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This City Offers People Freedom To Unite
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Photo by Chris Allen
Busy Strand Street, towered over by the highway above, is the main transport hub of the city where taxis and buses start and end their journeys.
The communities of Port Elizabeth have a heightened sense of freedom
By Rahmat Luvuyo Nomvete
Port Elizabeth is a uniting force in so many ways.
When Bongani arrived in Port Elizabeth, a few of us took him for a taxi ride around the city. It was a fine day, and for once the wind was not blowing too hard. Bongani, a friend from Queenstown, was looking forward to his next few years as a student at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
Lusindiso, a taxi driver, had agreed to take us into New Brighton township. He proudly pointed out some of the sites of significant events in South African history. He also showed us some of the locally initiated NGOs that have been established.
“How do you know that someone’s from PE?” Bongani asked. “What are some of their distinguishing features?”
“Their hair is untidy because of the wind!” I said, and everyone in the combi laughed.
Mac Jon, a friend from the remote town of Willowmore, said, “The coloured people actually have all their front teeth.”
We laughed again as Mac Jon explained how perplexed he was on the first trip to visit family in Cape Town. “I thought that it would be the same when I came to PE, but I was relieved to see most of my fellow coloured people with a full set of teeth.”
Sino added that one actually can understand the coloured people in PE. Their accents are not as thick as those of the coloured community in Cape Town.
“One thing I don’t like about us, though, is that we don’t support our local artists enough,” he said.
Sino, who grew up in PE, said many local musicians and filmmakers find little support in their own city. In Johannesburg hundreds of supporters come to their shows.
“There’s a reason why this place is called the friendly city, hey,” Sisize pointed out. “People greet you randomly. This never happens in East London, where I’m from.”
A stranger had given Ntomboxolo a cell phone pouch during another taxi ride. Countless times people have freely and enthusiastically offered directions when I found myself lost in Port Elizabeth.
“Going back to the point about accents,” Sanda said, “the coloured community may be easier to understand, but black people have a really funny accent.”
All the IsiXhosa-speaking friends in the combi knew exactly what Sanda meant. “It’s as if they’ve diluted their Xhosa and given it an Afrikaans twist,” he said.
We laughed at some of the strange phrases and words one only hears from IsiXhosa-speaking PE residents.
“Yintoni dana?”
“Ndiphindela pha veer.”
“Sizo dibana ngo-Forri.”
“Uvarhele ntoni?”
Placide, a master’s student from Cameroon, said, the white community is less racist in PE and the skin colour of the black community is lighter than it is in most parts of Africa. But he was disappointed at how poor the level of education is here.
“This is something that the government and the community really need to work together on.”
Mac Jon said, “The one thing that’s common among all the various communities in PE is a heightened sense of freedom.”
For him, the people of PE seem to feel freer than any other people. They walk around with a triumphant air. Anyone can talk to anyone. The social barriers are much less stiff.
As we approached King’s Beach, I observed that Port Elizabeth is a city that offers people freedom and that freedom unites the city.
Photo by Chris Allen
A taxi driver yells and points at another taxi that is in his way. There is a sense of “survival of the fittest” in this privately run transport industry and at times the passengers are caught in the middle.
