill Cosby of wherever.
Bra Joe winked and said he would always remember that.
Then on the same talk show my erstwhile colleague at the National Arts Council, veteran actor Patrick Shai challenged the choice of US actor Morgan Freeman as the Mandela in a motion picture.
I was honoured to share the same space with Shai, and explained to him that when Americans produced a movie on Mandela, it was a movie targeted at an American audience and nobody else.
I explained to Shai that should a Johnny Masilela be casted as Mandela in a movie to premiere in the US, not a single Yank would bother to watch it.
Ken Gampu, our own ol’ man river of the movies, was also on the show, complaining that when Michael Jackson visited South Africa, he would be feted and even taken on a guided tour of the Kruger National Park.
I never had the opportunity to explain to ‘om Ken that when Michael Jackson goes to the Kruger National Park, he would be followed by scores of photojournalists from all corners of the whole circumference of the earth.
Imagine the free publicity for the Kruger National Park, and the broader South African economy?
In recent weeks some in my circle of pretenders to aristocracy questioned why Barak Obama delivered the Mandela lecture, and not one among us.
Let me leave this one to the imagination of the reader.
— The BEAT
