O1B3F1E. ELECTION 1994

MOMENTS IN OUR LIFE-1 2026-04-01

O1B3F1E. ELECTION 1994

A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME AND MEMORIES

INTRODUCTION

Life is not measured by the number of years we live, but by the moments that take our breath away, make us laugh, or force us to dig deep within ourselves for answers. This chronicle is a collection of such fragments from our lives in Wellington and the wider South African landscape. It stems from a time of enormous political changes, personal convictions and the simple pleasures of family. Through these anecdotes - from the inner chambers of politics to the blues we walked at a ship's casino - I paint a picture of a world that was, so that those who come after us can understand where we come from.

THE VISIT OF DR. PIET KOORNHOF

In 1994, before the April 27 election, we wondered if we could invite one of our political leaders to come and address us. We thought of FW de Klerk, but he would be too busy. (Yesterday we went to visit Gerrit on his 87th birthday, and when I told him about it, he said we should have asked FW - he would have come.) Then I thought of Dr. Piet Koornhof, SA's former ambassador to the UN. He has a lot of experience and knowledge of what goes on in the inner circle of the NP. I discussed it with Gerrit, and we were both positive.

When we put the idea to the group, Pieter Benade was very upset, because Dr. Koornhof was then having an affair with Marcelle Adams, a coloured girl who worked for him. She had a baby, and people wondered if it was his. Pieter said that the NP ministers were like heroes to him, and he felt Dr. Koornhof was a traitor. Our group decided to invite Dr. Koornhof to come and address us. He immediately agreed and asked if he could bring Marcelle with him, to which I said yes, she could bring the little one too. However, they decided not to bring her baby with them.

She could have, because we had a fantastic evening. But, like many of the other things I have experienced from him in the past few weeks, he, and then she also, are people who live out their consideration for other people. It is incredible to me. That Dr. Koornhof shows so much courtesy, respect and compliance towards other people. I know this, because he showed it to me, and he does not know me from Adam.

Certainly this is not the only strong point in his character, because no person gets to where he has come without many other talents as well. We experienced him as an exceptionally positive person, clear-headed, with a lot of perseverance. And he passes many of the Twelve Tests Of Character, from the booklet by the American philosopher Harry Emerson Fosdick, which I inherited from my father. He deserves it. And I want to write it down, because it touches our emotional values, something that we so constantly ignore in today's hectic life.

I went to buy a bouquet of dried fruit and nuts at Versailles Self-Catering for Marcelle. I told Kobus Victor about the visit and he was eager to come and listen to Dr. Koornhof too. Pieter and Rika did not come. The night they came, I went to wait for them at the NG Moederkerk and drove out to our house before them. Then I introduced them to our group members and asked Dr. Koornhof to address us about what lies ahead for us in politics.

He spoke very captivating - you could see he knew how to deliver a speech and he knew what he was talking about. I listened to him attentively. He told us where he came from, that he had a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford University in England, and his political career with the NP. Then he gave his opinion on where he thought we were headed.

When he had finished I thanked him, also for bringing Marcelle with him and I gave her the bouquet. After tea and refreshments they went back to Cape Town. For me it was a highlight, because I have always been liberal and his relationship with Marcelle did not bother me. I feel that whites and coloureds should move closer together. Apartheid is a thing of the past.

PRE-PAID POWER

In the 1990s the Pre-Paid electric meters came out. Due to the problems with people not paying their municipal bills regularly, Hennie Barnard in collaboration with the Electrical Department’s Mike Creedy and Jan Venter, had regulations approved that all new houses had to be equipped with Pre-Paid meters. The tariffs were also adjusted so that the meters could be installed free of charge in older homes - these meters were paid off over a year's consumption. Pre-Paid electricity tariffs were also made slightly cheaper than those of conventional meters, to encourage people to switch to Pre-Paid meters.

The big advantage for the municipality is that electricity was purchased in advance, so there were no collection costs on overdue electricity bills, or meters to be sealed off. Wellington had very few conventional meters in a short time. If any of them did become overdue, their conventional meters were replaced with Pre-Paid meters. There were also no problems with reading meters on plots where there were dogs.

A slip was printed with a code, which the user then keyed into his meter inside his house. There were to be a few places in town where Pre-Paid power could be purchased. These points of sale were spread throughout the town. One was at the Shell petrol station in Church Street, which is open 24 hours a day, so that anyone could buy power at any time. A second point was at Midway Supermarket in Pentz Street, near the municipal offices in central Wellington, and a third point in the coloured town of Weltevrede, outside a supermarket.

Some of our Treasury staff who were willing had to empty the machines on a regular basis and reload them with receipt rolls and ink for the printers, and when there was a problem, such as the paper clogging, we had to go and solve it. In this way we became quite well known among the people who came to buy electricity. We also sold electricity at the municipal office’s cashier’s point outside of normal hours.

Hennie Barnard soon noticed that there were people who had not paid their municipal bills, but were buying Pre-Paid electricity. He then introduced a rule that Pre-Paid electricity could not be sold to people whose municipal bill was outstanding.

I have a soft heart, and it often happened when I worked at the cashier’s point that people came with a sob story, for example that their child was sick with bronchitis and was dependent on his nebulizer. Then I sold them electricity. The other staff adhered to Hennie Barnard’s rule and this caused friction between us. At one meeting on a Monday morning it came up and I gave my opinion. When Hennie insisted that I stick to his rule, I said “I don’t want to be the cause of a child dying - will you?”, to which he said he would.

A few days later I was at the counter again helping someone, when Machiel said I was not allowed to sell to an old man. I stripped immediately, and called Kola to take over, and went home. That was the end of my involvement in Pre-Paid sales. I missed the extra money, but I refused to go against my convictions.

PRAYER AND MEETING

A few days before the elections on 27 April 1994, the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa and probably other churches also decided to hold a week-long 24-hour day of prayer. People who wanted to participate were each given a quarter or half an hour to pray for the upcoming election, that it would be peaceful. Our family group decided to pray together in a time block rather than individually. I think we were together in the Martha Hall from about 23:00 to 02:00. Everyone got a turn to pray out loud, also in silent prayer. About 01:00 Prof. Jaap Furstenberg came in quietly and sat down. When he prayed, one could sense his sincerity and we knew he was simply in a completely different class of deep faith.

On another occasion, our church had a fundraiser and everyone could borrow money from the church to use in order to make money for the church funds with one project or another. We decided on a snook braai. It rained a little and we decided to braai under Laboux’s large awning behind their house in Bain Street. We received orders, bought the snooks and also the white wine that went with it.

When the wine ran low, Gerrit and I went to buy a 25 litre plastic can at Agrimark and had it filled at Wamakersvallei wine cellar in Stokery Road. Of course, we also drank some of the wine at the braai and it was very cheerful there under the canopy. I think a glass of wine went with every snook portion that we delivered. It was a very cheerful occasion. So church is a gathering and does not have to be a stiff affair.

THE LAPA AND THE SWIMMING POOL FIASCO

At first we braaied on the weekends under a big white-and-blue umbrella in front of Marinus’ window on the grass, but the heat just burned right through that umbrella. Then we thought of a lapa, like the ones we had seen at our Transvaal family, especially Vos’s, which came down low on one side. I drew a sketch and then built a little model out of cardboard and dowels. We got Lucas Quality Thatchers to build the lapa, the corner posts 6 metres by 4 metres with large overhangs. I wanted the thatch on Mike’s side to be about a metre off the ground, but the builder said the weight of the thatch at that length would be too much - then the roof posts would have to be all the way into the ground. He made that side about 5 feet off the ground, so that you had to bend down to go through to the kitchen.

The original plan was that we would walk to the kitchen through the living room, but in practice we often used the rear passage to the kitchen to carry food and dishes. The lapa was built before the swimming pool, and cost R14,300. We have often said that the lapa is the best improvement we have ever made to our property, because it was wonderfully cool in the summer heat of Wellington.

When visitors came, everyone immediately walked through to the lapa. Rinie especially misses the lapa. There was a jacaranda tree on Dot’s side and its shade and the fact that that side was mostly in shade, later caused the thatch on that side to rot on the outside, and we had to have the lapa re-roofed after about 23 to 25 years. This was done by Highveld Cape Thatchers. The construction was kept the same, except that they added two more vertical posts on the long sides, because the long horizontal posts bent under the weight of the thatch and the collected dust in them. Their cost was R34,400, with fire retardant treatment, just for the thatch.

The swimming pool was built in 1995 and also has a history. I heard of Koos somewhere that he builds swimming pools. He came to show me a whole file of swimming pools that he had built all over South Africa, many of them with his trademark, a dolphin emblem. He said that I could go to Sunfield Home, the home of, among others, Down Syndrome people on the Bainskloof Road, to see what he had built there. I went there to look, and the manager told me that he was completely satisfied with Koos' work.

I asked Koos to build us a small swimming pool, 6 meters x 3 meters x 1 1/2 meters deep throughout. Koos probably had 2 or 3 workers who did the excavation work. The soil was a hard yellow clay and it took a long time. At that stage there was nothing behind our erf, just open farm land, and they just wheeled the clay further away with wheelbarrows, because there was a heap afterwards where the children later played.

Then Koos came up with a cunning plan, He said it was not necessary to build a cement wall around the swimming pool. He had used hardboard several times, because, he said, the hardboard is covered with glass fibre and resin that holds in the water. I was sceptical about this, but he assured me that he had used this method several times with no problems. Then I gave in. Big mistake.

At that stage the building process had already dragged on so much that I was quite disheartened. He only arrived from Kuilsrivier at about half past ten and was already driving back at half past four. I then told him that he could sleep with us so that he could just finish the swimming bath, but he was not open to this, because his wife apparently needed him.

At that point he bought an old Cortina station wagon with which he drove his workers, wooden rafters, drums of resin and rolls of fibreglass. Then he ran out of petrol on the R44 road. I towed him to a petrol station in Wellington and bought petrol for him too, because he had no money. Then the Cortina wouldn’t start. So I had to tow them with the load to our house, up that steep hill of Mont Pellier Avenue. I was worried that I might have damaged the Passat’s clutch.

He used 2 x 3 wooden rafters around the sides of the pool, to which he then nailed the hardboard. I worked most of the time while he was building, and so only saw the end product, which didn’t look bad. I didn’t want his trademark dolphin emblem. He built the steps the way I wanted them. Then the pool was filled with water from the garden hose - I only heard much later that you can ask the Municipality to quickly fill your pool with a tanker. Everything seemed fine then and Koos was gone with his money.

Some time after that it rained quite a lot. One day I was walking around the pool and suddenly along the lapa side my leg went in up to my groin along the pool’s hardboard! There was no paving around the pool and under the lapa at that stage. The hardboard made a bulge where my leg went in. Koos was nowhere to be found and in any case I no longer had any trust in him.

I looked in newspapers for companies that build and repair swimming pools, and found someone from the Cape - I think they were Malays. I asked them to rebuild the pool with cement bricks and then cover it with fiberglass. When they removed Koos' hardboard, the guy called me and said that there wasn't even fiberglass on the hardboard - there was only resin! The bloody crook!

The new team quickly finished the cement work and covered the entire pool with fiberglass and resin. After that, it served us well for many years. The children enjoyed it very much, especially in the beginning. In the Wellington summer heat, it was nice to cool off. As usual, I mostly swam underwater with my eyes open, really just one hard kick against one side, then I glided through the water to the other side.

To swim, I screwed two metal rings into the middle of each side of the pool. I made two holes in my swimming trunks and secured myself with two bicycle racks so that I could swim without moving forward. So I got some good exercise, because the swimming bath was too small to actually swim.

Late one hot summer evening, Christiaan and some of his friends were still in the pool when we went to bed. I asked them to be quiet so they wouldn't bother the neighbours. At about three in the morning I was woken by an explosion in the silence. It was Christiaan bombing in the pool! He was always so exuberant.

"CRUISE TO NOWHERE"

Rinie had always wanted to go on a cruise with one of the big ships of MSC Cruises. It was a bit expensive and the most popular trips go from Durban to the Portuguese islands, near Mozambique's capital Maputo, and back, so we would also have to fly to Durban and back. Then she saw that there was a trip from "Cape Town to Nowhere" - it's a 3-day trip from Cape Town out of the Duncan Dock, a turn into the deep sea and back to Cape Town again. I think it was about R5000 for the two of us. We were in a cabin with a window to the outside, but one of the lifeboats outside obstructed most of our view. The tickets were of course a little cheaper for that, but we didn't know about the lifeboat in front of our window.

We had to wait in a long queue in the harbour so that all the formalities could be completed first. Late afternoon we got on the Sinfonia and took our luggage to our cabin, which was compact but big enough with its own shower, toilet, hand basin, TV and double bed. Then all passengers had to go for a safety lecture on deck. All transactions on the boat are in US dollars, so we had to exchange a certain amount of SA rands for dollars.

There was a very strong wind and we would be leaving the harbour during the night. The meals are the strong point of such boat trips - all food is free and there is really an exceptionally large variety, which is available throughout the day and night. Soft drinks, coffee and tea are also free. All you have to pay for is hard liquor, and that is very expensive. At dinner we sat at the table and ate from a menu. There were 13 floors on the ship that could carry 2679 passengers. We walked around the first night and explored everything. There was a lot of entertainment arranged for the passengers, movies, live shows, also a casino and 2 swimming pools and 2 jacuzzies.

When we woke up the next morning and looked out to see if we were at sea, we were still in the harbour! Because the south-easterly wind was still blowing strong, it would be too dangerous for the boat to go out through the narrow harbour opening. We went up to the upper deck for breakfast. While we were standing there in a queue and waiting, I saw through the full-length glass wall how the quay slowly turned from right to left! It was scary and my stomach turned - then I realized that it was the boat that was moving. Because the boat is so big, it creates the illusion that the boat is stationary and the quay moving. We were finally sailing out of the harbour - the wind had died down enough for it to be safe. We could now see what Cape Town looks like from the sea. It is really beautiful. Far below us there were small boats for a while, until we left them behind.

We were now heading for the deep sea, and soon there was no land in sight, only water around us. There were waves running in the deep sea, but the Sinfonia is so big that we could not tell from the movement of the boat. The tonnage is 65,542, the length 274.9 meters, the height 54 meters, the speed 40km per hour. It has a crew of 721. Yet there is a very slight rolling movement, so that when you walk down the aisle, you have to consciously walk straight when you pass people.

We continued to explore the boat. Everything is very beautiful and tasteful. The staff makes sure that it stays that way. Of course, they tidy all the cabins. We went outside to watch the entertainment that was arranged for the passengers. They take lots of photos of all the passengers and you can buy them, at a very high price. There was quite a cold wind blowing, so we didn’t go swimming.

Rinie was interested in the casino and we went to look at the gambling machines. I can’t remember how it worked, but one of the other passengers explained to Rinie how the codes work that you have to type in to play. I think she put in 280 as the code, then it still didn’t work. Then she put in the code a second time and the machine worked. She played for a while. After a while she got bored, so she pressed the Exit button, and the machine printed out a slip saying she had won $295! At the next machine she repeated the routine, played for a while and then went out again. This time she won $262. It went better than expected, she kept winning. The same with the third and fourth machines - she won on all of them.

When she got tired of gambling we went to the cashier and asked him what we should do with the winning slips. He said he could pay us the dollars, which we preferred. All in all the total was a nice amount, I think about $1,350! Not bad at all for a night of gambling, and it’s dollars. At that time probably R15 = $1 = R20,250!

The next morning I saw a slip under the door, and when I read it, I saw it was from the casino, saying we owed them $1,400 and I must please come and pay it! At first I couldn’t get the hang of it. Rinie wanted to keep “her” $1,350 at first, but when we went to the casino cashier to figure it out, he said every time Rinie typed in the second code of 280, it meant she bet $280. So she put $280 into the machine at each machine she played, x 5 = $1400. So she actually lost $50 with the 5 times she played. Luckily she didn’t use a bigger code. She actually had to load the paper slip from the previous machine at each subsequent machine instead of entering 280 a second time.

The second day we were in the deep sea south of Cape Town, and by the afternoon of the third day we were back at Duncan Dock. No one leaves the Sinfonia until you have paid all your debts. Then your remaining dollars are converted into Rands and paid out to you, and only then can you go off the boat by the gangplank, back to mother earth. For the three days our Mazda 626 was parked under the Table Bay hotel. We just said we had lost the parking ticket, so they couldn’t make us pay for more than 24 hours. The end result was that we got away with a R30 ticket - very cheap for 3 days of parking.

CONCLUSION

Looking back on these events today, I realize that life rarely goes according to our plans. The swimming pool builders may be deceitful and the casino machines confusing, but it is precisely these "mistakes" that produce the most colourful stories. What remains is not the guilt over a rule broken to help a child, or the dollars we never won. What remains is the coolness under the lapa on a hot afternoon, the company of friends at a snook braai, and the knowledge that integrity and human dignity always outweigh politics or money. These memories are the building blocks of my life - may they also provide you with a window into a time of sincerity and perseverance.