His Afrikaans was halting, and his jokes about the local ostriches did not go down well. But hardegat Tony Leon impressed the conservative farming community of Oudtshoorn. He does not stick his head in the sand when he feels threatened, hoping this means no one can see him. Instead, the ostrich is a hardy, intelligent bird with a highly developed sense of self-preservation.
Ostriches consequently resent being the butt of the insults between politicians.
And if Tony Leon and his Democratic Party get a kick in the backside in Oudtshoorn in the election on June 2, this will probably be why. Leon may be forgiven on grounds of ignorance - as apparently he was for his inability to speak convincing Afrikaans. But in the latter case, the way he battled on, sounding almost camp at times, endeared him to many local folk. Because they knew this little bull terrier of a man in the baggy Italian suit was the chap who had sat scowling on the DP's front bench in Parliament for the previous five years locking his jaws around any African National Congress throat reckless enough to expose itself. He was not the only former CP member there.