Hotel with a ‘Blaq’ story to tell

Seemingly stuck in the gory past of apartheid, Piet Retief in Mpumalanga, where almost everything is determined along racial lines, is arguably a scary and depressing place, particularly for a stranger.

But when one delves deeper into the lives of the mostly farming community, one gets to understand that the recent developments were part of a bigger anger behind a festering problem.

The town, on the border of SA and Eswatini, recently shot to notoriety when the two Coka brothers, Zenzele and Mgcini, were shot and killed on Pampoenkraal Farm, outside Piet Retief.

According to the Workers and Labour Tenants Association, the incident has brought to the fore the daily experiences of the community, with the murder of the brothers not the first or last violent incident, and constant hostilities.

But not for Duduzile “Blaq” Shabangu, who has found hope in this apparently hopeless town after quitting her job as a mathematics and science teacher at Norden Primary School in March last year.

Then, it never occurred to the mother of four that she would come to own one of the oldest establishments in the country – The Moolman Hotel, about 17km outside Piet Retief.

“I came here not looking for anything but I found hope.

“The town’s vibe is gloomy but positive in the sense that there is an opportunity to talk about our challenges, by using our diverse past to come together,” she said.

Duduzile ‘Blaq’ Shabangu at her tavern in the small town known as Moolman near Mkhondo, Mpumalanga, on 18 April 2021. Picture: Jacques Nelles

Almost all business establishments in the precinct are white-owned, making Shabangu, born and bred in the local Thandukukhanya township, one of few back people to own property in the area.

But since teaching is her first love, Shabangu, who also owns a private primary school, has bigger plans to transform the hotel into a centre of SA history awareness and education.

She intends to dedicate each of the hotel’s 17 rooms to SA historical figures such as Black Consciousness icon Steve Biko, last apartheid president FW de Klerk, first democratically elected president Nelson Mandela and Pan-Africanist Congress leader Robert Sobukwe, documenting SA’s rich history and turbulent past.

She has also added her nickname to the original name of the hotel to give it the feel of diversity and the hotel is now known as Blaq-Story Moolman Hotel.

“I believe education and awareness about our history will help us to live together in harmony, respect and compassion. This area is rich in history. It is surrounded by Anglo-Boer war battle sites.

“This is also the area many black struggle activists used as a transit point to skip the country into Swaziland.

“Since it was on the outskirts of the country, it also had a campsite where the apartheid special branch used to torture and kill activists.”

But despite her zeal, she admits it’s difficult to run the hotel because her neighbours are not happy that a black person has property in the area.

She says the fact that she has opened the hotel’s bar to black farm dwellers and workers has attracted the wrath of some of her neighbours.

As a fashion designer with her own clothing label, she also uses the venue to host fashion shows and people are increasingly using the hotel to host their events because of its tranquillity.

“On such occasions or when I have gigs, the place is always packed with black people from the township and some do not like it.

“But I do not care because I am not doing anything illegal. I keep my music down as much as I can so we are not a nuisance but I still get complaints,” Shabangu said.

She said the hotel was the perfect venue for the white and black communities to get to know each other and understand common challenges they share.

Shabangu is working to have the hotel declared a heritage site because in the late 1800s it was next to platform 3, which used to be a pit stop for the rich and famous travelling to KwaZulu-Natal North Coast.

“Indigenous royal chiefs occupied this area way before white people set foot in the area.

“My plan is to get those people to come here regularly to tell the history of this area to our guests.

“The hotel was a white establishment until I bought it but I do not see in colour so it will be telling an SA story, not a black or white story.

“We need to heal this town,” she said.

Shabangu, fondly known as Sis Dudu, believes the history and tranquillity of the area and the fact that the hotel is still a popular pit stop, although the station closed years ago, are the perfect ingredients to turn the town’s fortunes around and bridge the racial divide.

siphom@citizen.co.za