The Chinese in South Africa are caught up between two worlds -the civilised Western world which has adopted this community unofficially and (although tardily) even socially, and the world of its Asiatic origin, which has led to the Chinese being officially classified non-white and subject to certain restrictive legislative measures. Chinese are admitted to White theatres, restaurants and residential sections, and the attitude of most White South Africans toward them is one of sympathetic aloofness. Little contact is made with the Chinese; points of contact are mostly the little corner shop, the laundry or a Chinese restaurant for diversion.

The present Chinese community in South Africa did not originate in the labour force which was recruited in North China in 1904 for the Witwatersrand gold-mines. All those labourers were repatriated four years later by the Transvaal government. The present community has developed from sporadic immigration, which began in 1891 with the arrival from Madagascar and Mauritius of Chinese traders who had originally come from Canton. According to the 1965 returns they number about 7,200 and are distributed as follows: Johannesburg 3,000; the perimeter of the Witwatersrand 450; Pretoria 650; Port Elizabeth 1,800; East London 350; Cape Town 325; Kimberley 275; Durban 175; other centres in South Africa 250. In 1950 a total prohibition was imposed on the immigration of Chinese to South Africa.

The Chinese are mainly traders, and in both wholesale and retail trade they have built up a reputation for honesty and reliability. Bankruptcy seldom occurs. A few practise as doctors, attorneys, architects, engineers or accountants; many are employed in offices of Whites as clerks, typists, computer operators, dispatch clerks or travellers. They mainly belong to the middle income group and their standard of living is far above that prevailing in their country of origin. Very few South African Chinese are in needy circumstances, and one-third may be reckoned among the group of affluent businessmen. Both culturally and socially they are much nearer to the Whites than to the non-Whites, and very few of these Chinese have any connection with other non-White groups with whom they are legally classified. The South African Chinese have even lost contact with Buddhism and have in many cases adopted the Christian faith. In politics they are strongly anti-Communist, and 99 % of them support the Nationalist China of Chiang Kai-shek. Taiwan (Formosa) has full diplomatic representation in South Africa.

The legislation which affects and inconveniences them most is the Group Areas Act. Whenever an area is proclaimed as belonging to some particular racial group, whenever slums are cleared and the residents are required to move, the Chinese fall between two stools. They are neither White nor Indian, nor do they belong among the black or Coloured to whose way of life the area is to be adapted. Although they are mainly a race of traders, their community is too small to support trade among themselves, and they are now seeking an outlet in a greater diversity of occupations. Uncertainty is their greatest problem, but fear of discrimination or humiliation has not been experienced to any appreciable extent.

Kmdt. Henning Petrus Nicolaas Pretorius

(born 1844 in Natal, South Africa; died 1897, Farm Abrahamskloof, Albanie, Cape, South Africa) nicknamed “Skote Petoors”

When a young boy, he was nearly present when his paternal grandfather was murdered in 1865 in Moorddraai, but rode ahead to see his fiancee, and therefore was saved from being murdered too. In 1876 he became and Cornet in the Z.A.R. in the Sekukune wars. His heroic conduct during the First Boer War in Elandsfontein made him famous. He was wounded twice. In 1882 he was commissioned as a Kommandant. In 1890 he was made Acting Kommandant Generaal in place in P.J. Joubert. In 1896 he was promoted to Lt. Colonel of the reorganised Artillery Corps under the new name of Staatsartillerie. He made several improvements to the Artillery, rendering them equivalent to those of most nations at the time. He died while on a mission in the Eastern districts of the Cape, while looking for the beam on which the accused were hanged in 1816 for the Slagtersnek opstand. He was buried with full military honours at the Helde-akker in Pretoria. There is a statue of him in front of Military Headquarters in Potgieter Street in Pretoria.

Kmdt. Henning Petrus Nicolaas Pretorius

His father was Marthinus Wessel “Swart Martiens” Pretorius (1822-1864) born in Graaf Reinet and who died at the Battle of Silkaatsnek, during the First Boer War. Farmer in Welgegund, near Pretoria. His mother was Debora Jacoba Retief (1815-1900), born at Mooimeisjesfontein, in the Cape. She famously painted her father’s name on the cliff face of Kerkenberg in the Drakensberg. A sculpture of this deed is on display in the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria. Her father was Gen. Pieter Retief (1780-1838), known as Piet Retief, Voortrekker leader. Retief was born in the Cape Colony, South Africa. His family were Boers of French Huguenot ancestry, and Retief grew up on one of the vineyards established by French wine-making immigrants near Stellenbosch. After moving to the vicinity of Grahamstown Retief, like other Boers, acquired wealth through livestock, but suffered repeated losses from Xhosa raids in the period leading up to the 6th Cape Frontier War. (However, apart from such losses, Retief was also a man in constant financial trouble. On more than one occasion, he lost money and other possessions mainly through gambling and land speculation.

He is reported to have gone bankrupt at least twice, while at the colony and on the frontier. Such losses impelled many frontier farmers to become Voortrekkers (literally those who move forward) and to migrate to new lands in the north. Retief authored their ‘manifesto’, dated 22 January 1837, setting out their long-held grievances against the British government, which they felt had offered them no protection, no redress, and which had freed their slaves with recompense to the owners hardly amounting to a quarter of their value. This was published in the Grahamstown Journal on 2 February and De Zuid-Afrikaan on 17 February just as the emigrant Boers started to leave their homesteads. Retief’s household departed in two wagons from his farm in the Winterberg District in early February 1837 and joined a party of 30 other wagons. The pioneers crossed the Orange River into independent territory.

When several parties on the Great Trek converged at the Vet River, Retief was elected “Governor of the United Laagers” and head of “The Free Province of New Holland in South East Africa.” This coalition was very short-lived and Retief became the lone leader of the group moving east. On 5 October 1837 Retief established a camp at Kerkenberg near the Drakensberg ridge. He proceeded on horseback the next day to explore the region between the Drakensberg and Port Natal, now known as Kwa-Zulu Natal. Upon receiving a positive impression of the region he started negotiations with the Zulu chief, Dingane, in November 1837. Retief led his own band over the Drakensberg Mountains and convinced Voortrekker leaders Maritz and Potgieter to join him in January 1838.

On a second visit to Dingane, the Zulu agreed to Boer settlement in Natal, provided that the Boer delegation recovered cattle stolen from him by the rival Tlokwa tribe. This the Boers did, their reputation and rifles cowing the tribe into peacefully handing over the cattle. Despite warnings, Retief left the Tugela region on 28 January 1838, in the belief that he could negotiate permanent boundaries for the Natal settlement with Dingane. The deed of cession of the Tugela-Umzimvubu region, although dated 4 February, 1838, was signed by Dingane on 6 February 1838. This Dingane did by imitating writing and with the two sides recording three witnesses each. Dingane then invited Retief’s party to witness a special performance by his soldiers. However, upon a signal given by Dingane, the Zulus overwhelmed Retief’s party of 70 and their Coloured servants, taking all captive. Retief, his son, men, and servants, about a hundred people in total, were taken to Kwa Matiwane Hill in what is now Kwa-Zulu Natal, and murdered. Their bodies were left on the hillside to be devoured by wild animals, as was Dingane’s custom with his enemies.

Dingane then gave orders for the Voortrekker laagers to be attacked, which plunged the migrant movement into serious disarray. Eventually, the Retief party’s remains were recovered and buried on 21 December 1838, by members of the “victory commando” led by Andries Pretorius, following the decisive Voortrekker victory at Blood River. Also recovered was the undamaged deed of cession from Retief’s leather purse, as later verified by a member of the “victory commando”, E.F. Potgieter. An exact copy survives, but the original deed disappeared in transit to the Netherlands during the Anglo-Boer War. The site of the Retief grave was more or less forgotten until pointed out in 1896 by J.H. Hattingh, a surviving member of Pretorius’s commando. A monument recording the names of the members of Retief’s delegation was erected near the grave in 1922. The town of Piet Retief was named after him as was (partially) the city of Pietermaritzburg.

(The “Maritz” part being named after Gerrit Maritz, another Voortrekker leader.) Piet Retief married Magdalena Johanna De Wet [1782-1855; daughter of Pieter De Wet (1765-?) and Maria P Opperman (1757-?)]. Her father Pieter de Wet was in turn the son of Petrus Pieter De Wet (1726-1782) and Magdalena Fenesie Maree (1726-1770). Retief’s own parents were Jacobus Retief [1754-1821; son of Francois Retief (1708/9-1743) and Anna Marais (1722-1777)] and Debora Joubert [1749-?; daughter of Pieter Joubert (1726-1746) and Martha Du Toit (1729-1771)].

Jacobus Retief was a farmer near Wellington, his original farm was called “Soetendal”. He also bought the farm “Welvanpas”, formerly known as “De Krakeelhoek” which belonged to his grandmother Maria Mouij, of whom presently. He had eleven children. His father, Francois Retief, was the eldest son of the founding father of the Retief clan in South Africa, Hugenot emigrant Francois Retif Snr. (1663-1721). This Francois Retief fled Mer in Blois, France during the recriminations of King Louis XIV with his young sister to Holland. Since the Dutch were looking for settlers for the Cape, they joined and arrived in Cape Town in 1688. He bought a farm and called it “Le Paris” on the northern banks of the Berg River near Wemmershoek. He married Maria Mouij, (1685-?, daughter of Pierre Mouij, also of France.), 23 years his junior.

To return to Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (Swart Martiens): His father was: Councillor Henning Petrus Nicolaas Pretorius [1800-1865; son of Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (1747-?) and Susanna Elisabeth Viljoen, (1760-?), widow of J.D. Hattingh] who was a Deacon in the church and long-serving elder, as well as member of the first Voortrekker Council in Natal. He was murdered by the Sotho at Moorddraai near Harrismith with his wife, Johanna Christina Vorster [1804-1865; daughter of Barend Johannes Vorster (1771-1840) and Johanna Christina Vorster (1776-?)], two of his sons and a companion. His brother, Andries Pretorius later became the Voortrekker arch-leader and founded the capital city of Pretoria, South Africa. Barend Vorster was the son of Barend Johannes Vorster (1748-1799) and Cecilia van Heerden (1752-1789). Marthinus Wessel Pretorius was the son of Johannes Pretorius [1711-1778; son of Johannes Pretorius (1642-1694) and Johanna Victor (1640-1719)] and Johanna Bezuidenhout [1717-?; illegitimate daughter of Wynand Bezuidenhout (1674-1724) and Gerbrecht Boshouwer (1684-1772)]. Johannes Pretorius (1711-1778) farmed near Roodesandskloof with about 40 cattle and 70 sheep. His father, the elder Johannes Pretorius was born in Oudorp, Alkmaar, Noord-Holland, Netherlands and was the first to move to South Africa. His parents were: Wessel Schout Praetorius [1614-1664; son of Barend Wesselius Pretorius (1596-1668) and Aaltje Jansdochter (1596-1643)] and Josyntgen Claesdochter (1618-?). Barend’s father was Wessel Schulte (1566-?).

Die Boerevrou

In 1918, Die Boerevrou, the first Afrikaans magazine for women, appeared in Pretoria. This illustrated monthly magazine for women was the first published magazine in Afrikaans. Die Boerevrouw (its title until June 1920) was the first women’s magazine in Afrikaans and appeared in Pretoria from March 1919 under the editorship of the owner, Mrs. Mabel Malherbe (nee Rex), whose assistant editor from an early date was Mrs. M. E. Rothmann (M.E.R.), who published her first short stories in it.

The magazine met with public approval almost from its inception, since it was the only Afrikaans magazine entirely for women; it also dealt with national affairs, with special emphasis on matters affecting Afrikaner women, their own past and their people; it aimed to include women as an essential factor in sound national development. Prominent writers like Eugene Marais, F. W. Reitz, G. R. von Wielligh, Jan Celliers, A. G. Visser, F. van den Heever (‘Toon’) and C. M. van den Heever, and artists like Anton van Wouw, Pierneef and Erich Mayer willingly contributed. Of special value were contributions sent in by the readers themselves, once confidence had been established in the editorial leadership.

These were contributed to a column ’round the coffee-table’ which would formerly have been regarded as of purely personal significance, but had a historical interest, for they cast a clear and intimate light upon the development and characteristics of the Afrikaner people, especially since the days of the Great Trek. To delve into the old volumes of the Die Boerevrou is to reveal valuable Africana. Mrs. Malherbe hoped that sufficient advertisements of reliable goods would be forthcoming to cover expenses. Perhaps her estimate was too high and, moreover, she turned down all advertisements of liquor and patent medicines.

The deficits, which for years had been borne by her husband, the attorney Kenne Malherbe, eventually became so great that she had to give up the struggle, and in 1931 the magazine ceased publication.

Two fine anthologies were compiled by Mrs. Malherbe from the contents: Die Boerevrou-boek (1950) and Juwele wat steeds bekoor (1951).

This coffee table magazine offered a number of regular features such as:

Sewing and Knitting patterns
Fashions
Childrens Stories

Jong Suid-Afrika – family photo’s sent in by the public

Margaretha Kuhne, 1 jaar en 9 maande. Dogtertjie van Mnr. en Mevr. W. Kuhne. Kleinkind van Mnr. Jurie Loubscher, Graaff Reinet.

George Ferreira Strydom, (8 maande oud, gewig 23 pond), enigste seuntjie van Mnr. en Mevr. J.C. Strydom, Barberton

"Die Wonderbybie" Kobus Van Schalkwyk, Oud 5 ½ maande. Gewig 20 pond. Seuntjie van Mevr. B. Van Schalkwyk, Barberton.

Sebastiaan Valentein Vom Hagen, jongste seuntjie van Mnr. en Mevr. S. Vom Hagen, Gezina.

Home Recipes

Koue Seep
8 lb. vet, 1 lb. seepsoda, 1 3/4 bottel water. Dit kan enige vet of botter wees; natuurlik moet dit uitgebraaide vet wees. 1/2 varkvet, 1/2 skaap of beestevet maak die mooiste seep, ofskoon die hoeveelheid van die ander net so goed is. Harde vet, al is dit baie donker en vuil, kers afdrupsels of enige uitgebraaide vet, sal vir koue seep ewe goed wees, al sal dit nie juis so mooi wees nie. Los op die soda in die water. Smelt die vet oor ‘n vuur. Laat so bietjie afkoel. Intussen voer ‘n kassie uit met ‘n natte doek. Probeer dat die soda en die vet so na as moontlik dieselfde warmte het. Roer nou bymekaar, hou aan totdat dit so dik as gesuikerde heuning lyk.

Gooi uit in die kassie, vou die buitenste stukke van die doek oor die seep. Sit dan ‘n ou sak oor, en laat oornag staan. Sny die volgende oggend uit. Laat in die son of in ‘n trekkerige plek droog word, as dit gou nodig is. Die kassie wat in die vorm gebruik word, kan goed diep wees. Dit kan dan in stene op die volgende manier gesny word. Sny die stuk deur van bo af in stene, sny dan weer deur op die dikte van die steen; 2 of 3 stene kan so opmekaar gevorm word. Dan het dit nie so ‘n groot kassie nodig nie.
Deurskynend koue seep

7 lb. vet, 1 lb. soda, en 1 bot. water. Maak die soda die vorige aand aan. Maak goed warm toe. Volgende oggend smelt die vet af en koel of; roer dan by die soda, en roer vir ‘n uur. Voeg dan by een lepel terpentyn en ‘n half koppie parafien. Roer goed deur. Gooi uit in ‘n kassie (uitgevoer met ‘n nat lap). Bedek baie goed met ou sakke of komberse; laat dit so langs die stoof staan op ‘n louwarm plek vir 4 of 5 weke. Dit sal dan mooi deurskynend wees. Die soda moet in ‘n geëmailleerde emmer of skottel aangemaak word. Die seep moet die volgende dag na dit aangemaak is uitgesny word en teruggesit in die kassie, en goed toegemaak word vir 4 of 5 weke.

Skuurseep (Monkey Soap)

7 lb. vet, 1 lb. seep-soda, 1 bot. water, 1/2 slypsteen (‘bathbrick’) fyn gepoeier, dan deur ‘n kamerdoek gesif, of ‘n fyn siffie (dit moet baie fyn wees anders krap dit strepe) en 2 lepels ‘whiting’. Los die soda op in die bottel water, smelt dan die vet, laat afkoel; probeer om die warmte van die vet en soda so eenders moontlik te kry. Roer bymekaar. Voer ‘n kassie uit met ‘n nat lap. Nes die seep al mooi dik is, amper klaar, moet dit soos ‘n dik pap wees. Roer nou die fyngesifte slypsteen by en die ‘Whiting’; roer goed; gooi in die gevoerde kissie; dit moet goed dik wees voor dit in die vorm gegooi word, anders sak die slypsteen af. Sny dit in mooi klein handige steentjies die volgende dag. Dis net so goed as die gekoopte.
Een van Mevr. van Tulleken se resepte vir:

Aartappel Seep

7 lb. vet, 14 lb. aartappels, 2 1/2 lb. seepsoda, 3 bottels water. Kook die aartappels met hul skil, trek dan die skille af, maal deur die vleesmeule. Weeg af, smelt die vet, roer die aartappels by tot dit ‘n gladde mengsel is. Meng die soda met ‘n 1/2 bottel water, meet die ander 1 1/2 bottel water en sit by der hand neer. Roer nou by die soda, maar haal eers die pot van die vuur; roer 5 min. gooi dan die helfte van die afgemete water by, roer 10 min, nou die res van die water, roer weer 10 min. gooi dan in kassie met ‘n nat lap gevoer. Laat drie dae.staan voor dit uit te sny; maak mooi droog op ‘n trekkerige plek of in die son (die seep moet die drie dae goed toegemaak word voor dit uitgesny word.)

Dikmelkseep

Neem dikmelk, sit dit op die vuur in ‘n parafienblik. Laat nou amper kook tot dit so’n mooi stywe dik aanmekaar stuk maak; dit moet nie baie taai wees nie. Gooi nou in iets waar die water goed van die melk kan afloop (‘n ander bilk met gaatjies – klein – is goed). Werk mooi saggies met die melk, anders gaan te veel verlore. As dit nou mooi droog afgeloop is, vryf dit dan so fyn as moontlik met die hande. Smelt 2 lb. vet en neem 10 lb. van die fyngevryfde melk. Voeg dit daarby, roer goed deur, neem weg van die vuur; roer by 1 lb. soda opgelos met ‘n bottel water; voeg by en roer vir ‘n uur. Gooi in ‘n kassie gevoer met ‘n doek. Laat drie dae staan en sny dan uit. Droog die stene mooi uit. Dit is goeie seep en skuim baie mooi.
(Al die seepresepte kom in Mevr. Tulleken se boek voor. Daar het pas ‘n 5de (vergrote) uitgawe van die nuttige boek verskyn – dit is werklik ‘n onmisbare besitting vir elke Afrikaanse huisvrou)
Verlede maand het ons in die Ruilkolom vertel hoe iemand wat moeite wil doen om die boeke te verkoop een vir haar beloning sal kry. Of anders kos een 11/-pos vry – bestel van Mevr. van Tulleken, P.K. Holmdene

Hoofstuk 1 (Deur Else Louwrens)
Wie sê die lewe in ‘n mierkat-dorpie is saai en eentonig? Moenie glo nie. Kyk, die son loer net effentjies oor die ver blou rante, maar dis genoeg om vir Swartjie en Spitsbek en Jan Hoepelbeen en Takhaartjie en Nooientjie en nog dertig of veertig ander mierkatte uit hul huisies daar in die bult te lok.
Hier is hul. Een, twee, drie, sit hul penorent soos kerse op hul agterpote. Vinnig draai die koppies heen en weer, agtertoe, vorentoe, alkant-toe. Die lewe is nou eenmaal te interessant. Dit sou al te jammer wees om iets daarvan te mis.

“Swartjie, het jy gehoor?”
“Ja, wat gehoor? Jy weet mos altyd meer as ‘n ander, of jy dink jy weet meer,” en Spitsbek werp hom ‘n venynige bilk toe.
“Die Kriebos meerkatte daaronder in die laagte noem ons dorp mos “Lawaaimakersfort.”

“Begryp jou, Lawaaimakersfort. Hul is net jaloers op ons deftige naam, ‘Rus en Vrede’; hul, wat vir hul ou dorpie nie eens ‘n naam het nie. Papbroekvlakte sou net ‘n goeie naam vir hul wees. Pieperig en afgemaer en papbroekery, dis wat hul is. En wie weet iets van hul afkoms, hul famielies?”

“Ja wie? Ons, Besems, – ons weet! Nie verniet heet ons die Besemstam nie. ‘n Stert soos ‘n besem, elkeen van ons. Kyk vir ou Grootjie. Ses mierkatgeslagte is aan haar te danke, en elkeen van hul, man, vrou, of kind, ‘n opregte Besem, mooi, rats, sterk…”

“En vernuftig ook. Moenie vergeet nie,” val Kannetjie, wat in die tussentyd nader gekom het, horn in die rede.

“En ‘n stert,” en hier waai Spitsbek statig sy rnooi harige stert op en neer – “‘n stert soos ‘n … nou ja, jul weet mos. Jul’s mos ook Besems.’

“Ja, Boetie, ‘n goeie ou stam. Dis die grondige waarheid, al moet ek dit self sê, ek wat Swartjie is. Maar wag, ek moet loop. Tryntjie roep al na my,” en Swartjie maak dat hy wegkom.

“Jy weet dis brekfistyd, man, en jy sit maar en bak in die son, – bak en skinner. Julie mans is almal eners. Kom, die kinders vra kos. Laat ons loop,” en Tryntjie kruip deur die gareboom-laning, gevolg deur haar man en tweeling seuntjies.

Dit word al lewendiger in die mierkat-dorpie. Dit loop en spring en gaat te keer. Eindelik is almal die veld in.

Ai, maar dis ‘n lekker lewe: baie pret, baie gevare ook. Maar dit gee juis die prikkel aan die vcrmaaklikheid daarvan.

Nie ver van hier lê die ou boereplaas van Oom Jan v.d. Vyver. Maar Oom Jan laat die mierkat-volkie maar sy gang gaan. Hy hinder hul nie. “Lewe en laat lewe,” was sy leuse.

Maar daar by hom op die plaas het ook ‘n hond gewoon, ‘n nare rooi- en witgevlekte ding wat van mierkatte niks gehou het nie. Snaakse smaak het sommige mense en diere tog. Sy grootste begeerte was om mierkatte te vang. Juis vandag het hy weer een van sy giere. Hier kom hy aan, kruip-kruip, al nader en nader.

Witpootjie is net met sy brekfis besig – ‘n vet ou muis wat hy al lank in die oog gehad het. Voor jy kan sê “mes” is Aasvoël op hom! Maar ek sê vir jou niks – ou Witpootjie glip vlak onder sy neus weg en woerts om die bos. Maar Aasvoël, ook nie links nie, keer hom voor.

“Nou het ek jou, outjie,” en hy blaf van opgewondenheid en blydskap.
Maar moenie glo nie, Witpootjie fop hom weer. En so gaan die jag voort, agter-toe, vorentoe, tot die kat eindelik sy huis haal en woeps! in is hy. Aasvoël krap en blaf en gaan te keer nes ‘n mal ding, maar dis verniet. “Jep, jep,” blaf Witpootjie terug van binne, net om vir Aasvoël uit te koggel. Ja, die ou diertjie is nog astrant ook.

Nee, Aasvoël, ‘n Besem vang jy so maklik nie. Jy dink miskien aan die dag toe jy een aan die been gehad het en jou klaargemaak het vir ‘n smaaklike middagete, nê? Maar in ‘n kits had die outjie weer handuit geruk – en jy, ou, moes leeg-leeg huistoe draf en ou Hoepelbeen was skoonveld. Maar, “Hoepelbeen” was …

Jokes
Die lesing was verskriklik droog, om die minste daarvan te sê. Die onderwerp was “Die Ontwikkeling van die Mens”, en as ‘n illustrasie wys die geleerde man op die onderskeid tussen die mens en die dier.
“Die mense,” so beduie hy, “maak steeds vordering, terwyl die ander diere bly stilstaan. Neem bv. die esel. Deur al die eeue heen, die hele wêreld deur, bly dit net dieselfde skepsel. Julle het nog nooit, geagte dames en here, julle sal nooit ‘n beter esel sien as wat julle vandag sien nie.”
* * *
Hy: “Vir wat klap jy so? Daardie vrou het akelig gesing.”
Sy : “Ja, ek weet, maar ek is verlief op haar tabberd en ek wil dit graag nog ‘n maal sien.”
* * *
Pa: “Hoe lyk dit, Koos, smaak die medisyne nog so sleg?”
Koos: “Nee, pa, nou gaan dit darem.”
Pa: “Drink jy nog gereeld drie keer op ‘n dag ‘n lepelvol?”
Koos: “Ja, pa, maar my lepel het weggeraak, nou gebruik ek maar ‘n vurk.”
* * *
Tante: “Miena, wie is die luiste in julle klas?”
Miena: “Nee, Tante, ek weet nie.”
Tante: “Wel, dis tog maklik as julle reken wie sit die luiste daarby?”
Miena: “Die juffrou, Tante!”
——————————————————————————–
Letters
Liewe Boerevroutjie,
Nou wil ek ook so’n rukkie met julle saam gesels orn die koffietafel. Ek sien so baie vertel van oumense, nou wil ek ook graag vir julle van my man se Ouma vertel. Sy is, sover ek weet, die oudste oumens in Lydenburg se Distrik, sy is die 12de deser 100 jaar oud, en is nog taamlik sterk vir so ‘n hoë ouderdom. Ouma was ‘n nooie Schoeman en was getroud met Jan Steenkamp. My skoonvader is haar enigste kind. Toe Oupa Steenkamp dood is, is sy weer met Jan Jacobsz getroud, hy is ook al vir jare dood. Ouma bly by my skoonouers. Sy kan nog al die voortrekker-verhale vertel, of dit gister gebeur het, sy was destyds ‘n kind van 11jr jaar.

Mevr Annie Catharina Jacobtz – Gebore Schoeman, gebore 12de Jan 1825

Maar nou wil ek somar ‘n grappie vertel, wat in die Boere-oorlog plaasgevind het. Ouma had een suster wat baie op haar gelyk het, maar sy was toe deur die Engels eweggevoer. Op ‘n dag kom ouma in ‘n winkel en sien haarself in ‘n groot spieel. Sy dog dis haar suster, sy loop na die spieel en steek haar arms uit, en sê “My liewe ou suster, is jy ook hier?” Dit het glo gedreun in die winkel soos die klerke en mense gelag het. – Mevr. Willem Steenkamp.
* * * * * *
Mej. C. Benade skryf : “Ek sien dat die vrouens en meisies saam gesels oor die armblanke, so wil ek ook baie graag iets daaroor skryf, want as almal dink en saamwerk kan die saak opgelos word.
Ek dink die vrouens en meisies moet werk om Suid-Afrika ‘n droë land te maak soos Amerika, want deur die drank is daar duisende kinders wat armoede en gebrek ly. Die vader werk miskien, en sodra as hy die geld gekry het, gaan dit na die kantien. Die kinders kry geen behoorlik opvoeding nie, en volg naderhand hulle vader se voetstappe. Ek het gehoor hulle sê, solank as hulle onder die in vloed van drank is, voel hulle so gelukkig en ryk. Ek dink al die vrouens en meisies moet saamspan om in die saak te werk. Ek wens die “Boerevroutjie” alle seën toe, en hoop sy sal nog lank lewe. Ons almal geniet haar baie.”
Source: Standard Encylopeadia of South Africa and Die Boerevrou Magazine 1922 November & December, 1925 January, March & June, 1926 April & June, December 1931

Brenda Howett

In 2001, Brenda Howett became the first female captain at SAA, after joining SAA in May 1988. By then she had been flying for 11 years. Brenda started working for SAA as an instructor on the flight simulator in December 1983. She was also the first female to fly a Boeing for SAA and the first female Instructor Training Captain. In 1999 she was one of 10 women honoured in the Rapport/Rentmeester Prestige Women’s Day Gala. Brenda retired from SAA on 30th April 2003 at the age of 52. Her last SAA flight was on a Boeing 737-800 from Cape Town to Johannesburg. She married Dev, a Springbok aerobatic pilot and company director. They have two daughters, Kerry and Tracy. The family own a private game farm in the Waterberg. 

Jane Trembath

Jane Trembath

Captain Jane Trembath is currently SAA’s only female captain. She commands a Boeing 737-800 on domestic and African routes. Jane started flying in 1982 and joined the airline in July 1988 at the age of 23, being the youngest Boeing pilot. Jane was the second female pilot at SAA when she joined along with Jenny Berger. In 1993 she was the first woman in SAA to qualify on the Boeing 747-400. She became a captain in 2001. Jane was the developer and chairperson of the SAA Pilot’s Association Mentorship Programme from 2002 to 2005.

On the 4th September 2001, six women made up the all-female crew that operated a Boeing 737-200 from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth and back. This was a first in SAA’s history. Flight SAA 401 was under Jane’s command. Merel VAN DER MERWE, who started flying in 1988, was the First Officer. The rest of the crew were Bessie NKWE (senior cabin officer) and cabin attendants Emma NEL, Ntombekhaya HEWU and Jolyn VISSER.

Originally from Ladismith, Jane decided to become a pilot in her Matric year when she flew from East London to the Wilderness with her parents in a light aircraft and landed on a golf course. After matriculating she started flying lessons and two years later earned her commercial pilot’s licence. In 1985 she was appointed Namib Air’s first female pilot and spent three years as a First Officer. Jane is also an inspirational speaker. Her other interests include doing mosaics, using Linux, playing the piano and saxophone, and designing and making clothing. Her parents are Tim, an engineer, and Vivienne.

Jenny Berger

Jenny Berger was still in school when she applied for pilot training with SAA. She was turned down but did not give up her dream. She persuaded her parents to use the costs of a university degree for flying lessons. She earned her licence straight after Matric. After obtaining a commercial licence and flying for a mining company she again applied to SAA when they advertised for pilots.

Chantal Reniers

Chantal Reniers was always interested in aviation. She was born in Johannesburg and was working at a hunting lodge in Nelspruit when she met a pilot. She persuaded him to let her take control during one of his flights. Shortly afterwards she asked her boss to sponsor her flying lessons in exchange for free flights later. Five weeks later, Chantal had 40 flying hours and a licence. In 1988, after working at various careers and spending time overseas, she decided to concentrate on flying. After attending theory classes and more exams, she started working as a part-time pilot at Lanseria. In September 1990, she joined SAA.

Chris Malherbe

In 1994, Chris Malherbe, from Pretoria, changed careers going from being a cabin attendant to the fourth female pilot at SAA. She had already amassed 3 100 flying hours. Chris became a flight attendant at SAA in 1975. Shortly after meeting her husband, Mike Malherbe, a training captain with SAA, in 1980, she started flying lessons from him. She obtained a private pilot’s licence, followed by a commercial licence and an instructor’s rating. She freelanced as an instructor when not on duty as a cabin attendant. In 1990, she resigned from SAA and obtained her senior commercial pilot’s licence in 1992. Chris flew for two smaller airlines before returning to SAA as a cabin attendant again in 1993, where she applied for a pilot position. She has a daughter, Michelle.

Asnath Mahape

Asnath Mahape

Asnath Mahape was SAA’s first black female pilot trainee after she successfully completed her multi-engine and instrument rating training in 2003. Asnath already held two pilot’s licences obtained through Progress Flight Academy in Port Elizabeth, when she entered SAA’s cadet pilot training programme.

She is originally from Rosenkrans, near Polokwane (Pietersburg) in Limpopo. She used to visit an aunt in Midrand, whose neighbour was an airline pilot. Asnath was fascinated by his job and after he lent her his aviation books and magazines, she was hooked. After matriculating in 1996 from Motse Maria Secondary School, a Catholic school near Polokwane, she went to the University of the Western Cape to study engineering while working part-time to earn money for flying lessons. She obtained her private pilot’s licence in 1998. In 1999, she was the first black woman to obtain her commercial pilot’s licence through Progress Flight Academy, after she inherited some money. A year later, with 200 flying hours, she joined the SAAF where she spent two years in ground school. Finally she was accepted as a student by SAA. Asnath obtained her Airline Transport Pilot’s Licence in 2003. She was nominated for the 2003 Shoprite Checkers/SABC2 Woman of the Year Award. She suffered a setback when Ross Air, which was giving her training, ran into financial difficulties in 2005. Another airline had to be found to continue her training.

In March 1997, four female cadet pilots received their wings as part of the second group of SAA cadets to be trained in Adelaide, Australia. After graduation they joined SA Express for further training.

In January 2006, Refilwe Ledwaba (26) received her police pilot wings in Pretoria, becoming the first black female helicopter pilot in the South African Police Service Air Wing. Refilwe is a helicopter and fixed wing pilot who had been training privately before she applied to the Air Wing in 2004. She started flying at 43 Air School in Port Alfred and later went for further training at Starlight Aviation.She is from Tzaneen and is the fourth of the seven children of Hilda Ledwaba, a single mother and principal of Punch Maponya Senior Primary School. She was an academic achiever at Prestige High School in Hammanskraal and earned a BSc, majoring in microbiology and biochemistry, from the University of Cape Town. Among her siblings, there is a lawyer, a lecturer and an engineer. Refilwe was always interested in flying. After completing her degree, Refilwe worked for SAA for three years.

Born on the 22nd August 1874 in a London suburb; died 5 February 1951 in Johannesburg. Conductor, composer.The son of German emigrants to England, Theo Wendt’s father was not completely happy about British education and sent his son to one of the Moravian Church Schools (probably Klein Welka) in Germany. There the discipline was strict, the academic standards high, and the boy could indulge his musical inclinations by beating the drum in the cadet band and by having pianoforte lessons. By the time he had turned fourteen he was determined on a career as a musician and after he had been tested by Carl Reinecke, the Director of the Leipzig Conservatoire, he returned to England for piano lessons under Robert Ernst, before entering the Conservatoire in Cologne in 1891. During his two student years in Germany he became saturated with the late German romanticism of Wagner, and returned to England for further study at the RAM. There the Academy Orchestra offered the possibility of nurturing his rapidly growing love of orchestral direction. He played the viola, at times also the timpani and other percussion instruments, and had sufficient opportunity for exercising his conducting talent. Exempted from examination, he was elected an Associate in the year in which he left England (1896).

He came to South Africa, provisionally to teach pianoforte and harmony at the Diocesan School for Girls in Grahamstown. He taught for 29 hours a week, but he also had a select private practice and was appointed to the management of a new branch of the music dealers, Jackson Bros. In time he also took up the teaching of pianoforte at St Andrew’s College. He became prominent at concerts at which he featured in the company of Percy Ould, a violinist whom he assisted in organizing music for the Grahamstown Exhibition of Arts and Crafts (end of 1898 – beginning of 1899). Wendt composed an Ode for chorus and orchestra to mark the beginning of the Exhibition and also spent some time playing on the pianos exhibited by Jackson’s. Shortly after his arrival, and towards the end of 1899, he presented pianoforte recitals at which a few of his own compositions featured on the programmes. But the opportunities for a first-rate musician were too limited and in 1901 he left the town to take up for a short while the management of a new musical branch of Darter’s in East London and then to visit Durban for a year.

Wendt embarked on a tour of South Africa in July/August 1914 (despite war clouds) and gave over 50 successful concerts at Kimberley, Klerksdorp, Potchefstroom, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban (when the War broke out), Grahamstown (to revive old memories?) and Port Elizabeth. They returned to Cape Town by sea. The tours were resumed after the War and became an annual event, inspiring Durban and eventually Johannesburg to emulate them.

Amid the rather dreary round of recreational and social concerts, the Thursday evening concerts devoted to the symphonic repertoire formed an almost charmed circle and extreme measures had to be adopted after the War when they were endangered by financial considerations. A voluntary Thursday Evening Subscriber’s Society saved the situation by guaranteeing a few thousand pounds each year for their continuation. Without these concerts Wendt would have had no cause to stay on in Cape Town. In 1921 the reluctance of the Council to concede his artistic aims led him to the brink of resignation. He was approached by the Vice-chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand to consider an appointment to the chair of Music in their projected Music Department. When Cape Town required to know the conditions under which he would continue as conductor, he demanded that the Council be relieved of the responsibility of the orchestra; this meant that an outside body would have to accept its management. The Cape Peninsula Publicity Association took up the burden and a new arrangement was reached which relieved the conductor of perennial financial worries. But after three happy years with the orchestra, there was trouble over the reinstatement of a previous reduction of 5% to the players, and when Wendt indignantly took up the cudgels, he was threatened with a reduction of R600 in his salary to meet the additional costs. In April 1924, on the eve of the orchestra’s sixth tour of the Union of South Africa, Wendt fesigned and became Musical Director and Studio Manager of South Africa’s first broadcasting station in Johannesburg. His first association with radio lasted two-and-a-half years and was ended when the broadcasting licence was awarded to Mr Schlesinger, a step which led to the creation of an African Broadcasting Company and the reconsideration of all aspects of broadcasting.

Wendt was responsible for supplying seven hours of listening entertainment each day. This included talks for women and children, operatic excerpts, plays, orchestral and chamber music concerts, as well as light music.

At the end of 1926 he departed from South Africa to establish himself in the United States of America. The American part of his career can be summarized. During the first six years of his stay he was mainly a lecturer in harmony and counterpoint at a college of music, but soon he had a variety of other occupations. He had some standing with Metro Goldwyn Mayer, for whom he composed original music and orchestrated existing music; on Sundays he travelled to Boston to conduct the Boston People’s Symphony Orchestra of 90 players; during the difficult times of the Great Depression he organized and conducted 90 orchestral players at Carnegie Hall and as a result was engaged by the National Broadcasting Corporation to conduct a series of symphony concerts. By 1933 he was established in American music circles and achieved an appointment as permanent conductor of the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra in Western New York State. Three years later he left America to visit Germany with his third wife, a Wagnerian soprano, presumably for the furtherance of their respective careers. While in Germany he had the opportunity of conducting the Berlin Radio Orchestra and was invited to London by the BBC to conduct his Six South African songs for a radio broadcast.

Barely a year after his arrival in Germany he was contacted in Munich by Rene Caprara, the first Director General of the SABC, to join Jeremy Schulman and Arnold Fulton in conducting the new SABC Orchestra. He accepted this proposition and landed in South Africa for the third time in February 1938, this time to conduct a body of players which, in combination with the semi-professional City Orchestra of John Connell, had at times a complement of 80. This arrangement lasted until 1944 when the SABC appointed him their official orchestrator and arranger. During these years he also returned to Cape Town as a guest conductor of the Symphony Orchestra he had established. The University of Cape Town awarded him an honorary Doctorate in Music on 10 December 1948.

Source: South African Music Encyclopaedia and Cape Times.

Born 25 March 1926 in Garlasco, Pavia; at present (1981) in Cape Town. Violinist and a keen naturalist.Artemisio Paganini studied violin at the Liceo Musicale (School of Music) in Monza with Rino Incerti, with adventures as a side-car passenger in motor-cycle races as a form of relaxation. On completion of further study at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan under Michelangelo Abbado (violin), he became a member of the Radio Orchestra and later of the Teatro Nuovo Chamber Orchestra. At the age of twenty-one he was a member of the Lucerne City Orchestra, the Lucerne String Quartette and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Through his appearance in concerts and radio programmes he became well known as a soloist in Switzerland and Italy. After meeting Enrique Jorda, conductor of the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra from 1947, and at that time a visitor to Geneva, Paganini became a member of the Cape Town Orchestra, and emigrated to South Africa in 1952. Nine years later he became the leader of the orchestra and also a member of the Arte Viva Trio which toured extensively in South Africa and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). For one year, 1965 -1966, he was leader of the PACT Orchestra in Pretoria, but resigned to resume his position as leader of the Cape Town Orchestra. Early in 1978 he and Franco Seveso founded the Musicanti Chamber Orchestra. He often appears as a soloist with the Municipal Orchestra, e.g. on the occasion of the conductor Carlo Zecchi’s visit to Cape Town.

Dr. Daniel William Alexander, Doctor of Divinity, Archbishop and Primate of the Province of South Africa and East Africa, in the African Orthodox Church-an independant Episcopal Church with apostolic succession through the Original Patriarchal See of St. Peter at Antioch.

Born 25th December, 1880, at Port Elizabeth, Cape Province. Second eldest child of Henry and Elizabeth Alexander (father a native of the French West Indies, Martinique). Educated at St. Peter’s Primary and Secondary Schools and the Sisters of Mercy (Catholic). Married Elizabeth Koster 28th August, 1901, at Pretoria. Boatbuilder by trade. Joined the British in the Anglo-Boer War, was captured at Colenso and sent to Pretoria.

After the capture of Pretoria joined the Anglican Church and was appointed chaplain at the Old Prison, eventually studying for the ministry under the Fathers Bennet and Fuller of the Community of the Resurrection, and Canons Farmer and Rev. H. Mtobi. Elected secretary of the A.P.O., Pretoria Branch, and the secretary of the committee for the purchasing of the Lady Selborne Township, Pretoria.

Resigned the Anglican Church and went to Johannesburg and joined the African Life Assurance Society as agent on their starting the Industrial Branch, and opened the Pretoria office after two and a half years. Resigned and was elected Grand True Secretary of the I.O.T.T., Northern Grand Lodge, before the separation. Re-elected 1920-21. Refused nomination 1922.
In 1924 organised the African Branch of the African Orthodox Church and was appointed Vicar-Apostolic by Bishop George A. McGuire, M.D., D.D., D.C., and in the following year was elected Bishop for the Province of South Africa. On arrival in New York was given Catholic Orders by Bishop W. E. Robertson and Archbishop McGuire respectively to the Priesthood, and on the 11th September, 1927, was consecrated Archbishop and Primate of the Province of South and East Africa, in the Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Boston, U.S. America. The Degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred by the Faculty (Honorary)) on the Archbishop.

Editor of the African Orthodox Churchman, a monthly magazine of the Province, and author of An Orthodox Catechism. Dean of the Seminary of St. Augustine for the ministerial students for the Church. Address: 3, Brimton Street, Beaconsfield, Kimberley, South Africa.

PRINCE GWAYI TYAMZASHE was ! born at Blinkwater in the district of Fort Beaufort on the 22nd of January, 1844. He was the eldest son of Tyam. zashe; Tyamzashe, the son of Mejana, son of Oya, of the Rudulu clan, cornmonly known as the Mangwevu. Gwayi as a boy saw all the horrors of the early Kaffir Wars, and was with his mother, Nontsi, during the terrible Nongqause cattle-killing episode, while his father Tyamzashe was a head councillor at the King’s Court. At that time Sandile was the Paramount Chief of the Xosa Tribe.

After the great armed protest of the Xosas, under Sandile and his brother Anta, Gwayi and his parents became detached from the main fighting body and eventually fell into the hands of the missionaries at Dr. Love’s mission station-now known as Lovedale. The late Mr. Goven was then in charge of the mission and he soon induced the raw native fugitives to be converted. Govan actually went so far as to pay those natives who attended infant classes. Gwayi Tyamzashe liked these classes. He was followed by many other natives. The signs of progress moved quickly. Messrs. Smith and James Stewart came to Lovedale, and Gwayi and his friends soon found themselves on the highway to civilisation and education. At all times Lovedale was open to all classes of pupils, and Gwayi found himself rubbing shoulders with European pupils, amongst whom were William Henry Solomon (late Chief Justice of the Union of South Africa), his brother, Richard Solomon, Schreiner, Grimmer and others.

Soon Gwayi qualified as a teacher and taught for some years at Gqumahashe, a village just across the Tyumie River. Just at that time Tiyo Soga was reading for theology in Scotland. This caused Gwayi to leave teaching and return to Lovedale for theology. Before doing so, however, he went in for a University examination in which Latin, Greek and Hebrew were essential subjects. This examination was above the ordinary matriculation. It was a red-letter day at Lovedale when Gwayi Tyamzashe passed this examination; flags were hoisted and the day was proclaimed a exam holiday.

Gwayi completed his Theological Course in 1874 and was immediately called to the Diamond Fields. In 1884 Gwayi and his family, consisting of his wife and three children, James, Henry and Catherine, left Kimberley for the wild north-Zoutpansberg. His journey to that part of the country was a heart-breaking one; the story of which would fill a volume. Leaving Kimberley with two ox-wagons, several milch cows and a pair of horses, he slowly made his way north. There were no roads to speak of; the country was unexploed as yet; the drifts across the rivers were mere sluits and no bridges existed anywhere; the country was still wild, and, worst of all, the Dutchmen, who occupied the Transvaal, were hostile towards the black races. When Gwayi and his caravan arrived on the Witwatersrand-as Johannesburg was then called-he was arrested for having no ” pass.” He was handcuffed behind his back and hurried off to Pretoria in front of four fiery horses of the “Zarps” (Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek Poliese). His wife, however, hurried over to Pretoria and personally interviewed Oom Paul (President Paul Kruger) whereupon Gwayi was not only released, but also given a free pass to his destination.

At Zoutpansberg Gwayi Tyamzashe opened a number of mission stations which exist to this day. He lived at Zoutpansberg for six years, and on being called back to Kimberley, he returned to the Diamond Fields. It was, however, a different Gwayi that arrived at Kimberley. He was physically a mere shadow of the former Gwayi, owing to a relentless attack of asthma which he contracted in the damp and marshy country of the Zoutpansberg. He lingered for six years in Kimberley and died on the 25th October, 1896. Prior to his death he had a serious case against the European Church Union which culminated in victory for him in the Supreme Court at Capetown.

Henry Selby Msimang

Born in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg, 13 December 1886, died in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg, 29 March 1982), interpreter, clerk, journalist, farm manager, and especially politician.He and his elder brother Richard Msimang were the children of the well-known African preacher who founded the Independent Methodist Church, Joel Msimang, and his wife Joanah Radebe.

Msimang received his primary education at the Emakosini Primary School in Nhlangano, Swaziland. Between 1903 and 1907 he studied first at Kilnerton Institution, a Methodist college in Pretoria, then Edendale Institution at Edendale, and finally at Healdtown Institution, a Methodist boarding school near Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape. Though he was then a qualified teacher, he never taught. His career started in 1908 when he was appointed as interpreter in Germiston, Transvaal. He never stayed in any career for long but kept changing jobs and homes. Between 1908 and 1965 he had fifteen occupations and lived in ten towns or cities in three provinces (the Transvaal, the Orange Free State and Natal ). From 1942, however, he settled in Edendale near Pietermaritzburg.

His political career started in 1912 when he was a founder member of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC, African National Congress (ANC) after 1923). During the following 30 years he participated in a number of their meetings, deputations and other activities. For many years he undertook the labour portfolio of the congress, and was a prominent member of the committee established to raise funds to send a deputation to Britain to try to have the Natives Land Act of 1913 repealed.

In Bloemfontein, in 1917, he was the editor of a newspaper Morumioa Inxusa (Messenger) (the title of the newspaper varied) which only existed for two years. (It could not be established if a connection existed between this newspaper and the one with which D.S. Letanka was involved in 1911, i.e. Moromioa.) During his stay in Bloemfontein (1917-1922) his long relationship with the labour movement started when, as a labour organizer, he led a strike of municipal workers in Bloemfontein in 1917, for which he was arrested and detained. In 1919 he liaised with Clements Kadalie, founder of the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU), about the organization of African workers. Together they planned the establishment of a national ICU and in 1920 held a meeting in Bloemfontein with this in mind. Msimang was elected president of the national ICU. When Kadalie failed to be elected to the executive he withdrew with his supporters. This led to increasing animosity between Msimang and Kadalie, resulting in Msimang’s resignation as president and distancing himself from the ICU until after Kadalie’s resignation in 1929. Msimang then rejoined and during the decline of the ICU he held the post of national propagandist. From 1928 to 1937 Msimang was a labour advisor in Johannesburg.

In 1922 Msimang returned to Johannesburg and became a member of the Joint Council for Europeans and Bantu. He was still involved in the activities of the SANNC/ANC and served on the national executive committee of the ANC during the terms of office of presidents J.T. Gumede (1927-1930) and Pixley Seme (1930-1937). In 1932 he was a member of the so-called revival committee that wanted to strengthen the organization from within to prevent its stagnation. Three years later, during the first meeting of the All-African Convention (AAC) in Bloemfontein in December 1935, he was elected as secretary.

In 1942 he returned to Natal and was elected provincial secretary of the Natal branch of the ANC, a position he retained until 1956. He was also a confidant of the Natal leader A.W.G. Champion. In 1948 he became a member of the Native Representative Council (NRC) although at that time it was no longer an active body. In December of the same year he attended the discussions with the AAC as delegate of the ANC during an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile these two organizations. During the annual congress of the ANC of that year Msimang was elected to the committee which had to draw up the Programme of Action. Early in 1949 he represented the ANC in discussions with prominent Indian leaders in an effort to reconcile Africans and Indians after bloody clashes between them in Durban and surrounding areas in January 1949. A year later Msimang and Champion’s political ways parted and Msimang lost his position in the ANC. However, when Albert Luthuli defeated Champion as president of the ANC in 1951, Msimang was reinstated as provincial secretary. But he lost interest in the ANC and even before the Defiance Campaign of 1952 he resigned as provincial secretary in Natal.

In 1953 Msimang became a founder member of the multiracial Liberal Party of South Africa. From 1956-1968 he served on the executive committee and in due course became the national vice-chairperson. His activities were, however, hampered in 1965 when the government forbade him to attend meetings for five years.

Msimang was also interested and active in local politics and problems. For many years from 1942 he was secretary of the Edendale Advisory Board Local Health Commission. He was the founder of the Edendale Benevolent Society and served as its secretary from 1946 to 1952, and from 1967 as honorary life president. In 1973 he was elected secretary of the Edendale AmaKholwa Tribe. In 1975 Msimang became a member of the national council of the Inkatha yeNkululeko yeSizwe. From 1974 to 1975 he served on the executive committee of the South African Institute of Race Relations. He was a Methodist and served in various committees of the church.

Msimang was a prolific author. Apart from numerous newspaper articles, including series of articles in several newspapers, he published a pamphlet The crisis ( Johannesburg, 1936) about the effect of the 1936 Land Act on Africans.

He was married twice and had four sons and four daughters. His first wife was Mercy Mahlomola King whom he married in July 1913. She died in September 1951, and in August 1952 he married Miriam Primrose Oldjohn.

Source and Image: New Dictionary of South African Biography