The unifying influence of a "boerwors" (Feature)

By Peter Auf der Heyde Jun 22, 2010, 20:15 GMT

Rustenburg, South Africa - Victor Rangaka is a busy man. His delivery vans are not being let through and the meat and sausages are in danger of running out.

The 46-year-old marketing consultant rushes off as he tries to ensure his goods are allowed through the roadblocks that surround the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg.

Tuesday is a particularly busy day for Rangaka. Mexico are facing Uruguay in an all-important Group A clash and he is likely to need something like 250 kilogrammes of 'vleis' and 'boerwors'.

Rangaka has turned a butchers and grocery store outside the stadium into a pub and 'buy and braai' venue and is now running a thriving business during the World Cup.

'The concept of 'buy and braai' is very common in our villages,' he explains. 'People chose the meat they want to eat, pay for it and then go and braai (grill) it outside.

'When I had the opportunity to get the old butchery and grocery store, I envisaged being able to bring something like a local cuisine tradition to overseas and local visitors.'

Not only does he sell boerwors, which translated would mean farmers sausage and vleis (meat), he also offers salads and styfe pap, a hard porridge made from maize meal.

'The butchery was known as the best one in the village, so I wanted to make sure that it did not disappear completely.'

Rangaka had to apply for a license, which he only received a few days before the first game. 'There are also quite a few regulations that I was given, for example, I am not allowed to display any of the signage that I normally have.'

He said that on the days on which games were played in Rustenburg, he was selling the meat of a complete ox. 'An ox a day is what people are eating and on other days I average about one quarter to a half.

'I am confident that I will also be able to continue the business when the local league starts again. It is certainly not something that I am only thinking about for the World Cup.'

He is proud that he has had no problems, even if opposing fans frequent the shop and pub. 'What are they supposed to fight about? A boerewors roll?

'Here in my place a borewors has a unifying influence,' he says.

Accountant Ian Ross, who works on the Cayman Islands, stands at the four grills that are burning outside the shop-cum-butchery where he has just bought a piece of sausage that he is now braaing, as the South Africans would call it.

Everything he needs to cook his meat has been provided by Rangaka: salt, pepper, plates, knife and fork as well as a huge implement he needs to turn the sausage on the hot grill.

Ross is on a two-week holiday in South Africa during which he is planning to watch 10 games. He is in Rustenburg with his Irish friend David McCarthy who lives in South Africa, as well as a game ranger from Botswana called Joseph Cheno, who is simply known as Soccer.

'This concept of buying the meat and then going outside and cooking, it is just fantastic. I have been to many stadiums and the food is generally not very good.

'It is wonderful to be able to eat something fresh here and I wish they had it everywhere.'

For Cheno the visit to the Mexico-Uruguay match is the first time that he has been to a football match in a proper stadium.

He works in a private game lodge at Tuli Block in Botswana and jumped at the opportunity of travelling to South Africa to see a game. 'When David asked me if I wanted to see a match I immediately said yes.

'Unfortunately, I will not be able to stay longer because I have some visitors that I have to take on safari,' he says, as his attention is turned back to the boerewors he is eating.

In the meantime, Uruguayan and Mexican fans become involved in an impromptu game of three-a-side in the yard of Rangaka's shop as the owner arrives back with his deliveries.

As he unpacks the vleis and wors the waiting football fans begin to smile. They know that soon they will be able to enjoy traditional African cuisine cooked in a traditional African way by themselves.