"Then, after the protests, Mangope gave a speech. 'My people, you are ungrateful!' he told them. 'After everything that I've done for you, you have turn on me and supported a jailbird instead.' He actually called Mandela a jailbird. And a bandit. And a criminal. 'And when the bandit comes, you go and listen to him.' But by then Mangope was extremely rich. And he was arrogant." Then we drank more tea. And contemplated our own mortality for a while.
"But someone must have spoken to Mangope because he did end up running for Parliament. That Zulu guy Buthelezi had outsmarted him and was already in Parliament however. Mangope formed his own party -- the African Christian Democratic party, the ACDP. And he didn't run for election himself but his party won a seat and he took it."
"Thanks for the scoop," I told the man. "You've been a big help. But I have just one more question. What is Mangope up to now (aside from trying to avoid running into me, that is)?"
"Mangope? From what I have heard, he is now a very embittered man, well aware that people don't like him. The people don't sing his praises. And his wife was a tyrant too. He re-married not so long after she died. She was a horrible woman, the Eva Braun of Bophutswana. And his new wife is much younger than him."
PPS: This whole process of researching the life of Lucas Mangope has got me to wondering about what the people of America will be saying about George W. Bush once he has been thrown out of the White House (and hopefully been put in jail)? People being what they are, I bet they will diss him too. But the big difference between Bush and Mangope is that while Mangope did some bad things, he also did far more good. He will always be remembered as the hero who held Bophutswana together during some very rough times. Bush, however, will never be remembered for ever having done anything good. A million Iraqis slaughtered, the downfall of the American economy, our army gutted, corruption run rampant, our education system reduced to shambles, the Katrina sell-out, the stolen elections....
"But someone must have spoken to Mangope because he did end up running for Parliament. That Zulu guy Buthelezi had outsmarted him and was already in Parliament however. Mangope formed his own party -- the African Christian Democratic party, the ACDP. And he didn't run for election himself but his party won a seat and he took it."
"Thanks for the scoop," I told the man. "You've been a big help. But I have just one more question. What is Mangope up to now (aside from trying to avoid running into me, that is)?"
"Mangope? From what I have heard, he is now a very embittered man, well aware that people don't like him. The people don't sing his praises. And his wife was a tyrant too. He re-married not so long after she died. She was a horrible woman, the Eva Braun of Bophutswana. And his new wife is much younger than him."
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