11 Feb 2009 – Old Pros at the Parliament Game

It seems each day’s new experiences in this city top the last. Today was our third visit to Parliament with Black Sash, and as one of our coworkers put it, we spent the afternoon “hobnobbing” with some of the nation’s most influential and recognized faces. (A bit of an overstatement.) The Minister of Finance delivered the Budget Address this afternoon, which brought in many of the same VIPs as last week’s State of the Nation, except this time we had tickets.

We left the Black Sash building a little after twelve, with lots of mingling and observing ahead of us during the afternoon. Some of the office staff had also given us one pre-arranged task: when the official documents from the event became available to the public at 2:30, Cassidy and I had to collect them and bring them back to the Black Sash office. This wouldn’t appear to be a burdensome job, except that it involved moving between three layers of Parliament security and transporting two big boxes of heavy documents down six city blocks. So between 12:15 and 12:30PM on Wednesday, if anyone in Cape Town overheard a strange, squeaky rattling sound echoing up Plein St, the offender was a rickety, old “trolley” (hand-truck) dragged along the uneven sidewalk on its way to Parliament.

When we arrived, we moved through the security lines fairly quickly, despite awkwardly maneuvering the clunky trolley through metal detectors and busy passageways. The security personnel escorted us in and around several buildings on the edge of the Parliament grounds, trying to locate a place for us to stash the trolley and contact the department that would be holding our documents two hours later. At one point, while we paused outside one of the media rooms, we were caught up in a flurry of activity when a swarm of black-suited men threw open a nearby door and swept passed, curtly demanding that we step back. Only after we’d started moving on to another destination did Nyembezi inform us that we’d just nearly bumped into the man of the hour, the Minister of Finance.

It’s no surprise that we spent most of the afternoon doing double takes and wondering how we got so lucky as to be able to roam the Parliament courtyard freely during the 1.5hr (indoor) address. Nyembezi seemed to know everyone we passed, members of the ANC, radio and TV interviewers from SABC and CNBC Africa, and just about every NGO represented at the event. For the hour and half before the address began, we mingled with the press in their booths and tech tents in front of Parliament, as Nyembezi set up pre- and post-event interviews. We kept retreating to the shaded steps of the building, often in the line of the dozens of video and paparazzi cameras, while convoys of official vehicles rolled in to dispense their VIPS. My camera had a very low battery, so I resorted to taking photos with Nyembezi’s camera about half way through the afternoon.

Nyembezi did two television interviews for the national nightly news, and then two radio interviews – one in English, one in Xhosa – for the Black Sash before the budget address began. Though we had tickets to see the event on a big projector screen in the auxiliary viewing gallery, we decided to hang around outside one of the press tents and listen to the speech from there. We wound up finding space in the radio tent, squeezing in between the ring of switchboards and donning headphones to listen to the first twenty minutes of the address.

We were on our own for the document-acquisition at 2:30, but Cassidy and I were feeling unexpectedly confident and capable as we walked and talked our way through various checkpoints to get to the necessary departments. The walk back to Black Sash with the loaded trolley eroded much of that confident maturity, however, as we descended into fits of discomfited laughter whenever the lop-sided old cart jammed on the curb or veered into unsuspecting passersby. We arrived at the Black Sash office twenty minutes later feeling as though we’d just completed a bizarre challenge in The Amazing Race.

We had a few minutes to collect ourselves and rehydrate before heading back out up the street to join Nyembezi for the post-event media circus. The address was still in progress when we arrived, so rather than return to the stuffy radio tent, we opted to recline in the shade on the Parliament steps until it concluded. Wired reporters and black-clothed tech-assistants scurried around the courtyard a few meters away, but no one questioned our authority to be where we were, so we relaxed in the oddly tranquil space, before the rush of diplomats and business people flooded out of the heavy front doors at 3:20. The steps were jammed with press and politicians within minutes – formally-dressed men and women queued or clumped around news cameras and radio microphones. There was shouting and laughter, whistles of attention and waves to silence the escalating noise level in the crowd. Nyembezi sent us on various errands to deliver messages to network interview coordinators and friends of Black Sash, and he did a few more interviews, as well as a meet-and-greet with a high-level ANC commissioner.

Though we hardly blended in with the crowd, Cassidy and I managed to jump into the fray of photographers to capture pictures and glimpses of what seemed to be the most esteemed guests. The rapid staccato of camera flashes around one individual was so enticing that I wriggled into the pack of microphone-wielding reporters and zoom lenses to snap a close-up shot of my own. Then upon reporting back to Nyembezi (I took the photo with his camera), I discovered I’d just been standing within an arm’s length of ANC president Jacob Zuma. (See earlier posts for more information on Zuma.) I hope to get a copy of that picture soon.

Finally, around 4:15, the Black Sash had made all of its necessary contacts and statements. The organization had supported some elements of the budget proposal, but felt it did not do enough to address certain aspects of poverty and unemployment, which continue to oppress millions of people in South Africa. We were among the last to leave the Parliament steps after the event, and the news crews were already packing up their equipment and breaking down the tents. It had been yet another overwhelming and exciting day on the forefront of national politics and another example of how interesting a time it is for us to be in Cape Town, South Africa.

Note: Wednesday also was marked by the beginning of a 3-day minibus taxi strike, which has led to violence and transportation problems in many of the townships around Cape Town. Buses and trains helped to keep the city and its suburbs moving relatively smoothly, despite the strike, but past taxi strikes have touched off episodes of serious violence and unrest. More on the strike and its causes/effects to come…