The Irons Maidens Of Mdantsane

Last year I visited an informal settlement that borders the section of NU3 and stretches quite far to the railway line. The shacks are perched on the slopes with ample space and fields between them. The whole area has a rural character

Yes, it is the settlement that has been recently visited by Government Officials. But I do not know its name. If you do recognize some of the buildings and you know the name, please tell me, so that I can include it in this article. I know that all informal settlements and squatter camps have names, that are relevant to their creation and history.

I spend an entire morning there and came home with more stories and some great shots of what I call the "Mdantsane Informal Architecture".

Our focus in our articles is never on poverty and deprivation, it is evident there is great poverty and we do not think that repeating it over and over again, alleviates it. Our focus is on what people do to escape poverty. And by looking at the amazing, sometimes excruciating efforts people undertake to build a home for themselves, have a meal, find transport or take care of their children, others who are in a better situation might feel touched and might want to step into the picture.

The way in which shacks are built in informal settlements was born out of pure necessity and poverty - and in the end it has become an art. 

I was invited to have tea with one of the shack-owners. 

I call them the "Iron Maidens", he said lighting a cigarette, and looking at our Government, I guess they will still be with us for quite a while".  

Interview with Ernest Mtandeki - the man who became the first Black Mr. South Africa in 1975

This is the first part of a long conversation that I had with Ernest Mtandeki, the man I met in a store in Buffalo Street, where he works as a security guard. He is the man who became the first Black Mr. South Africa in history in 1975. But his story has never been told.

In this interview he shares his memories and thoughts about his childhood without a father, training in a shack next to the post office where he worked to achieve his goal to become a World Class body builder, drugs in sport, women and fame and on being a black athlete under the Apartheid Government.

His career was ended dramatically through an accident that left him with serious injuries and both legs broken in several places.

.

But Ernest say; " I am happy now, I am a happy man, cause all the things that I could wish for, I got them, So I can wait for the time until they dig me down"

 

Show Me your Muscles - Ernest Mtandeki - The First Black Mr. South Africa

Today I am taking you back in time. I am taking you back in time 37 years, when a young man with a perfectly sculptured and incredibly beautiful body - the calendar wrote the year 1975 - was posing for a photo at the beautiful and lonely beach of Bonza Bay in East London, South Africa

The young man's name was Ernest. 

Ernest Mtandeki was the first ever black Mr. SOUTH AFRICA in history. The history books were open at Chapter Apartheid in 1975. And here was Ernest.

Not only was he the first black Mr. South Africa, but he was crowned by the god of all bodybuilders in Johannesburg, the then Mr Universe, now governor of California Mr.Arrnold Schwarzenegger. 

Ernest came from the township of Mdantsane.

And he still lives there today in NU 10.

"This was me at my prime", he says, while handing me a black and white photograph in a frame under glass,that he carefully had unwrapped first from several layers of newspaper

 "When I look at it now, I want to cry, he says.  I will never be were I was then. I am here now." 

"The pose is in the picture is for the upper arms only, he explains, but I had wanted my whole body shown, so I can memorize this moment."

I have met Ernest today on his 64th.birthday. He works in a store in Buffalo Street and takes care of the security of the shop. He has brought cake for all the employees and his boss.

It was my intention originally to take the picture out of the frame and to scan it. But when holding the photo I felt it should not be removed. So I just took some pictures of it. 

I suddenly realize that all the ladies from the shop, with olive colored, white colored, caramel colored, and black colored skin (the colors are not cited in any particular order), ranging from age 15 to 69 years and older are bending over the counter, where Ernest has placed the picture.

Most of us are studying intensely the part of his body above his waistline.

There is also the occasional sigh!

" Oh my" says then the mother of the Ernest's boss," if I had seen you that day on the beach, my dear Ernest.....

The story of Ernest Mtandeki will be our first short movie on The Mdantsane Tales on YouTube. If you interested what he has to tell us, stay tuned.