Driving through the dusty Karoo on a winter’s day, one could be forgiven for thinking there’s nothing much of interest going on in the dormitory townships that flank each little town. But when you spend a day with David McNaughton of Karoo Connections and his partner, Neco Bokwe in the townships around Graaff-Reinet, deep history, current events and encounters with colourful residents make the experience quite unforgettable.
Warrior-Queen
‘Graaff-Reinet has a large population of Sothos who were, originally, chased down to these parts by the actions of Queen Mantatisi and her hordes,’ says David as we drive. ‘She never ventured this far south herself, but her influence definitely spread to Graaff-Reinet.’
Mantatisi, the fighting queen of the Wild Cat People (Batlokoa), has fascinated historians for a very long time. There are many great legends surrounding this fierce woman, who took her clan of 50 000 in a wide sweep of death, destruction and locust-like consumption across South Africa in the early 1820s.
They say she nourished her wild army with her own milk and consumed lesser tribes in her progress across the socially-insane landscape that was the lifaqane, a time when peoples rose up against one another in massacre and madness.
New Horizons
We arrive in Kroonvale at the New Horizons Sewing Project, a small enterprise, with only ten women busy sewing tracksuits and school uniforms for local consumption. But the manager of New Horizons, Hanna Makoba earns more local respect than most multi-national CEOs, because she insists on drawing exactly the same salary as her workers.
Robert Sobukwe
Then we stop at the cemetery of Robert Sobukwe, founder of the Pan-Africanist Congress and one of the major icons of the anti-apartheid struggle. He is the other ‘successful son’ of Graaff-Reinet, and the words on his gravestone live on:
‘True leadership demands complete subjugation of self, absolute honesty, integrity and uprightness of character, courage and fearlessness, and above all, a consuming love for one’s people.’
Sobukwe spearheaded the fight against the apartheid ‘pass laws’ that culminated in the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960. He spent nine years in solitary confinement on Robben Island and the rest of his days under house arrest in Kimberley.
Harry & Cat
This is followed by a small sojourn into Rolene’s Tavern & Sports Bar, run by Harry and Cat van Rooyen, who have an adorable five-year-old daughter running barefoot through the place, playing peekaboo with the lot of us.
We see the RDP (Reconstruction and Development Programme) houses being built all over the townships. Made from breeze blocks, it takes the builders only three days to put up one house.
Down the road, however, is a decorated shack and a well-tended garden belonging to one Pieter Swemmer. We stop and admire his creatively-pruned trees and the Namakwa daisies and pink pelargoniums that skirt his lawn.
Pieter has a little shop called Geenop Skuld! (No Debts) and 11 turkeys and six rooting pigs in his backyard. He once worked on a wine and fruit farm near Middelburg and is using his years of experience to set himself up here.
Moerkoffie & Roosterbrood
Next, we visit the home of Emily Swartbooi in Chris Hani Village. While she serves us moerkoffie en roosterbrood (ground coffee and toast) the soft-spoken Emily tells us how her life has improved since the government installed water and electricity in her neighbourhood – simple facilities most urbanites take for granted.
Next door to Emily lives Katrina Menzi, everyone’s favourite grandmother. While small children roil about the house, we buy some of Katrina’s little pockets of fabric filled with the fragrant kapokbossie (snow bush, sold to tourists as wild lavender).
From Courier to Cook
Lunch is at the Mzimhlope Restaurant in Umasizakhe Township. Nanziwe Vena used to act as a 
courier for the ANC during the apartheid years, bearing messages back and forth between Lesotho and South Africa. Because of her unassuming mien and quiet ways, no one suspected her of being an agent for the liberation movement.
‘Now I’m a cook,’ she smiles.
And what a cook. We feast on beef soup, spinach, pumpkin and chicken stew. I steer clear of the tripe dish, although I noticed David and Neco tucking in merrily. And then a singing group called The Peacemakers give us a show, and it is great fun to stand out there in the middle of a Karoo winter’s afternoon and be entertained in such grand fashion.
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