Last week the residents of Lynnwood Glen received a polite notification, popped through the letterbox, that one of the homeowners here would host a traditional ceremony lasting three days from Friday until Sunday. The note was unsigned but there was a telephone number to answer any enquiries.
As residents, we were warned that there would be a lot of loud drumming and a lot of singing. There was no mention of any butchering of live animals which, had there been, would probably have caused an uproar anyway. Typically the residents of Lynnwood Glen don't have too much to do with each other. Like the rest of suburban South Africa, most people here probably just manage to greet their neighbours when they see them.
This is a bit different when a prominent person such as Jackie Selebi lives down the road so the immediate presumption was that the Selebi family would be hosting this traditional ceremony. I still don't know if this was the case.
But I thought the notification was very considerate and certainly more accommodating than those neighbours who have rock 'n roll parties until the early hours of the morning without even saying a word.
In a totally separate development, Statistics South Africa published its Community Survey a week or so ago and this survey showed that black people now account for almost two-thirds of all homeowners in the country. In fact for every white person that owns a home that is paid off, nearly seven black households are in a similar position.
That's a significant number of people who are now living bond-free in the established formal, middle-class suburbs of Cape Town, Johannesburg, Tshwane or Nelson Mandela Bay.
As a result of this migration we will undoubtedly start to see some cultural conflicts arise between disparate neighbours. It's bound to happen, because people throughout the country have different cultures and they have a democratic right to practice these traditions as long as they do not break the law.
Let me say that in terms of my own experience this weekend, I wasn't aware of any noise, any disturbances or any commotion. I was not kept awake by ululating voices, pounding drum-beats or shrill singing. Perhaps the wind was in my favour. In fact it was the damned hadedas that woke me at five this morning.
The question I have, though, is what should we do when there is a full-blown traditional ceremony taking place at our neighbour's house and this ceremony includes the sacrificing of an animal in line with tradition?
When a live animal is being slaughtered, many people find it a deeply disturbing event. For many thousands more, this event is a deeply moving experience that calls for respect and reverence.
I personally think it's merely pretty repulsive, but there are other people who are so overcome with distaste that they call representatives from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to intervene and prevent such a killing.
The NSPCA seldom intervenes because their role is to assess whether there is inordinate cruelty to the animal being killed. In most instances this is not the case. In fact, letting an animal bleed to death is commonly used among religious groups such as the Jews and Muslims who have very strict kosher or halaal practices based on the same technique.
There is one significant difference, though. In traditional ceremonies of black cultures, the animal that's about to be killed is stabbed first so that it bleats or bellows in pain. Once it has done so, the jugular is slit and it bleeds to death. Sometimes, to prevent the animal from bolting, the tendons on the back legs are sliced, immobilising it while it is stabbed.
Some people will argue that immobilising and stabbing an animal before its death is both barbaric and cruel. Others will say that the bellowing or bleating of the animal that's about to die is a deeply moving experience. I'm not going to pass judgment on either view.
What I do wonder, though, is how South Africans are going to learn to live with each other and tolerate the different cultures and traditions that are slowly finding their way into our middle-class suburbs?
From a practical point of view, the average South African home is not an abattoir and certainly doesn't have the facilities to dispose of the blood, guts and gore that comes with butchering an animal. At the same time, I believe that my new neighbours should have the right to celebrate those traditions that are so much a part of their culture
So what do we do to resolve this question?
Opposing groups, correctly, claim they both have constitutional rights and they do. On the one hand, people have the right to celebrate their cultural traditions in their own homes. On the other hand people have the right not to have the cultural traditions of other imposed on them. It's the space between a rock and the hard place and maybe this question will have to be left to the Constitutional Court to answer.
I do think, though, that there might be a simpler solution. You see, if each council in each province chose to provide suburban facilities for traditional ceremonies then we might be able to find a compromise.
Let's say the councils set aside a public area in different suburbs that was properly equipped to efficiently cope with the public slaughtering of an ox, a sheep or a goat. The venue itself could be rented for the day and the host could erect a marquee for those guests who enjoy the traditional ceremony and the feast.
Those who disapprove could simply avoid the area – something they can't do right now if an animal is being slaughtered in the kitchen courtyard next door.
As a further compromise to good-neighbourliness, the host of a traditional ceremony could 'switch-off' the drumbeats and the singing between the hours of, say, midnight and seven am the following morning. That would be the considerate thing to do within the framework of restricted suburban living.
As property owners, I think that we must respect the rights of our neighbours – those who participate in traditional ceremonies and those who don't. Let's face it, ceremonies are an integral part of all cultures whether they take the form of Christmas Day with the family, a ceremony to mark a young boy's passage into adulthood, or the feast that follows the sighting of the New Moon to end the Muslim fast.
Let's respect these ceremonies and let's respect the rights of people who celebrate them. As property owners, we must to find a way to celebrate without offending those around us. That is simply the grace of good-neighbourliness.
*Hartdegen writes a regular column for Property24.com. The content of his columns constitutes his personal opinion and don't pretend to be facts or advice. Contact him at paddyhar@telkomsa.net.
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