Lion of Soweto

Chapter 23

"Even the police people are happy with our new name – The Polemann Castle." Bandele flashes his yellowish dentition. "I like it too. I like it when people use their heads to think. The last one here was just getting salaries – no thinking, no ideas. I pushed him away."

Molefi listens with rapt attention, nodding. Definitely, this man won't blink twice before sending an aide packing. And one can't hold him to it – he doesn't issue employment contract.

"What do you have for me today?" The boss cuts into Molefi's thoughts.

"You need a bodyguard around you. I mean someone that will watch over you."

"That's true. I agree." Bandele goes to fetch a glass of wine. "One was here before, but he didn't do well. I pushed him away after some time. You see, I don't like muscle people who are not smart."

"People will respect you more when they see a bodyguard around you all the time."

"Hmm."

"Also, pretty ladies will stick around and feel special."

"I don't need bodyguard before women rush to me." He leaves the bar area and continues pacing around, sipping wine.

Molefi stands.

"Women always want to stay with me, for two weeks or even longer, but I ask them to leave. I can't be with a woman for long. They start talking about funny things that don't make sense to me."

Bandele pause by the bar.

"Is your computer set up?"

"No, sir."

"What are you waiting for? But I gave you money to buy things. Is it not enough?"

"Pono said I must —"

"Pono? What does Pono know?" Bandele grabs his iPhone off the glass stool, makes a call to suppliers to bring Molefi's furniture. He then hands the phone over so the lad can give details of the gadgets and accessories.

An hour later, a new Lithium-Combo desk and two Ergo Office chairs arrive from Makro, replete with an HP core i7 desktop computer, a Canon printer, fax, copier all-in-one machine. The suppliers set it up close to the lower-floor living room, connecting the devices to the internet and leaving behind some additional accessories and office stationaries.

The desk is positioned on the hallway in such a way that all visitors will walk past Molefi before they enter the sitting-room or climb the stairs.

"This is good, uh?" Bandele inspects the completed work.

"Yes, sir."

"I know you'll need small cash to run this little office." Bandele drops a wad of one thousand dollars, whirring Molefi's head as his eyes glitter "Thank you...sir."

A security man knocks and enters the house. "Nkosi, the VividAbode people are here. Must they wait or come later?"

Bandele bites his lips. It's month-end, the cleaning company will be around for three hours at least. "Give me thirty minutes."

Bandele turns to Molefi: "Get ready. We must get the bodyguard you're talking about."

"Okay, sir."

On their way out, the cleaning company isn't the only visitor waiting outside. A delegation of Poleman residents, many of whom are old men and women, also want to congratulate Bandele on the new name his mansion now bears. As usual, he hands them some cash and they disperse to their respective flats.

Bandele takes Molefi to M4T Securities, a Sandton-based private security outfit. As usual, he requests a tough guy that'll watch after him at home.

Leaving the place, the group moves over to an old Sandton club where Bandele meets Surya, an Indian model he once dated. "I can't return home empty-handed." He says to his boys in the vehicle, laughing aloud and rubbing his tummy.

***

Enter Akida, a square-jawed fellow from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the guy who gets the nod as Bandele's bodyguard is almost two metres tall with bulgy biceps. No one will accuse him of being handsome. His stern gaze and well-chiselled torso invoke fear in people.

He's been in South Africa for eleven years, seven of which saw him toiling hard doing menial jobs in Hillbrow area of Joburg. His exposure to hard life encouraged him into bodybuilding, following which he became a club bouncer before settling for M4T Securities.

"I have a new assignment in Soweto," he announces to his folks in Hillbrow while packing his bag and heading for the Polemann Castle.

"Don't forget us, bra." They think highly of his new job. Things are tough out here. In an environment where people change jobs every week, supporting their meagre wages with underground side-hustles like swindling and scamming unsuspecting citizens, Akida, with this posting, has an opportunity to build a house back home in Lubumbashi – the ultimate goal of most Congolese immigrants.

But leaving Hillbrow for a secluded neighbourhood of Soweto will be a new adventure for the muscleman who's more than ready for the challenge.