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A monthly eMagazine for Veterans of the SA Police and those interested in our SOuth African National Security History
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THE e-NONGQAI
Un-official Police Gazette for VETERANS of the former
South African Police Force and for those interested in the history
of our Police, Defence and South Africa’s National Security
April 2012; Vol 3 no 5
DIE e-NONGQAI
Nie-amptelike Polisiekoerant vir VETERANE van die ou Suid-Afrikaanse Polisiemag en
vir diegene wat belangstel in die geskiedenis van ons polisie, verdediging en nasionale
veiligheid
April 2012; Vol 3 Nr 5
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Contents / Inhoud
1. WELCOME / WELKOM .................................................................................................................. 6
1.1 Moment of silence: Herman le Roux ............................................................................................ 6
1.2 Voorblad / Front Page ................................................................................................................... 7
1.3 Redaksioneel met ‘n koppie koffie – Hennie Heymans ................................................................ 7
- ‘n Eeu van nasionale polisie in Suid-Afrika op 1 April 2013 ........................................................... 8
2. PERSONALIA VANAF 25 MAART TOT 9 APRIL 2012: JOHAN JACOBS ............................ 9
2.1 Allegaartjie .................................................................................................................................... 9
2.2 Siekte .......................................................................................................................................... 10
2.3 Afsterwe ...................................................................................................................................... 11
2.4 Verjaarsdae ................................................................................................................................. 12
2.5 Honours & Awards / Eerbewyse & Toekennings: 38510N Maj JW “Smoke” Fouche ............. 13
2. 6 Friends Missing and Found! / SAP 55 Vermiste persone ......................................................... 13
3. Roll of Honour / Ererol ..................................................................................................................... 14
3.1 Insp (kaptein) BM van Heerden .................................................................................................. 14
3.2 SAP Graves: Koos Brits (Benoni) .............................................................................................. 17
4. REUNIONS / REUNIES / EVENTS / GEBEURE .......................................................................... 18
4.1. Brigadiers buite Pretoria ........................................................................................................... 18
4.2 SAP se Jaarlikse Skaapbraai – 15 September 2012 .................................................................... 18
5. PERSOONLIKHEID VAN DIE MAAND: ...................................................................................... 18
‘n Huldeblyk aan admiraal Hugo Hendrik Biermann, SSA, SD, OBE. ........................................... 18
Vader van die Moderne Suid Afrikaanse Vloot - Johan Jacobs ........................................................ 18
Admiral Hugo Biermann, SSA, SD, OBE, (1916 - 2012) .............................................................. 22
6. PERSONALITIES & BIOGRAFICAL DICTIONARY/ PERSOONLIKHEDE / BIOGRAFIESE
WOORDEBOEK .................................................................................................................................. 22
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6.1 Brevet-Colonel Hilmar Theodore Bru-De-Wold CMG, VD ...................................................... 22
6.1.1 Brevet-Colonel Hilmar Theodore Bru-De-Wold CMG, VD ................................................... 23
6.2 Bru-de-Wold, Hilmer Theodore, C.M.G., D.S.O., V.D., J.P., .................................................... 24
6.3 Marburg Settlers .......................................................................................................................... 24
6.4 Major Olav Kjelvei ..................................................................................................................... 27
6.3 Mounted Constable Louis Jacobus le Grange – Phil Beck ......................................................... 28
6.3.1 ‘Ou Leggie’ stirs memories of Mounted Police - Boksburg Advertiser 1975 ......................... 28
6.3.2 Boksburg pioneer ‘Ou Leggie’ dies - Boksburg Advertiser 16 May 1986 .............................. 29
6.3.3 The Chaurapanchasika: An Indian Love Lament – HBH ........................................................ 30
6.4 Hilton Drury en Jan van Wyk ..................................................................................................... 30
6.5 Stil vloei die Tugela - Marthinus van Rensburg ......................................................................... 31
7. WE REMEMBER / ONS ONTHOU ........................................................................................... 34
7.1 Stilte in die Hof – Lentulus ......................................................................................................... 34
8 NATIONAL SECURITY NEWS / NUUS EN NASIONALE VEILIGHEID .................................. 34
8.1 Why infantry HQ is called "The Kremlin" - Lindiwe Sisulu ...................................................... 34
8.2 The operational readiness of navy's frigates, submarines - Lindiwe Sisulu................................ 35
8.3 Die polisie kort ‘n morele kompas – Radio Pretoria ................................................................... 37
8.4 AG should investigate false claims against me - Mthethwa ....................................................... 38
8.5 Geen papwiele meer! .................................................................................................................. 40
8.6 AG should investigate false claims against me - Mthethwa ....................................................... 41
8.7 AG not person to investigate Mthethwa slush fund claims - DA................................................ 41
8.8 Lindiwe Sisulu's four big secrets ................................................................................................ 42
8.9 Moordenaar vertel rustig van plan teen oud-vegvlieenier – Praag.............................................. 45
8.10 Moord op Eugene Terre’ Blanche - HBH ............................................................................ 46
8.10.1 Vrae oor semen op ET se lyk ................................................................................................. 46
NATIONAL SECURITY HISTORY / NASIONALE VEILIGHEIDSGESKIEDENIS ..................... 48
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9.1 Old Police Stations and Military Bases ....................................................................................... 48
9.1.1 Witvlei (SWA) ......................................................................................................................... 48
9.1.2 Durban Borough Police – D Bell ............................................................................................. 48
9.2 Genadendal ................................................................................................................................. 49
9.4 Belangstelling in Polisie-geskiedenis en heraldiek Deel 6 – François Gunter ............................ 50
9.5 The 1922 Rand Revolution - By Dr Rodney Warwick ............................................................... 52
9.6 1922 Red Revolution on the Rand – Phil Beck .......................................................................... 57
9.7 Toll roads - do we ever learn from History? – Phil Beck ........................................................... 62
9.8 Afrikaners and the Second World War: Some reflection seven decades later – Dr Rodney
Warwick ............................................................................................................................................ 64
9.9 Sharpeville: Maj Warren Brown – Pottie Potgieter (Port Edward) ............................................. 73
9.10 SA Contabulary: Modderfontein – Stan Kantor........................................................................ 73
10. HERALDRY, UNIFORMS, COLOURS, FLAGS, MEDALS, MEMORIALS / HERALDIEK,
UNIFORMS, VAANDEELS, VLAE, MEDALJES, GEDENKTEKENS ........................................... 74
10.1 Latest Purchases: Francois Gunter (France) ............................................................................. 74
10.2 Veterans’ Logos ........................................................................................................................ 75
10.2.1 Designed - Jonathan Pittaway (Durban) ................................................................................ 75
10.2.2 Designed - Tiny Nortje (Johannesburg) ................................................................................. 76
10.2.3 Bruce Ross Strachan .................................................................................................................. 76
10.2.4 SADF Veterans sent in by Johan Jacobs (Benoni)................................................................. 76
10.3 1973 Voided Cap Badge for Ladies .......................................................................................... 77
10.4 Information wanted on Fire Arms used by the SA Police ........................................................ 78
11. VESTED INTERESTS OF VETERANS /LEDEAANGELEENTHERDE ................................... 78
11.1 Polmed: Sakkie Kotze ............................................................................................................... 78
11.2 Injuries on duty / Beserings aandiens ....................................................................................... 78
12. THE LIBRARY / DIE BOEKRAK ............................................................................................... 78
13. SPORT ............................................................................................................................................ 78
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14. HUMOUR IN UNIFORM ............................................................................................................. 78
14.2 1 Die colonel se teef – Johan Ferreira ....................................................................................... 78
14.2 Doodstraf weens dronkenskap op departementele verhoor – kol Herman le Roux .................. 78
14.3 Vergassing en vergissing? ......................................................................................................... 81
14.4 Die “dief” se leer ....................................................................................................................... 81
14.5 Konst RG Fall: Toet-toet! ......................................................................................................... 82
14.6 O wildeding! ............................................................................................................................. 83
14.7 ‘Sant Malan of Simelane? ......................................................................................................... 83
14.8 Hies out wif da wah! ................................................................................................................. 84
15. ANECDOTES, A POINT TO PONDER, ETC .............................................................................. 84
15.1 Etiket en die vrou van die grootbaas - dr. JC van der Walt.................................................... 84
16. OOR DIE NONGQAI SE DRUMPEL ........................................................................................... 86
17. NEWS FROM ALL OVER - THE POLICE POST BAG / NUUS POS VAN HEINDE EN
VERRE - POLISIE-POSSAK ............................................................................................................... 86
17.1 SAP Banchory: Ockert Fourie, Kanada .................................................................................... 86
17.2 Tubby Myburgh ........................................................................................................................ 87
17.3 Pastoor Daan van Tonder, oud SAP Utrecht ............................................................................. 87
17.4 Johan van den Berg: Chairman (SA Military History Society Cape Town) ........................... 87
17.5 Newsletter No 397, APRIL 2012 - Johan van den Berg ........................................................... 88
- April 2011: Air War Korea: Prof Derrick Dickens......................................................................... 96
- 10 May 2011: the South African Air Force’s role in the Korean War: Prof Derrick Dickens .... 97
18. NETWORKING & “LET’S SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER”/ NETWERK & “KOM ONS
ONDERSTEUN MEKAAR” ............................................................................................................ 98
18.1 Jannie Otto: Toer na Israel ........................................................................................................ 98
19. STOP PRESS / LAAT BERIGTE .................................................................................................. 98
20. INDEMITY / VRYWARING ......................................................................................................... 98
21. NEXT EDITION / VOLGENDE UITGAWE ................................................................................ 98
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22. CONCLUSION / SLOT .................................................................................................................. 98
Redakteur / Editor Hennie Heymans
Tegnies / Technical Bruce Jones
Sirkulasie / Circulation Dana Kruger
Beskermheer / Patron Genl/Gen Johan van der Merwe
1. WELCOME / WELKOM
Ander maal my eer en voorreg om u hier hartlik welkom te heet. Hierdie uitgawe is propvol
lekker bydraes van ons lesers en vriende. Hierdie uitgawe word opgedra aan genl Mike
Geldenhuys en aan daardie ikoon van die vrouepolisie, wyle brigadier Duveen Botha. Ons
dink ook aan al ons kollegas wat siek is en wens hul volkome beterskap toe.
Once again our honour and privilege to bid you welcome to this issue made possible by our
readers, friends and correspondents. Enjoy and remember vote on ISSUU whether you like
the edition or not.
1.1 Moment of silence: Herman le Roux
Ek kan nie bid ONSE as ek net vir myself leef nie
Ek kan nie bid VADER as ek nie Sy kind geword het nie
Ek kan nie bid WAT IN DIE HEMELE IS as ek nog aardsgebonde is nie
Ek kan nie bid LAAT U NAAM GEHEILIG WORD as ek dit ydellik gebruik nie
Ek kan nie bid LAAT U KONINKRYK KOM as ek nie Sy woord uitdra nie
Ek kan nie bid LAAT U WIL GESKIED as ek altyd my eie sin wil hê nie
Ek kan nie bid om my DAAGLIKSE BROOD as ek spandabelrig lewe
Ek kan nie bid SOOS ONS ONS SKULDENAARS VERGEWE as ek met ‘n wrok rondloop
nie
Ek kan nie bid LEI ONS NIE IN VERSOEKING as ek met sonde speel nie
Ek kan nie bid AAN U BEHOORT DIE KONINKRYK as ek Jesus nie dien nie
Ek kan nie bid EN DIE KRAG as daar nog vrees in my hart is nie
Ek kan nie bid EN DIE HEERLIKHEID as die eie ek my lewe regeer nie
Ek kan nie bid TOT IN EWIGHEID as ek nie Sy koms verwag nie
Ek kan nie sê AMEN as ek nie glo soos ‘n kind nie.
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1.2 Voorblad / Front Page
Voorblad: No 38620 en later no 58231 kaptein PF “Tiny” Nortje
toe hy sy nasionale diploma in polisie verwerf het. Tiny kan met
reg bestempel word as een die temmers van Johannesburg!
Hy het ook sy kant in die SWA gebring! Tiny was ook sportman
en op sy ‘beat’ was daar nie nonsens nie! Ons wens hom ‘n
rustige pensioen toe!
1.3 Redaksioneel met ‘n koppie koffie – Hennie Heymans
Terugskouend lyk dit vir my George Fivaz was die laaste werklike eerlike en ordentlike
polisiekommissaris in Suid-Afrika. Bewys my verkeerd!
Ons het groot geword in ‘n polisiemag wat vreeslik besuinig het. Kort-kort is
besparingsmaatreëls ingestel. Ons taaltoelae is gestop en ons voorreg om gratis in Durban,
Johannesburg en Kaapstad op munisipale busse te ry is ook opgeskort. Ons het baie navrae
en ondersoek per bus en fiets gedoen. Maak jy fout op ‘n spoorwegorder moes jy vir jou fout
betaal. Wat oproepe betref was daar kontrole.
Hoe verder ons die jaar 2000 ingaan hoe meer hebsug, korrupsie, wellus, dieftigheid,
misdadigheid en nepotisme deur ons manne in blou. Ons lewe letterlik in ‘n kleptokrasie.
As jy jou inligtingsmense nie met staatsgeld kan vertrou nie; hoe kan jy enigsins peil trek op
die inligting wat hulle inwin? Is die inligting wat bekom word, waarde vir geld? Bevorder
die inligting enigsins ons nasionale veiligheid? Hoe kan die SP en ander BBP’s peil trek op
diè manne om hul te bewaak?
Is die polisie vandag enigsins effektief en doeltreffend? Waarom moet ons veiligheidswagte
huur om ons op te pas en die strate te patrolleer? Kan die polisie nie hul werkywer verbeter
nie?
My ou stasiebevelvoerder te SAP King’s Rest; no 22504T a/o W Marais en ons 2 i/b; no
30320P sersant W van der Westhuizen sou seker vandag in hul grafte omdraai as hulle moet
weet hoe endemies misdaad vandag in hul ou stasiewyke is.
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My vader was ook polisieman en net ‘n gewone sersant. Baie dae as hy vandiens was, het hy
met ons motor na sy stasie SAP Somtsueweg gery en die stasie besoek en dan die manne op
rondtediens ook besoek. Ek onthou eendag hou ons op ‘n hoek stil. Ek vra wat gaan gebeur
en hy vertel my dat ‘n konstabel oor sowat twee minute om die hoek sal kom ... wat toe
gebeur het.As jongman het ek geleer om my wyk te domineer en elke wyksersant het die
resep gevolg: Die resultaat was minimum misdaad.
Op veiligheidshoofkantoor het ek onder kolonel Jackson van Zyl gewerk. Die manne vertel
vir my hy was seksiehoof van die speurders te Pretoria-Noord. Toe hy daar weg is, het sy
rekord nog gestaan van bykans 100% oplossyfer elke maand.
In alle billikheid teenoor die speurdiens, hoe kan een man meer as 150 sake doeltreffend
ondersoek? Elke speurder behoort ten minste ‘n tikster as assistent te hê wat sy dossiere se
verklarings kan tik, ‘n netjiese opsomming maak en die ondersoekdagboek en
korrespondensie kan hanteer. (In Amerika het ek saam met die polisie gewerk en hulle het
nie al die sleurwerk wat ons doen nie.) Dossiere is die speurder se vertoonvenster na buite.
In Durban het ek ‘n speurder, Mike Bowery se dossiere gelees – alles was netjies getik met
opsomming vir die aanklaer. (Van die ROM na die RAA het mens kans gekry om te lees.) In
Welkom het eenmaal ‘n speurder se dossier gesien wat nie net homself nie, maar ook die
ganse polisiemag as geheel tot eer gestrek het.
Wat is die doel van hierdie gesprek? Net dit; ons was trots op ons roeping en ons was lekker
windgat. Skoon en netjies op ons uniforms en voertuie. Ons het ‘n verskil gemaak! Dit was
nie altyd soos vandag nie! Ons veterane kan terugkyk met trots! Soos Piet sê: “ Walk tall!”
- ‘n Eeu van nasionale polisie in Suid-Afrika op 1 April 2013
Beskou mens die saak eerlik en objektief kan mens steeds ‘n honderd jaar van nasionale
polisiëring met trots in Suid-Afrika vier. Alhoewel daar oor die laaste twee kommissarisse ‘n
wolk van ongunstige publisiteit hang, is daar suksesse om te vier. Daar is duisende goeie
polisiemanne wat met geweldige spanning en soms met geweldige teenkanting, hul taak
goed vervul. Baie goeie manne word as gevolg van hul velkleur of geslag nie bevorder nie.
Ons gaan steeds voort om vir ons nageslag en ander belangstellendes uitgawes en spesiale
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uitgawes die lig te laat sien waarin ons op bepaalde onderwerpe fokus. Daar is ‘n spesiale
uitgawe oor ons generaals in die pyplyn.
2. PERSONALIA VANAF 25 MAART TOT 9 APRIL 2012: JOHAN JACOBS
2.1 Allegaartjie
25 Maart: Eddie Holloway laat weet op Sondag 25ste uit Windhoek dat SWA (Namibië)
sopnat is en dat Ovambo land soos een groot meer lyk.
25 Maart : So ook Dalene Steenkamp uit Kuruman wat vertel dat die Kalahari net water is
en dat sy moet swem plaas toe.
28 Maart: Dana Kruger rapporteer dat sy motorvoertuig nou die 9de week al staan by die
paneelkloppers in Potchefstroom en hy hoop om die einde Junie sy voertuig te kan kry. Die
herstel van die voertuig (MB) beloop tans R55 000.00 en ‘n verdere R18000.00 moet nog
betaal word. Dana ons hoop die motor word gouer herstel as wat jy dink.
30 Maart: Mariet Ferriara berig die volgende: Die volgende aantal dae gaan julle min van
my sien/hoor. Sal dan en wan inloer. Op afgedeelde diens by KKNK. Sal dink aan julle wat
galla om ook daar te wees. Moenie te veel aanjaag nie. Sterkte aan diegene wat onder die
mes deurgeloop het. In my gedagtes is ek by julle. Alle heil en kiewietjie pis.
Van ons almal geniet dit daar by die KKNK.
01 April: Hennie Heymans skryf; Na ek die al berigte hier gelees het en ook die koerante op
die net, ontstaan die vraag - IS THERE A HONEST & CLEAN COP LEFT?
Die beskuldigings vlieg na LEFT, RIGHT en CENTRE! Wie is skoon? Wie se hande het nie
bloed op nie? Wie se hande was nie in die spreekwoordelike "cookie jar" nie? Dankie vir die
koerante - hoe meer goed verberg word, hoe gouer kom dit na die oppervlakte - die
waarheid kan nie onderdruk word nie. Die "waarheid" kom altyd uit!
• Hennie hierdie berig is definitief nie ‘n Aprilgrap nie!
01 April: Herman le Roux laat ook weet dat: Doktor Charisse Welgemoed (kapelaan) daar in
die Kaap se doktorale tesis "A qualitative pastoral approach. The title: A Badge; the Bible
and Suicide in the SAPS." geslaag het.
Pragtig Doktor! ons is trots op u!
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01 April: André L du Toit berig dat: Gister sewe jaar gelede (2005) het ek die kantoor deur
gesluit na amper 39 jaar diens, 29 in die SAP en amper 10 in die SAPD. Elf verskillende
plekke en stasies en speurtakkantore en provinsiale kantore gedien van 16-jaar oud af. Baie
mooi herinneringe, geleenthede, ervaringe, vriende, kollegas en voorregte geniet.
03 April: Andries Greyling berig: Goeie more kollegas, ek rapporteer aan diens geboek op
voorlê dienste by Arwyp hospitaal, betroubare berig ontvang dat ooievaar n blou pakkie
gaan aflewer vir oupa....ek maak seker hy vlieg nie verby nie!
• Andries ons hoop jou voorstaan diens was nie verniet nie – Geluk oupa!
03 April: Koot Swanepoel berig: Goeie môre al my mooi geleerde ryk vriende. (Ryk aan
genade)
Ek rapporteer terug vanaf menslikheidsverlof en sportverlof. Dankie vir elke Lid se goeie
wense met my seun de afsterwe. Julle het my sterk gemaak. Ek "face" die toekoms. Dankie
vir die goeie wense met Tanya se Sport. Dankie vir die "daar wees" van elkeen van julle.
2.2 Siekte
26 Maart: Johnny Kidson is vandag hospitaal toe vir ‘n operasie aan sy voet. Met saktyd is
daar nog geen inligting ontvang nie. Vertrou dat alles goed afgeloop het.
27 Maart: Tubby is vanoggend om 06:00 in die Faerie Glen Hospitaal opgeneem en is om
07:45 na die teater. Die operasie om vier werwels aan mekaar vas te maak het 4 ure geduur
en hy was om 12:00 in die ICU waar hy waarskynlik vir twee dae sal bly. Sy broer, Mossie
Myburg, rapporteer dat hy duidelik baie pyn het en het ook met hom gepraat. Tubby
bevestig dat dit baie seer is. Tubby was weer op en wakker die 28ste en het deelgeneem aan
insette op die Suid Afrikaanse Polisie - Afgetrede lede se blad. Tubby het sy dank
uitgespreek aan almal wat geskakel, ge-epos en andersins belangstelling getoon het.
• Van almal van ons -sterkte Tubby en gou gesond word!
28 Maart: Jan van Wyk van Kaapstad maak melding dat hy ook dieselfde operasie gehad as
Tubby. Syne was die L$ & L5 en is nou in sy 8ste week, hy bestuur sy kar, en loop tans
lekker rond. Bly om dit te hoor Jan en alle beterskap word jou toegewens verder!
28 Maart: Erika Erasmus van Amanzimtoti gaan ook die 28ste inloer by die Flora Kliniek in
Johannesburg vir ‘n nekoperasie...Erika ons dink aan jou! Gou gesond word.
29 Maart: Tubby se broer berig: Dit is nou 48 uur na die operasie en Tubby sien daarna uit
om vandag na die algemene saal toe oorgeplaas te word. Hy het nog pyn maar het ‘n
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pompie wat hy kan gebruik teen die pyn. Hy het reeds sy Bybel, bril, klere en alledaagse
goed aangevra. Hy het sy dank en waardering aan almal wat van hulle laat hoor het
uitgespreek.
30 Maart: Nico Freilinch is ook opgeneem in die Kloof Hospitaal om ‘n gewas uit sy bobeen
te sny...alle voorspoed Nico en ons hoop alles loop reg...en los die nursies uit!
30 Maart: Isabel en Dana het die naweek hospitaal besoek gedoen aan Erika Erasmus, Nico
Frylinck en ook Tubby Myburg.
01 April: Isabel en Dana rapporteer terug van hulle hospitaal besoek: Gaan baie goed met
Erika, en Tubby. Nico was al by die huis en hulle het daar by hom gaan koffie drink – hulle
vertel dat Nico ‘n ‘mean’ koppie koffie kan maak. Al die siekes stuur groete en hulle vorder
baie goed.
Nico skryf as volg; Ai dit was nou n lekker kuiertjie gewees. Dana en Isabel was op
hospitaalbesoek en het gou n koffietjie by my huis kom drink..... Dankie julle...... Was dit nie
vir ons lekker groepie nie het ons dalk nie eers geweet van mekaar nie..... Dankie julle, ek
waardeer..... Isabel sal die pics in die VB aanbring......
05 April: Tubby Myburg berig: Nou net met my buurman gepraat hy sê dat Ron Ayward `n
hart aanval gehad het en nog in die Bayview Hospitaal Mosselbaai is. Onder omstandighede
gaan dit goed met hom. Hy sal ons op hoogte hou soos dinge verander......Sterkte en
spoedige beterskap aan jou. Tubby rapporteer weer op die 08 April dat: Ek het so twee ure
gelede met Marlene, Ron se wederhelf gepraat. Dit gaan glad nie goed nie en hy sal nog
geruime tyd in die hospitaal wees. Sy sê dat as hy vir slegs drie minute met iemand op die
telefoon praat is hy so uitgeput dat sy bekommerd raak. Sy gaan nou vir haarself `n
wooneenheid naby die hospitaal huur sodat sy nie nodig het om by die dogter te bly nie en
nie elke dag Kleinkrans toe ...
2.3 Afsterwe
29 Maart: Johan Jacobs berig: Afkomstig vanaf die vlootblad: “Admiral H.H. Biermann
passed away peacefully Tuesday 27 March 2012. Funeral Tuesday 10 April 2012 Christ
Church Constantia.” Hy was ook die voorheen die HSAW.
31 Maart: Niel van Heerden berig; Ek verneem nou net via Facebook van “Cassie Pens”
Mostert se afsterwe. Mag Marianna en sy kinders berusting vind in die wete dat hul Pa
diepspore in die Harte van menige polisiemanne en vroue gevind het.
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04 April: Abrie Grobler berig: Dit was vandag Wimpie van Heerden se begrafnis. Rus in
vrede ou maat,vir jou vrou dogters my innige simpatie ,julle het n wonderlike man verloor .
Ons dink ook aan hulle in ons gebede Abrie!
08 April: Tubby Myburg berig: Dit is met leedwese dat ek ook moet berig dat Willie
Frankim wat verbonde was aan die Speurtak Bloembontein ook gister middag oorlede is.
Volgens Fanus Buys vermoed hy dit was kanker aangesien hy aan kanker gelei het. RIV!
2.4 Verjaarsdae
18 Maart: Willie du Plessis van SAP Walvisbaai, SAP Jeppe en SAP Standerton het Sondag
die 18de verjaar! Baie geluk ‘ou’ kollega - 'n beter jaar, met die nuwe rug, word jou ook
toegebid!
27 Maart: Lynette Spies skryf op die 27ste dat dit haar man, At se verjaarsdag is! Geluk ook
hier van die ‘ou’ polisiemanne/manninne af At. Hoop jy is lekker bederf met die fino!
30 Maart: Hugo Gerber het ook verjaar – Veels geluk kollega van al die afgetrede lede!
02 April: Dewaldt Louw het verjaar – Hoop jy het ‘n wonderlike dag gehad Dewaldt!
02 April: Hennie Heymans berig: Ek sien Piet Van Zyl verjaar vandag! Piet met al ons beste
wense - van al die "ou Bobbies" met wie jy saam oor die jare geswoeg en gesweet het om die
land veilig te hou! Jy was 'n goeie polisieman - dankie!
03 April: Hennie Heymans rapporteer: Sandy Evan Hanes - It's his birthday. Happy
birthday Sandy from all of us, hope you had a marvelous day!
06 April: Was ook Ronnie Beyl se verjaarsdag: Veels geluk Ronnie van al die afgetrede
kollegas – hoop jy het ‘n wonderlike dag gehad.
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07 April: Sarie van Niekerk berig oor ‘n spesiale verjaarsdag: Wel mense vandag is dit genl.
Mike Geldenhuys se verjaarsdag. Genl. Baie geluk met die pragtige ouderdom, dit is nie
almal beskore om u ouderdom te haal nie. Hoop u het 'n wonderlike dag en dat die jaar wat
voorle vir u wonderlik gaan wees – Veels geluk generaal van al die oud polisielede, hoop u
het dié dag geniet!
Voorspoed, vreugde en gesondheid word u toegewens.
2.5 Honours & Awards / Eerbewyse & Toekennings: 38510N Maj JW
“Smoke” Fouche
Sien ook par 14.2, Herman le Roux praat ook van “Smoke” – “Smoke” het afgetree in
Jeffreysbaai / Humansdorp-omgewing. Indien iemand in hom vasloop dra asb groete oor en
sê die Joseph Rodgers is nog skerp!
2. 6 Friends Missing and Found! / SAP 55 Vermiste persone
Enigiemand wat nog kontak het met van die groep dames wat op 1 Maart 1972 met
hul opleiding in die polisie begin het, of dames wat nog in die polisie is, kontak my
asseblief op my e-pos by [email protected]. of soek my asseblief op op facebook
en stuur vir my julle kontakbesonderhede in my boodskapruimte.
14
3. Roll of Honour / Ererol
3.1 Insp (kaptein) BM van Heerden
15
16
17
3.2 SAP Graves: Koos Brits (Benoni)
18
4. REUNIONS / REUNIES / EVENTS / GEBEURE
4.1. Brigadiers buite Pretoria
Daar word gesoek na alle brigadiers van die Suid-Afrikaanse Polisie en die
voormalige SA Spoorwegpolisie met die oog op ’n nasionale Brigadiersklub vir
lede van die Suid-Afrikaanse Polisie.
Ons wil kyk of daar voldoende belangstelling is om ’n nasionale tak te stig. Laat
asb van u hoor.
4.2 SAP se Jaarlikse Skaapbraai – 15 September 2012
Dagboek die jaarlikse skaapbraai wat DV op 15 September plaas vind ten
bate van die Oud-SAP-Lede Liefdadigheidstrust.
Om teleurstelling te voorkom, bespreek vroegtydig by eNONGQAI per
epos of by Hennie tel 012 329 4229.
5. PERSOONLIKHEID VAN DIE MAAND:
‘n Huldeblyk aan admiraal Hugo Hendrik Biermann, SSA, SD, OBE.
Vader van die Moderne Suid Afrikaanse Vloot - Johan Jacobs
Omstreeks 19:00 op die aand van 27 Maart 2012, sterf admiraal Hugo Biermann (95) in die
intensiewe sorgeenheid van die Silvermine Village in Vishoek, waar hy vir die afgelope drie
jaar gewoon het.
He was born in Johannesburg on 6 August 1916, from Afrikaans parents and educated at
the Afrikaans Medium School in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, the Volkskool Heidelberg in
Heidelberg Transvaal, and Jan van Riebeeck Hoërskool in Cape Town, where he
matriculated.
Sy seun, Hugo, ’n sakeman in Frankryk, meld dat sy pa hom ná skool by die handelsvloot
aangesluit en uiteindelik hoof van die Suid-Afrikaanse Vloot geword het. Hy het in 1976 as
hoof van die Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag (SAW) afgetree – ’n man van die see wat die bevel
oor land- en lugmagte gevoer het.
19
Foto 1 : Admiraal H.H. Bierman
Na opleiding van twee jaar op die Suid Afrikaanse opleidingskip Generaal Botha, sluit hy in
1933 by die Britse Handelsvloot aan as kadet. Hy doen daar diens tot 1938 waarna hy
oorgeplaas word na die departement maritieme van die Suid Afrikaanse Spoorweg en
Hawens. Tydens hierdie tydperk verkry hy ook ‘n Master Mariner’s Certificate of Competency.
Foto 2: Opleidingskip Generaal Botha
20
In 1938 sluit hy aan by die Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve South Africa (RNVR SA) aan as
offisier met die rang van onder-luitenant. Gedurende die Tweede Wêreld Oorlog dien hy by
verskeie Mediterreense en Suid Afrikaanse kus eenhede as bevelvoerder. Hy word in 1944
na lt.-kmdr. bevorder.
In 1944, he was appointed commander of HMSAS GAMTOOS, the South African Navy
salvage vessel. As acknowledgement of his service in Marseilles in the aftermath of the
French invasion, he was awarded the OBE.
Foto 3: HMSAS Gamtoos
With the establishment of the South African Navy in May 1946, he was appointed Lt.-Com.
He served, among diverse duties, as Captain of SAS BLOEMFONTEIN and as Senior Officer
of the Minesweeping Squadron.
21
Foto 4: SAS Bloemfontein
In 1950 he was transferred to Defence Headquarters, Pretoria and served on the staff of the
then Director-General of the SA Naval Forces. Two years later he attended the British Naval
Staff Course at Greenwich and was appointed as Naval Attaché in South African House,
London, with the rank of Commander. Commander Biermann was appointed Naval and
Marine Chief of Staff on 1 December 1952. He was promoted to the rank of Commodore. He
held this rank until 1 April 1957, with the handing over of the Simon’s Town Naval Base to
the South African Navy. He was then promoted to Rear-Admiral.
He was awarded the star of South Africa Decoration (SSA) on 13 May 1960, in recognition of
his exceptionally meritorious services, as well as the Grand Cruz Almirante Guillermo
Brown of Argentine and the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Infante Dom Henrique of
Portugal.
On 1 December 1965, Rear-Admiral Biermann was promoted to Vice–Admiral and Chief of
the Navy. In addition to his duties as Chief of the Navy, he was appointed Commander,
Maritime Defence, South African Defence Force. On 31 January 1972, he was promoted to
Temporary Admiral and appointed as acting Chief of the South African Defence Force. His
promotion to Admiral came on 1 April 1972, when he succeeded General R.C. Hiemstra,
SSA, SM, as Chief of the South African Defence Force with effect from the same date.
Adm. Biermann het sy invloed op talle ander terreine laat geld. Die duikboot basis in
Simonstad se hawe is na hom vernoem. Hy het baie vir Die Burger-Kersfonds omgegee en
gesorg dat skoliere vanDie Burger-jeugleierskonferensie elke jaar ’n dag as gaste van die
vloot deurbring.In die 1960’s het hy gekeer dat Moslemhandelaars uit Simonstad geskuif
word. Hy het in 1966 ’n groot deurbraak gemaak en gesorg dat bruin matrose as volledige
lede van die vloot geïnkorporeer word. Saam met wyle dr. Anton Rupert het hy die
seiljagsport ondersteun en met die begin van die Kaap na Riowedvaart gehelp.
Foto 5: SAS Hugo Biermann,duikbootskool te Simonstad
Vise-adm.Robert Simpson-Anderson, ’n gewese hoof van die vloot, het gesê: “Ons beskou
hom steeds as die vader van die moderne Suid-Afrikaanse Vloot.”
22
The South African Navy Headquarters has issued the following after Admiral H.H.
Biermann’s death:
Admiral Hugo Biermann, SSA, SD, OBE, (1916 - 2012)
The South African Navy notes the recent tragic passing of Admiral Hugo Biermann SSA SD
(OBE) with deep regret. His contribution to supporting the collective endeavours of the
international maritime community will be long remembered, and his tragic death mourned
by navies throughout the world.
Adm. Biermann will long be remembered in the annals of our Naval History. He presided
over the creation of our Country’s first fleet, and commanded as the first Chief of the South
African Navy from 1958 – 1972, an office which he held with distinction. He also held office
as Commander Maritime Defence, and served as the Chief of the South African Defence
Force from 1972-1976.
His is a legacy which is known and respected by so many of us. His professionalism, keen
sense of duty, and pride in matters of maritime served as an example to all who knew him,
and he has come to epitomise much that we seek to be as naval professionals.
The legacy created by Adm. Biermann will serve as an inspiration to navies universally for
many years to come. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time.
THEIR NAMES SHALL LIVE FOREVER
Admiral Hugo Biermann
JohanJacobs02/04/2012
• Dankie JohanJ!
6. PERSONALITIES & BIOGRAFICAL DICTIONARY/
PERSOONLIKHEDE / BIOGRAFIESE WOORDEBOEK
6.1 Brevet-Colonel Hilmar Theodore Bru-De-Wold CMG, VD
Hullo Hennie, I enjoyed meeting you at the Boksburg Historical Association meeting on Saturday. Most of the attached information on Col. Bru-de-Wold was obtained by my late husband as
the Colonel was his grandfather. Some of the sources of information have faded too much to
allow legible copying, so I have retyped the information, detailing the original source. I look forward to hearing from you and hope that you find the attached interesting.
23
Kind regards,
Lesley Smith
6.1.1 Brevet-Colonel Hilmar Theodore Bru-De-Wold CMG, VD
The home of the Vikings has not lost its vitality or power of sending forth men who are
willing to strive and fight, if need be, die for their ideal, and though sparsely populated,
some of the hardiest of settlers in Britain’s “far-flung battle line” have come from the frozen
North.
The Norwegians have an affinity with the British, as there is a big mingling of the blood
from the early dawn of history, and hence the reason that even in such a contrasting climate
as Natal is to Norway, scions of old Norwegian houses are found fighting under the Union
Jack.
Brevet-Colonel Hilmar Theodore Bru-de-Wold, C.M.G., V.D., is one of the emigrants from
the land of fjords, for he was born n Norway and educated at the Government Naval School.
He came to Natal in 1862, and, as was natural, chose a spot near water, settling at
Umzimkulu in the Port Shepstone district, where he started coffee and sugar planting.
But he would have been false to his traditions had he not entered for military service and
eleven years after his arrival he joined the Alexandra Mounted Rifles. He was soon to see
active service, for Cetewayo could not sit quiet at Ulundi, and challenged the British in the
death struggle of 1879, and Brevet-Colonel Bru-de-Wold went with the invading forces,
gaining the medal with clasp.
Soon afterwards the Alexandra Mounted Rifles were absorbed by the Border Mounted
Rifles, and here the gallant officer obtained his first commission, being a Lieutenant in the
new regiment. He organized, and subsequently commanded, the Border Mounted Rifles for
eleven years, having passed through all the grades of the service to the rank of Major, and in
October 1895, he was placed on the Permanent Staff, of which he is still a member.
The Anglo-Boer War was to give him his opportunity, and he did not fail to grasp it; he was
one of the defenders of Ladysmith, being twice mentioned in dispatches, and was finally
decorated with the Commandership of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. He was
badly wounded by a shrapnel bullet in the bombardment of Wagon Hill, on January 19,
1900, the bullet entering just below the left eye and coming out at the back of the neck.
The Colonel has a career to be proud of. He commanded at various times two Volunteer
Brigades during the war, and was Chief Staff Officer to the Colonial Brigade under Colonel
Royston and General Dartnell. He holds the V.D. for long Volunteer service, having an
unbroken period of thirty-two years to his credit which creates a record for Natal.
24
Prior to the war he was District Adjutant, and after District Commandant of the Southern
Militia District, and is now in command of the whole of the Natal Militia. He wears the
Zulu War medal, the Queen’s and King’s medal with three clasps, is a C.M.G. and V.D. He
resides at “Eidswold”, on the banks of the Umsimkulu River.
Brevet-Colonel Bru-de-Wold is the inventor of the reserve ammunition pannier for
supplying the mounted forces, which has been approved by the authorities and is part of the
equipment issued to the mounted arm of the service.
The above is from “Twentieth Century Impressions of Natal: Its people, Commerce,
Industries, and Resources. Natal: Lloyd’s Greater Britain Publishing Company. 1906.”
6.2 Bru-de-Wold, Hilmer Theodore, C.M.G., D.S.O., V.D., J.P.,
BRU-DE-WOLD, Hilmer Theodore, C.M.G., D.S.O., V.D., J.P., Alexandra and Alfred
Counties; Supervisor of Mines 1888; Dist. Adjt., Volunteer Dept., 1895.
Has acted as Magistrate from time to time.
Zulu War, 1878-1879; Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902; was dangerously wounded at siege of
Ladysmith, shrapnel bullet through the head.
(Defence of Ladysmith, Laing’s Nek; dispatches).
Member of Colonial Defence Commission 1902. Col. Commanding Militia, native rebellion,
1906. Commandant of militia (retired 1907).
Member of the Supernumerary Staff and of the Natal Defence Committee.
Above is an extract from “The South African Who’s Who 1908” compiled and published by
the South African Who’s Who Publishing Company, 19, Castle Arcade, Durban.
6.3 Marburg Settlers
The Marburg Settlers are Norwegians who settled at Marburg (near Port Shepstone) in 1882.
Except for a few missionaries, very few Norwegians had emigrated to South Africa, mainly
because of the poor mental picture they had which had been influenced by a book that
stated that in Africa few plants could grow because of the lack of mountains and no
variation in temperatures and the territory was perilous for Europeans.
But the captain of one of the missionary ships thought otherwise and that South Africa was a
good alternative to America as a country to which to emigrate.
After a few setbacks, guidelines and stipulations were drawn up for emigrants:
• 100 Acres per family at 9d per acre.1
1 9 pennies were equal to 7 ½ cents - HBH
25
• 2000 Acres of communal grazing.
• A hut on each property.
Norwegian community with its own administration, school, church and minister, but not
everybody would be admitted
God fearing, sober and hardworking. (Authorities in Natal also specified that a settler’s
property could be confiscated for drunkenness or if a reasonable portion of the property was
not cultivated.) 34 Families sailed from Aalesund in Norway. In the vicinity of Madeira they
passed a ship on its way to England bearing the rebel Zulu Chief Cetewayo.
When they got to Cape Town, the Customs Officer came in a boat rowed by 6 men. They
took on foodstuffs and coal but were not allowed to disembark owing to small pox in Cape
Town and policeman stood guard.
Excitement grew when they saw the Natal coastline, but they were disappointed as it was
unlike the rugged coast of Norway. When they sailed passed the mouth of the Umzimkulu
River (their final destination) they saw welcoming bonfires that had been lit by a local,
William Bazley.
They arrived in Durban on 27th August 1882 after 7 weeks at sea and were met by some
locals and a handful of Norwegians. The Immigration Authorities saw to the drawing of
lots for the 100 acre plots.
Journey of 100 miles by road back to Port Shepstone was considered to be hazardous and
expensive, so permission was given for them to sail back there. They arrived late that
evening and William Bazley fired five cannon shots as a welcome and the Captain sent up
coloured rockets in reply. Hymns and songs were sung.
Early next morning a lighter came out to convey them over the silt bank at the mouth of the
river. The men used a rope ladder but the women and children were put in a basket with a
door in the side with room for 5. Once lowered into the lighter the hatches were clamped
down. A small steamer drew the lighter to the mouth of the river where a troop of Zulus
pulled it over the sandbank and in through the river mouth. As the poor passengers
suffered from heat and lack of air, some became seasick and others fainted.
Met by English, German, Swedish and Norwegian colonists. Hilmar Bru-de-Wold had been
assigned by the Government to meet the arrivals and help them with guides and transport.
Mr Duka Fynn, son of Henry Fynn the white Zulu Chief of the district, had staged a war
dance by 400 Zulu warriors. As they were dressed in full war regalia (including spears), the
poor immigrants were terrified. The Zulus killed 4 oxen and drank the blood straight from
the animals. The Norwegians declined the underdone meat from the ensuing braai but
enjoyed tea and cake instead and also had their first taste of mealie meal porridge which
they found tasty.
26
While their luggage was being unloaded, the locals put them up and the Captain supplied
ship’s biscuits and blankets. As there was a delay in the arrival of transport, some families
decided to walk to their allotment (about 5 kilometres as the crow flies).
Each lot had been numbered and had two rondavels, the only window being the upper half
of the door. But the thatch was wind torn and inside weeds and climbing plants were
growing and all sorts of reptiles and creepy crawlies had taken up residence.
Farming was extremely difficult as most of the cattle died due to illness and in places the
ground was very difficult to plough. Children worked alongside their parents. It took 3
weeks to get their produce to markets in Durban and they had to pay the transport costs.
On the first anniversary of their arrival they were still able to dedicate a church which
housed the Sunday School and the Ladies’ Society. In the meantime they were improving
their own homes with earth sods, sun-baked bricks or wattle and daub. Those who had
plots of good soil had managed to harvest maize, sugar cane and a few other products.
Inevitably some of the immigrants were dissatisfied and returned to Norway, but 3 went
north and ended up at Witsieshoek (Phuthaditjhaba). Although they found work they were
still homesick for Norway so they decided to build a boat so that they could sail home.
Using timber from a nearby forest, the boat was 20ft long, had a 7ft beam and a depth of
3½ft and one mast and was named “Homeward Bound”. On completion it was transported
to Durban by ox wagon. After final touches were made, they set sail in May 1886 and after
11 months arrived in Dover as they had stopped off at various islands along the way. Two
went on to Norway and the third stayed in England and married. The boat was later
displayed at Crystal Palace.
Some took up work in other areas to supplement their incomes and when gold was
discovered a number of the men foot-slogged it up to Johannesburg.
Romances blossomed. William Bazley conducted a courtship with Margaret Martinsen with
the help of a Norwegian-English dictionary. In the first 10 years 200 children were born.
Initially the relationship with the Zulu’s was fairly good even though the settlement partly
encroached on land occupied by them but then deteriorated during the 1890’s when they
blamed the settlers for some new illnesses and the settlers tried to put restrictions on their
traditional way of hunting. The Zulus starting stealing the cattle and the settlers answered
by organizing their own civil defence.
As the years passed, the community lost some of its Norwegian character as more and more
English was spoken and the children moved to the larger cities.
It is sad to learn that to a large extent the successes of these Norwegians have gone
unnoticed in Norway.
27
Comments by HBH: The Official Natal Mounted Rifles History by Eric Goetzche has a lot
of history on Col Bru-de-Wold.
6.4 Major Olav Kjelvei
The only member of Norwegian decent in the South African Police known to me is the late
Maj Olav Kjelvei. Here is a story of the then well-known Natal police officer Major Kjelvei.
We take up the story from The Nongqai:...
1
2
3 4
[When I was at school Maj Kjelvei was murdered when he approached a group of rioters in
the Eastern Cape. His wife and children then moved to Durban. His children attended our
school, then known as Dirkie Uys Hoërskool. Mrs Kjelvei’s sister is married to the famous
police sportsman from Durban, Det/Sgt Basie Sadie. The young Sadie’s were also in Dirkie
Uys Hoërskool.]
• Does anybody know who Lt CJ Groenewald was?
28
6.3 Mounted Constable Louis Jacobus le Grange – Phil Beck
Phil Beck from the Boksburg Historical Association has sent us this delightful press cutting
and photographs:
6.3.1 ‘Ou Leggie’ stirs memories of Mounted Police - Boksburg Advertiser
1975
Mr Louis Jacobus ‘Ou Leggie’ le Grange (71) of 29 Third Street, Boksburg North, is proud of
three things, not least of which is the almost certain
knowledge that he is the sole survivor in Boksburg
of the old South African Mounted Police.
Now a sprightly eight-hour a day man in a local
attorney’s office, he is also the eighth-generation of
Pierre le Grange, a bachelor Huguenot from
Gabriere in Southern France, who landed in the
brigantine ‘China’ at Cape Town on August 4,
1688.
The third pride of his life is his home library.
Called ‘El Retiro’ it contains over 300 books. But
these are not ordinary books. Among his treasures
is ‘Chaurapanghasika’, an ancient Hindustani love
lament: one of only six copies known to exist in the
world.
He can remember wearing a black tunic, riding
breeches, shining calf-high boots, a Scout-type hat
and also his horses – all prancing, tossing of heads
and with magnificent accoutrements. ‘Ou Leggie’
was born in Barrydale, Cape Province, in 1904. He
moved to Pretoria in 1923 and then went farming
all over South Africa and Rhodesia. He even found time to race for diamonds at Grasfontein,
Lichtenburg in 1924.
In 1929 he joined the police. Transferred to Boksburg in 1930, he joined 12 other policemen
on horseback. From the stables, which now house the radio section of the police station, the
patrols went out daily. In 1930 Boksburg consisted largely of open veld, farms and plots. The
patrols stretched from eight in the morning until five in the afternoon. Farmers and plot-
holders provided beverages ranging from coffee to pretty strong ‘dops’.
Night patrols also took place. This was when fun and danger really happened! One night the
Minister of Labour, Mr Walter Madeley, summoned ‘Ou Leggie’ and his patrol-mate to his
house at the top of Rietfontein Road. A Black trespasser was bothering Mr Madeley and ‘Ou
29
Leggie’ obliged by making an arrest. But it was awfully cold – their helmets were covered in
frost – so mine host invited the two policemen in for something hot to drink. The prisoner
was handcuffed to the veranda pole. The drink or two of brandy, sugar and hot water took
some time. When the two policemen eventually ambled outside, they found that the
prisoner had escaped, handcuffs and all. But like the Canadian Mounties, ‘Ou Leggie’ and
friend managed to get their man at 4am the next morning.
Leo, ‘OuLeggie’s’ horse, let his master down quite badly at a Brakpan township. Called out
late at night to quell a riot, the mounted squad chased pell-mell after fleeing rioters across
the veld in the darkness. Leo saw the fence first and stopped dead. ‘Ou Leggie’ went sailing
into the wild black yonder.
Then again, Leo proved a true friend. Patrolling near Driefontein one dark night, the horse
started neighing and fighting the bit. ‘Ou Leggie’ dropped the reins, at which Leo promptly
turned and retreated. The next morning the curious rider stood thankfully on the edge of a
huge ten-foot deep donga.
Mr le Grange has a number of such interesting anecdotes to relate to friends and family. He
retired from the police service in 1960. He has been married for 42 years and has two
children and two grand-children. His wife Violet has been a wardress at the police station
for the last ten years and has trained many future candidates for that occupation.
6.3.2 Boksburg pioneer ‘Ou Leggie’ dies - Boksburg Advertiser 16 May 1986
One of Boksburg’s most colourful pioneers, Mr LJ le
Grange (82) died in the Johannesburg General
Hospital on Wednesday last week. Know to
everyone as ‘Ou Leggie’, Mr le Grange was born in
1904, moved to Pretoria in 1923 and farmed all over
the country. He had a cattle ranch at Otjiwarango, a
poultry farm in Rhodesia, a fruit and dairy farm
near Pretoria and a sheep farm in Ladybrand.
He joined the police service in 1929 and was
transferred to Boksburg in 1930 to the Mounted
Unit. He had many anecdotes to relate regarding his
varied experiences, some comic and others grim.
He was proud of his Huguenot heritage and of his rare book collection.
There is no doubt that Mr le Grange would have dearly loved to have celebrated Boksburg’s
centenary next year because he supplied the winning slogan for the Centenary logo – ‘Proud
Past – Golden Future’.
30
Invariably the question is asked why Mr le Grange was nicknamed ‘Ou Leggie’. The answer
is twofold – he had a great love of walking and also he never owned a car, although at one
stage he owned a two-stroke motorcycle. He evidently thought that two legs were more
trustworthy than two wheels, particularly after he had had a motorcycle accident!
He is survived by his wife Violet, only daughter Mrs Dorothy Hatton, two grandchildren
and three great-grandchildren.
A funeral service was held in the Boksburg North Methodist Church yesterday (Thursday).
Dear reader - Here was an interesting policeman indeed! One wonders when the time comes
one day; what they will write in your and my obituary.
Thank you, Phil.
6.3.3 The Chaurapanchasika: An Indian Love Lament – HBH
I Googled the word Chaurapanchasika and this is what I found:
“Kessinger Publishing, 30 May 2006 - 64 pages: The story concerns a
young and accomplished Brahman who fell in love with the daughter
of the maharajah, and was therefore sentenced to death by the
monarch. The verses were written while he languished in prison”. Ref:
http://books.google.co.za/books/about/The_Chaurapanchasika.html?i
d=PNk5GpXAuoUC&redir_esc=y date: 11 April 2012.
6.4 Hilton Drury en Jan van Wyk
Subject: Besondere Besoek
Hallo Kollegas As 'n mens na die foto kyk dan vra jy die vraag wie is dit. ?????????
Ek kry op 15 Maart ongeveer 5 nm 'n oproep gekry en , dit het my 3 sekondes geneem om
sy stem te herken.
Dit is Hilton Drury, motorbestuurder van President Diedericks, en wat later sy lyfwag
geword.
Ons het mekaar laas in 1979 gesien. Dit was daardie tye dat Wageenheid se paaie geskei
het met motorbestuurders en lyfwagte.
Ons het van 6 nm tot 8 nm gesels oor die verlede, wie nog leef wie is al oorlede. Dit was
nou letterlik ou koeie uit die sloot haal.
Hy was ook op pad na John Wagenaar (rang vergeet) kuier, wie nou 92 oud is en nog lewe.
Ek het die foto na Gen. During gestuur, en sy opmerking is as volg.
31
From: Roy During
To: 'Jan van Wyk'
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2012 11:16 AM
Subject: RE: Besondere Besoek
Môre Jan - vertrou dit gaan met jou elke dag 'n bietjie beter na jou rugoperasie.
Dankie vir die foto - Hilton lyk nog goed: Hy was een van die besonder toegewyde en
gedissiplineerde lede. Iets wat, lyk my, nie meer bestaan nie.
Geniet die naweek en rugby.
Roy During.
Links Jan en regs Hilton – foto verskaf deur Jan van Wyk
6.5 Stil vloei die Tugela - Marthinus van Rensburg
‘n Gedig opgedra aan brig. LWP Jansen van Rensburg ook bekend as “Tsabalala” – die
legendariese speurder van weleer.
32
Waar die eerste stroompie sy sleepstert
ooswaarts getrek het van die skurwe
Drakensberge, lê jou paaie kronkelrig op
die landkaart van die skepping.
Toe jy jonk was en jou nat tongetjie ‘n dun
strepie, was dit vlakwaters wat jou paadjie
gebaan het.
Ja! Telkens was jy n droë, geel sandsloot en
was die bloed in jou are gestol.
Tussen die berge het jy dikwels verdwaal,
maar altyd was jou rigting ooswaarts ,
want die vingerpunt van die natuur was
die aanwyser van jou reis.
Toe die berge hul voete op jou geplaas het,
het jy ‘n ompad gekies om die oorsprong
van jou hart te bevredig, want jou pad was nog jonk en ver.
Soos ‘n luislang het jy gedurig die afdraandes om, so die ou Tugela uit te rek.
Waar die silwer draadjie nou en dan gebreek het,het die waters van die berge dit weer
geknoop.
Eindelik uitgeput het jy die sweet van die see geproe.
Ja! Die ewige see wat eeue met homself worstel en tog maar net die pas op een plek makeer.
Sy eentonige deuntjie het vas gehaak op ‘n in en uit en ‘n in en uit. Jare lank storm hy die
land en nooit het hy die stryd gewen nie.
Tugela, aan die soom van die see se blou kleed en sy wit skuim het jy jou sand afgesmeer ,
waar sy kloue altyd en altyd jou sal leeg bloei.
O grote .........waar ek jou nou aanskou bruis en druis jy al eeue lank hier verby. ‘n Wyle van
my jare het ek op jou sandbanke vertoef en ek ja ek het jou taal verstaan.
Wanneer ek by jou geween het, het jy saam geween en toe ek gelag het, het jy saam gejuig.
Amper ‘n eeu is ons metgeselle en wanneer ek te ruste gaan het ons ‘n afspraak in die hier
namaals.
33
Waarheen haas jy vandag so skielik in vloed, daar is geen hordes impi’s om jou te stuit nie,
nee jy sal altyd in die mond van die sonnetjie vloei wanneer hy smorens uit sy nagwaak
klim.
In jou lê die geheim van die lewe want waar sal jy eindelik uitspan of sal jy ewig, eentonig
aan vloei om met die berge en die blou vertes te flankeer.
Is jy dan onsterfbaar , of is daar geen sterwensuur vir jou bepaal nie ?
Hoor hoe raas jou watervalle, as hulle op die voorstes skreeu om aan te jaag en dan spoeg jy
jou skuimvlekke agterna.
Aanhoudend doem die waters as hulle oor die swart klippe tuimel en soos ‘n eindelose
dromslag in die kolk van siedende boosheid draai.
Hoe verleidelik is die spieëlgladde – kurwe van die silwer boog as die waters oor die
loodreg helling jaag om onder te bruis en suis, dan in die draaie te skommel en bulder en
dan woedend weg te jaag met n snork
Jy alleen volg jou paadjie om die naakte kranse en afgronde te klee met groen waters en
wasige reënbogies. Kyk hoe vraatsig jaag jou strome aan om nuwe klowe uit die aarde te
sny.
Jou onrustigheid ken geen perke nie. Waar jou terrasse opgehoopte waters, vlak aan die
hemel blootstel, plooi jou golfies dynserig in n mis van motreëntjies, geverf met groen
skaduwees in elke vou.
Selfs waar die groot berg pieke tregters na ander gemaak het, was jy die dun glans – strepie,
`n ikoon van die silwerbaard Drakensberge.
Daar lê die wilgers met hul lang hare in die spieël van jou gesig, en as die windjie hulle
saggies streel huppel die water soos ‘n ballerina verder uit in ‘n wye kring.
Fluisterend kibbel jou sy stroompies luilekker oor die klippe en murmureer terwyl hulle
uitrus voordat jy hulle inspan om op die spoor van jou baanbrekers te volg.
Kyk! Met jou het ek lank saam geloop, baie nagte op jou oewers geslaap en gewas in jou
waters.
Ek vergelyk my sneeuwit hoof met jou grys strome.
My siel is gebuig in jou skaduwees en jou volmaaktheid, my herinnerings gevleg in jou
majestieusheid.
Ou gees omarm my en vou my toe terwyl die bles hoendertjies en die geel swartkop vinkies
slaapplek soek.
34
Die sterwende son bloos in die weste terwyl die groot voëls vlieg oor die koepel van die
blou getinte panorama.
Die kiewietjie koor is die laaste note van die afskeidsgroet.........O grote Tugela neem my siel
terwyl jy aanstryk op jou reis.
Marthinus van Rensburg 2012
Hierdie skrywe dra ek op aan my Pa, Brig. LWP Jansen van Rensburg, wat ‘n diepe liefde vir
die Tugela rivier het en dit aan sy seuns oorgedra het.
• Let op kol M van Rensburg, SALM afgetree), dra ook die SAP se medalje vir die
bekamping van Terrorisme.
7. WE REMEMBER / ONS ONTHOU
7.1 Stilte in die Hof – Lentulus
8 NATIONAL SECURITY NEWS / NUUS EN NASIONALE
VEILIGHEID
8.1 Why infantry HQ is called "The Kremlin" - Lindiwe Sisulu
Lindiwe Sisulu - 10 April 2012: Minister says the name was originally coined by white
conscripts.
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE AND MILITARY VETERANS:
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY: QUESTION NO.: 5
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 9 FEBRUARY 2012
Mr P J Groenewald (FF Plus) to ask the Minister of Defence and
Military Veterans:
(1) Whether she has been informed of the signboard at the headquarters of the Infantry
School which reads The Kremlin; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so,
(2) Whether any steps have been or will be taken to remove this signboard; if not, why not; if
so, what steps;
(3) Whether she will make a statement on the matter? NW6E
REPLY
(1) Yes.
35
(2) Dear Honourable member, how history comes back to haunt us is very evident here! For
your information this is how the Infantry School gained its name:
"The Infantry School was established on 01 October 1964 and opened its doors on 01 January
1964. Until 1968 the majority of learners attending learning programmes at the Infantry
School were members of what was termed ‘the ballot system', which meant that they were
young white males who been randomly selected from the broader population to undergo
military training.
"In 1968 the system was changed, and all white males were called up for military service.
Initially, the leader group served for a period of nine months and other ranks were called up
for a period of three months. In 1972, National Service was extended to twelve months and
in the late 1970s to 24 months.
"Because of the nature of the politics of the day, the white conscript exhibited a specific and
approach to life, and like youth across the world, was energetic and enterprising.
"At about this time, the United Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was regarded as "the
enemy", and the Kremlin, the USSR Parliament, represented all that was evil and wrong
about the world - strict discipline, unwavering control and unimaginable suffering -
everything that the conscript felt he was enduring at the Infantry School during training. In
typical soldier style, the headquarters became known in everyday talk as "The Kremlin",
reflecting the suffering which the conscript felt he was enduring. And the students in turn
were very proud that they had passed the toughest test. They had survived the Kremlin and
the Infantry School Instructors. The nickname has stuck and has had consequence that the
use of the name is now official!
The decision on the name change was communicated through the local Oudtshoorn
newspapers and non-print media in November 2011.
Further, the name change has been accepted by the relevant command structures within the
South African National Defence (SANDF), namely, the Chief of the Army (C Army) and the
Chief of the SANDF (CSANDF).
(3) No.
Issued by Parliament, April 10 2012
http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page72308?oid=291829&sn=
Marketingweb+detail&pid=90389
8.2 The operational readiness of navy's frigates, submarines - Lindiwe
Sisulu
Lindiwe Sisulu - 10 April 2012
36
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE AND MILITARY VETERANS: REPUBLIC OF SOUTH
AFRICA: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY: QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO: 124. DATE OF PUBLICATION: 17 FEBRUARY 2012
Mr M A Mncwango (IFP) to ask the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans:
(1) What is the current operational readiness of the (a) frigates (i) SAS Mendi and (ii) SAS
Amatola and (b) submarines (i) SAS Manthatisi, (ii) SAS CHARLOTTE MAXEKE and (iii)
SAS QUEEN MODJADJI;
(2) (a) what are the full reasons why any of these vessels are out of service and (b) for what
time period has each specified vessel been out of service;
(3) what is the current operational readiness of the SA Navy? NW133E
REPLY
Dear Honourable member, it is a pity you missed out of the Naval Festival where you
would have seen a splendid display of our capability.
(1)(a)(i) The frigate SAS MENDI is within the planned operational cycle. She is currently in
Simon's Town having returned from a four month deployment in the Mozambique Channel
as part of the implementation of the approved SADC Maritime Security Strategy and the tri-
lateral agreements between the RSA, Mozambique and Tanzania.
On completion of this assignment the SAS MENDI returned to Simon's Town and her crew
is currently enjoying operational leave. In accordance with the Maintenance Upkeep Plan
SAS MENDI will be entering an extended maintenance period in May 2012. Such scheduled
maintenance periods always require the use of the dry dock to enable standard maintenance
on the hull.
(a)(ii) The frigate SAS AMATOLA is operationally available and is currently conducting
work-up training in preparation for her participation in Exercise GOOD HOPE V with the
German Naval Forces. She has also been identified for a deployment to the Eastern Cape as
required for the official opening of the Port of Ngqura on the 16 March 2012.
(b)(i) The submarine SAS ‘MANTHATISI is presently still in reserve as was reported to the
Portfolio Committee on Defence on the 17 November 2010. A complete new battery has
been ordered and will be delivered towards the latter part of the year. This submarine is
now also serving as the "first in class" to be scheduled for a planned refit; whilst establishing
an indigenous and in-house refit capability.
(b)(ii) The submarine SAS CHARLOTTE MAXEKE is fully operational and serves within the
planned operational cycle for this type of vessel. This submarine and her sister-submarine,
the SAS QUEEN MODJADJI 1, have exceeded the expectations wrt their availability and
utilisation for operational utilisation.
37
(b)(iii) The submarine SAS QUEEN MODJADJI 1 is fully operational and serves within the
planned operational cycle for this type of vessel. Furthermore, SAS QUEEN MODJADJI 1 is
currently undertaking Force Preparation Training in anticipation of her participation in
Exercise GOOD HOPE V with the German Naval Forces off the Southern Cape coast. This
will involve extensive anti-submarine warfare exercises at sea with both South African and
German Naval Forces.
(2) (a) None of the vessels, excluding the submarine SAS ‘MATHATISI, are presently "out of
service". They are all being managed within the approved SA Navy Maintenance and
Upkeep Programme (MUP) and as part of the Short and medium term Force Employment
Plan. All issues regarding the SAS ‘MANTHATISI have been reported extensively and she
will in due course once again provide our country with valuable service at sea, whilst the
next submarine will enter a refit phase.
(b) The only vessel that has been classified as being in Reserve ("out of service") has been the
SAS "MANTHATISI. She has been held in reserve since October 2007 but serves as a
platform for training and for planning of maintenance, repair and refit (overhaul)
purposes. Her new batteries have been ordered and will arrive in country later this year.
(3) The information required by the Honourable Member is classified and the state of
readiness referred to will be discussed at the meeting of the Joint Standing Committee on
Defence (JSCD). This is a Constitutional provision and clearly articulated in the Defence
Review of 1998, adopted by Parliament as the policy of the Defence Force.
Issued by Parliament, April 10 2012
http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page72308?oid=291835&sn=
Marketingweb+detail&pid=90389
8.3 Die polisie kort ‘n morele kompas – Radio Pretoria
Verlede week het die land gehoor dat die Onafhanklike Klagtedirektoraat voortaan hoë
prioriteitsmisdade onder polisielede sal ondersoek. Die direktoraat sal ook bekend staan as
die Onafhanklike Polisie-ondersoek-direktoraat, maar sal net 27-miljoen rand kry om die
byna onbegaanbare taak te verrig om klas een-misdade in die polisie te ondersoek of
moordbendes uit te snuffel.
Opod, soos die nuwe direktoraat kortweg bekend staan, het net 139 ondersoekbeamptes,
maar moet duisende moorde, verkragtings en aanrandings deur polisiemanne ondersoek.
Die aantal halsmisdade deur die manne in blou het die afgelope drie jaar met rasse skrede
toegeneem en die meeste gevalle word in Kwazulu-Natal, Gauteng en die Wes- en Oos-
Kaap aangemeld.
Opod sal ook korrupsie in die polisie en die metropolisie ondersoek.
Die groot vraag is nou of die direktoraat die reg sal hê om vermeende korrupsie deur die
Minister van Polisie, die nasionale kommissaris of die provinsiale kommissarisse te
38
ondersoek. Die afgelope paar jaar het een kommissaris al in die tronk beland en nog een
gaan waarskynlik summier afgedank word. Die hoof van misdaadintelligensie word egter in
sy pos herstel ondanks sy vermeende betrokkenheid by moord en diefstal uit die geheime
diens se reserwefonds.
Asof dit nie genoeg is nie, word daar nou gesê dat die Minister van Polisie ook uit die fonds
bevoordeel is. Byna 200-duisend rand is glo gebruik om sy privaatwoning op te knap en
hom 15 maande lank agter die stuur van ‘n luukse sportnutsvoertuig te laat inskuif. Die
reserwefonds is 200-miljoen rand sterk. Ofskoon die Minister dadelik gevra het dat die
ouditeur-generaal moontlike diefstal uit die fonds moet ondersoek, is dit bloot ‘n kulkunsie.
Die OG het reeds sy goedkeuring geheg aan sommige verduidelikings wat gegee is vir die
verdwyning van geld uit die fonds. Dit het in ‘n groot mate gelei tot die heraanstelling van
die hoof van misdaadintelligensie. ‘n Afskrif van die Minister se eisvorm vir geld uit die
fonds is glo in die kluis van ‘n senior misdaad-intelligensie-offisier gevind.
Die Valke en die openbare beskermer het albei bevestig dat hulle ook bewerings oor die
wanaanwending van die reserwefonds ondersoek. En tog gebruik die minister nie die
pasgestigte onafhanklike polisie-ondersoek-direktoraat om sy naam skoon te kry nie. Die
Valke-eenheid is nie polities onafhanklik nie en die openbare beskermer mag nie aandring
op staatsgeheime in haar ondersoek nie. Die Minister kan doodeenvoudig geld wat uit die
fonds verdwyn, verklaar aan die hand van geheime optredes wat ter wille van
staatsveiligheid nie openbaar gemaak mag word nie.
As die minister regtig die spreekwoordelike blik met wurms wil oopmaak, moet hy dadelik
sy eie direktoraat daarvoor gebruik. Hy het immers die misbruik van staatsgeld luidkeels op
‘n konferensie verlede jaar verdoem. Hy het ook benadruk dat korrupsie onpartydig en
sonder vrees of guns ondersoek moet word.
Die Suid-Afrikaanse Polisiediens se hooftaak is om die publiek te dien, te beskerm en te sorg
dat reg en geregtigheid geskied. Dit kan net gebeur as die grootkoppe in die polisie die
voorbeeld stel.
As die morele kompas reg is, sal geen polisielid die pad byster raak nie.
11 April 2010 – http://radiopretoria.co.za/11-april-2010-die-polisie-kort-n-morele-kompas/
8.4 AG should investigate false claims against me - Mthethwa
Zweli Mnisi - 08 April 2012: Police minister says no state funds used to renovate his private
residence
MINISTER MTHETHWA CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE
AUDITOR GENERAL INVESTIGATION
PRETORIA - 08 April 2012. The Minister of Police, Nathi
Mthethwa has noted in a very serious light, media allegations
about him personally and inappropriately benefitting at state's
expense. Accordingly, he has now telephonically requested the
39
Auditor General to investigate these allegations and will be formally writing to him
urgently.
According to an article in today's City Press newspaper headlined "Police Minister's slush
fund secret" serious allegations are made that renovations at his private house were paid for,
as well as a car purchased on his behalf from a crime intelligence secret service account (see
here).
The article further refers to "sources" with knowledge of the minister's alleged involvement
in the slush fund probe. We hope this investigation will unmask those behind these
continuous false accusations against the minister and their motives.
Minister Mthethwa wishes to reiterate that no state funds were used in renovating his
private residence or those of his immediate relatives. He has also not seen or used the
Mercedes Benz car that is falsely attributed to him. The only involvement of the police was
conducting a security threat analysis around the house once it was completed
We hope these allegations are not confusing security measures of which he, like any other
Cabinet Minister, is entitled to.
Statement issued by Zweli Mnisi, Spokesperson to the Minister and Deputy Minister of Police, April
8 2012
http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page72308?oid=291533&sn=
Marketingweb+detail&pid=90389
Note the Sgt-Maj’s rank insignia: inverted chevrons and crown.
40
8.5 Geen papwiele meer!
41
8.6 AG should investigate false claims against me - Mthethwa
Zweli Mnisi - 08 April 2012
Police minister says no state funds used to renovate his private residence
MINISTER MTHETHWA CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE
AUDITOR GENERAL INVESTIGATION
PRETORIA - 08 April 2012. The Minister of Police, Nathi
Mthethwa has noted in a very serious light, media allegations
about him personally and inappropriately benefitting at state's
expense. Accordingly, he has now telephonically requested the
Auditor General to investigate these allegations and will be formally writing to him
urgently.
According to an article in today's City Press newspaper headlined "Police Minister's slush
fund secret" serious allegations are made that renovations at his private house were paid for,
as well as a car purchased on his behalf from a crime intelligence secret service account.
The article further refers to "sources" with knowledge of the minister's alleged involvement
in the slush fund probe. We hope this investigation will unmask those behind these
continuous false accusations against the minister and their motives.
Minister Mthethwa wishes to reiterate that no state funds were used in renovating his
private residence or those of his immediate relatives. He has also not seen or used the
Mercedes Benz car that is falsely attributed to him. The only involvement of the police was
conducting a security threat analysis around the house once it was completed.
We hope these allegations are not confusing security measures of which he, like any other
Cabinet Minister, is entitled to.
Statement issued by Zweli Mnisi, Spokesperson to the Minister and Deputy Minister of Police, April
8 2012
http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page72308?oid=291533&sn=
Marketingweb+detail&pid=90389
8.7 AG not person to investigate Mthethwa slush fund claims - DA
Dianne Kohler Barnard - 09 April 2012
Dianne Kohler Barnard calls for Public Protector's probe to be extended to include latest
allegations
Mdluli saga: Public Protector must probe Police Minister's alleged links to secret service
slush fund
42
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will request that the Public Protector's probe into the Mdluli
saga be extended to include the alleged involvement of Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa.
According to the City Press the Hawks were investigating claims that almost R200 000 was
paid from the South African Police Service (SAPS) Secret Service Account for renovations to
Minister Mthethwa's private residence in KwaZulu-Natal.
The article further revealed that the Hawks also uncovered that the Minister drove a luxury
Mercedes-Benz SUV, bought by crime intelligence, during a period of 15 months. The DA
has also been informed that once the Minister learned of the investigation, he ordered that
the vehicle quickly be returned to SAPS fleet management.
This is in addition to questions raised about Minister Mthethwa's alleged improper
involvement in having the Hawks investigation into Crime Intelligence Head Richard
Mdluli and its finance head Solly Lazarus terminated and their suspensions lifted. This
prompts concerns about the Minister's actions, which could be seen as attempts to cover up
his own involvement.
The DA was refused access to the Auditor-General's reports on the SAPS Secret Service
Account last week, having been told that these reports are classified. Minister Mthethwa's
own referral of these allegations to the AG, while laudable, could potentially deny the public
the answers we deserve.
The Public Protector, in terms of section 6(4) of the Public Protector Act, is empowered to
investigate improper advantage, abuse or unjustifiable exercise of power or unfair,
capricious or other improper conduct or undue delay by a person performing a public
function.
The Public Protector has confirmed that she will be conducting a preliminary investigation
into conduct in the Mdluli saga that is alleged or suspected to be improper or to result in any
impropriety and/or abuse of power. We will accordingly ask her to extend the scope of this
investigation to include the alleged involvement and conduct of Minister Mthethwa.
Serious questions continue to be raised about the alleged involvement and conduct of
Minister Mthethwa. The Public Protector must lift the cloak of secrecy over the crime
intelligence slush fund and expose the involvement of key police officers and politicians. It
is imperative that transparency and accountability prevail. South Africans deserve an
explanation and the Minister's failure to properly account for his role in these developments
should therefore be investigated by the Public Protector.
Statement issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police, April 9 2012
8.8 Lindiwe Sisulu's four big secrets
Jan-Jan Joubert - 05 April 2012
Jan-Jan Joubert on the defence minister's aversion to democratic accountability
43
Why does Minister of Defence Lindiwe Sisulu want to keep South Africans in the dark about
our Defence Force, and how does her conduct show commitment to the constitutional
founding provisions of accountability, responsiveness and openness?
In less than three years as Defence Minister, Sisulu has proven a real barrier to
accountability. She has shown a penchant for secrecy and refused taxpayers feedback on the
extent to which the billions we spend on defence each year has produced a defence force
which is combat-ready. Her haughty handling of the unionisation issue has caused
simmering tension in the Defence Force. Her answers to parliamentary questions must rate
among the worst in the world. She is attempting to hide away information on all
"operational" defence issues - and makes a mockery of the term, with some embarrassing
results.
The first of Sisulu's secrets is how Paul Ngobeni, a fugitive from justice in the USA, was
appointed, and indeed, why she initially refused to confirm his resignation. After an
obfuscating and inconclusive eggdance on how a known fugitive was security vetted by
military intelligence, she suspended him after he wrote a disparaging open letter about
Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel.
She then reinstated him and then refused to confirm his resignation, despite the public
interest because his salary was carried by the taxpayer. Accountability, responsiveness,
openness? None of the above.
The second of Sisulu's secrets is the answers to uncomfortable parliamentary questions,
which pesky MPs can use to great effect in holding the Cabinet accountable. In South
African parliamentary history, no Cabinet member has ever descended to the lowest form of
wit quite as readily, often and naturally as Sisulu. She simply will not give the required
information.
When an MP asked her why one of our submarines was in the dry dock for repairs, her
official answer was where the MP would rather have it repaired. Her response to criticism of
her petulant behaviour is to state that her answers need not satisfy the opposition.
Such examples, unfortunately abound, and show incredible disdain for legitimate
accountability. This is not to mention her inability to function in parliamentary debate. She
often claims the opinions of opposition MPs which differ from hers to be lies and hijacks
their speaking time with spurious, silly points of order.
The third of Sisulu's secrets is on the state of readiness of our defence force, for which the
taxpayer forks out billions - R37 billion in this financial year. Good luck if you want to find
out what that money went towards. Officially, the reason is to keep our enemies (who are
they?) guessing. Actually, it might well be to keep the public guessing, rather than admit to
what has been done, and, of course, not done.
And it is about to become worse. Sisulu's fourth secret is a real danger to democracy. She is
the driving force behind the reactivation of the joint standing committee on defence - an
44
ugly animal which became moribund in more enlightened times. This committee will soon
be the only place for parliamentary debate regarding "operational" Defence Force issues.
The reason for her preference should by now surprise no-one: the committee is fully
expected to cock a snook at parliamentary oversight by discussing "operational" Defence
Force issues only in closed meetings. That means the content of the meeting remains secret,
and MPs are bound by the secrecy of the meeting even if proof of major wrongdoing
emerges. It renders parliamentary oversight meaningless.
The other example of a committee with such a preference for secrecy should set off every
flashing red light for anyone who believes in transparent, accountable democracy. That
example is Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, clearly a committee
whose unaccountability Sisulu covets.
Do we, as taxpayers, have any clue what the spies spend our money on? No, we don't,
because the very concept of oversight is ridiculed by the secrecy of those committee
meetings. We only hear about wrongdoing and rumours of wrongdoing every time a
personal spat develops among the top spies.
Now, Sisulu wants the same dispensation for "operational issues" in the Defence Force. And
what might the definition of operational issues be to this Minister who, were the issues not
so serious, could well stand accused of trying to create a defence farce?
A while back, she stated that, as it was an operational issue, the details of Pres Jacob Zuma's
flight plans could not be divulged. Her bluster dissipated only when she was reminded that
the details were readily available on the internet. Ignorance, clearly, was bliss. Damn
internet!
Currently she refuses - yes, because it is an "operational issue" - to tell us what the cost was
of having those planes shadow the President to the USA last year. Clearly, in Lindiwe
Sisulu's world of secrets, the fact that the taxpayer forked out the money does not mean the
taxpayer has the right to know what happened to it.
There also seems to be a basic inability to distinguish between information which threatens
national security, and information which embarrasses the Government. Sisulu should not be
able to suppress the latter.
Society needs to oppose this Minister's efforts to keep us in the dark about the Defence
Force. The world has a long history of coups by defence forces unchecked by true civilian
oversight. Also, taxpayers must know what happens to their taxes. Sisulu's undemocratic
tendencies and secrecy do not make a healthy contribution to the state of democracy in our
beloved country.
Jan-Jan Joubert is Beeld's political editor. This article was published with the assistance of
the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit (FNF). The views presented in the article are those of
the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FNF.
45
8.9 Moordenaar vertel rustig van plan teen oud-vegvlieenier – Praag
Geskryf deur Sapa – Woensdag 11 April 2012.
Die hooggeregshof in Pretoria het Dinsdag gehoor hoe 'n 37-jarige swarte deelgeneem het in
die gewelddadige moord en roof op 'n bejaarde Tweede Wêreldoorlog-vegvlieënier. Hy het
gesê sy medebeskuldigde woon op straat, en was desperaat vir 'n inkomste.
Regter Cynthia Pretorius het Albert Mothiba skuldig aan die moord op 'n Monument Park
pensioenaris Frans Swemmer, 89, bevind. Hy is ook beroof van sy motor, selfoon en
huishoudelike goedere. Mothiba het skuldig gepleit op die aanklagte. Hy is vroeër vir
geestelike waarneming gestuur, maar was geskik om verhoor te word.
Sy medebeskuldigde David Maluleka het onskuldig gepleit op die aanklagte.
Maluleka se verhoor is geskei van Mothiba s'n en is tot 25 September uitgestel.
Swemmer, wat die Tweede Wêreldoorlog en die Koreaanse Oorlog as 'n vegvlieënier vir die
Suid-Afrikaanse Lugmag oorleef het, is in 'n plas bloed in sy huis gevind nadat blykbaar
daarheen gesleep uit sy garage. Sy vriendin en 'n buurman wat sy liggaam gevind het, het
herhaaldelik 'n sekuriteitsmaatskappy gebel, want sy was bekommerd dat Swemmer se
motorhuisdeur oopstaan. Sy motor was nie daar nie, maar die buurman is eers meegedeel dat
daar niks fout was nie.
Mothiba het in 'n verklaring gesê hy het geweet Maluleka was 'n rower en ooreengekom om
hom te help met 'n "werk" omdat hy basies op straat gewoon het en desperaat vir 'n vorm van
inkomste was.
Hy het gesê dit was Maluleka se idee om Swemmer se huis te teiken. Hulle het bier en wyn
uit die garage gesteel toe Swemmer nie tuis was nie. Hulle is na 'n park om te drink, waar 'n
derde man, Pascal Maremane by hulle aangesluit het.
Maluleka and Maremane het geloop, maar het teruggekeer na 'n ruk en vir hom gesê dat
Swemmer weer tuis is. Maluleka het voorgestel dat hulle moet terugkeer na die huis. Hy het
Swemmer blykbaar geken, want hy het gesê die eienaar het 'n klomp geld in die huis.
Volgens Mothiba het hy buite die huis gewag het terwyl die ander twee swartes binne gegaan
het. Na 'n ruk, het Maluleka het uit die motorhuis verskyn. Hy het 'n hamer in sy hand gehad
en sy klere was met bloed besmeer. Maluleka het die hek oopgemaak vir hom en toe hy in die
garage kom, sien hy die bejaarde eienaar van die huis langs die motor in 'n plas bloed lê.
Maremane het die man met 'n hamer aangerand, en hy kon sien dat die man is ernstig beseer.
Volgens Mothiba, het Maluleka hom genooi om die slagoffer te skop, waarna hy Swemmer
twee keer in die bors geskop het.
Die ander twee het toe Swemmer se huis geplunder.
Volgens Mothiba het hy aan die rooftog deelgeneem welwetende dat die eienaar doodgemaak
46
gaan word, en hom daarmee versoen om deel te neem, maar hy het nie deelgeneem aan die
aanvanklike aanval op Swemmer nie, sê hy. Hy het gesê hy het voorsien dat die skop
Swemmer se dood verhaas het en hy aanvaar dat die bejaarde slagoffer reeds sterwend was
op daardie stadium. Mothiba in Hammanskraal is in hegtenis geneem terwyl met Swemmer
se motor rondgery het.
Mothiba se verhoor is uitgestel tot 29 Mei.
http://praag.co.za/nuus-magazine-402/suider-afrika-magazine-400/11441-moordenaar-
vertel-rustig-van-plan-teen-oud-
vegvlieenier.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A
+praag+%28Pro-Afrikaanse+Aksiegroep%29
8.10 Moord op Eugene Terre’ Blanche - HBH
Moord op Eugène Terre’Blanche:
Les 1 - SAP Kollege, 1964 - ondersoek van misdaad: Beskerm die toneel. Moet aan niks vat
voor die speurders nie opgedaag het nie. Ek skryf as ysterbaadjie en veiligheidsman - ek is
geen speurder nie! Ek wil egter die volgende uitlig:
ET was 'n bekende persoon en kan as 'n ietwat "politieke sensitiewe" persoon beskryf word.
Mens sou verwag dat sy moord behoorlik ondersoek word en dat "seniors" leiding sou gee -
want in sulke sake kom probleme.
Body Fluids - as jong polisieman (en 'ou' polisieman) het ek verskeie klagtes bygewoon. Die
menslike se liggaam skei wel af - veral waar daar 'n spierskok was. In ET se geval moes die
senior lid voorsien het - hier kom 'n ding! Daar is nie eers sekerheid wie se vloeistof dit is
nie?
[Ek is geen dokter maar die sterwende persoon en menslike lyk het nie altyd beheer oor wat
afgeskei word nie, gasse, skuim, braaksel, vaste stowwe edm word afgeskei. Daarom word
daar forensiese patoloë en ander kundiges in ‘n ondersoek betrek ]
Daar is altyd groot advokate is onsienbare moorde betrokke ...
Wat sê ons "ou" speurders?
Mens lees die volgende berig met verbasing - onthou dis 'n kolonel wat die saak ondersoek:
8.10.1 Vrae oor semen op ET se lyk
2012-04-11 23:21 - Susan Cilliers
Ventersdorp. – Die ondersoekbeampte in die Eugène Terre’Blanche-moordsaak het gister
onder skoot gekom omdat hy nooit probeer vasstel het wat van ’n semenagtige vloeistof op
die AWB-leier se lyk geword het nie.
47
Dié beskuldiging gister in die rondgaande hof hier kom te midde van bewerings oor
sodomie teen Terre’Blanche deur een van die moordverdagtes, mnr. Chris Mahlangu.
Mahlangu en ’n minderjarige word daarvan beskuldig dat hulle Terre’Blanche op 3 April
2010 op sy plaas Witrantjiesfontein naby Ventersdorp doodgeslaan het.
Polisiebeamptes wat op die moordtoneel was, het vroeër getuig daar was ’n semenagtige
vloeistof op Terre’Blanche se geslagsorgaan. Dis ook op polisiefoto’s sigbaar.
’n Staatspatoloog het getuig mans ejakuleer dikwels wanneer hulle sterf. Die semenagtige
vloeistof is blykbaar doelbewus of per ongeluk van Terre’Blanche se geslagsdeel afgevee
voordat die lyk na die lykshuis is.
Lt.kol. Tsietsi Mano, die ondersoekbeampte, het gister getuig hy het nie veel gehad om te
ondersoek betreffende die verdwene vloeistof nie omdat die lyk reeds verwyder is toe hy op
die toneel gekom het. Die staatspatoloog wat die lykskouing gehou het, het aan hom gesê sy
het nooit semen gesien nie, het Mano getuig.
Me. Gladys Lesenyego, ’n forensiese patologiese amptenaar wat die lyk van die toneel
verwyder het, het gister getuig toe sy op die toneel gekom het, het sy niks op Terre’Blanche
se geslagsdeel of broek gesien nie.
“Ek sou gesien het as daar iets soos semen was.”
Adv. George Baloyi, vir die staat, het aangevoer die verdediging het van die begin af
aangedui die verdagtes se verweer sal selfverdediging wees. “Daarom is op die slagoffer se
beserings eerder as die semen gefokus.”
Adv. Norman Arendse SC, vir die minderjarige, het gister ook aangevoer die enigste
getuienis teen sy kliënt is beweerde erkennings deur Mahlangu dat hy en die minderjarige
Terre’Blanche vermoor het.
http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Vrae-oor-semen-op-ET-se-lyk-20120411
Wyle Eugene Ney Terre’Blanche en Frank
William Reitz van der Tas op Kerkplein.
Onderskeidelik oud-SAP en oud-reservis
– foto HBH
48
NATIONAL SECURITY HISTORY / NASIONALE
VEILIGHEIDSGESKIEDENIS
9.1 Old Police Stations and Military Bases
9.1.1 Witvlei (SWA)
9.1.2 Durban Borough Police – D Bell
49
9.2 Genadendal
9.3 Ou Nqutu polisiestasie
50
Paddy gets nicked for wife beating. The judge asks: “Why do you keep beating her?”
Paddy replies: “I think it's my weight advantage, longer reach and superior footwork,
Milord”
9.4 Belangstelling in Polisie-geskiedenis en heraldiek Deel 6 – François
Gunter
François Gunter (onder links) sit sy reeks sy reeks foto’s vanuit sy Vader se album voort.
Hierdie was aan die begin van die “bosoorlog” gewees nog voor die SA Polisie kamoefleer
drag gedra het.
51
SAP 38
52
9.5 The 1922 Rand Revolution - By Dr Rodney Warwick
Appeared in the Cape Argus, (Natal) Witness and The Star - March 2012 and sent in by Johan
van den Berg.
Fairly recently, President Zuma was accused of violating constitutional provisions
regarding usage of the SANDF in dealing with civil unrest; hardly the first time such
employment of the defence force has occurred in our history. Not least, the old SADF was
periodically and controversially deployed throughout the internal South African conflicts of
the twentieth century and virtually permanently during the political turmoil from the mid-
1980s, until the 1994 election and subsequently still, in various anti-crime operations. But no
single internal military operation within this country’s history, matches the ferocity of the
events on the Witwatersrand, now Gauteng, ninety years ago this week. This was the 1922
Rand Revolution; Miners Strike; Rand Uprising – term usage often dependent upon which
reference you consult, when militant white mine workers clashed with the police and the
South African military. The Union Defence Force (UDF) formed the state’s decisive cohesive
53
capacity against its own citizens, if so called upon in an emergency by the government of
the day. Besides a permanent force core of five South African Mounted Rifles regiments and
an artillery battery, for “boots on the ground” the UDF depended on its traditional
“English” citizen force regiments like the Transvaal Scottish, Imperial Light Horse or Royal
Durban Light Infantry, while other UDF reservist capacity was drawn from the part-time
burger commando system, many of whose older members had served in the Boer armies
during 1899-1902.
Political and consequently military decisions emanated from an Afrikaner Prime Minister
Jan Smuts, working in conjunction with his South African Party (SAP) cabinet. This cabinet
included men like Colonel Denys Reitz, a Boer bittereinders in 1902, but who had later
followed Smuts and Louis Botha along the road of white “South Africanism” intended to
merge Boer and South African Briton into one nation. Reitz was a well travelled and
hardened World War One veteran, who had not only served in the German West and East
Africa campaigns, but had commanded the first battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the
Western Front till the end of the war. Perhaps it is instructive that within Reitz’s iconic
autobiographical trilogy (Commando, Trekking On and No Outspan), despite being a member
of the cabinet in 1922, Reitz is very brief when discussing the Rand Revolution. This fact
perhaps underscores how far the government was during this period from appreciating the
grievances of organized white labour. Finally, it is important to see 1922 in the global
context of radicalized workers in the capitalist economies of the West, awakening to the
belief that violent revolution constituted a plausible path to creating a socialist state, as had
apparently occurred in Lenin’s actually chaotic Soviet Union of the same period.
So in the first term of his premiership, Smuts employed the UDF against Afrikaner and
English strikers alike utilizing the legal precedent of martial law. As violent as the 1922
affair was, in the average contemporary South African’s historical consciousness it is a long
forgotten affair. But it had important consequences as well as forewarnings for this country
today. The strikers defeat later reinforced statutory patterns regarding job reservation based
upon race. And the state’s military victory ensured Smuts’s SAP losing the 1924 general
election to a party political pact comprising Afrikaner nationalists allied with the English-
speaking socialist Labour Party. If we examine the 1924 voting patterns according to white
South African demography and social classes of the period, they heralded the even more
decisive 1948 general election, after which the National Party (NP) were to hold power for
46 years. White worker consciousness was strong in the 1920s. For example in Cape Town,
both Salt River and Woodstock were white working class strongholds and the Labour Party
safely held the parliamentary seat. Jeremy Lawrence who was the son of former SAP
politician Harry Lawrence, has described elsewhere how his father battled to secure the
constituency in the 1929 election, against white railway workers who still bristled at the
former government’s rough handling, seven years earlier, of their social class kinsmen in
Johannesburg. Perhaps most importantly, 1922 demonstrated the white South African
54
state’s determination to defend itself from insurrection with extreme violence if necessary
against its own racial kin, whether Afrikaner or British South African. This is a precedent
which the post-1994 ANC government has shown itself as prepared to emulate with state
forces already utilized against black squatter uprisings; SANDF rebels and significantly
ANC detractors too. Today just as back then, the potential for violent schisms along class
lines remains, further complicated by tendencies within the ANC for followers of different
party personalities to clash, or for the poor to be increasingly impatient and prone to public
violence, according to their growing perceptions of being duped by a government claiming
its championing of “a better life for all”. As in 1922 amongst white South Africans, varied
grievances today lie deep within politically fissured black South Africa. Meaning that one
day, the ANC government might also be forced to employ extreme state coercion, perhaps
ironically too, falling back on some of the very same citizen force regiments which Smuts
utilized ninety years ago.
The Rand Revolution highlights how South African white society in the early 1920s was so
deeply fissured concerning the country’s future. Several competing visions existed: A
politically dominant middle-class community of white English and Afrikaner South
Africans being blended together into a dominion within the British Empire.
Unreconstructed Boers looked to a return to 1899 and an Afrikaner nationalist dominated
Republic. Or for the extreme left-wing, claiming to represent the white workers, leaders like
Percy Fischer and Henry Spendiff envisaged a (white) communist state, based upon the
model of Lenin’s Soviet Union. Ironically at that time, the USSR under Lenin’s New
Economic Policy was just emerging from ruinous civil war to undergo temporary
ideological reversal, allowing limited private enterprise as opposed to the murderous and
dictatorial War Communism. But to working men across Europe and her colonial offshoots,
indifferent or ignorant to the real vast sufferings of the Russian people, Lenin’s illegitimate
regime represented their hopes of gaining control over their lives. It was assumed that a
socialist state would end the exploitation of workers, which the Witwatersrand strikers
experienced as resulting from the grossly unequal relationship between themselves and
their employers within the capitalist South African economy. This tension was particularly
marked in Johannesburg where white workers burned with antipathy and grievances
against mine owners and SAP government alike.
Antagonisms across class lines had long bedeviling labour relations in the South African
mining industry. Today’s middle-class South Africans might find it difficult to appreciate
the extent of hatred which the Witwatersrand strikers felt towards Smuts, the SAP
government and above all the Rand Lords, who for the workers epitomized all the sins
associated with greed and avarice. The white mine workers perceived their working in
highly dangerous and unhealthy conditions as another means by which their employers
maximized profits and their own luxurious lifestyles, while at the same time, the mining
magnates were working closely with Smuts’s government, who provided political support
55
for the industry. To this extent we today might empathize considering the global economic
woes during recent years. One hardly need be a blue-collar worker to rail with fury and
disgust against the recklessness of financial moguls and the obscene salaries corporate
bosses entitle themselves to. Or even for that matter, the extent to which Black Economic
Empowerment and the close association between the ANC and politically favored tenders,
along with the arms deal saga, has corrupted and contaminated the ANC government and
its nomenklatura. The grim circumstances of 1922 might not be so far removed from our
current politics as some might assume.
By 1922 Afrikaners easily comprised more than half the mining industry’s skilled and semi-
skilled labour component. Considering their rural past with its historical ordering of
hierarchical social relations between black and white, Afrikaner workers just like their
English worker counterparts, would be unbending supporters of the colour bar through job
reservation. And it was the threat of losing their work to blacks - their racial and social
inferiors, as blacks were unanimously perceived by white workers, which underlay the
insurrection and violence which occurred on the Witwatersrand. The spark to the 1922
upheaval occurred in the wake of earlier strikes during 1907, 1913 and 1914, particularly
because bitter memories would have persisted regarding the two dozen or more workers
killed in these clashes with police and military units. The mine owners were determined to
cut their white worker wage costs. White workers with their “skilled worker” status had for
decades clung ferociously to their privileged positions and progressively entrenched their
favoured position at various hard bargaining occasions with the mining magnates.
So racially-speaking, the white workers were secured as the skilled and semi-skilled artisans
of the mining industry, as opposed to the significantly more numerous unskilled black
labourers. But by the end of 1921 the mine owners had done their calculations. The white
workers were 20 000 of the 200 000 strong labour force yet their wage bill doubled that of
the blacks. The Chamber of Mines announced that besides reordering underground work by
forcing white supervisors to take charge of three rather than two underground drills, the
highest paid white workers were to get wage cuts and some 2000 of them were to be laid off
anyway. There was little or no consultation. Nine decades ago amongst the descendents of
the white colonists, settlers and Boers; employer-employee relations were markedly harsh
and disrespectful. The mine owners’ priority was the maximization of profits where deep
low-yield gold ore depended entirely upon massive numbers of inexpensive labour; easily
supplied by scores of still virtually tribalised blacks migrants, who wanted to earn cash for
hut taxes and “western” consumer goods. The white workers were hardly without
comprehendible grievances; their skills and work ethic had been fundamental since the
industry was established some three decades earlier. But unlike the black workers, whites
could not retreat to any former pastoral life-style. Their families survival depended upon
their jobs and the mine owners knew that black miners could and would do the skilled work
for less.
56
In the weeks before the state and strikers were to clash so violently, Afrikaner military
traditions began to assert amongst the miners, who formed in commandos, drilling with arms
in an ad hoc synthesis of British and Boer military cultures. By mid-March 1922, the East
Rand and in particular Germiston, Brakpan, Boksburg and Benoni turned out thousands of
working men under arms, estimates of which ranged from 10 000 to 15 000 men, belonging
to different commandos ranging from the east to west Rand. On the state forces side, the
permanent force of the UDF contained both English and Afrikaner members, while the
traditional citizen force units were predominantly English. The military reinforcement
potential available to the state could never be matched by the strikers, in terms of the
manpower numbers and war equipment, especially once the burger commandos were
called up. Most decisively the UDF was backed by artillery, machine guns and bomb
carrying aircraft and the devastating capacity of aerial bombing against urban
insurrectionists, devoid of any realistic defence, was what finally crushed the 1922 strikers.
But in truth, the miners’ difficult lives were matched by the men who served in the state’s
forces arrayed against the workers. For the servicemen in the police and military, their lives
and families also hung upon their adherence to their duty and their frugal salaries. My
maternal grandfather in 1922 was Lieutenant Algernon Sparks of the South African
Mounted Rifles Artillery battery, a seasoned veteran of the World War One German East
Africa campaign and permanent force officer. Sparks suffered a near fatal gunshot wound
while leading his troops towards striker positions in Benoni. One of the many tragedies of
1922 was that it involved thousands of men amongst both strikers and state forces, who had
served together within South African and British units on every battlefield of the Great War,
from German South West and East Africa to Gallipoli to the trenches of France and Belgium.
This experience of men on both sides being accustomed to the mercilessness of conventional
industrial war certainly exacerbated the violence of 1922. Just as had occurred on the
Western Front there was a great deal of brutality during the Witwatersrand violence,
directed towards real and perceived ‘scabs’, black miners, mine officials and captured
government soldiers or policemen. The government and its supporters unsurprisingly
reflected middle-class Western revulsion and fear of Lenin-style totalitarianism with its
nightmarish dispossession and murder of property owners. Visions of horrific class war
becoming a reality, as had threatened in 1918-1919 Germany before that communist uprising
was crushed by the right-wing Freikorps, impelled Smuts to act with harshness towards men,
whom although they were exploited by Johannesburg’s capitalist class, still lived more
comfortable lives than their equivalents in Europe.
One central weakness amongst the strike leaders was that they were so divided on ultimate
goals. As was mentioned earlier, some of the British born socialist leaders sought an
ultimately communist (white state); hence their famous slogan: “Workers of the World
Unite for a White South Africa”. Because many Afrikaners miners foresaw the possibility of
the strike’s success leading to a return to an Afrikaner republic, most of the Afrikaner strike
57
leaders incorrectly assumed that their rural kin across the country would seize the
opportunity of forcibly displacing the allegedly Anglo-centric SAP government. Particularly
during the initial stages of the violence when the state reeled before the rebels with police
stations and large sections of central Johannesburg, including Newlands and Benoni falling
into striker hands. Several contingents of police, pre-armed with military rifles and
bayonets, had been forced to surrender and in fact, research has demonstrated that some of
the Afrikaner policemen were sympathetic to the Afrikaner miners’ demands and their
republican goals. Yet as in the 1914 Afrikaner Rebellion, when burger commando
reinforcements were called up by the SAP government, they responded dutifully and
lawfully, despite a good many of these men being loyal supporters of Hertzog’s NP.
This expectation of rural Afrikaners support was a grave miscalculation and curiously many
of the Boers troops arriving on the Rand to do battle against the strikers, perceived
themselves fighting (again as in pre-Boer War times) the “English” “uitlanders”, while there
is also no doubt that for some state-supporting Afrikaner commando members, the
significant looting opportunities were an attraction. Many of defeated strikers returned
home after the fighting to find their houses plundered and damaged by state forces. With
military operations directed by senior UDF officers, utilizing the equipments and tactics of
the First World War, the defence force bombed, shelled and shot the spirit out the strikers.
The defeated workers attained no work related gains from their putative insurrection. Many
were dismissed; four were hanged and others imprisoned; while the mining magnates stuck
to their original decisions ensuring white miners would be employed more cheaply and in
lesser numbers. For two hundred dead and many injured, over the space of a week in mid
March, the 1922 Strike was thoroughly crushed. But the political repercussions cut deep into
the future as Afrikaner nationalism added to its list of martyrs. Senior ANC government
members should put aside their well thumbed party-line versions of “South African
liberation history” and read about 1922, while asking themselves some important questions
about this country’s future.
9.6 1922 Red Revolution on the Rand – Phil Beck
Hello Hennie,
Here are some pics taken yesterday (10 March 2012) when we went on a tour (with
Parktown & Westcliff Heritage) of the significant sites involved in the 1922 Rand Revolt
Enjoy,
Regards,
Phil Beck
58
Attack on Brixton Ridge
Bullet holes at Cottesloe School
59
HH Carr killed by ILH -------------------------- Hanekom brothers killed by Transvaal Scottish
Ellis Park battle plaque
60
Heeley killed by ILH
61
HK Hull & David Lewis - strikers executed
Percy Fisher strike ringleader
Site of Ellis Park battle
62
Transvaal Scottish killed Dunswart Taffy Long’s grave
9.7 Toll roads - do we ever learn from History? – Phil Beck
The ongoing furore surrounding the imminent implementation of the e-tolling system in
South Africa’s Gauteng Province is a perfect example of a government trying to force most
road users (certain public transport excluded) to pay for the right to use public freeways,
whereas the mass of the people are vehemently opposed to paying tolls in order to travel on
long-existing roads.
As usual, History offers many examples of governments and the People clashing on matters
of principle. History also shows that where the people demonstrate effective mass non-
cooperation with the System, then the government will not prevail. Unfortunately, History
also shows that hardly anyone ever learns its lessons and that the people of the world are
thereby doomed to repeat the experiences of their forbears!
The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand very quickly led to demands for a decent road
infrastructure. As it took until 1895 for the ZAR to be fully connected to the emerging
regional rail network, the roads were the primary means of delivering all of Johannesburg’s
food, building materials and clothing from afar. However, these roads were very neglected
and in a serious state of disrepair.
63
President Paul Kruger’s government came up with plans for a nation-wide system of toll
roads, primarily to raise revenue for a hard-pressed Treasury and secondly, to pay for road
rehabilitation. In late 1891 it was announced that ox wagons would be liable to a toll of 30
shillings on all main routes.
Lacking the administrative knowhow and competence to run the system directly, the
government decided to invite tenders from interested parties. Scores of tenders were
awarded and toll collectors appointed. Initially many toll collectors made handsome profits
and the State earned over £9000 in 1894.
Right from the outset, however, tolls proved to be deeply unpopular. The city dwellers
maintained that prices of food and capital goods were considerably increased due to the
tolls. Farmers and transport riders also vigorously objected to their incomes being reduced
by having to pay toll fees.
The government was forced to swell the public service with additional clerks to attempt to
closely monitor malpractices and complaints; a public service not known for its efficiency,
honesty, literacy or accountability. Corruption and nepotism was rife among the toll
collectors, and many people became convinced that certain individuals were profiting
unduly at everyone else’s expense, while it also became evident that the huge income from
the tolls did not produce a significant improvement in the quality of existing roads or in the
funding of desperately-needed new roads.
In the countryside, many transport riders solved the problem by creating their own tracks
and bypassing the toll stations. Others drove right through the toll stations, refusing to pay
tolls. Very few of these people were ever prosecuted!
The two most hated toll stations were at the Daspoort pass on the road between Pretoria and
Rustenburg, and at Ferreira’s Battery in Johannesburg, on the road to Kimberley. It was
virtually impossible for traffic to avoid these toll stations and they became the subject of
endless complaints and grievances. The government refused consistently to give relief to
regular users as this would impact on their toll revenue.
In April 1894, a party of masked Boers overpowered the Daspoort pass collector and
dynamited the toll house. A year later the toll gate at Ferreira’s Battery was burned to the
ground under mysterious circumstances. The ZAR police had no success at all in tracking
down the perpetrators who, in all likelihood, were all burghers.
It is likely that, in the absence of any technological advance, the system of toll roads would
eventually fall into disuse due to the determined opposition of an ever-growing number of
citizens. Indeed, so many people were involved in cheating, attacking and sabotaging the
toll system that it could hardly remain in force for any length of time. Additionally, the
political backlash against Kruger’s government began to gather momentum and it is quite
64
illuminating to speculate that general disenchantment with the government played a large
part in Kruger nearly losing the 1893 presidential elections.
As it turned out, the toll system was only effectively eclipsed by a massive technological
advance in the form of an integrated national railway system in 1895. Goods were now
consigned by rail with alacrity and in huge volumes. This made road tolls far less profitable
and ultimately, economically unviable. In 1896 the government acknowledged failure by
abandoning the toll road system.
Acknowledgment to Charles van Onselen, writing in newhistory.co.za, for inspiring this
article.
9.8 Afrikaners and the Second World War: Some reflection seven decades
later – Dr Rodney Warwick
By Dr Rodney Warwick: Die Burger, BY Supplement (published in Afrikaans) 18 February
2012 – sent in by Johan van den Berg.
Contemporary Afrikaners should re-inform themselves about South Africa’s military
contribution during the Second World War and specifically Afrikaner involvement therein.
This is based upon my contention that the Afrikaans community of the post-war years,
never appropriately accorded their own veterans; the surviving of whom are now in their
mid-eighties or older, their deserved dues for honourable services performed on behalf of
the Allied cause. It also needs to be recalled that a section of Afrikaners, who protested their
being anti-British, espoused in both word and deed the Nazi-Fascist philosophies of the
1930s-40s period. But it is also imperative to firstly introduce something of the historical
contexts pertaining to Afrikaners and the formal military structures of South Africa during
the last century. This might help explain why Afrikaners as a cultural entity never bestowed
proper recognition upon their own veterans compared with the depth of acknowledgment
accorded by white South African English-speakers, regarding their community’s ex-
servicemen. There remains no justification for Afrikaner veterans once being treated with
less than respect by their own community for over seven decades.
The Afrikaner reaction to World War Two partly resulted from a particularly complex
convergence regarding different aspects concerning Afrikaner history, politics and social
demands. But for Afrikaner nationalists of yesteryear, the harsh reality is that their hostility
to South Africa being involved in World War Two has tainted them with perceptions, still
held to this day, that they were pro-Hitler, pro-Nazi anti-Semitic or pro-a German victory.
In some cases these perceptions are not entirely fair. But concerning the Ossewabrandwag’s
political kinship with Nazi philosophy as with its equally ugly descendant, the
Afrikanerweerstandbeweging besides other more recent extreme right-wing organisations,
these accusations stand entirely solid regarding their accurate verification.
Historically Afrikaners had an unsettled relationship with formal military formations. Most
particularly because the longer legacy of uniformed soldiers within South African affairs
65
were the British Imperial and colonial forces in conflict with nineteenth century Afrikaner
nationalist and republican aspirations. When the Union Defence Force (UDF) was
established in 1912 – 100 years ago this year, Afrikaners demonstrated some acceptance for
it; but upon deeper reflection, probably also considerable antipathy. The UDF was
originally designed along predominantly British Army cultural and organisational lines. For
example, its khaki uniforms and pith helmets could for many in the still war-shocked
Afrikaner community, easily have simply represented the garb of Lord Roberts and
Kitchener’s triumphant forces. But an Afrikaner Boer War hero Jan Smuts was the author of
the 1912 Defence Act and he also served as the South African Party (SAP) government’s first
defence minister. The UDF’s 1912 permanent force’s fighting core consisted of five SA
Mounted Riflemen regiments, drawn from the four post-1902 South African British colonies
mounted police forces, plus the Cape Mounted Rifles - the Cape Colony’s only regular
military unit. The SAMR officers and men were predominately British or English-speaking
South Africans and their duties involved, besides border defence during war, the
containment of potential internal threats, including black insurrection, violent white and
black labour disputes and potential Afrikaner republican rebellion. My own grandfather,
Lieutenant-Colonel Algernon Sparks who started his military career firstly as a Natal
Mounted Police trooper from 1906, was one of these SAMR men. He transferring to the UDF
in 1912 and was commissioned in 1915 after active service in German South West Africa and
the Afrikaner Rebellion. Sparks served as an SAMR artillery officer in German East Africa
and continued his military career, reaching to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel before
reaching retirement age in 1943. Sparks was a first generation South African and one of his
colleagues and friends was Major-General Dan Pienaar; who was in turn one of the UDF
best known and highly popular officers and Afrikaner to the core. Pienaar was born in the
Free State and spending formative years in a concentration camp during the Boer War;
receiving his commission around the same time as my grandfather. Afrikaners and their
former enemies could merge into a common nationhood and military; but Afrikaner
nationalists kicked against this; probably to their common long-term detriment.
Back in 1912, despite prominent English-
speaking appointments such as Major-
General Timson Lukin to head the UDF’s
permanent force component (Lukin was the
former Commandant of the Cape Colony’s
military forces), some Afrikaner Boer War
veterans also accepted senior and middle-
ranking officer positions. Examples were
Christiaan Beyers, Manie Maritz, Jan Kemp
and Jopie Fourie, all of whom were to depart
from the UDF at the onset of the 1914 Rebellion and all formally resigning except Fourie. He
was court-martialled and unsurprisingly executed for killing government troops while
under the pretext of surrendering. But other younger Afrikaners were to rise up through the
UDF ranks becoming prominent South African soldiers in World War Two. Some of these
continued to senior SADF careers in the 1950s-early 70s: Lieutenant-General Pierre Van
Ryneveld (UDF Chief of Staff to 1948); Major-General Daniel (Dan) Pienaar (left above);
Major-General Frank Theron; Major-General George Brink; General Piet Grobbelaar (SADF
Commandant-General 1960–65) (right); Major-General Nic Bierman; Admiral Hugo
66
Biermann (SADF Chief 1973-1976) are some notable examples. But “Slim Jannie’s” UDF was
also tailored to promote the SAP’s reconciliation approach concerning unifying the white
community’s Afrikaner and English-speaking components. Within defence force structures,
Afrikaners retaining and served within their traditional commando formations; these citizen
soldiers regardless of individual politics responded in their thousands to the SAP
government’s call up for active service during the 1914 and 1915 campaigns in German
South West and East Africa respectively; during the 1914 Afrikaner Rebellion and later still,
during the politically polarizing 1922 Witwatersrand Uprising by white workers.
But Afrikaner republican and National Party (NP) suspicions towards the UDF grew after
the NP’s formation in 1914. Afrikaner nationalists tended to link the UDF to Smuts’s Martjie
Louw (Martial Law) during the 1913 and 1914 Witwatersrand industrial strikes for these
events impacted negatively upon the emerging Afrikaner proletariat who were potential NP
supporters. Afrikaner antipathy to the military co-existed with NP accusations of
government ‘militarism’ being a covert strategy threatening to endorse Hoggenheimer
capitalism through state coercion. There was also the alleged SAP misuse of the UDF for it
serving perceived British rather than “South African” (read Afrikaner nationalist interests).
Such was particularly manifested during the heated parliamentary debates surrounding the
Union Government acceding to a 1914 British request to invade German South West Africa.
During the Afrikaner rebellion, Prime Minister Louis Botha attempted but failed to use only
Afrikaner UDF personnel to crush the dissidents and the UDF gained further Afrikaner
detractors. The defeat of the white (majority Afrikaner) workers by UDF forces during the
1922 Rand Revolt undoubtedly ensured the SAP’s loss during the 1924 election to JBM
Herzog’s NP/Labour Pact.
But one issue most strongly contributed to Afrikaner nationalists’ hostile perceptions of the
UDF by 1939. It was the parliamentary defeat of Prime Minister Hertzog’s call for South
African neutrality in September 1939. This had been orchestrated by MPs supporting Smuts,
followed by the new Prime Minister resultant decision for South Africa to enter the war
without calling a general election. Smuts as the new prime minister had acted correctly from
both legal and moral vantage points; for Nazi Germany was a global threat which had to be
faced. But the Afrikaner nationalist denigration of the UDF moved to a new level of
hysteria. The “kharkis” and “rooilussies”, as Afrikaner nationalists derogatively termed South
African soldiers, reflected the old Boer term for Imperial troops, while “rooilussie’ was a
mocking jibe towards UDF members issued with red tabs for their epaulets. These items
were given only to those in the military and police prepared to take the Africa Oath and
signalled the wearers willingness to fight anywhere in Africa. Yet despite this political
antagonism towards the UDF, thousands of Afrikaners still volunteered for war, taking the
“derided” Rooi Eed and serving with UDF contingents in the East and North Africa
campaigns of 1940-1943. Nevertheless there were some UDF permanent force members of
Afrikaner background who refused point blank to take the oath. Like Major Rudolf
Hiemstra of the SA Air Force who even attempted to remain in the UDF after declining to
fight in the war – see below. Later scores of the same Afrikaner volunteers and other
Afrikaners took the General Service Oath pledging to serve anywhere in the world. For the
majority, this was to be the Italian campaign of 1944-45, where they served as part of the 6th
SA Armoured Division.
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Of course Afrikaner motives for choosing war service deserves careful scrutiny: Some
academics have concluded that pay and adventure were strong draw cards for those from
impoverished backgrounds. It is a statistical reality that the larger grouping of poor whites
were Afrikaners; P.G. du Plessis‟s 1971 play “Siener in die Suburbs” captures a literary
essence of poverty-stricken Afrikaners still struggling nearly three decades after the war, at
a time (1960s and 1970s) of supposedly triumphant white republicanism. The play involves
an absent father from a now dysfunctional family reported missing in 1945 “somewhere in
the North”. This soldier’s war pension is paid to his widow but is also coveted amongst her
extended family and their hangers-on, including the violent “Jakes” who ultimately
destroys the family. Stellenbosch University historian Albert Grundlingh has suggested that
to a greater extent than white English-speaking South Africans, Afrikaners volunteered with
markedly mixed reasons, with economic needs competed favourably against any political
identification with Smuts’s political goals. Historically it is conventionally accepted that the
NP’s 1948 election victory was partly a consequence of disgruntled ex-soldiers, mostly of
Afrikaans background, expressing their discontent at the United Party (UP) government’s
alleged tardiness over demobilisation, rationing, shortages and other post war grievances,
along with these veterans supporting the NP’s absolute commitment to protecting white
workers through baaskap apartheid laws.
But there was also a darker ideological component to the story of
Afrikaners and World War Two. Thousands of particularly young
Afrikaner males joined the neo-Nazi Ossewabrandwag (OB) which
reached its peak by 1941, claiming a membership of hundreds of
thousands. OB leader Hans Van Rensburg (right) envisioned a Nazi
future for South Africa; former Springbok boxer Robey Leibrandt, a
committed Nazi who remained in Germany after the 1936 Berlin
Olympics, was landed off the Namaqualand coast with German
instructions to contact local Afrikaner extremists and assassinate
Smuts. This treasonous mission was nearly successfully followed
through by Leibrandt who was arrested, sentenced to death for treason, with this penalty
being commuted to life imprisonment by Smuts. Leibrandt was then happily and
outrageously freed by the NP government shortly after their 1948 election victory.
The OB’s “armed wing” of stormjaers committed numerous acts of sabotage against
government installations and private property, while regular OB members and their
hangers on attacked off-duty soldiers in city streets. OB members intimidated and assaulted
individual NP members who condemned the neo-Nazi organisation’s methods and
philosophy. Evidence has virtually indisputably linked OB killers to murdering George
Heard in August 1945. Heard was a SA Naval Forces lieutenant, but in civilian life, he was a
newspaper editor who had particularly condemned Nazi components within wartime
Afrikaner politics. Heard was the one of two known English-speaking South African
fatalities of OB violence, the other being a soldier, Corporal Gillham, killed in late January
1941 during military versus OB riots in Johannesburg. Many OB members were justifiably
interned by the Smuts government at Koffiefontein; two prominent individuals being future
Prime Minister John Vorster and the later Bureau of State Security (BOSS)2 head, the sinister3
2 Bureau of State Security should read Bureau for State Security (BfSS) – HBH.
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Hendrik van den Berg who brought his Gestapo–type methods into security policing during
the 1960s and 1970s. OB members were well represented in the wartime South African
Police Force and they formed a potentially highly dangerous fifth column force, considering
thousands of loyal policemen were serving as a brigade of infantry in the North African
desert. By mid-1943 the war had swung against Germany and the OB steadily lost both its
members and ideological impetuous. Although the OB did not fade away until the early
1950s, its ghost rose up in 1973, symbolism and all, in the form of the virulently neo-Nazi
Afrikanerweerstandbeweging; courtesy of its one-time leader Eugene Terreblanche, Prime
Minister John Vorster’s one-time police body guard.
After the war, UDF active service experience as a war time volunteer remained unapproved
within the cultural and political citadels of Afrikanerdom. Of course after 1945, most peace-
time UDF permanent force member were war veterans and it is not the purpose here to
exhaustingly detail the traumatic changes in the UDF during the 1950s, as occurred under
notorious NP defence minister Frans Erasmus. But certain Afrikaner and English-speaking
officers were specifically targeted by Erasmus and his lackeys, their victims included men
such as Brigadier Bronkhorst and Colonel Gideon Jacobs, both of whom later became UP
MPs. While these many highly regarded professional soldiers and
airmen were hounded out on political grounds, some other
Afrikaner war veterans who remained in the armed forces
experienced prosperous careers. For English-speaking UDF
members who did not voluntarily resign, their reality was to grimly
accept that promotion opportunities would be slow or non-existent.
Of course Erasmus had little choice but to use the men available to
manage the peace-time UDF, but by 1960, the General Staff were all
Afrikaners as opposed to a nearly balanced spread in 1948 between
both language groupings. Some Afrikaner war veterans who rose
under Erasmus’s patronage included desert campaign veterans:
Generals De Wet (Matie) Du Toit and Hendrik Klopper (left) who both served short terms as
Chief of Staff, while Piet Grobbelaar, the SADF Commandant General during the early 1960s
and a decorated 7 Reconnaissance Battalion wartime commander, was clearly from the early
1950s already earmarked for a higher things. SA Navy Services war veteran Hugo Biermann
leapfrogged from captain to rear-admiral (missing commodore) to become Chief of the
Navy in the early 1950s. He was one of just four Afrikaans-
speaking naval officers in 1945; but unlike some Erasmus-
inspired promotions in the army particularly, Biermann was a
highly competent professional navy man and respected by his
fellow officers. Of course in furthering their professional
ambitions these men adapted successfully to the new Afrikaner
nationalist political dispensation. Indeed it can be safely
assumed that Erasmus’s top appointments in the 1950s had to
ingratiate themselves to “prove‟ that despite their wartime
loyalties to Smuts’s government, they were Afrikaner patriots
first and foremost. And some of them certainly did just that.
3 Personally I don’t like the adjective sinister to describe Gen HJ van den Bergh. He was no more (or
less) sinister than any member of the Natal Police for that matter – HBH.
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Between 1948 and 1972 the future SADF Commandant General Rudolf Hiemstra (CG 1965-
72) (right) was the most important Afrikaner nationalist figure within the military. He had
been one of the air force’s top pilots during the 1930s, but he stood firmly by the NP party
line in refusing to take the Africa Oath. By 1941, in view of the massive hostility directed
towards him by his brother officers who were preparing for war, Hiemstra resigned from
the UDF and transferred to the Department of Transport. Here Hiemstra remained until
after the 1948 NP election victory, returning to the military immediately the NP cabinet took
office. Firstly as an advisor to Erasmus, Hiemstra was imbued with an embittered
determination for vengeance for he never forgot the slights directed against him. Hiemstra
was instrumental in assisting Erasmus’s 1950s political witch hunts within the air force and
army particularly, successfully driving out numerous competent officers who had been
strong Smuts supporters and also overtly critical of the NP. In his autobiography Die Wilde
Haf Hiemstra alludes to lingering Afrikaner discontents towards the military, describing
how the ballot system introduced from 1953 was intended to transform the citizen force
from being “English‟. It was Erasmus’s intention, supported by Hiemstra, to create “single-
language” regiments which came into existence for a while, with often ludicrous results,
along with Boer-originated ranks resulting in sometimes laughable consequences such as
“Sea-Cornet” and “Air-Cornet”. (From the Boer: “Veldkornet”)
Hiemstra spoke of the defence force needing to personify a Volk’s highest ideals and
spiritual values. He claimed (in the late-1950s) that Afrikaners had during the war kept to
one side regarding the military because for them the “English-orientated UDF” was an
alienating experience. By the mid-1950s Hiemstra was Adjutant-General and apparently
oblivious to how such utterances effectively insulted Afrikaner war veterans, by stressing
rather his (Hiemstra’s) own decision and experiences as a politically-orientated war
objector. Hiemstra thereby reducing Afrikaner veterans to invisibility, including many still
serving within the SADF; the UDF term had been dropped in 1957. Hiemstra’s unchecked
and utterly inappropriate politicking, as a civil servant from a public service platform, was a
manifestation of the government’s drive for Afrikaner unity during a period marked by a
confident surge within Afrikaner nationalism. Thousands of Afrikaners who had not
volunteered for the war discovered their own “culturally congenial” military camaraderie
within SADF rural “skietkommando” structures, which received generous government
funding. This integration of Afrikaner nationalist rank and file into the defence force, was
considered by the NP government to be far more important than any recalling, let alone
lauding, those who had fought in the UDF during the war.
By early 1960, in a bid to promote white republican unity under Afrikaner nationalist
leadership, Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd shifted the controversial Erasmus from the
defence portfolio, appointing the markedly more diplomatic Jim Fouche. The new defence
minister presided over damage control efforts to restore the SADF’s operational
effectiveness and repair polarized relations between Afrikaans and English-speaking
members, besides also, between Afrikaners who had served in the war and those who had
been objectors. Fouche was welcomed by serving SADF war veterans and English-speaking
members who had joined the military in the post-war years; they waved good-bye to
Erasmus with both relief and enthusiasm. But even in the early 1960s antipathies still
lingered towards the military amongst some Afrikaners; even though by this decade the
SADF (with the exception of the navy and to a lesser extent the air force) was very
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Afrikaner-dominated after having undergone such an aggressive and in many ways
destructive Afrikanisation. This prompted reassurances from figures as diverse as Hiemstra,
Afrikaner nationalist historian G.D. Scholtz and Professor Thom, the Stellenbosch
University Vice Chancellor, that the SADF was now “their own‟ and Afrikaners needed to
both feel this and believe it.
We have no way of accurately quantifying how many Afrikaner war veterans voted
National Party in the 1948 election, nor of the assumed increases in veterans support for the
NP during the 1953 and 1958 general elections. Neither for that matter can we determine the
extent to which these men contributed towards either the “yes‟ or the “no‟ totals during the
1960 republican referendum. But within predominantly Afrikaner forums, despite
numbering in their thousands, Afrikaner ex-servicemen were never properly honoured.
This was in stark contrast to English South African society where in schools particularly,
former pupils who were amongst the Second World War fallen, remain to this day
prominently commemorated regarding buildings, various structures and inscribed plaques.
This consistent pattern at many English South African schools is appropriately replicated
within Anglican and other churches, traditionally English universities, sports clubs and
other community structures. Virtually nothing of similar features can be located today at
Afrikaans schools existent during 1939 to 1945 or traditionally Afrikaner universities,
churches or community entities which historically had been controlled by Afrikaner
nationalists. With the Broederbond influences looming everywhere after 1948; Afrikaner
nationalists ensured no discussion ever occurred concerning any localised remembrances of
Afrikaner war dead. Certainly many Afrikaner veterans joined the generally English
dominated Memorable Order of Tin Hats (MOTHS). Indeed the explicit credo of this
veterans’ grouping was and today remains strictly to ignore political differences, let alone
distinctions between the home languages of members. But in origin and culture this and
other veterans’ organisations reflected Smuts’s “South Africanism”. After 1948, Afrikaners
political support swung almost exclusively to the NP and away from the UP with many
Afrikaner veterans shifted their own politics accordingly.
Dwelling upon war service could cause embarrassment in post war Afrikaner nationalist
circles and potentially remained a highly divisive issue; which NP politicians wanted to
avoid amongst the volk. Triumphalist nationalist historical accounts of the 1948 election
victory through to the 1961 Republic became part of the mythology
taught throughout Afrikaner educational institutions and cultural
societies; facilitating the socialization, mass mobilisation and
effectively the brain-washing of Afrikaners behind the NP, a process
which extended still even beyond the coming of republic. The Union
War Histories section of the SADF, originally launched on the initiative
of Smuts, received only tepid NP government support during the 1950s
and in June 1960, the government announced its closure. Appeals from
various military associations, assisted through retired Lieutenant-
General George Brink’s efforts (left), succeeded in delaying this closure
until July 1961. But during that year, even requests from Commandant-General Grobbelaar
for the transfer of all war documentation to his authority and for permission to complete the
work were officially rebuffed. It was advised that relevant documentation would be
transferred across to the national archives for usage by researchers. Afrikaner divisions and
71
bitterness over the war ensured that NP politicians obstructed and hindered the completion
of an official South African war history. Of the three volumes eventually published, none
were translated into Afrikaans. As Grundlingh has stated elsewhere, both the war and the
Afrikaans veterans’ experiences thereof, were as far as Afrikaner nationalist politicians and
historians were concerned, at best simply to be forgotten. The NP believed that the motives
and political attitudes of Afrikaner World War Two veterans had simply equated those of
the British Commonwealth and Smuts supporting English-speaking South African troops. If
the war was not worth fighting, it was also not worth recording and teaching. Such has
remained the situation today in SA schools.
Therefore a conflicting legacy regarding war participation emerged and still arguably
remains amongst the larger two white South African language groupings. For “English
South Africans” their World War Two participation represented honourable participation in
a necessary struggle against fascist totalitarianism. For Afrikaner nationalists of yesteryear
and perhaps amongst still many of their kin today, World War Two
service was connected to Afrikaner nationalist political accusations of
South Africa under Smuts lending support to a perceived former
oppressor. And also to the 1939 UP government for allegedly ignoring
the will of an Afrikaner majority by rejecting and defeating Hertzog’s
call for South African neutrality. The shameful history of the OB, its
philosophy and the extent of its criminal actions, also needs to be re-
opened for today’s Afrikaners to scrutinize. But above all, the stories
of Afrikaner soldiers like Major-General Dan Pienaar who was so
loved by his troops; Captain De Villiers Graaff (right) who as a
prisoner of war did good work on South Africa’s behalf; Adolf
Gysbert “Sailor” Malan, the brilliant Royal Air Force Afrikaner ace of Britain’s darkest hours
of 1940 and one of Churchill’s “few”; the legendary Lieutenant-Colonel “Papa” Britz of the
1st Special Service Battalion during the Italian campaign and thousands of others need to be
retold and recognised. Indeed, perhaps it is now time for the Afrikaans schools along with
traditionally Afrikaans medium universities, churches and cultural organisations, to
consider the placement of suitable memorialisation artefacts, commemorating the sacrifices
of these men seven decades ago.
Kommentaar:
Ja, die wêreld is maar ‘n deur mekaar plek gewees, veral die Unie van Suid-Afrika
gedurende die tydperk 1933 - 1948!
Radio Zeesen, van Nazi-Duitsland, het gedurende 1933 begin uitsaai en het die Afrikaners
begin aktiveer veral wat die herdenking van die 1838 Groot Trek betref het. ‘n Groot
opwelling van Afrikaner nasionalisme het posgevat.
My Oupa Malan was lid van die OB gedurende die Tweede Wêreldoorlog. Hy was ‘n
vreeslike Christelike mens. Hy was teenwoordig by die hoeksteenlegging van die
Voortrekkermonument. Hy het later by die OB aangesluit. Hy het gedink hy doen reg.
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My vader, sers Heymans vertel dat ten spyte van my Ouma Heymans se versoek dat hy nie
die sg “rooi eed” moes teken nie, het hy dit uiteindelik gedoen. Voordat hy as ‘n jong
konstabel van Durban na Baviaanspoort gestuur is, is hy en ander lede in Pretoria goed
rondgejaag. Hulle groep is toe feitlik gedwing of geïntimideer om die eed te teken voor hul
na Baviaanspoort gestuur is om die oproerige, geïnterneerde Duitsers te bewaak.
Hulle het 1 SAP onder bevel van luit-kol RJ Palmer afgelos wat die aangehoudenes onder
bedwang gebring het.
Persoonlik dink ek dat ons al ons helde van 1899 tot 1994 moet identifiseer en vereer.
Dis nou tyd om koel en klinies na al ons helde in die verlede te kyk – ook die wat rooi
lussies gedra het. Wat dink ons ander lesers?
Nadat ek genl Hiemstra se outobiografie gelees het, verstaan ek sy argument en het begrip
vir sy standpunt. Maar ‘n soldaat (en polisieman) is mense wat ‘n eed afgelê het om te dien.
Ek dink nie ons is in ‘n posisie om te kies en te keur nie? Ek ondersteun eerder die standpunt
van genl Coenraad Brits. Toe genl Louis Botha hom oproep gedurende 1914 laat hy weet:
“Ek kom generaal – wie veg ons hierdie slag, die Engelse of die Duitsers?”
Net soos ons geslag gedurende die teeninsurgensie oorlog en tydens die onluste (1966 –
1992) nie kon kies of ons wou dien of wegkruip nie kom ons vaders ook nie kieskeurig wees
nie. Selfs jong seuns wat glad nie in oorlog belanggestel het nie, het hul kant gebring – dit
sluit alle taalgroepe en later alle rasse in.
Natuurlik was daar, na die oorlog toe die NP gedurende 1948 aan bewind gekom het, baie
manteldraaiers in die geledere van diegene wat die rooi eed geneem het.4 Die NP onder adv
Vorster was gedurende die 1960’s sterker as wat hy ooit was – baie Engelssprekendes het vir
die NP gestem. Mense besluit gereeld om goeie landsburgers te wees en die “nuwe
bedeling” na oproer of wat ook al met oorgawe te dien ... Some will run with the hares and hunt
with the hounds...
Ek is trots op my Suid-Afrikanerskap – my familie is ‘n mengelmoes van Afrikaners,
Engelse, Skotte, Iere, nasionaliste, Sappe, Broederbonders, Vrymesselaars en een of twee
Liberaliste – een Engelse kleinneef was selfs na sy SAW opleiding by die SA Raad van Kerke
verbonde terwyl ek in die veiligheidstak was. Ons familie is pole uit mekaar, maar ons is
almal Suid-Afrikaners eerste!Daarom, moet ons na opnuut na die “rooi lussies” kyk wat vir
‘n veelvoud van redes geveg het. Meeste polisiemanne, aldus wyle Oom Fred Geldenhuis,
het net vir die opwinding en avontuur aangesluit – vir geen ander rede nie! Hulle het
dadelik aangesluit, baie sonder ouerlike toestemming - HBH.
4 Daar is kostelike stories in die verband. Soos die hoofkonstabel wat genl Smuts se foto in sy kantoor
teen die muur gehad het. Met die verkiesing se uitslae was hy te Durban met vakansie. Hy het
dadelik gevra dat die foto afgehaal word. Later het dr DF Malan se foto in sy kantoor gepryk - HBH
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9.9 Sharpeville: Maj Warren Brown – Pottie Potgieter (Port Edward)
9.10 SA Contabulary:
Modderfontein – Stan
Kantor
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10. HERALDRY, UNIFORMS, COLOURS, FLAGS, MEDALS,
MEMORIALS / HERALDIEK, UNIFORMS, VAANDEELS, VLAE,
MEDALJES, GEDENKTEKENS
10.1 Latest Purchases: Francois Gunter (France)
SA Railway Police Sport patch. King’s
crown. Pre-1953.
Old SA Railway Police Sport patch.
Original Casspir as sold by the SAP.
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Rank epaulettes for SA Railway Police.
Genuine SA Railway Police Task Force
brassard with genuine patch. 99% of
these patches that are in circulation are
restrikes. The only way to tell if they are
genuine is when they come like this or on
a shirt.
10.2 Veterans’ Logos
10.2.1 Designed - Jonathan Pittaway (Durban)
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10.2.2 Designed - Tiny Nortje (Johannesburg)
10.2.3 Bruce Ross Strachan
10.2.4 SADF Veterans sent in by Johan Jacobs (Benoni)
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10.3 1973 Voided Cap Badge for Ladies
Constables and Sergeants wore the ordinary solid brass cap badge. Warrant Officers up to
Major (later Captain) wore the voided gilt badge. When the beautiful ladies joined the ranks
they were immediately given the voided badge. (The first ladies joined during 1972.) Here a
sergeant wears the solid brass plate while the recruit wears the void badge. They are dressed
for musketry in the SA Police College, Pretoria. Later all ranks wore the voided badge up to
Captain.
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10.4 Information wanted on Fire Arms used by the SA Police
11. VESTED INTERESTS OF VETERANS /LEDEAAN-
GELEENTHERDE
11.1 Polmed: Sakkie Kotze
Ou Sakkie veg nog voort!
11.2 Injuries on duty / Beserings aandiens
Geen verdere inligting ontvang nie – die manne (en vroue) sukkel nog steeds met
beserings aan diens opgedoen. Hierdie maand het die manne weer gewag gemaak
van hul probleme.
12. THE LIBRARY / DIE BOEKRAK
13. SPORT
14. HUMOUR IN UNIFORM
14.2 1 Die kolonel se teef – Johan Ferreira
Hierdie insident het regtig gebeur - ek sal maar name en plekke verswyg....
Twee polisiemanne, wat kontakte met iemand wat 'n jagplaas besit, nooi 'n kolonel om saam
met hulle te gaan jag. Dis mos die manier gewees om guns by die grootkoppe te wen.Die
kolonel en sy vrou se kinders is al uit die huis, en hulle het 'n klein Malteser-poedel wat die
plek van hulle kinders ingeneem het. Hulle is albei verknog aan die brakkie.
Net voor die jagekspedisie kry die poedel ('n tefie) bosluiskoors..... en die ou kolonel se hart
is meer by die poedel as by die jagtery. Toe die manne die aand om die kampvuur sit, sê die
kolonel: "Ek wonder hoe dit met die teef by die huis gaan ... sy was dodelik siek toe ek daar
weg is."
Een van die manne simpatiseer: "Haai kolonel, ons het nie geweet dat u eggenote siek by die
huis is nie."
14.2 Doodstraf weens dronkenskap op departementele verhoor – kol
Herman le Roux
Saterdag 20 Julie 1985 is ‘n Noodtoestand afgekondig in 36 Landros Distrikte en weer op
Donderdag 12 Junie 1986 Landwyd. Ten einde orde te herstel kon andere, polisieoffisiere ‘n
lasbrief uitreik en mense aanhou in ’n gevangenis, geen persoon wat gearresteer is weens
openbare geweld en of onder die Noodregulasies mog (ja past tense van mag) in ‘n Hof
verskyn nie, tensy die Staatsveiligheidsraad dit gelas.
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Ek het baie van die Staatsveiligheidsraad gehou, baie, ek het van almal wat daar gewerk het
gehou.
Indien ek verkies word tot president sal ek weer die staatsveiligheidsraad instel presies soos
dit was, en dit onder die nuwe Grondwet wettig maar, dit net so terloops.
Die staatsveiligheidsraad was in beheer van die Republiek, dissipline in die polisiemag,
weermag en gevangenis was op ‘n uiters, uiters hoë standaard, generaal P.J. Coetzee was die
kommissaris en Sy Edele minister A.J. Vlok was die minister van wet en orde en die laaste
president wat ‘n ‘Edele’ was, sy Edele president P.W. Botha was die staatspresident.
Ek het nie geweet waar meneer XXXXX5 en sy genote op daardie stadium gewees het en
waarmee hulle besig was nie, anders sou ek hulle waarskynlik onder die Noodregulasies
aangehou het maar, ek het hulle nie een keer tussen die onlusmakers gesien nie, ek dink
generaal Wandrag en andere het dit moontlik vermoed in watter rigting my kop gewerk het
en waaraan ek gedink het, daarom was ek Boland toe gestuur om die Noodtoestand aldaar
te laat manifesteer, die Boland veral Worcester omgewing Zwelentemba lokasie en
Robertson, was in vurige onluste gedompel en na Luit. Fouché 6se dapper optrede toe hy die
onlusmakers afgemaai het, en die gevolglike Kannemeyer Kommisie wou die polisiemanne
in die Boland nie meer werk nie en ek het hulle nie kwalik geneem nie, ewenwel ek sou aan
iets gedink het om op die politici lasbrief te skryf, maar dit nou daar gelaat.
Terwyl die Noodtoestand geheers het was ek besig as die ‘Landros’ van die verhoor met ‘n
departementele verhoor van ‘n Swart Konstabel op Pretoria Moot weens “Dronkenskap en
Afwesig van diens sonder verlof”.
Hierdie konstabel het gereeld na drank geruik en was al diep in sy dertigs gewees
Ek het ‘n sekere swart adjudant offisier, ‘n Zulu, as tolk gebruik, hierdie adjudant was goed
onderlê in verhore en rade, veral die ‘tipes’ wat myself en maj. Jan Kleynhans gehou het.
Baie mense het nie van my en maj. Jan Kleinhans se verhore gehou nie vra maar vir ex
majoor Prokureur Piet Niemand, as iemand nie saamstem nie het ek die persoon maklik as
‘n vyandige getuie verklaar en dan wou van die Prokureurs wie nie mooi begryp het nie
sommer papiere maak boontoe.
Ons is nog by my Zoeloe.
Die konstabel het Zulu gepraat.
Aan die einde van die verhoor het ek hom skuldig bevind op die klagtes en het ek met die
medewete van die adjudant geskree: “Aandag !”
5 Herman, Herman! Naam van die bekende politikus is weerhou - HBH 6 Eervolle vermeldings van sers “Smoke” Fouche verskyn toevallig elders in hierdie uitgawe - HBH
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Daarna het ek my rouband uit my aktetas gehaal en dit aan die adjudant gegee en weer gaan
sit, hy het die swart rouband op my kop geplaas dat dit so regop staan soos ‘n rondawel
sonder ‘n dak en toe en teruggetree.
Die konstabel het geweet iets is verkeerd maar nie geweet wat nie.
Ek het die konstabel meegedeel:
“Ek vind jou skuldig aan die oortreding van regulasie 58 van die Polisie Wet en Regulasies
weens dronkenskap en afwesig van diens sonder verlof”
“Jy is bewus daarvan dat daar ‘n Noodtoestand heers?”
Deur die tolk antwoord hy: “Ja”
“Is jy daarvan bewus dat sekere magte aan polisieoffisiere gegee is om dissipline in die
Republiek te herstel ?”
Hy antwoord: “Ja”
“Kan jy enige redes verskaf waarom ek nie die doodstraf oor jou moet uitspreek nie?”
Hy gryp sy kop vas en sy bene wil nie meer staan nie, sy heupe haak uit hy gaan sit op
hurke, sy mond hang oop en hy begin huil, toe praat hy Afrikaans en vertel van sy ma en sy
sussies vir wie hy sorg.
Die adjudant werk saam en trap hom uit in Zulu omrede hy nie meer deur die tolk praat nie,
en roep hom weer op aandag.
Hy staar my aan soos iemand wie ‘n spook sien.
“Ingevolge die magtiging wat die staatspresident aan my verleen in die Noodregulasies,
soos afgekondig in die Staatskoerant, veroordeel ek jou tot die dood, jy sal hiervandaan
weggeneem word en oor een uur van nou af agter die polisieselle met my dienspistool
geskiet word totdat jy dood, dood, dood is !”
Toe haal ek die rouband van my kop af en gee dit aan die adjudant om dit aan die arm van
die konstabel te sit.
Toe piepie hy en dit is chaos !
Hierdie konstabel wat nie Afrikaans kan praat nie, sing dit !
“My ruitenaaant, nooit weer nie ! Ruitenant ek sal nooit weerrr drenk nie ek sal werk sonder
verlof en rusdae genade my ruitenant!” en hy huil en smeek.
Die adjudant kry hom weer redelik onder bedaring maar, hy huil vreeslik !
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“Ek sal jou doodstraf opskort en R10-00 per klagte laat verhaal van jou salaris op
voorwaarde jy skryf die volgende bevorderings eksamen na sersant en jy slaag !
Toe ons by die kantoor uitloop wou hy nie uitkom nie ” Nee” sê hy “Ek wil bid !”
Nodeloos om te sê niemand op daardie polisiestasie kon hom oortuig dat hy nie ter dood
veroordeel was nie. In 1987 is hy bevorder tot Sersant.
In 2009 het ek hom op ‘n padblokkade in Hercules wyk raakgeloop, toe hy my sien roep hy
adjudant Labuschagne wat my ook goed ken en sê “ Hierdie maaan, ek was amper dood,
hey !”
Groete Herman.
14.3 Vergassing en vergissing?
Daar het soveel humor in die Mag plaas gevind! Neem bv dat daar sowat 1000 polisiestasies
en polisie-instellings in die land was. Meeste werk 24 x 7 x 365 en by elke plek vind daar iets
snaaks plaas. Party goed is skreesnaaks. Ander insidente weer, is die spreekwoordelike “lag
met die traan.”
SAP King’s Rest op die Bluff in Durban was ‘n besige plek. Eendag word berig dat ‘n man
besig is om selfmoord te pleeg. Konst X daag by die toneel op en vergewis homself van die
gebeure. Hy jaag stasie toe en kom daar aan: “Meneer, meneer ‘n man is besig om selfmoord
te pleeg naby Antseystrand deur hom self te vergas!”
“Het jy die kar afgesluit en die man uitgepluk?” vra mnr Marais.
“Nee meneer, in die kollege is ons geleer om aan niks te vat voor die speurders nie by die
toneel opgedaag het nie!”
“Ry! Gaan red sy lewe!”
Nodeloos om te sê, die man was by die tweede aankoms van die polisie reeds morsdood!
Hierdie is ‘n voorbeeld van “lag met die traan”.
14.4 Die “dief” se leer
No 44333 konstabel Danie du Toit was een van ons eerste helde wat op die grens oorlede is
in Rhodesië. Hy was op SAP Wentworth gestasioneer en ek te SAP King’s Rest. Ons was op
buurstasies. Ons het op dieselfde skof gewerk.
Een aand ry ek in Schoolweg op pad na SAP Wentworth om “petrol in te gooi”. Op die hoek
van School- en Brightonweg tref ek SAP Wentworth se “wa”, M63 voor ‘n gebou aan.
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Onder is die Wentworth Apteek en bo is ‘n woonstel. Danie du Toit is die bestuurder en hy
staan op die wa se kap. Van die stoep voor die woonstel is ‘n leer ongeveer ses duim wyd.
Die leer is van die stoep tot voor die venster.
Ek hou stil en vra wat gaan aan?
“Nee”, vertel Danie, “hier is inbrekers!”
Ek lag toe en vertel hom dis die kat se leer. Vroeër jare het ek daar beat gestap toe is die
leertjie al daar. Dis vir die kat om in en uit te beweeg.
Nadat ons lekker gelag het, is ons daar weg!
14.5 Konst RG Fall: Toet-toet!
No 47174 konstabel RG Fall was my aanklagkantoorsersant. Hy was ‘n rykmanseun met min
bekommernisse. Hy word toe ook bevorder na wyksersant en wabestuurder te King’s Rest.
Hy is ook op die grens in Rhodesië oorlede.
In Durban was ons ook soos ‘n gelukkige polisie-familie en die manne wat buite skofte
gewerk het, het ‘n hegte band gevorm en het almal mekaar geken en gehelp wanneer daar
moeilikheid is.
Eendag reën dit net soos dit in Durban kon reën! Wanneer dit reën dan reën dit sommer vir
twee weke aan mekaar. Meeste jong polisiemanne het maar net een reënjas en een of twee
pette. Ons is verbied om ‘n plastiese oortreksel oor die pet te dra. (Waarom het die
kwartiermeester nooit aan so iets gedink nie?)
Miskien moet ek net verduidelik in daardie dae moes ons vir elke ligte botsing ‘n SAP 352
behoorlik voltooi, ‘n plan met rooi ink teken en ook ‘n sleutel tot plan opstel.
M67, King’s Rest, kry berig van ‘n botsing en konstabel Rodney Fall is die polisieman wat
die ongeluk moet bywoon. Dit reën katte en honde! By die toneel aangekom toet hy. Hy
wink bestuurder “A” nader.
Bestuurder “A” kom onwillig met opgetrekte skouers nader. Rodney neem sy persoonlike
besonderhede terwyl hy snoesig in die wa sit. Rodney beveel hom toe om eers die lisensie
skyfie se nommer en dan die derde party nommer op motor “A” te bekom en uit te roep.
Rodney sit in die wa en skryf neer.
Rodney beveel toe die man om van agter sy motor na paal “J” af te meet. Toe van die motor
na paal “K”. Toe van die punt van botsing, X, na onderskeidelik punte “J en K”. Toe die
afstand van motor A na motor B en onderskeidelik na punt X. Toe moes hy die breedte van
die aftree.
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Toe die onskuldige bestuurder sy kant gebring het, versoek Rodney dat bestuurder “A” nou
vir bestuurder “B” roep.
Mnr B is hoogs verontwaardig en gebelgd – hy wil nie met sy suede skoene in die water
loop nie.
“Kyk meneer (die gesprek het in Engels plaas gevind) die botsing is nie my skuld nie, dis
joune! Ek weet dis my werk; maar dit reën! Ek moet nog ses ure werk en more vroeg weer
en dan is my uniform, my jas en ander stukke nog sopnat! So gee vir my samewerking en
verskaf jou besonderhede. Spring en bring vir my die ander goed wat ek verlang!
Rodney was ‘n man wat op die perde gebêk het. Hy het baie geld gewen. Meer daaroor
later. Toe die kaserne van Wentworth verskuif het na ‘n woonstel blok, Sandown, langs
Natal Kommandement moes ons elke dag twee maal van die Bluff af Noord Strand toe ry
om die manne wat in die kaserne gewoon het, te gaan haal. Wanneer ek Rodney gaan haal
het, het ek sommer daar vir hom die wa gegee.
Een aand jaag ons terug van die Noord Strand na die Bluff. Toe ons op die snelweg klim toe
sê hy: “Here we go for the main race of the day! Fillies handicap for the Maiden Plate!” Ons
ry toe teen ‘n vreeslike spoed! Toe ons moes afdraai by die Edwin Swales VC Drive afrit
gaan ons so vinnig dat die wa bokspring en ons moes toe die volgende afrit neem.
14.6 O wildeding!
‘n Befoeterde offisier besoek ‘n stasie en niks is reg nie. Daardie dae was hulle maar kwaai!
Hy gaan sit om te skryf. Aan beide kante van die tafel is ‘n venster. Een van die
polisiemanne het ‘n blouapie gehad. Kwaad gaan sit die offisier; maar net voor hy kan skryf
spring die apie op die vensterbank en van daar boop die VB voor die kwaai offisier. Offisier
skrik so, hy gooi sy arms in die lug, sy pet waai af en hy skree: “O wilde ding!” Die apie
spring van die VB na die ander vensterbank terug na “sy kamer”. Al die manne proes en die
offisier se argwaan is daarmee heen!
14.7 ‘Sant Malan of Simelane?
Op SAP Greenwood Park besoek ‘n offisier die stasie. Die SB sê: “Vra vir Simelane om gou
vir die offisier ‘n paar pere te pluk.” Die ontvanger van die opdrag hoor verkeer en lig ‘sant
Malan in: “ ‘Sant die SB sê u moet vir die offisier pere pluk!”
Die offisier is besig met sy besoek en verneem waar die eerbiedwaardige sersant Malan is?
“Hy is bo in die peerboom, kaptein!”
“Wat op die aarde maak hy daar?” vra die offisier.
“Hy pluk pere vir u, kaptein!
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14.8 Hies out wif da wah!
Jong Kalahari-seun land in Durban. Die foon lui in die aanklagkantoor en hy antwoord. Die
gesprek vind noodgedwonge in Engels plaas. Die man aan die anderkant vra waar die
sersant is. “Hies out wif da wah!” antwoord die jong man.
• So is daar duisende snaakse stories ... en ‘n lag met die traan ...
15. ANECDOTES, A POINT TO PONDER, ETC
15.1 Etiket en die vrou van die grootbaas - dr. JC van der Walt
“My man het gesê dat jy my môre vroeg na die stad moet neem. Ek wil gaan inkopies doen.
Jy moet ‘n pak klere aantrek. Die maatskappy sal vir jou middagete betaal. Ons vertrek om 7
vm.”
Dit was die vrou van grootbaas Fanie op die telefoon.
Ek is maar ‘n eenvoudige ou van die plaas Wolwefontein op die pad na Vaalwater. As die
nuwe Personeelbestuurder van ‘n reuse nuwe onderneming in ‘n baie klein ou dorpie, het ek
‘n groot taak gehad om die nuwe aanleg met honderde nuwe mense te beman. Ek het regtig
nie tyd gehad om ‘n dag te verkwis met ‘n uitstappie na die stad nie.
Tog is ek vooraf goed gewaarsku: “Weier ‘n versoek van die vrou van grootbaas Fanie en
jou loopbaan is in sy moer in!”
Sy was ‘n blondine met ‘n houding. Haar geringste wens was ons bevel. Sy was ‘n paar keer
saam met die grootbaas op sakereise oorsee. Net die beste, jy weet.
Die vrou van die grootbaas het verkondig dat sy reeds in die beste hotelle in die wêreld
geëet en die beste wyne geniet het. Sy het skynbaar alles van “etiket” geweet: daardie
“konvensionele reëls van persoonlike gedrag in opgevoede geselskap.” Dit was haar missie
om die jong bestuurders, en veral hulle vrouens, in te lig oor die geheime van goeie etiket.
Die lang rit na die stad in grootbaas Fanie se splinternuwe reuse Amerikaanse motor was
ongemaklik. Die baas se vrou het aangedring om heeltemal alleen op die agterste sitplek van
die motor te sit. Die atmosfeer binne die motor was gespanne. Onverwags sê sy, “Was jy al
in Rome?”
Ek moes ontkennend antwoord.
“Maar was jy dan tog al in Parys? In Zűrich? of in Londen?”
Baie verleë moes ek antwoord dat ek van Vaalwater af kom en was ongelukkig nog nooit
oorsee nie.
Hierdie antwoord het my lot verseël.
85
“Ons gaan middagete op die top vloer van die Hotel Edward geniet. Die hoë mense van die
stad gaan ook daar wees. Jy moet my tog net nie embarrasseer nie. Ek moet altyd voor jou
loop. Jy moet vir ons ‘n goeie tafel uitsoek. Jy moet my stoel vir my uittrek. Jy met my in my
stoel help. Jy moet dadelik vir die wynlys vra. Jy moet aan die prop van die wynbottel ruik.
Jy moet ‘n baie klein slukkie van die wyn neem en die wyn stadig in jou mond rondrol. Jy
moet my voorbeeld volg.”
Die streng vrou op die agterste sitplek het gepraat en gepraat amper sonder ophou.
Die inkopies in die stad het in ‘n nagmerrie verander. Ek moes baie lank vir haar voor die
aanpashokkies van Stuttafords en ander boetieks wag. Sy het die gekose stukke klerasie en
skoene aan die verkoopsdames oorhandig en gesê: “Gee dit aan my motorbestuurder.” Dis
nou ék. Geduldig dra ek maar al die pakkies klere na die motor en volg haar na die
volgende boetiek.
By die Hotel Royal het ons “tee geneem”. Sy het Franse croissants met vars room en
arbeikonfyt bestel. Ek het my pinkie mooi opgelig om my tee reg te drink. Ek het wragtag
probeer om die vrou van baas Fanie nie in verleentheid te stel nie. Dit het gelyk asof sy met
my etiket tevrede was.
Die luukse eetsaal op die top vloer van die Hotel Edward was gepak met die crème de la
crème van die stad. Ek het droog gesluk en onthou om haar nie te embarrasseer nie. Die
vrou van die baas het egter ‘n elegante binnekoms gemaak. Ek het gedink grootbaas Fanie
sou op haar trots wees as hy kon sien hoe sy die deftige plek binnekom.
Ons het ‘n goeie tafel uitgesoek en ek het haar etiketreëls tot in die fynste besonderhede
gevolg. Ons het ‘n aperitief bestel. Dinge het sommer goed gegaan. Ons het Skandinawiese
hors d’oewvres bestel. Jy weet mos, dis daardie kostelike en delikate eetgoedjies wat ‘n mens
aan die begin van ‘n deftige maal geniet.
Die vrou van die grootbaas het die gesprek begin domineer. “Etiket is belangrik. Onthou,
maniere maak ‘n mens,” het die goeie dame gesê. Sy begin toe twee ou silwerhaar dames
langs ons te kritiseer: “Nie veel klas nie,” sê sy. Die man van Vaalwater kon net instemmend
mompel. Mens stry nooit met grootbaas Fanie se vrou nie.
Die twee ou dames staan toe op en beweeg na die elegante buffettafel. Die tafel was werklik
bekoorlik gedek. Dit was gelaai met die allerbeste eksotiese geregte. Daar was sagte klassiek
harp-musiek in die agtergrond. Die stadsmense weet van goed onthaal. Die vrou van die
baas volg my. Haar oë is egter op die twee ou dames gevestig asof sy verwag dat die twee
oues ‘n groot etiket blaps gaan maak bloot om haar vooroordeel te bevestig.
Deel van die buffet-dekor was ‘n baie realistiese klein speenvarkie van plastiek. Deel van
die plastiekvarkie se torso was weggesny om plek te maak vir klaar-gesnyde skywe koue
varkvleis.
86
Die vrou van die grootbaas was egter nie een wat van die klaar-gesnyde vleis gaan eet wat
reeds deur die kok gesny is nie. O, nee, grootbaas Fanie se vrou gaan haar eie vleis self sny.
En toe gebeur dit!
Tot my groot skok en verbasing, aktiveer sy die kok se groot elektriese vleismes. Toe val sy
die plastiekvarkie aan! ‘n Boog van plastiese skaafsels vlieg deur die lug. En daar brand die
mes vas en sy rook draal deur die eetsaal. ’n Geskokte stilte volg. Die tannie word bloedrooi
in die gesig.
Die twee ou dames met die silwer hare begin giggel en gedempte gelag volg van die gaste
rondom haar. Die vrou van die grootbaas storm die eetsaal uit en ek soek die kelner om die
rekening vir ‘n onvoltooide ete plus wyn te betaal.
Die pad terug na ons ou dorpie was lank en bedompig. Ek was honger en baie geamuseerd.
Die man van Vaalwater wou tog so graag meer van etiket weet: “Hoe gebruik ‘n mens ‘n
vingerbak met water wanneer ‘n mens vrugte eet; hoekom moet ‘n mens aan die prop van ‘n
wynbottel ruik; wat de ongeluk gaan gebeur indien ‘n mens ‘n duur bottel wyn gaan
terugstuur as die prop nie lekker ruik nie en wie gaan dan vir die groot skade betaal?” Hy
wou sommer alles van etiket weet.
Tog sê die vrou van die grootbaas niks nie. Sy het ‘n “ontsettende migraine” ontwikkel en sy
sit maar doodstil en alleen daar, daar op die agterste sitplek van die reuse nuwe
Amerikaanse motor.
16. OOR DIE NONGQAI SE DRUMPEL
17. NEWS FROM ALL OVER - THE POLICE POST BAG / NUUS
POS VAN HEINDE EN VERRE - POLISIE-POSSAK
17.1 SAP Banchory: Ockert Fourie, Kanada
Dagsê Hennie:
Goeie nuus! Met die plasing van Marlene Swanepoel se foto, epos kontak inligting, en die
feit dat sy by die SA Polisiediens se museum werk het jy my onwetend (of was dit dalk
wetend) gehelp met die verkryging van my Pa se diensrekord. Marlene was so gaaf om my
te help met my Pa se diensrekord. Uit die inligting wat Marlene vir my getuur het kon ek
ook onder meer bepaal dat die naam van die buitepos waar hy gestasioneer was - waaroor
ons so gewonder het - Banchory is in KwaZulu-Natal, geleë Noord/ Noordwes van
Kokstad. Ek weet nie veel van die geskiedenis van die polisiepos nie. Miskien kan een van
jou lesers help!
87
Hennie, ek is jou en Marlene ewig dankbaar vir al die hulp. Dit was 'n pad wat ek nie
gedink het sy bestemming sal bereik nie, maar dit was die moeite werd en het my as verdere
bonus aan jou, eNongqia en sy Polisie-familie voorgestel.
Beste wense.
17.2 Tubby Myburgh
Baie dankie aan almal wat vir my gebid het boodskappe van ondersteuning gestuur het.
Wanneer jy op jou swakste is, is dit net nou Christelike Geloof en vriende se boodskappe en
gebede wat jou daardeur neem. Ek moet sê dat ek nie so emosioneel afgekraak hierdie keer
was soos met die omleiding nie. Pyn wat ek vir 20jaar en langer in my bene en laer rug
gehad het is na die tweede dag heeltemal weg. Seer wat ek nog het is die sny self maar dit
voel elke dag beter. Die rugstut is mos maar die ongerieflikste ding wat hulle kon uitdink
maar ons leef mos maar daarmee saam, gelukkig is dit vir nog net vier weke.
My volgende besoek is die 2 de Mei en ek hoop om spoedig daarna te mag huis toe kom.
Ek kan nie wag om huis toe te kan kom nie, twee weke van die huis is niks maar as dit na 8
weke toe trek is dit net een te veel vir my.
Dankie in besonder vir ds Chris de Wet, ds Gerhard van Dyk en dr Kobus van Zyl van
Reebok Gemeente vir hulle leiding en ondersteuning.
REEBOK Groetnis vanaf Pretoria.
17.3 Pastoor Daan van Tonder, oud SAP Utrecht
Brig Hennie,
Goeiedag, die aanbieding in eNongqai vir April 2012 is puik!
Die klein nuusblad is altyd dinamies en vol verrassings!!!
Baie dankie,ons waardeer die lang ure en harde werk.
Groete
Daan van Tonder
17.4 Johan van den Berg: Chairman (SA Military History Society Cape
Town)
Dear Members and Friends
Please find attached:
1) Article by fellow-member Dr Rodney Warwick: Afrikaners and the Second World War:
Some reflection seven decades later
2) Article by fellow-member Dr Rodney Warwick:
3) Newsletter No 1/2012 of the
Ronnie Glass): PLEASE NOTE the programme of lectures & excursions.
Kind regards
Johan van den Berg: Chairman (SAMHS CT)
3 attachments — Download all attachments
Afrikaners, the UDF & WW 2.doc
206K View Download
1922 Miners' Strike.doc
52K View Download
• Dankie Johan ek het twee artikel
17.5 Newsletter No 397, APRIL 2012
Our speaker on 8 March 2012 was
power point illustrated lecture. His subject was
both the Allies and the Axis powers
for the Axis powers. In short, the turning point of the Second World War took place in 1942.
Our speaker illustrated this fact by selecting a number of the major events of the year and
discussing their importance. As usual, his talk was well
video clip inserts.
Mr Norton selected as his first event a conference that was held on 20 January 1942 in the SS
guesthouse in the borough of Wannsee (suburb of Steglitz
purpose of this meeting was allegedly to discuss the “final solution” of the Jewish Question.
7 The veracity and authenticity of this document have not been established beyond any doubt.
are major ambiguous interpretations regarding the origin, purpose and content of the
meeting. Whether it was mere “notes”, “minutes” or a “protocol”, is still inconclusive, despite the “historical evidence”
are almost as many viewpoints and interpretations
of books written on the subject or alluding to it
Some reflection seven decades later.
member Dr Rodney Warwick: The 1922 Rand Revolution.
Newsletter No 1/2012 of the Cape Natural History Club (chaired by fellow
the programme of lectures & excursions.
Chairman (SAMHS CT)
Download all attachments
Afrikaners, the UDF & WW 2.doc
Dankie Johan ek het twee artikels gebruik - HBH
APRIL 2012 - Johan van den Berg
Our speaker on 8 March 2012 was Mr Simon Norton who once again gave us an excellent
power point illustrated lecture. His subject was 1942, a year of both victory and defeat for
both the Allies and the Axis powers – defeat then victory for the Allies, victory then defeat
for the Axis powers. In short, the turning point of the Second World War took place in 1942.
Our speaker illustrated this fact by selecting a number of the major events of the year and
discussing their importance. As usual, his talk was well-illustrated with photographs and
Mr Norton selected as his first event a conference that was held on 20 January 1942 in the SS
guesthouse in the borough of Wannsee (suburb of Steglitz-Zehlendorf) near Berlin. The
g was allegedly to discuss the “final solution” of the Jewish Question.
The veracity and authenticity of this document have not been established beyond any doubt. It must be mentioned
jor ambiguous interpretations regarding the origin, purpose and content of the Wannsee Meeting and the record of the
meeting. Whether it was mere “notes”, “minutes” or a “protocol”, is still inconclusive, despite the “historical evidence”
as many viewpoints and interpretations regarding the so-called “Wannsee meeting” and “-protocol”
written on the subject or alluding to it. It would have been helpful if the speaker had made available a reference
88
.
(chaired by fellow-member
who once again gave us an excellent
, a year of both victory and defeat for
ry then defeat
for the Axis powers. In short, the turning point of the Second World War took place in 1942.
Our speaker illustrated this fact by selecting a number of the major events of the year and
illustrated with photographs and
Mr Norton selected as his first event a conference that was held on 20 January 1942 in the SS
Zehlendorf) near Berlin. The
g was allegedly to discuss the “final solution” of the Jewish Question.7
must be mentioned that there
Wannsee Meeting and the record of the
meeting. Whether it was mere “notes”, “minutes” or a “protocol”, is still inconclusive, despite the “historical evidence”. There
protocol” as the number
. It would have been helpful if the speaker had made available a reference
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Mr Norton informed us that only one copy of the Wannsee Protocol document has survived
– in the German Foreign Ministry archives. It was agreed that Jews doing important war
work should be left in their jobs until they could be replaced. A large part of the discussions
related to the “problem” of half Jews and mixed marriages.
The Wannsee Meeting was chaired by Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, the deputy
commander of the SS. The son of musical parents, he was of the officer class and himself an
accomplished violinist. A very intelligent man, he was extremely efficient in the
performance of his duties and a greatly feared person.
He joined the Navy in 1922, served until 1929 when he was cashiered and the joined the
NSDAP and the SS. He qualified as a Luftwaffe pilot and flew over Norway in 1942. He
became deputy to Himmler, the head of the SS, and was a lot more effective a leader than his
boss. A feared man, he was seen by many as a future successor to Hitler himself. He later
became the Reichsprotektor of Bohemia-Moravia (the western part of Czechoslovakia).
As Reichsprotektor he applied himself to the task of wiping out the resistance groups which
had arisen in the western part of Czechoslovakia, which he did very rapidly and efficiently.
But it was also an anomalous situation – Heydrich was an extremely efficient administrator
and developed the protectorate into a model satellite where living conditions and nutritional
levels were above the wartime average, even the Reich included. The British then decided
that this situation should be turned around and the population turned against the Germans.
The solution arrived at was to have Heydrich, because of his considerable qualities,
assassinated. A team of Czech commandos were trained to do this and dropped into
Czechoslovakia to undertake this perilous task, which they knew would amount to a suicide
mission. Heydrich felt quite safe in Prague and drove round in an open car without an
escort. He was ambushed but the agents’ Sten guns jammed and they then threw a hand
grenade at the open car which injured him critically. Heydrich managed to stagger out of the
car and also to get off a few shots at his attackers. He succumbed to his injuries in hospital a
while later.
Reaction to this was swift and ruthless. The village of Lidice was chosen to be destroyed. Mr
Norton showed a short film on the destruction of Lidice. The village was flattened, all males
over 16 years of age were shot, all females above that age were sent to concentration camps
and all children below the age of 16 were either adopted to be "Germanised" or, if
unsuitable, sent to Polish camps.
The second major 1942 event chosen by Mr Norton was the fall of Singapore in January 1942.
This was the biggest disaster suffered by the British Commonwealth during World War 2.
source list used in his research, as requested by the editor, but to date such a list has not been forwarded. It need to be stated
that controversial political questions and policies falls outside the broader ambit of the society’s focus, namely military history,
and the endeavour of this Branch is to promote the dissemination of historical facts that is verifiable, impartial and non-
contentious. – Ed.
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Our speaker introduced this part of his talk by showing us a picture of the SS Automedon, a
7,500-ton Blue Funnel Line vessel sunk by the German raider Atlantis on 11 November 1940
and a frequent visitor to Cape Town and Durban in the pre-war years. Automedon was
sailing some 250 miles NW of Sumatra when Atlantis found her. Accurate gunfire stopped
her and the Germans boarded her. Her cargo, with one exception, was of little interest to the
Germans.
The exception was 15 bags of top secret mail for the British authorities in Singapore. Most of
the mail consisted of code books, orders and intelligence reports but there was one bag
marked “Top Secret – for the eyes of C-in-C Far East Only”. This contained details of the
British and Commonwealth Forces in the Far East, an appreciation of the defences of
Singapore, the role to be played by Australia and New Zealand and an appreciation of the
likelihood of Japan entering the war. This had been issued by the Planning Division of the
War Cabinet and sent to Singapore by ACM Newall, Chief of Air Staff. Also included was a
document informing C-in-C Far East that the British Government was unable to supply him
with any more aircraft or weapons. Captain Rogge of Atlantis realised that this document
was a tremendous intelligence coup.
He immediately sent a captured vessel to Japan where the bag and contents were handed to
the German Naval representative who copied the documents and sent the originals to Berlin
via the Trans Siberian Railway (Russia was at peace with Germany at that time). The copy
was handed to the Imperial Japanese Navy. Captain Rogge was presented with a Samurai
sword by the Japanese – only two others were presented - to Goering and Rommel. This
shows the value placed on the documents by the Japanese and our speaker believes that the
contents of these documents and the use made of them by the Japanese planners sealed the
fate of Singapore in 1942.
Japan attacked Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941 and, within a day or so, they attacked the
Philippines. The next step would be Malaya. Bombing raids on Malaya and Singapore
started, launched from Indo-China and Thailand, both already in the hands of the Japanese
by that stage. Landings on the east coast of Malaya followed.
The British had sent the battleships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse to Singapore with
a small, four ship destroyer escort to Singapore but without an aircraft carrier (this had run
aground in the Caribbean and needed repairs – there was no other carrier available). They
then put to sea to look for Japanese forces. Admiral Phillips had refused air cover – all that
was available was a squadron of Brewster Buffaloes. A Japanese navy bomber force was out
looking for British ships and found them. They attacked and sank both vessels, the first
battleships to be sunk by air attack. As a result, the Japanese could land their forces without
fear of naval interception by the British.
The Japanese force was commanded by General Yamashita and consisted of three divisions
– the Imperial Guards which had some tanks, 8th and 18th, supported by 211 tanks and 560
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aircraft. They were opposed by a British force consisting of 3 Indian Corps (9th and 11th
Divisions) and the 8th Australian Division, with a Malay Brigade, but no armour.
The Japanese were fit, well-trained and organised and experienced, having fought in
Manchuria and China. They were well-supported by Army and Navy aircraft. The British
had believed their own propaganda that Japanese soldiers were small, short-sighted, weak
with protruding teeth and thick glasses. Our speaker showed us a photograph of Japanese
soldiers who looked like that! There was nothing wrong with their fighting ability. Well-
supported by artillery and mobile, they also improvised and utilized any form of transport
being handy. Every bicycle they could find was confiscated and used to make the ground
troops mobile! They also adapted easily to jungle warfare.
The two Indian divisions had lost many of their experienced officers and NCOs, who were
needed to replace casualties in East and North Africa and for new divisions being formed in
India. They did not cooperate too well with the Australians and vice versa. None of the
troops had been trained in jungle warfare and they were constantly being outmaneuvered
by the Japanese. Whenever a position was occupied in open country, the Japanese took to
the jungle and appeared behind the British, who then retreated. Good use was made by the
Japanese of their tanks – there were few if any anti-tank weapons on the British side.
The British GOC Malaya was Lt Gen A E Percival, a good staff officer but not the dynamic
and inspirational leader required. The RAF was weak with only obsolete aircraft and few of
these. The C-in-C was Air Marshall Brooke-Popham and the Governor of Malaya was Sir
Shenton Thomas, all of them weak leaders. Percival had served in Ireland as a member of
the Black and Tans and was alleged to have tortured Irish nationalists there. Lt Gen Heath,
GOC of 3 Indian Corps, resented the promotion of Percival who was junior to him in the
Army List. The Australians were commanded by Maj Gen Bennett who was another rather
headstrong character! So the chain of command did not function smoothly! Bennett
managed to escape from Singapore before the surrender, viewed by some as tantamount to
deserting his troops.
The British 18th division was sent as reinforcement with the first Brigade arriving on 13
January 1942 and joining 3 Corps. The rest arrived in time for the final battle of Singapore
and the POW camps.
The final battle took place with the British defending the Coast of Singapore Island and the
Japanese bombarding the island and launching an amphibious landing. Percival
surrendered Singapore. The Japanese had won a great victory with a force outnumbered by
the British forces by 3 to 1. Some 100 000 went to the POW camps and many of these did not
see the end of the war.
The third major event of 1942 chosen by Mr Norton was the Battle of Midway and the events
leading up to this, the turning point of the Pacific War. He discussed the Enigma coding
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machine and the major role played by Polish engineers in getting this to England. The
Japanese had codes for use by the Army and Navy and the Foreign Ministry. All of these
were complex codes and not automated like the German codes which used Enigma. The
Purple Code was that used by the Foreign Ministry and this had been broken by the
Americans prior to Pearl Harbour.
The navy code was more complex It was eventually broken by the cryptographic section in
Hawaii, headed by Cdr Joe Rochefort, an unassuming but brilliant cryptographer whose
entire naval service had been in that field. Sub-Lt Eric Nave RAN had made a large
contribution towards breaking the Naval Code, which both the British and Americans were
attempting. Nave was later attached to the Royal Navy.
The Hawaii team led by Rochefort had partially broken the Navy code and discovered that
the Japanese were planning a major attack, the objective of this being a place codenamed
AK. Rochefort’s team believed this to be Midway Island but the intelligence people in
Washington did not agree. So Rochefort, with the agreement of Adm Nimitz CINCPAC, had
Midway transmit a radio message that the water distillation plant had broken down and
that a water tanker needed to be sent. A while later Rochefort’s people picked up a message
instructing a Japanese task force to load a water distillation plant to be taken to AK. So AK =
Midway!
Admiral Nimitz could now plan his response to the Japanese attack. The result was the
battle of Midway, the first battle in naval history in which the opposing naval forces never
sighted one another. The Americans led by Admiral Spruance sank all four of the Japanese
fleet carriers for the loss of one of their own. Spruance did not pursue the retreating
Japanese much to the disgust of many American officers. He was right not to pursue them –
had he done so he would have come up against the main battle fleet with its eight or so
battleships and numerous cruisers. Spruance had few cruisers and no battleships so would
have been badly defeated. Not a gung-ho approach but a sensible one. This battle was the
turning point of the Pacific War. Rochefort sadly received no recognition for his immense
contribution to the victorious campaign in the Pacific. In fact he was transferred to the
mainland and never served in cryptography again and was never promoted any further
than Commander. He had upset his bosses in Washington and this was the result – jealousy
and vindictiveness triumphed over common sense! His great work was recognized only
after his death in 1986.
The next 1942 event chosen by Mr Norton was the fall of Tobruk, which was the greatest
disaster to befall South Africa’s armed forces during the war. The war in North Africa had
reached one of its static phases. The British held the Gazala Line, with the 1st South African
and the 50th Division, well dug in with extensive minefields (supplied from the Tobruk
defences) and with considerable artillery support. South of the, the Free French Brigade held
Bir Hacheim. In the desert south of this were the British 1st and 7th Armoured Divisions and
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a number of independent brigades. A number of strongpoints were set up in a line from the
Gazala line to the Tobruk fortress, supported by an armoured brigade.
Rommel’s plan was to make a feint attack on the Gazala line with his Italian divisions
supported by a force of German infantry. While this was in progress, the German and Italian
armoured and motorised divisions would make a wide sweep to the south and come up
behind the Gazala Line having destroyed the British armour. The plan did not work out
quite that way. The British armour came into action in the usual uncoordinated fashion and
was hammered in detail. The various independent brigades were scattered but the Germans
ran into problems at Bir Hacheim. The Free French resisted the German attacks tenaciously
and held out for a number of days before breaking out. A counterattack was launched by the
British in a very incompetent way with two divisions “commanding” a number of Brigades
in an uncoordinated fashion. A dour struggle ensued and eventually the Germans broke
through and headed north. Here they came up against a row of strong points which put up a
fierce resistance, thus allowing 1 SA and 50 Divisions to retreat from the Gazala line. With
the armour decimated, 8th Army started their retreat.
This left Tobruk, held by two brigades of the 2nd SA Division under Gen Kloppers, with a
Guards Brigade and 11th Indian Brigade, some extra artillery and a very weak tank brigade
under command. Klopper had been a very competent staff officer, was appointed to
command a brigade for two months and the 2nd Division a few weeks before the battle.
The Australians had held Tobruk for 9 months in 1941 but the defences had gone to rack and
ruin since then. Half a million mines had been lifted to be placed in the Gazala defences and
had not been replaced. The anti-tank ditches had either collapsed or being filled with wind-
blown sand. Much of the barbed wire had been removed and the garrison did not have the
time to repair the damage. The very experienced staff had left with Klopper’s predecessor,
Genl de Villiers they were replaced by a very mixed bunch of staff officers and Klopper also
had problems with his (British) artillery and tank commanders who seemed incapable of
agreeing on anything! There was a considerable amount of artillery but with no central
command. 201 Guards Brigade was the designated counterattack brigade but had no liaison
with the armour. The die was cast for disaster.
Middle East Command had, because of the state of the defences, assumed that Tobruk
would be abandoned if the Gazala Line was broken. Churchill had known this but, in his
usual way of interfering with his generals in the field, signalled Auchinleck “presume, in
any case, no intention of giving up Tobruk?” Klopper then had to comply. Eighth Army
retreated right back to El Alamein in the “Gazala Gallop” and Tobruk was left to its fate.
Dan Pienaar on his way back saw Klopper and said to him “Kloppie, get out, don’t stay
here!”
The Italian infantry divisions screened the western and southern defences, 90 Light and
Ariete (Italian) kept an eye on 8th Army and 15 and 21 Panzer divisions and the Italian
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motorised divisions closed up on the eastern part of Tobruk. On 20 June 1942, the Axis
artillery opened fire and every Ju 87 and Ju 88 dive-bomber that Rommel could lay his
hands on came swooping down. When they had dropped their bombs, they returned to El
Adem airfield 16 km/10 miles away for a reload. The Indian Brigade which was in a
weakened state broke and only the Cameron Highlanders managed to hold on. The Panzers
poured in, the counterattack force was scattered, the artillery line was broken and the
Germans headed for the port. Genl Klopper surrendered after quite a large part of the fuel,
ammunition and vehicles had been destroyed. A few hundred people escaped but 10 900
South Africans and some 21 000 British and Indians went into the bag.
Rommel had won a great victory but had in fact lost the North African campaign as most of
his air support had come from the Luftwaffe units assembled for the planned German
assault on Malta, which did not take place – to the detriment of Rommel’s supply lines.
8th Army reached the El Alamein line in a tired and disorganised state. The Germans were
also exhausted and short of supplies. The captured supplies had been used up and their
supplies had to come by road for a very long distance. The allied air forces in North Africa
and Malta were hammering their supply lines.
The British were now within easy reach of their base, the air force could operate from
properly developed airfields and reinforcements of fresh divisions were on the way. SA
Division held the Alamein Box on the coast. 3 SA Infantry Brigade held the box and the
other two brigades were held in reserve with the reinforced divisional artillery. A bit further
south the 18th Indian Brigade held Tel el Eisa with some artillery and 16 6-pdr anti-tank
guns. The Africa Korps attacked and the 8th Indian Brigade fought all day without assistance
from British armour and was overrun that evening. 90 Light Division headed for the
Alamein box but never reached to fight with the infantry. They were stopped by a hail of
well directed artillery fire and the German division, probably the best ever produced by the
German army, came near to breaking.
A number of battles followed and there was a stalemate. It was known that the Germans
were planning an attack on Alam el Halfa, a ridge at right angles to the front line and
Auchinleck had planned for this to be defended.
In one of these battles the Australians came upon a strange unit with numerous radio aerials
and radio vans. They overran this against fierce resistance. The unit was Nachrichten Fern
Aufklaerung Kompanie 621, a wireless and radio intercept unit similar to the British Y service,
commanded by the brilliant Hptmn Seebohm. Enigma provided strategic information but
621 provided tactical information which could be used immediately. The loss of this unit
played a major part in the subsequent outcome of the battle of El Alamein.
Churchill now took a hand. He wanted Auchinleck out and replaced by Genl Alexander as
C-in-C Middle East. He wanted Gen Gott to command 8th Army but he was killed in an air
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crash. Gen Montgomery was then chosen. A vain and opinionated person, he was brilliant in
motivating his troops and was also technically very competent. He used Auchinleck’s plan
to win the battle of Alam el Halfa and then took a grip on the organisation of the army – no
more Jock columns or brigade attacks, divisions would fight as units, no belly-aching and no
more retreats. Modern tanks were arriving; more troops and artillery were available, as were
fresh divisions.
A general is only as good as his staff and Monty was very well supplied with an excellent
staff. His Chief of Staff was the brilliant Maj Gen Francis de Guingand who later settled in
South Africa. Brig Edgar Williams, an Oxford don, was in charge of Intelligence and Maj
Gen Brian Robertson, a pre-war Managing Director of Dunlop SA, was in charge of logistics
and administration. Brig Kisch was appointed Chief Engineer – he was killed in action a
year later in Tunisia. Gen Montgomery insisted that army and air force should cooperate
closely and Desert Air Force HQ was situated next to 8th Army’s HQ.
Both sides worked hard at increasing their forces and supplies but the Germans had the
problem of very long supply lines which were under heavy attack from the air. In October
1942 Montgomery launched his attack under cover of a heavy barrage. His infantry reached
their first objectives but the armour did not manage a breakthrough. Heavy fighting
continued and the losses were high. Monty moved the focus of his attacks to the north
where the Australians especially and the New Zealanders had heavy losses. The armour
managed a breakthrough in the nick of time before Montgomery ran out of infantry. The
Germans retreated all the way to Tunisia followed by 8th Army and a great victory had been,
resulting in the final surrender of all Axis forces in Africa in 1943 made possible by Alamein.
The final event discussed by Mr Norton was the campaign in the latter part of 1942 in
Southern Russia. The Germans had launched a major attack aimed at the river Volga and the
city of Stalingrad. But Hitler’s economic advisors told him that, if they did not obtain
additional oil supplies, it would not be possible to continue the war. This information
proved to be incorrect as Germany continued to fight for a number of years, using
Rumanian oil and the synthetic fuel produced from lignite coal. But Hitler had his eyes on
the oil fields of Maikop, Grozny, Batumi and Baku and diverted 1 Panzer Army to head
down to the Caucasus in the spring of 1942. Only 6th Army continued the drive on
Stalingrad. This was commanded by Gen von Paulus, who had been an excellent staff officer
but had never commanded anything as large as an army.
6th Army reached Stalingrad and became involved in savage fighting with the Russians.
Stalin wanted the city held. Stalin would have had any general losing control of the city shot
while Hitler, equally fanatically, wanted to capture it. The result was savage house-to-house
and hand-to-hand fighting with huge losses on both sides. One Russian division was
recorded as having 14 000 men when it crossed the Volga to the 200 metre-deep beachhead.
96
It was left with 200 men a week later! As winter approached, the Russians began planning a
massive counter-attack.
Stalingrad was at the point of a deep salient into the Russian lines. The flanks of this salient
were defended by five armies of the Germans’ Italian and eastern European Axis partners -
two Rumanian (ill-equipped and ill-trained), one Hungarian and one Italian Army. A
massive surprise attack from both flanks by a force of 1 million-plus Russians with a huge
force of tanks and artillery was launched. The flank defenders broke and, in many cases fled
panic-stricken to the rear. Some few troops resisted, including three Italian Alpine divisions,
but 6th Army was cut off. Hitler insisted that they stay put while Reichsmarschall Goering
promised that the Luftwaffe would supply 6th Army from the air, something that
subsequently proved patently impossible under the circumstances at the time.
Field Marshall von Manstein was ordered to relieve Stalingrad. Winter had come and the
Germans struggled to assemble a force. Attacks had been launched by the Russians further
north and Manstein had no more than 6 or 7 divisions for the task. They got to within 30
kilometres of the beleaguered 6th Army but von Paulus reported that he had insufficient fuel
and transport to break out and Manstein was forced to pull back to maintain a cohesive
front against the relentless hammer blows of the Russian offensive. 6th Army surrendered
and 91 000 Germans went into captivity. Only 6 000 of these returned to Germany. The only
good thing for the Germans was that Field-Marshal von Kleist managed to bring his entire
1st Panzer Army back from the Caucuses.
It has been argued that the battle of Stalingrad was not a decisive one but, after this battle,
the Germans started to retreat and won only tactical victories after Stalingrad. So it was one
of the decisive battles of World War 2 and shattered the myth of German invincibility.
Bob Buser thanked our speaker for another fascinating and informative talk and presented
him with the customary gift.
- April 2011: Air War Korea: Prof Derrick Dickens
Our speaker, a retired businessman/professor in marketing at the then Wits University,
currently resides in Hermanus where he actively pursues the study of aviation history, with
a focus on the Korean Air War and the Fleet Air Arm, as well as being an aviation artist. He
is only one of two South African aviation artists – along with the late Ron Belling – who ever
published an overview of his work in book form, illustrating the history of an air force. In
his case it is an illustrated history of the RN’s Fleet Air Arm in colour, the first ever
attempted.
In the first of a two-part lecture separated over two months, our speaker will deal with the
first major war of the so-called “Cold War” under control of the newly-formed United
Nations Organisation. The air war, in general a lesser well-known conflict from a South
African perspective, forms an important aspect of SA aviation history where our fledgling
97
air force grew from a small combat arm into a formidable tactical air force during two major
wars and covering itself with glory – all within the space of ten years!
When North Korea invaded South Korea on 25th June 1950, the United Nations condemned
the action and UN troops - commanded by United States General MacArthur -were ordered
into action. Initially with only limited air support, the UN troops lost Seoul and were driven
back into the extreme south of the country. However, the US Far East Air Force held the
North Korean Air Force at bay until USN carriers arrived in Korean waters. The Royal Navy
carriers and Fleet Air Arm were heavily involved in the air fighting and ground attack
sorties but the RAF had no actual fighter forces in Korea. From the very start of the Korean
War, the Allied air forces went after the enemy's communications network and his logistics
support for the armies. It was dangerous, flying at high speed and at low level into possible
anti-aircraft traps, to smash the enemy’s transportation network. The interdiction work
began in June 1950 and gained increasingly in effectiveness throughout the war. UN
airpower played a tactical role in blunting any Communist offensives undertaken but paid a
heavy price. As well as the RAF and RAAF squadrons, RAF and RCAF pilots serving in the
USAF, No.2 ‘Cheetah’ squadron of the South African Air Force fought in Korea from
November 1950 with P-51 Mustangs, converting to F-86 Sabres in January 1953.
- 10 May 2011: the South African Air Force’s role in the Korean War: Prof
Derrick Dickens
In Part Two of his Korean Air War lecture series, Prof Dickens will focus on what led to
South Africa’s decision the heed the UN’s call for a military contribution, as well the form
the contribution took, to help stem communist aggression halfway around the world in an
environment totally foreign and hostile – both militarily and climate-wise - to South
Africans hailing from the southern tip of sunny Africa! In the Korean War, the famous 2
Squadron ("The Flying Cheetahs") took part as South Africa's contribution. It won many
American decorations, including the unusual honour of a United States Presidential Unit
Citation in 1952. The Citation encapsulates the essence of South Africa’s role and
contribution:
2 Sqn had a long and distinguished record of service in Korea flying P-51D Mustangs and later F-
86F Sabres. Their role was mainly flying ground attack and interdiction missions as one of the
squadrons making up the USAF's 18th Fighter Bomber Wing. During the Korean conflict the
squadron flew a grand total of 12 067 sorties for a loss of 34 pilots and two other ranks. Aircraft
losses amounted to 74 out of 97 Mustangs and four out of 22 Sabres. Pilots and men of the squadron
received a total of 797 medals including 2 Silver Stars - the highest award to non-American nationals
- 3 Legions of Merit, 55 Distinguished Flying Crosses and 40 Bronze Stars.
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18. NETWORKING & “LET’S SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER”/ NETWERK & “KOM
ONS ONDERSTEUN MEKAAR”
18.1 Jannie Otto: Toer na Israel
Onthou indien u Israel wil besoek, kontak Jannie Otto. Sy epos is: [email protected]
loopfoon 082-851-6204
19. STOP PRESS / LAAT BERIGTE
20. INDEMITY / VRYWARING
Die e-Nongqai bevat die uiteenlopende en diverse persoonlike menings van verskillende
korrespondente en die opsteller van e-Nongqai kan nie vir enige deel van die inhoud
daarvan in sy persoonlike hoedanigheid verantwoordelik gehou word nie.
The e-Nongqai contains various and sundry personal opinions of different correspondents
and the compiler of e-Nongqai cannot be held responsible for any of their comments.
Enige advertensies of enige sake voortspruitend is tussen u en die ander party.
21. NEXT EDITION / VOLGENDE UITGAWE
Some time, Deo Volenti, during May 2012.
22. CONCLUSION / SLOT
Kontak besonderhede: “Hennie Heymans” <heymanshb@ gmail.com>
Sirkulasie: "Dana Kruger" <[email protected]>
Greetings - Groete
Salute! Saluut!
Hennie Heymans © 2012
