Blanket coverage for warm gesture
● I went to prison this week — and fellow inmates included the king of the richest tribe in Africa, one of the wealthiest women in the land and a world-renowned humanitarian.
It was bright and early on Tuesday when I made my way into the high-security grounds of the Zonderwater correctional facility in Cullinan, near Pretoria, for the unveiling of the Massive Mandela Masterpiece, a blanket portrait celebrating Nelson Mandela in this his centenary year.
It was the brainchild of Carolyn Steyn, the actress wife of insurance magnate Douw Steyn, who came up with the idea for 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day almost five years ago to honour Madiba’s legacy while warming the needy in winter.
The campaign has gained a movement of “knitwits” stitching blankets from here to the UK and India, has scored awards and a Guinness world record for the largest crocheted blanket in the world.
The MMM, though, is its biggest project. “You can thank me for getting you into jail,” says Carolyn, wearing a bold printed dress and a white hat to protect against the sun, when I meet her on a field where the massive pixelated blanket — so large it can only be seen fully from the sky — has been laid out.
Carolyn asks me to accompany her to welcome one of her VIP guests, Leruo Molotlegi, king of the Royal Bafokeng.
I greet the king, who reminds me we have met many moons ago, and we all make our way back to the field, with the king’s phalanx of bodyguards a little concerned that one of the world’s most eligible bachelors has to walk rather than use his luxury sedan.
A little later come Bridgette Radebe, who is also in mining and who looks summery in a white kaftan-style dress with gold embroidery finished off with a sunhat; that most sociable of politicians, Bantu
Holomisa; and Graça Machel, the widow of Madiba and Mozambican president Samora Machel, who is an international advocate for women’s and children’s rights.
Then there’s Michael Masutha, minister of justice and correctional services, and his new national correctional services commissioner, controversial former spy boss Arthur Fraser.
After being entertained by choirs comprising inmates of the Kgosi Mampuru II and Zonderwater prisons, we’re welcomed by programme directors Thakane Grace Molatedi, the Gauteng correctional services commissioner, and actor Tumisho Masha, who jokes that maybe if the Guptas “knitted blankets back there in Dubai, they could get . . . blanket amnesty”.
Speeches take up most of the rest of the time, peppered by performances by Carolyn’s theatre buddies such as Tim Moloi and Craig Urbani. I am moved by Graça’s words and giggle when Carolyn thanks all for their “love, support and goodwool”.
I’m sure you’re wondering why all this needed to take place behind bars, and it turns out it’s simple: why not motivate and teach inmates new skills by encouraging them to make blankets in the name of the country’s most famous prisoner?
A team of 133 offenders, led by Muzi Kunene, who has served 10 years of his life sentence, helped put the blankets together. Muzi says a few words and an inmate who stitched the most blankets at Zonderwater, Oupa Masita, recites a stirring poem with the line, “Rise to touch these desperate souls, stitch by stitch”.
The grub was a tad snazzier than what prisoners usually get served: chicken and gravy on rice with creamed spinach and pumpkin.
[If the Guptas] knitted blankets in Dubai, they could get . . . blanket amnesty
Actor Tumisho Masha