Botho Molosankwe
Dressed in black suits, earpieces attached to their ears and sunglasses shielding their eyes, members of the US Secret Service stalked the grounds of the Hector Pieterson Museum.
Above, snipers paced the roof and surveyed the area through binoculars awaiting the arrival of US First Lady Michelle Obama.
Joburg metro police officers had their hands full trying to keep curious bystanders away from the area, cordoned off with police tape.
The media were not exempt and were subjected to a thorough search by the Secret Service.
Cameras were sniffed by dogs, then physically tested. Bags were searched with a metal detector before another agent rummaged through them.
“Peeping into people’s bags feels like I’m imposing,” the agent said with a smile as he looked into a woman’s bag.
And once the bags and equipment had passed the test, their owners were searched.
Among people waiting on the streets was a group of children from the nearby Thembi’s Day Care. They held placards written “Welcome to South Africa Mrs Obama” in bright colours and singing Mrs Obama ha o na ya tshwanang le wena(roughly translated: “Mrs Obama there’s no one like you”).
Among them was Desiree Kenny, a Lenasia woman who staged a lone protest outside the museum hoping that the journalists gathered there would listen to her story.
Kenny claims that Sol Plaatje was her great-grandfather and that people used her family to obtain privileged information about him and were using it to benefit financially without compensating the family.
And as the sirens drew near, Khumalo Street erupted.
Among the people who rushed there were four teachers from Hoërskool Vorentoe in Joburg and their principal.
Hans Seastad, Dries Heydenrich, Wyand Krynauw, Chris Lodolff and Henry Maruping were having lunch at one of the restaurants in nearby Vilakazi Street when they heard the commotion.
“This is history for us, seeing that we come from apartheid. We hear she has great power and she is ruling her household, so we wanted to come and see her,” the teachers said.
Obama joined Pieterson’s sister, Antoinette Sithole, in laying a bouquet of white flowers at the memorial, observing a moment of silence before entering the adjoining museum.
Today she was due to visit Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison, and meet Desmond Tutu, before heading to Botswana for a safari on Saturday. – Additional reporting by Sapa