South African and foreign TV reporters (as well as other media) are fast discovering and encountering the desperation, daily struggles and challenges of ordinary life in and around Qunu as they're descending on the Eastern Cape to cover the upcoming funeral and burial proceedings for
Nelson Mandela.
The poor Eastern Cape and the quiet, hilly, under-developed Qunu where
Nelson Mandela was born in 1918 and grew up and where his remains will return to for his last resting place, is literally a world away from the upmarket and plush Johannesburg suburb of Houghton in Gauteng - South Africa's richest province - where the beloved Tata passed away quietly on Thursday night.
Now TV reporters are set to discover just how "far" the real South Africa has progressed for ordinary people such as those living in Qunu, in the 20 years since
Nelson Mandela became the first democratically elected president of South Africa.
The first wave of the avalanche of approximately 2 500 world press descending on South Africa to cover the death, memorial services and state funeral of
Nelson Mandela, arrived Friday and Saturday and are making their way to Qunu where several locals are getting temporary work - asked to help construct and erect temporary structures for the funeral ceremonies set to take place later this coming week.
South African TV reporters - some already on the scene since Friday morning - as well as international reporters and journalists who've already pre-filed Madiba stories earlier this year, and also others, are however in for a bit of culture shock as they make their way to one of South Africa's poorest, under-covered and largely forgotten provinces.
While some South African reporters are "used" to life and the lack of largely everything in the rural Eastern Cape, most of those visiting a part of the ancestral home of the Xhosa for the first time, are now coming face to face with the stark realities and shocking circumstances of what daily living really entails in one of South Africa's poorest and largely forgotten provinces since the advent of democracy.
As they try to get there, stay there, and cover reaction and developments around the death of
Nelson Mandela who once grew up there, TV reporters and print journalists not from the province, not based there, or not familiar with the region, are going to find a place largely left behind and forgotten by the rest of South Africa - and with that the challenges it presents telling stories from here.
Sources are telling of how local residents in and around Qunu and who are mourning the passing of
Nelson Mandela, have not lost their enterprising spirit however.
TV reporters and print media in Qunu are for instance charged R10 just to use the "long drop" or pit toilet of local residents.
"There's basically no ablution fascilities here," says a source. "Forget about proper toilets. There's almost no public toilets, let alone flush toilets."
"You're largely at the mercy of locals who can perhaps help or point you to where you can find things. And they're charging for privileges - a toilet here and the use of one is a privilege. And bring your toilet paper. Lots of it."
There's also no accomodation or housing in Qunu for journalists and reporters.
"Best to bring your own tent or big vehicle if you are staying over. The roads are in a terrible condition anyway so the sturdier the vehicle the better," says another source who is well-equipped physically and mentally for the situation and circumstances in the region after numerous previous trips and stories filed from here.
"The irony of the world descending on Qunu is that the press who really cares, will discover and be able to file some fascinating side stories if they care to reflect on how little actual progress has taken place here."
"What they see and find here when they arrive is in a sense maybe symbolic of South Africa. Maybe of what
didn't happen in the last two decades for a lot of people in this country," says the source who is covering reaction on
Nelson Mandela's passing from Qunu since Friday, and who've covered stories in the Eastern Cape for many years.
"If you really want to see 'poorest of the poor', now you're going to get your chance. In most aspects the Eastern Cape is a world away, removed from the pockets of prosperity and burst of development which came to certain other parts of the country after 1994 after the national government reallocated redevelopment and reconstruction budgets."
"To tell a good or good stories of
Nelson Mandela, would be to also portray and now tell the real story of Qunu this coming week," says the source.
"Reporters driving here will get a sense of a certain 'timelessness'. For the people of the Eastern Cape, for those in Qunu, it's like time stood and is standing still."
"They're living their daily lives and never get national attention, but the reality is that they've been passed by, neglected and ignored by the rest of the country, just like the Northern Cape, although almost everyone here can point you to Madiba's big, Western-style house which was built here a few years ago".
"The very few roads, the conditions of the roads, [the lack of] access to adequate health care, education, any kind of real actual infrastructure - there's not a lot here or a lot that happened or came here since Nelson Mandela became president," says the source.
"The dirt roads, potholes, broken fences, wandering cows, the low bars on your cellphone for coverage - they all quietly tell their own and the real story of a place passed by."
"The people of Qunu are mourning the passing of the old man in a much more reserved and solemn way. it's more quiet contemplating than what is happening in the cities."
"Now they're going to get overrun by the world's media, dignitaries and visitors who want air-con in the tents being erected for proceedings and accurate GPS for a place where the footpaths don't appear on maps, and preferred parking spaces to get in and out and all kinds of self-entitled behaviour they've seen and experienced before and will just endure one more time."
"We media always want to expense the S&T allowance. Good luck in figuring out the growing road closures and alternatives, getting bewildered residents to trust you, or finding a local who is going to be able to give you a written receipt or something to hand in at the office after you have to pay R10 cash for a long drop. If you can find one."
"And don't forget the visible credentials. With access being limited already everywhere with road closures and a heightened police presence you're not going to get far if you don't have a press card or can't prove you're from a real media outlet. More and more roads are becoming restricted."
"If you don't have your stuff, you're not getting through. It's already tricky for local journalists. How the international press coming to Qunu this this week will cope, who knows."
"On the face of it, nothing much has changed in Qunu since Nelson Mandela was a boy, although the village does credit him with bringing electricity and running water to the village - so much so, that villages around say that Qunu gets special treatment," reported Sky News'
Stuart Ramsay on Sunday who travelled and already reached Qunu.
"When he is buried here the international community will be able to see firsthand how poor these rural communities remain.
Nelson Mandela brought about huge changes in South Africa. Still, a very long way to go," said
Stuart Ramsay.
