Lion of Soweto

Chapter 28

Molefi, a psychology graduate from UNISA, starts planning out his boss's birthday bash the moment he resumes at his desk. He'll give Bandele a gig to be proud of – one that Polemann residents will talk about many years from now.

What will better gladden Bandele than to gather the crème-de la-crème of pretty faces in town? Varieties of ladies that would overwhelm him so much he won't know where to turn. That's a priority and money isn't a problem. He has three weeks to put it all together.

Eager to please his boss, Molefi searches the internet for contact addresses and office locations of event planners and retailers who'll help achieve the ideas brewing in his head. He also compares prices to ensure costs aren't stratospheric, regardless the blank cheque offered him. The exercise lasts a week or so.

Meanwhile, Loretta and Dineo are due for a visit on Wednesday. Mother and daughter dash to the mansion as if going for hospital emergency treatments. Eschewing whatever shame there is to the visit, they turn blind eyes to neighbours' derisive glances. Eyes escort the duo up till when they melt into Bandele's maroon gates. Tongues wag endlessly, as usual.

"Don't follow Dineo here again. Look after your husband." Bandele welcomes Loretta with an instruction.

"That's true, Mama." Dineo feels emboldened by the words of affection. "I know my way here now."

She surely does. Having paid her tuition fees, shopped for clothes and shoes with plenty of cash still left to burn following a chance meeting with Bandele, she doesn't need a GPS to locate his castle. Neither does she need Loretta's motherly guidance. A university student is more than capable of making her own decisions.

Loretta receives Bandele's injunction with mixed feelings. Her last visit here was a jackpot. That doesn't stop her from hanging out with him for the night though, if only for the last time.

Bandele accommodates both again tonight, playing a nice host. The morning after he does the needful. Loretta feels honoured to be the one whose daughter he takes to, for which reason the verbal furore her visits generate on the street becomes meaningless.

The following Wednesday Pono opens the gate for Dineo who walks into the compound with an air of familiarity, an aura of sure-footedness only a castle resident should dare to ooze. She sidesteps Pono, cat-walking into the building. Not even the driver who lifts her to school deserves a handwave.

"Hi, Molefi." Dineo greets in a melodic tune, raising two fingers as she makes for the staircase.

"Hold on, lady." Molefi calls out.

Right leg on the tread, Dineo pauses, swinging her loose braids around while fanning her squeezed face as if she's under scorching desert sun whereas the air-conditioners are on.

Molefi tries but fails to recall the identity of the visitor, initially taking her for Bandele's sister whom he's yet to meet. Only someone close to the boss can walk with such pride. He dispels the thought – Bandele would have mentioned that he's expecting her sister.

But this person's gait is familiar even if her swag is unique. Can she be an old guest? One who hasn't shown up for a year or longer? Maybe she's one of these society ladies who come around.

Molefi plods towards Dineo, squinting, wary of offending an important guest. But as the personal assistant to the castle owner, nobody sees Bandele without his permission. All visitors must show some respect.

Dineo removes her sunshade and as Molefi recognises her, his jaw slackens. That afro-wearing and eyes-dropping innocent girl of two weeks is now forming a city-sophisticat.