1998 Africa: Johannesburg

February 19, 2008

February 19, 1998

Glen picked us up bright and early. At the airport we were again able to go on the tarmac as LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley departed. When he saw me, cameras in hand, he said, “You’re still taking pictures? Let me tell you something. You’ll be so much happier when all of that film is gone.”

With that, we were off to Johannesburg, crime capitol of the world.

Headlines from today, appearing in “The Johannesburg Citizen” newspaper:

- Traffic cop killed

- Alleged killer on 134 charges (50 murders, 20 rapes, 24 counts of robbery)

- Husband charged (with shooting his wife)

- Contractor slain on NW smallholding

- Charge of murder laughable: Sabadia

- Woman killed for R2 (US 40cents), matches

- Policeman shot while walking

- Cape robbers grab R50,000

- Woman, 79, attacked

- Murder suspect recaptured

- Robbers shoot businessman

- 2 die in Cape gang warfare

- R530,000 cash, jewellery stolen

- Pupil shot in school

- Five murdered, four arrested in KZ/Natal

- Four killed, four hurt in E Rand violence

- Airport guard held for R23 million theft

- Drugs and gold confiscated in Mpumalanga

- Man, 64, wounded in bakkie hijack

- Grieving family attacked again (a family whose son was shot dead in an attempted robbery last week, was last night attacked by two gunmen, and had their car hijacked as they returned home from his funeral.)

- Gunmen hold four

- 3 shot in council eviction fracas

Two elderly LDS missionaries met us at the airport and soon we were in a van with the reporters from our competition (Deseret News and KSL-TV). One of the reporters wanted to see Soweto. Our driver refused, saying that the early afternoon in the townships is the prime time for violent carjacking incidents.

As we drove to the meeting, we talked with our driver and his wife about Johannesburg and the crime. As we would found with most people in South Africa, they talk about horrific crimes and how bad it is, but always end their grim talk with a line like, “But it’s not really that bad,” or “You just have to be careful.”

One man said, “I just tell my daughter not to stop at traffic lights or stop signs. It’s just too dangerous.”

Just this week, an LDS woman was shot and killed as she waited for her daughter’s ballet lesson to end. A man had grabbed her purse from behind, and her instinct to pull it back toward her caused him to shoot. To make the story that much worse, the entire family had just been issued their green cards and were emigrating to the United States to escape the crime that has taken over South Africa.

Blame it on the exhaustion, but I’m getting pretty cranky towards our competition. As we were driving around, one of them kept asking stupid questions that did nothing more than show his ignorance about South Africa. He then asked them about our Zimbabwean friend Reg, who he said he admired but hadn’t been able to spend much time with. Our guides knew Reg and started talking about him. They got stuck trying to remember the name of a South African golfer that one of Reg’s daughters was good friends with.

It was a name I remembered from last night. “Lolly,” I said.

The reporter looked very surprised and asked, “How did you know that?”

It was a fine moment. “Oh, Peggy and I had dinner at Reg’s home last night,” I said. I so enjoyed revealing that.

Now our driver announces, “There’s the outskirts of Soweto” and points off to the side of the freeway. The other reporters have him pull over and they take pictures of Soweto from across the freeway. The shot seems lame, so I sit in the van while they shoot over the top of the van (above). Peggy and I have other plans regarding Soweto.

President Hinckley spoke in a large hall at some kind of fairgrounds tonight.

There was a lot of emotion. As I noticed in Ghana, the visit of the man these people saw as their prophet was an historic occasion. Below: Liesl Armstrong, who sang in the choir.

People traveled hundreds of miles to attend, and parents were telling their children that they would always remember this day.

We want to go into Soweto tomorrow morning, but we need a good guide. During the meeting I was prepared to ask everyone I met about finding someone who could take us to the LDS chapels in Soweto. Amazingly, the very first man I met at the meeting, Khumbulani, said he would be pleased to take us.

On the drive back to our hotel, our guides told us about the last time an LDS prophet had visited Africa, twenty years ago. Back then they had “cultural exhibitions” during public meetings, usually tribal dancers. For that visit, the person responsible for the cultural exhibition had little time to plan and hired a dance troop sight unseen.

When the cultural program began, the male dancers came out and danced in their native garb. A few minutes later the female dancers came out in their native garb and danced in front of the Mormon prophet, with their breasts exposed.