Rainbow volk
It really was a motley collection of organisations that=20 came forward to represent the volk at their meeting=20 with Nelson Mandela last week — they ranged from the=20 Verkennersbeweging to Dames Aktueel and Jong Dames=20 Dinamiek, and from the Vereniging van Oranjewerkers to=20 the SA Voetplaat-Personeel Vereniging. What interested=20 the manne in the bar even more, however, was the gift=20 of a Springbok skin the volk presented to Mandela. (As=20 At Naude remarked, could it be that now that Mandela is=20 hell-bent on retaining the Springbok, the boere feel=20 it’s time to slaughter it?)
Whatever the reason, the presentation of the gift very=20 nearly caused an embarrassing incident. As one of the=20 boere approached Mandela to give him the parcel, a=20 presidential security guard leapt forward and=20 instructed Mandela not to open the parcel himself. The=20 guard in question was no MK recruit, nogal, but one of=20 the men who have served the president’s office at least=20 since the days of FW de Klerk. At Naude was heard to=20 suggest that these days everything is adapting itself=20 to the new South Africa — even white paranoia.
Old soldiers never die
* Oupa van Tonder, undisputed senior citizen of=20 Dorsbult, was never a great fan of Robert McBride –=20 until he read in a recent Cape Times that McBride was=20 “sentenced to death in 1897”. That’s even before Oupa’s=20 legendary tant Wilhelmina did time in the Potchefstroom=20 concentration camp during the Vryheidsoorlog. So=20 impressed is Oupa by McBride’s remarkable longevity=20 (especially since he faced the gallows 98 years ago),=20 that he’s started referring to him as Oom Robert.
Tourist information
* Why is it that whenever our past keeps coming back=20 to us, the chances are that the Department of Foreign=20 Affairs is involved somewhere along the line? A lone=20 traveller who wandered into the bar the other day=20 reported that the South African consulate in New York=20 has on display a pile of pamphlets advertising a book=20 called The Travel Guide to South Africa — ready to be=20 snapped up by the tourists who go there to get their=20 visas. Authorship of the book is credited to three=20 people, two of them well-known to foreign visitors:=20 Gary Player and Chris Barnard. The other author is=20 perhaps less well known abroad — but Oom Krisjan does=20 remember hearing the name Les de Villiers uttered in=20 connection with the late lamented Department of=20
* Oom Krisjan has so far received only one entry to=20 last week’s eagle competition. An eagle-eyed reader=20 sent in the following letter:
“From the ironic tone of Oom Krisjan’s piece asking=20 readers to spot the difference between the eagle logo=20 of The Independent and the eagle logo of The Sunday=20 Independent, I would assume that Oom Krisjan regards=20 them as being so similar as to be identical. I must=20 point out, therefore, that there is one very important=20 difference — The Sunday Independent’s eagle is not=20 carrying any news. I will claim my brandy and Coke next=20 time I pass through the Groot Marico.”
To which Oom Krisjan can only nod his head in=20
and raise his hat to the wisdom of that reader. The=20 manne have never been too quick to part with a brandy=20 and Coke too readily, though, so the competition will=20 remain open for another week.=20