Chapter 33: BEE IS NOT FOR COLOUREDS

…continued from 11 June 2026...

FIRST TIME HERE? NO PROBLEM – START AT THE BEGINNING – WARNING YOU WILL BECOME ADDICTED TO THE STORY.

“What kind of fool votes for the Democratic Coalition party who only takes care of the white areas, leaving our people to rot in filth and poverty?” When she yelled into the crowd: “Will you vote for them again?” The response was a defiant “Noooooooooo.”

“Who will you vote for?” The answer was even louder than the no, “YOU!!” they screamed in unison. And so, the theme was set and adhered to for the remaining campaign events.

The country’s national media quickly got onto the band-wagon of media coverage which seemed to be organised and sustained particularly efficiently via social media.

Political figures at the Democratic Coalition and the ANC’s Western Cape headquarters became alarmed.

Tony Frenchman was in his late fifties now. A veteran member and activist of the ANC, he had cut his teeth in student politics at the University of the Western Cape. As a Political Science major, he joined the then United Democratic Movement, back in the day when Nelson Mandela was still imprisoned and the various opposition movements banded together as the UDM.

He was tired. He sat, hunched behind his old, faded desk, looking out of the dirty windows of his office and sighed. “How did it all go so wrong?” he wondered.”

As a Coloured person, he was steeped in the tradition that all non-white people who were oppressed during apartheid were regarded as black, and that they shared a common goal to eradicate white supremacist rule. So, as an idealistic youth he worked his way up the party ranks of the ANC and considered himself “made” when he was elected chairperson of the ANC’s Western Cape branch.

What was meant to be a transparent tendering process for big government contracts became a front where the outcome was pre-determined and the winning bid for most of the tenders came from a newly created business entity with no experience and secret links to members of the ANC’s top brass. The Democratic Coalition, since taking power away from the ANC in the Western Cape, had adopted the same strategy, though they were less obvious and more insidious about it. Opting instead to allow Coloured politicians a plate at the table, but never allowing them to progress to any position of ultimate authority.

Tony had a taste of it first hand when he was gifted a similar opportunity to front a local transportation business which was granted a huge government tender. And for a while he bought into the misguided belief that he could accept the handout because it was owed to him because he suffered during apartheid.

Outside his office, the Cape South Easter wind was relentless. He saw streaks of clouds high up in the blue sky as the winds rushed across the heavens. Down below, the dusty streets were swept clean by the wind.

Very few people ventured out when the wind was this fierce and Tony wondered what the throngs of people, poor, destitute and homeless, people did when the wind blew this hard.

Now, he felt ragged and drained of all energy. He had given his heart and soul to the cause. But not long after the first democratic elections back in 1994, he began to notice the ruthless culture of the ANC, where the only goal was to stay in power, no matter what the cost.

The ANC’s policy of black empowerment did not filter down to everyone. Only a select few were chosen and within three decades after the election, a very sophisticated and corrupt black elite had been created through the generosity of the ANC’s black empowerment policy.

Suddenly old political stalwarts, with no economic background, became successful businessmen and women overnight.

Continued tomorrow 13 June 2026, before 12pm

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