Suddenly a vehicle came to a stop. A young man alighted from the vehicle, walked over to the mayor, shook his hand and announced: “Thank you for what you are doing for our town, Mister Mayor!”

That it was a white man, was irrelevant. That the mayor was a member of the ANC and living in Mhluzi was also irrelevant. If the truth be told, white and black did not exist that morning. There was only one word: “US!”

And this is Middelburg; different from other towns, friendly people, good people, helpful people, people without racial spectacles across their noses.

The suddenly two men appeared in court on Wednesday, after having forced another man into a coffin.

Every newspaper in the country, every radio and television station, the president and Human Rights Commission referred to the “two men of Middelburg”.

Suddenly the racist tag has been hung around our town’s neck – and we are not that. As is the case in every town and city, there are racists, just as there are racists in every town and city in America.

They are a mere blob in our large Middelburg community.

And the two men are not Middelburg residents – they reside on two farms near Blinkpan – thirty kilometres from here.

It’s unfair that our town has been branded in this manner.

The media that fans the racial flames in this manner must get off their butts, leave their cushy offices in Johannesburg and practice good journalism, and come and talk to our mayor and our people. We are NOT what the country now thinks we are!