Rory Keane reports from Cape Town
THE TAXI RIDE from the international airport into the city centre is the perfect introduction to the workings of Cape Town, a spectacular but hugely complicated city.
As you move onto the motorway, the iconic Table Mountain rises up to greet you– a truly spectacular sight that looms over this stunning waterfront city. It’s not all beautiful skylines and scenery during this journey, however.
The Cape Flats, the townships that thousands of black and coloured South Africans living below the poverty line call their home, is a striking sight. About 10 minutes later, we pass through Nelson Mandela Boulevard, the gateway to the city lined with plush mansions and apartments. Rainbow Nation, indeed.
Security personnel are ever-present on the streets of Cape Town, especially at ATMS and around hotels. The primary school located across from this reporter’s hotel is lined by 15ft walls and barbed wire fencing. You’d want to have your wits about you here, but it’s a fantastic city. Certainly, the generous exchange rate between the Euro and the South African Rand has been most welcome.
A bottle of Castle Lager will set you back 20 Rand, the equivalent of roughly €1, which, unsurprisingly, has had a hugely positive effect on morale among the Irish press corps this week.
With Wednesday being a non-media day, the small Irish press pack that made the pilgrimage to Bok country decided to embark on a day trip to Robben Island, the offshore prison where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 18 of his 27 years behind bars.
It was a truly a memorable experience. Following a six-mile ferry ride from Cape Town harbour out to the former prison colony, we boarded the bus that took us into the heart of Robben Island. The area is now a fully-functioning town where former inmates and prison guards live side-by-side with our tour guide informing us that there is a 0% crime rate on the island. Cape Town registered 2,451 homicides last year.
At one stage of the bus tour, we pulled up next to a limestone quarry where inmates on the island were forced to carry out hard labour in sweltering conditions. Mandela spent many a day there breaking rocks in the punishing sun. We learned that Mandela suffered respiratory issues throughout his life as a result of limestone dust getting into his lungs while he was unable to cry due to layers of dust settling in his tear ducts. Powerful stuff.
For the second part of the tour, we arrived at the gates of Robben Island prison where we were greeted by Ntando Mbatha, a man who was imprisoned there from 1986 to 1990. Ntando brought us through the various cell blocks of the institution regaling us of his own harrowing experiences. It had the makings of a grim experience but, like that great visionary Mandela, Ntando’s message of forgiveness and solidarity shone through this bleak concrete structure.
The grim sight of Mandela’s cell; a tiny square room with a mat in the corner is one that will live in the memory for a long time. To experience this place at first-hand and hear some of the brutal practices that occurred makes his story all the more remarkable.
On the rugby front, things have been hotting up nicely during the week with Newlands heading towards a 51,000 sell-out the opening Test. South Africa’s flagship sports broadcaster, Super Sport, has nine dedicated sports channels; they absolutely love their sport down here.
Ireland and the Boks have been staying in hotels located right next to each other near the city’s waterfront, which is a rarity in Test rugby. Wednesday’s shark diving experience has been the talk of the squad all week. After seeing what happened to Robert Shaw in Jaws, I think I’ll give that a miss.
Joe Schmidt’s squad had one final hit-out at a sun-drenched Newlands on Friday morning. All trained with no fresh injury worries reported. Just as well considering the casualty list before they boarded the long-haul flight.
It’s been a fascinating week, on and off the pitch. Just the small matter of a Test match to top it all off.
