Cyril grabs writing by the horns
CYRIL Ramaphosa loves cattle so much that he has written a book about the beasts.
The deputy president, who is campaigning to become ANC president at the party’s December elective conference, has taken time out to wax lyrical about his passion and love for cattle, especially the Ankole cattle breed from Uganda, known for their soaring horns.
According to his publishing company, Jacana, Ramaphosa was instrumental in bringing the Ankole cattle to South Africa, where the breed is flourishing.
Supplying the text, he and photographer Daniel Naude combined forces to produce a hard-cover book, Cattle of the Ages, Stories and Portraits of the Ankole Cattle of Southern Africa, which goes on sale next month.
The politician and businessman “reflects on the legacy bequeathed him by his father, Samuel Ramaphosa, who had to leave behind his cattle herd in Venda to find work as a migrant worker in Johannesburg.
“Life in the city was tough and demanding, weakening Samuel’s links with his ancestral origins and causing the loss of his herd,” says Jacana.
“The love of cattle runs deep in South Africans and Cyril is doing more than restoring his father’s loss, he is resuscitating a new pride for South Africans with these remarkable cattle.”
The Ankole breed has taken over from the Nguni as the breed of the moment.
Naude fell in love with the breed while photographing cattle around the world.
Jacana says his prints, of the Ankole in particular, have been bought by Paul Allen of Microsoft, Mary Slack of the Oppenheimer family and president Jacob Zuma.
According to Jacana, the photographic collection revealed in the book “moves a little from the classic portraits of single animals Naude is known for and here we find portraits of the herd, images encapsulating the movement of these cattle who carry their horns like crowns and the interactions between the beasts.” – Staff Reporter