It was with a bit of misgiving that I recently headed to Limpopo province to work with reporters at the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s regional station. The national office back in Johannesburg was hankering for stories about ordinary people amid constant unrest. The idea was to get reporters out of the main city, Polokwane, and into the field, fields being quite literal since Limpopo is 90% rural and one of the poorest provinces in South Africa.

Polokwane, however, has been a cauldron of political activity – at times, that can be taken literally.