"That white guy's sarongs aren't even made in this country," Mary
contends. "He's Irish and he imports them. I'm South African. Mine are
made right here in Africa and they're painted by hand," she continues.
Nelson, who was raised
in Belfast, Northern Ireland and has lived in Durban for 27 years, also sells
sarongs near the same corner. Nelson sells two types
of sarongs, a rayon one for 40 Rand and a second in what he calls "cheap
Indian cotton" for 20 Rand, the equivalent of about US$3.
Though he never refers
to Mary or her son Rogers by name, he freely gestures in their direction
and boasts, "I'm competing against a million Indians
out here."
One of those million is
Mary, who brags that she is on the beach seven days a week, and has been
for thirty years "just trying to make a living." She
says "that white guy is only here in season, on weekends."
"They're just jealous of me," Nelson counters. "They're
the biggest load of rubbish on earth. There are millions of Indians in this
city;
they're just scavengers. Ninety percent of what they sell they don't even
own. They'd sell their own granny for a couple of cents."
Though obviously there
are racial tensions between the two vendors, part of their feud does stem
from jealousy--location jealousy that is. Mary contends
that she used to sell her wares from precisely the same location where today
Nelson sells his. "Now they have me here," Mary complained "under
the trees where no one can see me."
Asked why she would be
moved from one location to another in favor of a newer vendor, Mary's son
said, "Who knows? Maybe if you buy that black lady
from Informal Business a coke and some cake, maybe she'll do anything you
want."
Nelson contends that Mary
and her son are lying. He says both of their locations were moved to reduce
the tension between them. "That's the thing about
Indians," he steamed. "You can never trust a thing they say."
Since the two stands were
separated last December, tensions have been reduced considerably though neither
seems particularly happy with the solution. "I
suppose we cannot both be Nelson Mandela," Nelson explained. "So
we cannot both be in the same place at the same time."
