Nelson Mandela’s childhood village shows how the ANC risks losing its grip on power
The green rolling hills of Nelson Mandela’s childhood village Qunu are now a dry pale brown.
The clear streams are muddied and the families sustained by their crops and livestock are hungry. The picture of rural simplicity Mandela detailed in his autobiography A Long Walk to Freedom has tipped into deprivation.
Over a decade since his death, his cherished hometown is now another impoverished village in the Eastern Cape – the poorest province in South Africa.
Mandela’s childhood home is off the N2 motorway, the longest-numbered national route in the country.
There are no signs to alert the trucks and cars whizzing past that the humble red-bricked house off the side of the road belongs to the man who led South Africa to freedom.
Not only the place of Mandela’s earliest childhood memories, but where he is now buried.
Just across the road, 29-year-old Babalo reminisces about the days the South African flag would be hoisted to signal Mandela’s return. Behind him, the white flagpole is stark and bare.
“Everything was nice when you saw him – when he was around. You used to get inside the house and he would give us sweets and money,” Babalo tells us wistfully.
His face darkens as he says: “The freedom was still alive but now everything is not good at all.”
Babalo says he will not be voting in this election. This is the most consequential election in South Africa since Mandela and his party, the African National Congress (ANC), won the country’s first free and democratic vote in 1994, ending 45 years of oppressive Apartheid rule.
Mandela’s childhood home in Qunu where he is now buried
The hills of Qunu are dry
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Why the ANC matters to South Africa
There is growing discontent with the ANC-led government and the soaring levels of unemployment, power cuts and corruption scandals that have marked the last decade.
Thirty years on, the ANC is at risk of losing its grip on power with polls indicating the party may get less than 50% of the vote.
“I used to vote for the ANC but now I struggle because I don’t see my vote – I don’t feel the fruits. I still live with poverty and unemployment. There is no change and that is why I stopped voting,” says Babalo.
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Zinhle washes clothes with dirty puddle water
Deeper into the fields that face Mandela’s home, an older lady wearing a faded ANC T-shirt is gathering maize from a field framed by withered crops and collecting dried cow dung to heat her pot.
“We are going to vote for the ANC because we have always voted for the party but we are aggrieved,” says 67-year-old Nobongile Geledwane.
“We don’t have water as we speak, I have just come from the river – we share water with pigs. We don’t have government houses. We are hungry. We cannot plough. Things are bad.”
Older ladies in Qunu support the ANC but feel they need more from the governing party
Older women cooking with dried cow dung
The ANC runs the Eastern Cape province where many remote villages struggle with access to running water and functioning clinics. Schools that are meant to provide schoolchildren with meals under the National Nutrition Programme that Mandela introduced in 1994 go weeks without offering children food.
In November, the South African Human Rights Commission found that child hunger in the Eastern Cape qualifies as a disaster and should be declared as such under the Disaster Management Act.
Across the state, mothers are having to give their children water from muddy puddles and contaminated water sources.
A statue of Mandela in a nearby empty museum
An ANC poster over Qunu
In the backyard of Mandela’s Qunu home, a mother of two washes her children’s clothes with water from a nearby dirty puddle.
I ask her where she drinks from and she points to the same puddle.
“We drink with the cows and pigs,” says 30-year-old Zinhle.
“I was born in the year of change – supposedly. I don’t see any change. I see that difficultness is getting more difficult.”
Pakistan has launched attacks on “multiple targets” across India, according to the media wing of Pakistan’s military.
Pakistan said in a statement that retaliatory attacks are underway in response to what it called “continuous provocation” by India, which fired missiles at three air bases inside Pakistan.
“Multiple targets in this operation are being engaged all across India,” the statement from Pakistan Armed Forces (PAF) said.
Pakistan’s military said it used medium-range Fateh missiles to strike more than 25 military sites, including airbases and weapons depots in the Indian states of Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan, as well as locations in India-administered Kashmir.
Pakistan’s military posted footage on X showing missiles being fired from what appeared to be a mobile launcher.
Pic: MilitaryPakISPR
The AP news agency also said loud explosions have been heard in India-administered Kashmir, in the disputed region’s two big cities of Srinagar and Jammu, and the garrison town of Udhampur.
Meanwhile, an Indian military source told Reuters that India has launched air operations in Pakistan, although no further details were given.
The operations mark the latest escalation in a conflict between the two nuclear-armed rivals, triggered by a deadly attack last month in India-administered Kashmir.
Most of the 26 civilians killed were Hindu Indian tourists. India blames Pakistan for backing the assault, an accusation Islamabad rejects.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a meeting of the National Command Authority, the body which takes security decisions, including those related to the country’s nuclear arsenal.
State-run Pakistan television said three air bases were struck by India on Friday, although Pakistan insisted most of the missiles had been intercepted.
Despite the military offensive, PAF also posted a message on X in what appeared to represent an opportunity to de-escalate the situation.
“Now that a response has been given we hope the neighbour [India] will move to dialogue and diplomacy like Civilized Nations,” it said.
In recent days, both countries have launched a series of missile and drone strikes, although the scale and impact have been consistently questioned by each other.
On Wednesday, India conducted airstrikes on several sites in Pakistani territory. Pakistan said it shot down five Indian fighter jets.
On Thursday, India claimed to have repelled drone and missile attacks at military targets in more than a dozen cities and towns, including Jammu in India-administered Kashmir. Meanwhile, India claimed it struck Pakistan’s air defence systems and radars close to the city of Lahore.
A damaged house in Jammu, in Indian-administered Kashmir, after a Pakistani drone attack. Pic: AP
The Indian army said on Friday that Pakistan fired about 300 to 400 drones, targeting military installations along the western borders – a claim strongly denied by Pakistan.
The G7 group of advanced economies, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and Britain, urged maximum restraint from both India and Pakistan.
“We call for immediate de-escalation and encourage both countries to engage in direct dialogue towards a peaceful outcome,” a statement issued on Friday said.
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World
European leaders to meet in Ukraine for ‘coalition of the willing’ talks – and issue call to Russia
Sir Keir Starmer will join other European leaders in Kyiv on Saturday for talks on the “coalition of the willing”.
The prime minister is attending the event alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, recently-elected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
It will be the first time the leaders of the four countries will travel to Ukraine at the same time – on board a train to Kyiv – with their meeting hosted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Follow latest updates on the Ukraine war
Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz travelling in the saloon car of a special train to Kiev. Pic: Reuters
Military officers from around 30 countries have been involved in drawing up plans for the coalition, which would provide a peacekeeping force in the event of a ceasefire being agreed between Russia and Ukraine.
Ahead of the meeting on Saturday, Sir Keir, Mr Macron, Mr Tusk and Mr Merz released a joint statement voicing support for Ukraine and calling on Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire.
Sir Keir and Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting in March. Pic: AP
“We reiterate our backing for President Trump’s calls for a peace deal and call on Russia to stop obstructing efforts to secure an enduring peace,” they said.
“Alongside the US, we call on Russia to agree a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to create the space for talks on a just and lasting peace.”
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Putin’s Victory Day parade explained
The leaders said they were “ready to support peace talks as soon as possible”.
But they warned that they would continue to “ratchet up pressure on Russia’s war machine” until Moscow agrees to a lasting ceasefire.
“We are clear the bloodshed must end, Russia must stop its illegal invasion, and Ukraine must be able to prosper as a safe, secure and sovereign nation within its internationally recognised borders for generations to come,” their statement added.
“We will continue to increase our support for Ukraine.”
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The European leaders are set to visit the Maidan, a central square in Ukraine’s capital where flags represent those who died in the war.
They are also expected to host a virtual meeting for other leaders in the “coalition of the willing” to update them on progress towards a peacekeeping force.
This force “would help regenerate Ukraine’s armed forces after any peace deal and strengthen confidence in any future peace”, according to Number 10.
World
Ten explosions near international airport in India-administered part of Kashmir, officials say
Ten explosions have been heard near Srinagar International Airport in India-administered parts of Kashmir, officials have told Reuters news agency.
The blasts followed blackouts caused by multiple projectiles, which were seen in the sky above the city of Jammu earlier on Friday.
Explosions were also heard in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, in the neighbouring Punjab state, according to Reuters.
An Indian military official told the agency that “drones have been sighted” and “they are being engaged”.
It comes as tensions between India and Pakistan across the line of control around the region of Kashmir have boiled over this week, leading to fears of a wider conflict.
On Wednesday morning, India carried out missile strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered parts of the disputed region.
The retaliation came weeks after 26 people, mainly Indian tourists, were shot dead by gunmen in an India-administered part of Kashmir last month.
The government in India said it hit nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites, while Pakistan said it was not involved in the April attack and the sites were not militant bases.
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Explained: India-Pakistan conflict
Around 48 people have been killed since Wednesday, according to casualty estimates on both sides – which have not been independently verified.
India also suspended its top cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League, as a result of rising tensions, while the Pakistan Super League moved the remainder of its season to the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a conference on Friday that the US is in constant contact with both India and Pakistan.
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