Current Concerns

Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout has advised people to be ready for November 1 — to wear their masks, stick to social distancing, and cast their votes at the local government election polls.
– Evita Bezuidenhout, Cape Times, 26 October 2021

As a child I grew up in Bethlehem in the old Orange Free State.

Elections back then were usually a men-only affair.

All the ooms would gather together, smoking smelly pipes and discussing the politics of the only party that made sense to them and for which they always voted.

Meanwhile the tannies made coffee and koeksisters.

But not all of them were happy with this status quo.

My mother made sure that she was in the queue to vote. It was not simply about the National Party; it was about being part of the white Christian community.

“If you don’t use your vote, you will lose your voice,” she used to tell me.

We Afrikaners were trapped in a British colony, forced to pay tribute to a king and his empire.

Voting for the National Party was to vote for our independence.

There was no black involvement with elections then, other than to sweep the area and clean up after the white electorate had done its thing.

I was to marry into a political dynasty that had annexed national independence as their family motto — Die Bezuidenhouts van Laagerfontein in the Northern Transvaal.

My husband was the town’s NP MP. So, I was treated as the consort of a prince. My days were full of planning events and celebrations.

I told all this to my three great-grandchildren, two of whom are still too young to vote.

It was as if I was describing an episode from Lord of the Rings.

I laugh when I see photos of me as the South African Ambassador to the apartheid homeland Republic of Bapetikosweti.

I think I’m the only white South African to admit I voted for apartheid.

Had I been locked up as a communist and a terrorist instead of voting for apartheid, today I would have been the Minister of Higher Education.

One day my grandchildren will ask me, “Gogo? What did you do before Mandela?”

I had tea with Archbishop Tutu before the pandemic put us in Zoom.

We were celebrating his life and laughing.

We had been so nasty to him. We had called him a Communist when he was only an Anglican!

I told him how my journey forced me through the minefields of nationalism into my present state of optimism and hope for the future of our children and grandchildren.

I want young people to realise that with education and discipline they can make South Africa great again.

But first our lot must apologise for apartheid, not so? I asked.

“Ousie,” the Arch chortled, “if apologising for apartheid makes you feel better, by all means apologise. But also move on.”

Blaming apartheid for all that is wrong in our 28th year of democracy is like blaming Adolf Hitler for the 1970s. But I do apologise. Apartheid was an experiment that came to the Cape of Good Hope from Holland in 1652. We are very sorry it didn’t work. We promise never to do it again.

But now we can change our future. On November 1, we vote for municipal structures.

Unlike the national vote, this vote is about people on the ground who have the daily heartbeat of our lives in their hands.

Street lights, electricity bills, blocked drains and sanitation, parks and pavements, garbage collection, tap water and fire hoses, parking places and roads.

At least after the winter rains Cape Town’s potholes are now over 90% full!

So, get informed and be ready for November 1.

Find the best people who work hard and know what they are doing.

You will find good councillors in every major party.

Take your mask, stick to social distancing, and add your cross for them to carry.

Covid-19 will not be going away soon.

We must learn to live with it as we have learnt to live with the ANC.

And then, if days after the election, we find ourselves back on Level 4, we can plan for a lockdown Christmas knowing that honest committed citizens in our municipality will be there and ready to help us and do their job.

Evita Bezuidenhout can be seen in Pieter-Dirk Uys’s Lockup/Lockdown at Theatre on the Bay until November 6. Book at Computicket or through Theatre on the Bay on 021 438 3301. @TannieEvita