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S C R A PB O O K
FOR SCRAPS, PHOTOS. NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS, ETC.
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VERVAARDIG IN R.S.A. P .A . MANUFACTURED IN R .S .A .
C R IM E IN S O W E T O -1
THEBLOODIEST PLACE ON EARTH
‘T don’t carry a knife” (more laughter). What did he think of the i'dea of stabbing someone? “ If he wants to fight, I ’ll stab him.”
There are many types of gangsters in Soweto: “ bad” ones who rob and kill Africans and "good” ones whose victims are always White; big time professional criminals armed with pistols, and young thugs who hang around street corners waiting to rob an old man or a w>eary washerwoman.There are the big gangs who
specialise in protection rackets, killing or maiming those who refuse to pay. They never make exceptions: they can’t afford to.
Their weapons range from powerful “ four eight” revolvers to the “ ntshumetshus,”
Every doctor who has worked in a non-White hos
TEN MILES from Johannesburg is Soweto, the home of nobody knows how many people. It’s a featureless place: it has no famous streets, no famous places, no famous people. It’s just big.
It’s where the Black people go when they’re not working for the White people.
Visiting V.I.P.s go there. They are told that Soweto is one of the sights of the Southern Hemisphere with its endless rows of neat little houses, its miles and miles of tarred roads, its smart middle- class township, Dube, where Africans are really quite well off. its well-equipped schools, and its charming beer gardens.
They probably notice other features of Soweto life hardly worth boasting about: the streets crowded with urchins, drunks, thugs and won’t works; the people outside Dube are desperately poor; the schools are crowded and ill-equipped; there are hundreds of vice-ridden shebeens; and most of the roads are dusty.
Soweto does have one distinction, though it shares it with Alexandra Township. It is the bloodiest place on earth.
A thousand people are murdered in Johannesburg’s townships every year. That is five times as many as in the whole of Great Britain.
The average daily toll is three. But some weekends there are 20 people murdered.
But Soweto is clean. It’s the showpiece of apartheid.
If you want to visit the townships after 6 p.m. you must get a permit from Johannesburg’s Non-European A ffairs Department. The permit contains this reminder: “Any person entering any location, Bantu village or Bantu hostel does so at his own risk.”
That is a fair warning, because in Soweto there is an army of men fighting a bloody battle against authority and against those laws and values which the world now recognises are essential for the happiness and safety of the common man.
They roam the streets in gangs, robbing, raping, killing anyone in their path. They break into houses and threaten people with the death of their children if they don’t hand over their wages.
In shebeens they stab customers who refuse to buy them a drink and they beat up girls who won’t “ go with” them. They march through crowded trains robbing anyone they like and pushing people out of windows.
A “ Rand Daily Mail’’ investigationB Y M IC H A E L C O B D E N
biggest threat to White civilisation.
But it is important to remember that the main sufferers are the Africans themselves. Mr. Patrick Lewis, the Johannesburg City Councillor in charge of Non-European Affairs, said in a recent lecture: “ I often feel that today the greatest need in Soweto is to find some way of providing the law-abiding citizen with protection from the molestation of his fellows."
Mr. W. J. Carr, manager of the Non-European Affairs Department, told me: “ There are many people in Soweto who have taken to lives of violent crime. Many of them are youngsters, and in any case children are growing up in an atmosphere of thuggery and disregard for the law.
“ Unless something is done, the next 50 or 60 years are going to be absolute hell in Soweto.”
The police in headquarters in Johannesburg and Pretoria have plans. But the men who work in Soweto are baffled. They say, looking at the problem from a policeman’s point of view, that there are so many criminals they don’t know where to start.
An officer told me: “ The only way to stop the violence is to search every man, woman and child entering the townships. Of course, that’s impossible: it
I spent an evening at his station. I saw four boys, none older than 13, arrested on a charge of raping an adult woman. They were huddled together in the corner of a cell and when the sergeant went to see if they were all right they seemed to forget their fear and put up a front of defiance.
The sergeant took me on one o f his night patrols. As we drove slowly up and down the dusty streets, he kept pointing out “ tsotsies.” And when we got back to the station he said to me: “ The funny thing is that there are very few Whites who realise what is going on here. They think it’s all peace and quiet here. If only they knew what we had to put up with."
pital knows the mark of the ntshumentshu: a thick blood smear near the base of Ihe spine hiding a puncture between two vertebrae.
Remember the infamous Msomi Gang? Its members were ntshumentshu specialists. They used to practise on stuffed sacks.
Now, with protection racketeering growing in Soweto, this weapon is being used more and more.
Then there are the big gangs whose business is big robberies, nearly always outside the townships. These gangsters have made a profession of crime. They sneer at the street-corner youth, armed with his little pocket knife, but they watch how he operates because they are always on the lookout for talent.
In these gangs everyone is a specialist. There is the “gunman,” armed with a Luger, whose aim is deadly even from a fast-moving car. There is the “car man,” the driver of the getaway car. And there is the “ block man,” whose job it is to distract passers-by from the crime by driving his car into another in all innocence.
Not all killers are gangsters. Most murders, in fact, happen in fits of rage or in drunken brawls. One man has cheated or insulted another, out comes a knife, and one or other falls dead.
Colonel C. A. Buys, chief of the C.I.D. on the Witwaters- rand, says: “ I don’t want to cast aspertions on any racial group, but the fact is that in Soweto might is right. The people there stab when others wouldn’t think of even using a fist.”
Perhaps most puzzling of all are the apparently insensate killings.
In the Johannesburg Inquest Court I listened to a number of cases where there didn't appear to be any motive for the murder.
In one a young man told how he and his girlfriend had wandered away from the roar of Soweto to a place in the veld.
Suddenly two men were there. They battered the boy unconscious with sticks and
•1,000 murders a year •Hundreds stabbed every weekend
•Thousands of teenage gangsters
•World's highest paraplegic rateThey run protection rackets,
forcing shopkeepers and men with any sign of wealth to pay for their safety. If they don’t pay, they are shot or stabbed with the dreaded “ ntshumentshu,” a needle-sharp spoke of steel which is plunged through the spinal cord, leaving the victim paralysed. They have given South Africa the highest paraplegic rate in the world.
They are uncompromising, vicious men. And their numbers are growing.
For sociologists and psychologists they are “an interesting phenomenon” . For the police and the officials who run Soweto, they are an overwhelming problem. Some people believe they are also the country’s
I spent many days and nights in Soweto and one evening I got talking to one of the thousand gangs of three or four youngsters.
One of the boys told me he was 16. He had no idea who his father was. He lived with his mother and “another man” who took no interest in him and gave him no pocket money.
He had left school at 12 and since then he had d o n e “ nothing” . He had n e v e r thought of trying to gét a job and he had no idea what he was going to do, ever.
Had he ever robbed anyone? “No” (his friends laughed). Had he ever stabbed anyone?
stabbed the girl to death. The post-mortem showed that she had been stabbed more than 30 times.
The boy said he did not know the two men. They had not robbed him. He had no idea why they should have done such a thing.
Johannesburg’s Africans are used to this kind of thing. They live with It constantly. There are few men in the townships who have not been stabbed or beaten up at some stage of their lives.
“Getting home safely is an achievement,” says “ Rand Daily Mail” columnist Stanley Mot- juwadi. “Every day you run the
risk of being beaten up,, stabbed, robbed or murdered.”
If you don’t believe Motju- wadi, talk to your washerwoman or daily help, and watch how she hides away her pay before she sets out on her long way home.
Or ask yourself why the factory worker prefers to be paid in a number of notes. Watch him putting a rand in his shoes, one in his back pocket, one in a jacket pocket, one in his underpants. . . .
Or look closely at a group of African men. See how many have stab wounds on their faces.
Or go to Baragwanath Hospital at a weekend and watch the trauma cases pouring in. There are hundreds of people stabbed in Soweto every weekend.
Or read the African newspapers: they are full of gruesome murder stories every day.
Or go to the Inquest Court. It is a little room, but there the seal is put on great dramas.
The magistrate, Mr. L. E. Mostert, is used to horror. He deals with nearly 3.000 cases of unnatural death a year. Half of them involve assault and the vast majority of the deceased are Africans.
Mr. Mostert describes himself as an even-tempered man. He can stand hearing about a man beaten to death with half a brick, a woman left to rot with a featureless face, a child burnt to ashes, an old woman battered to a frazzle.
For others the Inquest Court is a nightmare, and there is one magistrate who will do anything to keep away from it.
The clerks who handle the dockets assume a matter-of- fact attitude to their work. For them each death means an entry in a register.
One girt took her work more to heart. It wasn’t long before she asked for a transfer.
Other people who come face to face with crime in Soweto — policemen, doctors, social workers, municipal officials— seem perpetually staggered by its dimensions.
Captain W. J. Fouche, officer in c h a r g e of Meadowlands Police Station, says: “ It js impossible to imagine how much stabbing goes on. You’ve got to see it to believe it."
Dr. V. Kemp, Chief District Surgeon, Johannesburg, says: “They seem to kill with such little compunction. It is endlessly distressing.”
A doctor who works in the casualty department at Baragwanath: “ The sheer brutality is beyond belief, let alone compréhension.”
Professor Julius Lewin. associate professor of African Administration at the University of the Witwatersrand, refers back 22 years to an article he wrote on "Crime in relation to Native policy,” in which he warned that “ unless we take steps to revise radically our Native policy, it will soon be too late to do so effectively.
“We will have brought into being a large army of lawless and embittered Africans on whose co-operation it will l?e impossible to count even under a revised system of law and administration.”
This army, he said, threatened to reach its maximum strength at a time when the growing trend towards an industrial and urban society in South Africa would In any event result in an increase in crime, as it has done all over the world.
In some measure, at a n y rate, it would seem that Professor Lewin was right.
Certainly the problem has become so great that it is now beginnig to affect— and even threaten — the Whites miles away from Soweto. No longer can they close their eyes to what happens in the " “locations.”
On Monday men who have watched the waves of crime in Johannesburg’s townships will tell of the notorious gangs they have known and the experiences they have had in the face of violence.
THE BIG GANGSHAVE LOST
GLAMOURjust co ld -b looded killing
THERE was a lime when township crim e was featured prom inently in the White Press. Now the newspapers seldom even record an A frican murder.
This is probably because murder has become so commonplace that it is no longer regarded as news. The police take that view: at daily Press conferences the four or five township murders of the previous night are usually passed over quickly or completely ignored.
There are many Africans who are hurt by this attitude because they believe It represents a general White feeling of disregard for African life.
Perhaps it is simply that the romance seems to have gone nut of African crime. All the famous gangsters, like Boy Faraday, King Kong, Shadrack Matthews and Ginger Mashiana. are either dead or in jail and their gangs are broken.
Actually their places have been taken by other gangs and other gangsters who still have their shooting battles with the police and with each other. But, somehow, they aren’t the same.
There are several reasons for this. The gangs were born in Alexandra Township and Sophiatown. When the big move to Soweto started, there were people who hoped that gangsterism would be left be- Jiind,
But all that was left behind was a certain amount of megalomania and greed — Soweto is simply too big to be terrorised by a single gang — and the strange, ambivalent attitude the residents had to the gangs.
Alex and Sophiatown were cauldrons where the tribes mixed in a mass of joy de vivre. People loved Sophiatown for all its terror. They had tlieir own homes on freehold land which gave them their individuality, but they also had a camaraderie.
They knew how to enjoy themselves. They were uninhibited folk who expressed Ihemselves in laughs and merry c h a t t e r , punctuated with whoops of delight and raucous shouting.
The gangsters were part of the people's way of life. They were unattached, unemployed and irresponsible
In Soweto things are different Most residents are wage earners, and a middle class is emerging of people who want to live responsible lives centred around their families.
The gangsters have changed, too. There is no place for the knuckle-headed, gory, old-time slaughterer. Only the coldly efficient killer can now hope to survive in a business in which he stakes not only his
■ livelihood but also his life.
&In this sense the drama has
gone out of African crime. Where in the past a victim staggering down the street with a knife or a bullet in his back was a fairly common sight, now he is killed instantly.
When the police finally smashed the Msomi Gang, there was renew ed hope that this was the coup dc grace. It wasn’t, o f course. The gangs of today may be nameless, but they are just as active and they are better trained in the art of killing.
Even if the gangs were to
—N o w it'sdisappear, violent crime would continue until the entire social structure of urban African life was changed. People will go on pulling out knives in a rage and stabbing their enemies— and even theiy friends.
Mr. W. J. P. Carr, manager of Johannesburg’s Non-European Affairs Department, has watched the waves of African crime for more than 30 years.
He remembers the days of the hostel battles, the “ ama- laita” gangs o f young thugs in their baggy shorts and vivid vests, the popular weekend gladitorial fights, and the rows and rows of corpse-like drunkards asleep in the streets everv weekend.
He remembers the one-man gangs, like Zoro’s, who carved a “Z” on the inside thigh of all his women, and the small gangs who modelled themselves on A1 Capone. He remembers the S.S. Gang, protection racketeers who would slit the throat of a shopkeeper’s savage dog to drive home to the stubborn man that they were dangerous.
And the Frogtown Boys, who lived in Alex on the banks of the stinking Little Jukskei River, home of a million frogs, and who had the reputation, jealousy guarded, of never giving anyone a second chance.
Then came the Spoilers, who dominated Alex to such an ex
tent that the people clubbed together to form a civic guard. The Spoilers were smashed; but the guard became the Msomi Gang.
“ By now,” says Mr. Carr, "it was really ugly, with the big township gangsters living lives of terrible, violent crime under the shelter of stooges and documents always in order.”
Young boys heard about these gangsters. They listened intently to stories of gun battles at 90 ni.p.h., of men like King Kong, of famous shebeens where big robberies were planned. They were excited: that was a world they wanted to be part of, last- moving, fearless and fruitful.
They grew up with admiration for criminals and contempt for authority. And they never changed.
“ Lately crime has begun to be directed against women, because they are now earning money. At shows and dances, gangsters arrive, paw the women, threaten them and molest them. And the men
stand there helpless, afraid to intervene.
“ It’s the same in the streets, where people are stabbed to death or outraged in front of others. Though the victims scream their heads off. no one comes to their aid.”
It’s not that people don’t care. In an issue of the “ World,” Johannesburg’s daily African newspaper, shortly before Christmas there appeared a signed letter addressed to the gangsters of Soweto.
“ Dear Terrorists,” it began, “ I recall with the utmost disquietude the assaults and savage slaying committed by you during the course of this year. You have been waging a needless, ruthless and undeclared war against members of our decent society, and casualties have been high on our side.
Q * ---------“ Doubtless to say, you are
aware of our firm determination to fight on continuously against your rebellious, murderous and absolutely indecent society.
“However, I wish to remind
you that the festive season is already with us. . .
And the letter went on to beg for a “ ceasefire.”
Soweto is especially ugly at Christmas. The dancing in the streets cannot hide the fact that most people are too scared to venture outdoors, and that countless domestic servants in the suburbs of Johannesburg stay away from Soweto on Christmas Day and miss the special church services they en- jo j so much.
I was strongly advised by municipal officials and policemen to keep out of the townships during the holidays. Not that it is only then that killing is rife. Although most weekdays are relatively quiet, the weekends are nothing less than a nightmare for everyone.
Every M o n d a y morning someone in the trains has a story to tell of seeing an innocent man murdered by gangsters, or of a neighbour who watched helplessly as his wife was raped by a gang of thugs
who had already robbed him of his wages.
The statistics of all this are sketchy, unco-ordinated and out of date: the last annual report of the Commissioner of Police — which is for the year ended June 1964 — is a 17- page document which compares most unfavourably with the highly detailed, analytical bluebooks of other advanced countries with nothing like South Africa’s crime problems.
& --------------------------------
Detailed figures for Soweto are not available, but bearing in mind that violent crime is heavily concentrated among Africans in the central Wit- watersrand, some of the national figures are worth quoting:
• There were 4,792 cases of alleged or suspected murder reported (only 900 fewer than were killed on the roads), 21,036 cases of robbery, 7,888 cases of rape or attempted rape, and 197.694 cases of assault.
• Altogether S.528 Africans died as a result of criminal acts o f violence.
• Of the 4,792 murder cases reported, 946 resulted in convictions, 1,526 in acquittals, and in 635 cases the charge was withdrawn.
• In 96 per cent of the murder cases brought to court, both the murdered person and the accused were non-White.
• Convictions for murder increased by 50 per cent in the three years from 1960.
If the official figures for murder are correct, then South Africa has a murder rate six times that of the United States, 40 times that of Britain and 300 times that of Israel.
Q t ------------------Mr. T. J. van Heerden says
in a recent thesis on criminalistics that there were 1.168 cases of murder handled by the medico-legal laboratories in Johannesburg in 1964. No less than 97 per cent of the deceased were non-Whites.
Most of them were men, and the most common age group was 22-26. More than 60 per cent of the murders were committed with “ sharp instruments.”
The superintendent of a big African men’s hostel showed me some of the weapons he had collected in less than two years.
There were screwdrivers with their ends filed down to sharp points, a curved Indian knife, rather like a Ghurka
A 'Rond Daily Mail' investigation
B Y M IC H A E L C O B D E N
• South Africa’s murder rate is 40
times that of Britain
leased from prison who believed he had had a hand in their arrest. His head was chopped open in two places, his heart, genitalia and stomach had been cut out, and he had been stabbed, probably with a ntshumentshu, in the temple and under the chin.”
• 4,792 Africans murdered in one year
— but only 946 convictions
• There has been no police report
since 1964
khukri. an assortment of long, pointed ntshumentshus, knives of all sizes, a knuckle duster and a bicycle chain.
There was a “ kwaga” which had been taken away from a tenant who said he had bought it to get his revenge on a man who had seduced liis sister.
There was a factory-made panga. The superintendent told me how he got it: “One Sunday afternoon I was called to a fight outside the hostel—there is seldom a fight inside the hostel— and I found a man lying on the ground.
“ He had huge wounds in his arm and shoulder. Nearby a group of angry men had cornered someone. I got six policemen and we barged our
way through the crowd.“ There was a man standing
there with a panga. He handed it over to me and said: ‘Super, here it is. I chopped him. He is my brother-in-law. He threatened to shoot me, as my wife had complained to him that I was not supporting her. I bought the panga for protection.’
“As we led him away the mob grabbed him and battered him with sticks. Before we could stop it. he was badly mauled.”
The superintendent said family problems like that were common causes of violent crime. So was recrimination.
“ I once saw a man slaughtered by nine men just re-
The gangster's motive is, oi course, money, though it often used to be bravado. Dr. Celi- court dc Ridder, a Johannesburg psychologist who spent many years in Alexandra working for Putco, and has made a close study of the African criminal, says the township crime business is “steeped in all the intrigue, scheming and double-dealing of the White man’s world, combined with the fury of barbarism.”
® -----------------------------
His unpublished manuscript “ The Frogtown Boy,” typifies the pressures to which so many African youths are subjected.
“ It is not a pretty story," he says. “ Yet it is an essentially human story, a tale of a boy lighting against the world. A cruel world, an animal world, a world brought about by a clash of cultures, a collision of ways of life: the Black man’s way and the White man’s way.”
Tomorrow this “ collision” will be examined.
C R IM E IN S O W E T O - 3
The, f U . Ï I . vioie
THERE Is a common belief — the chorus in most discussions of African behaviour patterns — that brutality is inherent in the African’s make-up.
‘They do not have the same regard for human life as we do.” And: “ They do not mind the sight of blood” . . . “They do not feel pain like Whites do” . . . “ It makes no difference how- educated they are, they will still kill for a sixpence.”
Professor Herman Venter, head of the department of criminology at the University of Pretoria, dismisses such arguments with firm conviction: “ A man’s race has absolutely nothing to do with his inherent tendency to commit a violent crime.
“ A White man living in conditions conducive to aggressive criminal behaviour is just as likely to commit a violent crime as a man of any other race.
“ Unless this is accepted, no profitable discussion of crime in the townships is possible.”
&That said — and let it never
he forgotten — it is safe to admit an element of truth in 1he common explanations for the high incidence of violent crime among Africans. The lie is in the assumption that Africans are inherently bloodthirsty.
There are factors, notably the effect over generations of living in a tropical climate and the neurological damage caused by protein deficiency diseases, like kwashiorkor, which might make some Africans more predisposed to psychopathic behaviour than the average White. But even these factors are not inherent: they are environmental.
There is, too, the question of tribalism as expressed in another favourite chorus: “ It all goes hack to Chaka and Dingaan.”
Some tribes did have the custom of blooding their spears as a qualification for manhood (rather like the Red Indians’ scalping). But there is no evidence that this has been carried over to gangsterism.
Nor are the Zulus of Soweto more inclined towards violent behaviour than people of other tribal backgrounds.
It is also wrong to explain the high incidence of brutal crime in terms of tribal warfare. There arc cases where
fees and medicine — makes poverty so much harder to bear than in the rural areas, where people share.
Mr. Carr says: "If one grows up in an uncultured, poverty- stricken home, one is predisposed to crime.”
Life in Soweto is conducive to crime. There are thousands of illegitimate children. They are usually placed in the care of an elderly relative, quite incapable of looking after them properly. Which means that from an early age they arc undisciplined and do not enjoy the crucial influence of good parents.
They learn rather from the general way of life: they see people being robbed and murdered and there is no one to make them really understand that robbery and murder are evil acts. They know only that to rob means to have money for food and other things nobody gives them.
Most leave school before their teens if they ever go at all. They have years to spend doing nothing. The temptation is great, so they take to crime.
Illegitimacy w as never a feature of African life in the rural areas. Under tribalism, premarital pregnanAjcs would have had serious consequences for
both parties. But in the towns no such sanctions exist and illegitimate children are accepted without the lift of an eyebrow.
This attitude is promoted by widespread prostitution, usually associated with shebeens. The prostitutes are often adolescent and it is quite common for them to sleep with 20 men in one day. It is no wonder they become pregnant.
There is, too, as in so many features of urban African life, a perversion of the concept of lobola. Lobola is really a child price: if the bride proves infertile the lobola is repaid and the bride is returned to her family.
In Soweto, however, the man often makes it his business to find out if his girlfriend is fertile before he even considers marrying her. And so often when she has produced a child the man leaves her — and the illegitimate child.
These children grow up with contempt for their parents — if they know who they are — and for authority of any sort. TOMORROW the African’s attitude to authority and the implication it has in the fight against crime will be examined.
Where it begins . . . broken families, illegitimacy, thousands of children with no one to guide them. Like these youngsters they form teenage groups; they begin by playing dice and robbing passers-by, and from there they are
recruited by the big crime gangs.
aggressive tribalistic feelings lead to a fight, but it is the aggression rather than the tribalism; that is the root cause.
Aggression, in fact, is one of the two most prominent personality forces of township Africans (the other is anxiety). Unless this a g g r e s s i o n is checked by other forces, i*. will find expression in acts of violence.
Dr. Simon Bieshejvc). who has done extensive research
into the psychology of African personality and is now personnel director of South African Breweries, believes that the mass of people in Soweto have lost the traditional sanctions that controlled their behaviour. These have not been replaced effectively by Western sanctions, most important of which is the'family,
“ In many cases there is no family worth speaking of, and where there is, the parents are generally incapable of making real to their children the diversified requirements and the value systems of Western society.
“ The result is that many township dwellers arc directed only by impulse.
“ It is because of this, because i n s t i n c t i v e urges dominate their behaviour, that they are predisposed to lawlessness, violence and laxity of sexual morals.”
There is a clash of
cultures . . . social
control breaks clown
. . . and impulse takes
over
Dr. Biesheuvel likens the situation to that of the early Renaissance: “The commonman of the Middle Ages, living in small communities dominated by feudal overlords and by a church which threatened with hellfire but offered no spiritual sustenance, ignorant of the true nature of the physical world, and finding outlets for his anxiety and aggression through the medium of witchcraft, was not unlike many tribal Africans in his tradition-directed personality.
“ Eventually this society burst its bonds in a great expression of the human spirit, both physical and intellectual.
“ The new era was characterised by violence of all sorts, both between individuals and between groups, as the bloodstained history of Florence— a city at the very vortex of the Renaissance — amply illustrates.”
Professor Venter secs the problem similarly in terms of what he calls a “culture conflict” : people adapting to the outward material culture of an urban, Western society without internalising the moral or spiritual values.
tion of a social order before another could take its place.”
The people who left the rural areas to work in Johannesburg, he said, had faced a traumatic social change.
“At home there was respect for the elders, but the daily battle of life in the city gradually obscured this, and self came first. What an adjustment to make!
“ The migratory worker, away from his wives, could not be expected to observe tribal sanctions and restraints, and so began a most heart-rending upheaval in the structure of Bantu society, particularly in family life.”
Worried as Mr. Lewis and Mr. Carr are. they cannot even begin to tackle the problem until they have well-researched
A “ Rand Daily Mail” investigation
BYMICHAELCOBDEN
This transitory stage, he says, is bound to be difficult. It creates insecurity of personality and makes young people particularly susceptible to distinctly amoral behaviour.
“This does not apply only to the Bantu,” he says. “ Whites moving to a big city from the Plattcland, particularly less fortunate Whites, face a similar conflict and are just as vulnerable.”
Two men who have watched the culture conflict in operation in Soweto for many years and are worried about it are Mr. Patrick Lewis, the city councillor in charge of non- European affairs, and Mr. W. J. P. Carr, manager of the Non- European Affairs Department.
“ I know and you know,” said Mr. Lewis in a lecture last year, “ that all is not well, all is not as it should be. When there is a social upheaval people get hurt, and it will take time, patience and understanding to heal the wounds caused by the destruc*
information at their fingertips. Even if this can be attained only with the resources of the central Government, it must be done without delay before the crime rate gets completely out of hand.
Meanwhile, it is left to the academics (and the general public) to speculate and to apply well-established principles to the immediate problem. So, for example, it is well known that in any country the crime rate goes up with industrialisation and urbanisation.
Africans in the urban areas is hampered by a body of legislation which has the effect of preventing thousands of Africans from being with their families in the towns. Various studies have indicated that only about 25 per cent of married men have their wives with them in the towns.
“So when we smash the really effective methods of social control, like the family, which implant within the individual healthy social attitudes and values, we can’t be surprised when he, in turn, smashes a woman over the head for no accountable reason.”
Nor is it only in family life that the urban African lacks security. No African has the right to remain in an urban area longer than 72 hours. True, he can be granted an exemption to enable him to remain longer, but this is only an exemption and it can be taken away by a comparatively minor official.
Last year about 50.000 Africans were endorsed out of the Witwatersrand area. In the first six months of the year 13,074 Africans were arrested for being in the prescribed areas of the Witwatersrand for more than 72 hours without permission.
“These figures show,” says Mr. Savage, “ that the African has a very tenuous existence in (he urban areas; and if his ass is out of order and he is thus unahle to be legally employed in the urban areas, he either has to return to the poverty- stricken rural areas or continue living illegally in the town.
“ Here,” says Mr. Michael Savage, a lecturer in sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand, “ the rate is being forced up faster by Government policy, which makes life in the towns so i n s e c u r e for Africans.
“ Normal family life among
“ If he stays in the town sheer hunger, frustration and poverty can drive him to crime. The recent survey of the cost of living in Soweto reveals a dismal picture of poverty. It shows that countless families are paid too little to enable them to buy the bare essentials to survive physically.
“ One can hazard a guess that one o f the ways they can close the gap between income andexpenditure is by crime.”
Few Whites realise just how poor Soweto’s people are. And living in an urban area, where cash is required for everything — for rent, food, clothes, school
C R IM E IN S O W E T O - 4
WHY NO ONE WILL HELPTHE POLICE
X 2 /
ANY POLICEMAN who works in Soweto will tell you that one of the biggest problems in fighting crime is that the people are unco-operative. If the crime does not directly involve them, they want nothing to do with it.
“ A man can be stabbed to death at a crowded station and nobody will admit having seen it happen.”
There is a reason for this. If Africans do try to stop a fight, for example, not only do they face the common hazard of being attacked themselves, but they also face the distinct possibility — which smacks of Chicago in the twenties — of strong recrimination.
This is especially likely if they call the police or even talk to the police. And that in any case, can involve them in the unrewarding business of having to give statements and evidence, which might entail missing a day or two at work and perhaps losing their jobs.
They cannot see any immediate benefit in reporting a crime, so more often than not they choose to ignore it. The result is that the police have a difficult task trying to bring criminals to justice.
I^ook again at the murder statistics for South Africa — remembering that the vast majority of murders involve non- Whites — and you will see how many cases go unsolved: there were 4.792 cases reported of which 3.299 were sent tor trial
With only 946 resulting in convictions.
This means that a man who commits murder has an 82 per cent chance of getting away with it.
In the townships the police tend to work harder to catch the murderer of a White person than of a non?Whitc person. At least part of the reason for this is the uncooperative attitude of people who should he in a position to help track down the murderer. '
That the police in Soweto should be working in the face of indifference and even hostility is a serious matter. To understand it, it is necessary to look at the sociological development of a place like Soweto.
For 30 years or more A fri
cans have been antagonised by official policy and administration to an extent where authority in the shape of the official who endorses them out of the city or the policeman who demands to see their passes has come to be resented in varying degrees.
This factor is reinforced by the master-servant structure of race relations in our society and the African with any degree of sophistication is embittered by this. It is asking too much of him to be philosophical when he is insulted by a White man not half so cultured or educated as he.
Not only that: he is frustrated because he does rot have a proper chance of using his talents of fulfilling his potential of satisfying his natural desires for achievement and status. So like Shadrack Matthews he takes to crime — where there is no colour bar, no job reservation.
Another factor which contributes to the lack of respect for authority is Soweto's size. It has become so big — some believe nearly a million people live there though the official estimate is about 500,000 — that there is no personal con-
The nature and extent of the legislation, as Professor Julius Lewin said 22 years ago, is enough to create an atmosphere wholly unfavourable to the cultivation of respect for law.
The fact is that the criminal law and the penal system are being employed for purposes for which they are unsuitable: as a means of attaining certain ends in Government policy.
Jailing a man for breach of a township regulation, or for not having his pass at hand, or for being out after curfew without a permit — which happens all the time — means that the distinction between serious crime against one’s fellow men on the one hand and offences against petty regulations on the other becomes blurred. This leads to disrespect for law, including criminal law.
In any case, laws will not be respected by the common man unless there are other social forces at work.
In a Western society these include the home, the family, the neighbourhood, the church, the professional or vocational
body to which a man belongs, his clubs and, not least in this acquisitive age, the desire to advance in power or wealth.
&"There is in South Africa
today,” said Professor Lewin ‘ ‘a deeply rooted tendency to regard law not only as the primary but as the sole agency of social control.”
(This emerges clearly in the mentality that insists, whenever anything goes wrong, that "there ought to be a law” .
"This is a fundamental illusion. The law can only confirm codes of behaviour that are already observed at least to some degree by reason of the o p e r a t i o n of other social forces.”
Tribal society had its forces which were most effective and which made tribesmen feel bound to obey the laws. But
A "Rand Daily M ail" investigation
B Y M IC H A E L C O B D E N
tact between officialdom and the public.
Officials, i n c l u d i n g the oplice, are generally dedicated people working against frightful odds to ensure that Soweto runs smoothly. But with the best will in the world they cannot see all cases on their individual merit. This leads to disillusionment and lack of confidence in authority.
.And this is tragic because the people who live in Soweto have a social heritage that was marked by deep respect for law and order — and now so many have become lawless. It is a measure of the failure of official policy that this has happened.
Closely linked with this is the fact that the African coming to Johannesburg faces a battery of legislation way beyond his comprehension (A. Gordon Davis’s “Urban Bantu Laws” ran to more than a million words and a supplement and it is long since out of date.)
they arc absent from the relationship which has been established between Africans and the law by the elaborate network of Bantu administration. Instead there is uncertainty, insecurity and confusion.
If this fact were widely appreciated, said Professor Lewin, there would be far better public understanding of the real reason why so many Africa, s become law-breakers.
Consider these “ other social forces” in the context o f township life.
The home and the family are often insecure or non-existent in any real sense. The father (and the mother too, to an increasing extent) leave home early in the morning and return late at night. They are thus largley incapable of helping their children to understand the values of an orderly way of life.
The neighbourhood is unpredictable, except that it is usually of one ethnic origin. As
Africans become more sophisticated they resent being herded together with people they may dislike.
The phrase, “ the urban African” , is really meaningless, because the M.A. and the illiterate thug simply cannot be grouped together to any effect. Yet they often have to live next door to each other because they have no choice, unless the M.A. has the money and the influence to acquire a stand in Dube.
This is unfortunate for the man who has made an effort to advance, only to see his children pulled back by the other children and families they are forced to mix with.
The fact is that in Soweto there is very little opportunity for meaningful social grouping which is the basis of any society.
There is also little opportunity for community leadership because the Government discourages this at every level for fear it will lead to political activity.
This is a serious weakness in the social structure of a place like Soweto. It also affects the community’s attitude to author ity: people are less likely to submit to outside control than to leadership from within the community.
Policemen examine passes in a Johannesburg s treet during a police raid to clear the city of lawless elements.
ii
The only body representing the community’s interests is the advisory board, but this does not command the respect of the residents because it does not have any real authority.
Many men with real leadership qualities are in jail because they did indulge in political activity. Those who are not have no opportunity of guiding the community. The community suffers and so do the leaders.
The church does offer some satisfaction, though it is doubtful whether many sects contribute towards increasing the standard of social morality of their members.
The job situation is of great importance, because this is one situation in wdiich the African has the chance to assimilate Western standards. Yet it is a situation where many obstacles are put in his way.
Instead of making a substantial contribution in the fight against crime by offering financial emotional and intellectual rewards for talent and hard work employment too often serves to promote frustration and tendencies towards criminal behaviour. In the musical ‘ ‘King Kong” there was a good example of this. The gangsters poked fun at the ice cream vendor for doing something so humiliating and dull to earn a meagre living. Unless he was a man of character, he would not have been able to withstand such taunting.
&There are hardly any clubs in
Soweto, though sports (especially football and boxing) have huge followings. Many years ago. when the Non-European Affairs Department wanted to find a counter-attraction to the weekend gladitorial fights, they established a football associate l. It was a sensible move: the crowds flocked to soccer and the fights stopped. But it was not a sol- to theproblem of violence.
The feature of social life in Soweto which overshadows all others is drinking. Drunkenness is often listed by doctors and policemen as a principal cause of crime. While it may be true that a drunk man is more likely to start a fight than a sober man and that a drunk is fair game for robbers, drunkenness is not a basic cause of crime. It is rather a symptom, or even an effect, of the type of society where crime is likely to flourish.
Africans drink for the same reasons as other people. They drink more because they are more frustrated, lonely, anxious and bored than people in a healthy social environment.
TOMORROW: What can be done to make township life less conducive to crime?
C R IM E IN S O W E T O - 5
What to do about itA SOLUTION to the problem o f township crim e does not seem possible without a substantial change o f Government policy.
There should be an end to jail sentences for petty offences; family life should be restored; the pass laws replaced with some form of control which does not create instability and embitterment: job reservation abolished so that people have some hope of advancing in the field of employment; compulsory education introduced; and the poverty reduced.
Is this asking too much? Surely not when the experts are talking about “ an army of lawless and embittered Africans” — an army which is growing larger, more lawless and more bitter from generation to generation.
There does not seem to be any reason why penal punishment for petty offences should not be abolished.
A lawyer said: “ No man benefits from being jailed for a night because of some technical infringement. It doesn’t do him any good mixing with real criminals and it doesn't do society any good having him in jail.
“There is hardly an African in Soweto who hasn't been to jail: that is something we should all be ashamed of.”
Professor Julius Lewin, of the University of the Witwa- tersrand, said in his paper on “Crime in relation to Native policy” that no African could be sure at any time that he was not committing an offence.
'T make bold to say that the legal position today is such that the police can arrest any African walking down the main streets of Johannesburg at any time of the day or night, and any competent p r o s e c u t o r would have no difficulty find ing some offence with which he could be charged.”
This state of affairs makes the task of the police most difficult, because the nature and extent of the petty laws
they are called on to enforce are enough to create an atmosphere unfavourable to the cultivation of respect for law.
In lact, the police in Soweto do not seem to have any clear idea how to set about combat- JhS crime on a long-term basis. Their most common reply, when asked what they are soing to do about it, is “ We don’t know, we just don’t know.
The mass police raids, which have become a feature of township life, are not a long-term solution. They have the merit of reducing the immediate incidence of crime — one policeman told me Soweto was “ like a morgue” after a raid — but it is not long before the rate r e t u r n s to normal (for Soweto).
fhe raids probably do succeed in rounding up'some real criminals, but, in the process they worsen relations between the public and the police. It is not a pleasant experience to be woken up in the middle of the night to have one’s home searched.
The police now plan to make Soweto a separate district (at present it is administered from Newlands) and this will proba- bly lead to a bigger and better
staff of men operating there.There seems no doubt that
more men should be on patrol, both in cars and on the heat. The police themselves believe this would make a difference only if the increase were substantial, and they say this is impossible with the present manpower shortage.
This is arguable: there is probably enough African manpower to double or treble the African force, and it might be well worth it to use a few more top officers in the townships.
1 got the impression that African policemen could work harder than they do. There were always a number of uniformed men lounging arojnd outside the stations.
At present African constables are not armed with guns and this makes them helpless when confronted by an armed gang-
the much s m a l l e r size of Pretoria's townships and the city itself; and a feeling among residents that if they consider they have been u n f a i r l y treated, they have a genuine right — and means — of appeal.
Professor Venter, who hopes to enter the Pretoria City Council this year, stresses community spirit because he links it with regard for one’s fellow men and tjieir possessions and with respect for authority, attitudes fundamental to a well- ordered society.
Vet community spirit will never emerge until it can have a focal point in leadership. Some means must be devised of allowing leaders to take their rightful place in Soweto’s socie- ' ty without sending them to jail.
The answer may lie in the Urban Bantu Council, which is to replace the joint advisory boards soon, but only if the council has much more authority and responsibility in fact than the advisory boards, which do little more than talk.
The Johannesburg City Council has already made up its mind that although the Act provides for the council to be delegated considerable power oyer the welfare of the community, it will be a long time before it is given carte blanche.
The City Council would be well advised not to wait too long. Africans will never know the meaning of responsibility until they are given exercise in it.
There is much that the City Council can do to make Soweto a place less conducive to crime.At present it has few attractions and no beauty. It should have at least a few handsome buildings, parks, an art gallery, a music centre, fountains and trees. Of course nothing would be better than a university.
&The aim should be to make
people proud of Soweto, and to make their lives more secure and more enjoyable.
If, with the help of social welfare workers, the Urban Bantu Council can tackle the high rate of illegitimacy, delin-
A Rand Daily M ail" investigationB Y M IC H A E L C O B D E N
ster. One constable told me:Wbat can we do? We see a
gangster robbing someone and we run up waving our truncheons, shouting ‘Halt!’ And the gangster just points bis pistol at us and says, ‘Voet- sak’.”
A police officer said he was against arming all African policemen because he believed many of them would sell their weapons.
"It happens now with sergeants, ’ he said. “ They walk into my office, their uniforms covered in dust, and tell me they’ve been robbed of their guns.
H hether they are telling the truth or not, it shows that if you arm everyone, more guns will get into the hands of the gangsters.”
Perhaps the answer lies in citizens’ vigilantes or civic guards. They have never been a success in Johannesburg’s townships because they have always been taken over by protection racketeers._ ’"But,” says Ur. Celicourt dc Kidder, a psychologist who has made a dose study of township life, “ they might well be an immediate measure if they were properly controlled by the police. They would foster a feeling of social ‘belonging- ship,’ which is so badly lacking in Soweto.”
Professor Herman Venter, professor of criminology at the University of Pretoria, believes it is very important that the community be brought into the light against crime. He says he does not know Soweto well, but lie has the feeling that Pretoria s townships enjoy several advantages.
These are: a good community spirit: good liaison between civic and higher authorities:
fluency and drunkenness, the widespread boredom, and the deeper problems like police public relations and the atti- tude to the law. then its es- tabJishment will be a splendid event.
But perhaps most can be achieved in the fields of employment and education. It is no good educating people if you don’t provide the opportunities lor them to use their training- the better educated they are, the more they need satisfactory outlets.
The Government boasts that nearly every African child has some schooling. That is true; but the majority do not get beyond standard two. This means they have years to pass before they are old enough for employment.
Hither they must he kept at school longer or something else must be found for them to do before they start working. At present they loaf, in the worst sense of the word.,, 0nce they do start working,, wi|l never be satisfied until their work is integrated in their way of life. The man who comes to work on the mines regards his job as an interruption of his life. He works for six months, and then he goes back to the reserves and resumes his tribal life.
The African who lives in boweto and comes in to Johannesburg every day to do a menial job also regards it as a?ífetraCtl0n' 11 iSn t part of his
Mr. E. Raymond Silberbauer director of the Bantu Wage and Productivity Association, believes employers should do more to ensure that Africans do jobs which they are suited
for and that merit is recognised by a rational system of increments.
“ If Africans like their .w ork, if it satisfies their immediate needs and offers them theprospect of advancement, they will be better workers and better citizens.”
M * r
Mr. Silberbauer would also like to see more African women brought into industry. He believes they are an excellent source of labour and that if
they did work, a number of social problems would be solved and the standard of living in Soweto would rise.
The aim of all this is to create a meaningful community hie in which people can participate fully. Then only will they assimilate values that make for orderly conduct.
Honesty, for example, is not an abstract concept: it is a 1 functioning thing that relates like all habits, to one’s circurm stances.
It is a challenge for everyone’s biggest efforts, because if our efforts are unequal to the task, one trembles to think of the consequences in the years ahead.
Concluded
Message of the Mayor.
Clr. PATRICK LEWISwhen launching the
National Road Safety Campaign for Cyclists
F riday 28th March. 1 96 9
During 1967 a total of 11,079 road accidents in which cyclists were involved, occurred in the Republic of South Africa. In these accidents 4.751 persons were injured or maimed, whilst 799 were killed.
The South African Road Safety Council is so concerned about this tragic waste of life and limb on our roads, that it has decided to devote the major part of 1969 to a N ATIO N AL RO AD SAFETY CAM PAIG N FOR CYCLISTS.
The Johannesburg Road Safety Association, which is responsible for Road Safety in Region 12. the Magisterial District of Johannesburg, has pledged itself to support this campaign to the best of its ability and I, in my dual capacity as Mayor of Johannesburg and Honorary President of the Association, would like to appeal to every parent, every school principal and teacher, and particularly to every pupil, whether he is a cyclist or not, to join forces with the South African Road Safety Council and do everything to curb this senseless slaughter of cyclists on our roads.
ding Johann npany, told ioubtedly rica’s most « nips. We’ve j im.”
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the Broken lich has bee tices from r th here and Country Boy l " “ Eclips indy’s Dancf ed.”All lyrics ritten by tale r, Ramsay Me
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ago.
Throughout the year publicity material on the campaign will be distributed throughout our Region, whilst the Press and the Radio will also give the campaign every support and I am confident that if the useful information, the valuable hints and the earnest appeals that will reach you during the next six months are heeded. Johannesburg and its environs will show a marked decrease in accidents, injuries and fatalities in which cyclists are involved. That this will indeed be so. is my very sincere wish.
Office of The Mayor, Johannesburg.March. 1969.
PATRICK LEWIS. M A Y O R .
/ SoulSouth African Digest, May 2,
I
Hoofstad
Prof. Chris Barnard hands over the Perfect Merit Trophy to Dr J. P. Kearney, director of the Phosphate Development Corporation which mines at Phalaborwa. The trophy is awarded to companies which show a million man-hours of operation without accidents causing loss of time. The company, Foskor, did better than this by recording four million manhours without loss of time due to
accidents
S T P iQ . — ‘3 e í i v / v d < í v ^ —
A memorabl2 2 / l ï j a y d o l ty(oty,
e finaCompiled
hyJohn
Kennedy
W ALLY HAYW ARD , at 4 /, emerged from enforced retirement to win the Korkie Memorial race from Pre
toria to Germiston.
THE M.C.C. tour over, the South African
sporting public turned its focus 20 years ago this week on to the forthcoming fight between Johnny Ralph and the British and Empire heavy-weight champion, Bruce Woodcock. On most days the newspapers led t h e i r sports pages with news of the boxers’ preparation.
Perhaps not as intriguing for the public was the Transvaal women’s golf championship played during the week, but if the tournament failed to capture the imagination the fight inspired, the performances of the two finalists at least drew high praise from golf correspondents.
In the final at Glendower, Royal Johannesburg’s Mrs. Stella Gaynor Lewis met Mrs. Betty Peltz. The “ Royal ” golfer was an exceptionally long hitter, and this attribute finally led 1° her victory at the 37th green.
Always in the lead, Mrs. Gaynor Lewis was five up at the 12th in the morning round and seemed set for a comfortable victory. But at that point Mrs. Peltz began a resolute fight-back which she maintained until the very last putt.
Against a golfer of overwhelming length off the tees, Mrs. Peltz’s only counter was courage, complete mastery of the short game, and unfaltering touch on the greens. The real fight began in the afternoon, when the match produced a duel of length and power against superb steadiness and round-the-green control.
The players were off the 36th tee all square, and Mrs. Gaynor Lewis sliced her
ball into a bunker in a position that hid her approach to the green. She was forced to chip out on to the fairway, and Mrs. Peltz was given her chance. But cool and steady as she had been, she hurried her most critical shot and finished 50 yards short.
The players halved the hole in fives, Mrs. Peltz having gone round in 74 — one of the best scores in a women’s final.
But the gallant little woman had lost her chance. Mrs. Gaynor Lewis was at her finest at the 37th, reaching the green with a wood and eight-iron while Mrs. Peltz was short after two woods. A good putt gave Mrs. Gaynor Lewis the match and made Mrs. Peltz the loser at the 37th hole for the second successive year.
During the week a hardy Wally Hayward, 41 years old at the time, emerged from his enforced retirement — a torn muscle in 1947 had prevented him from representing South Africa in the Olympic Marathon — to win the Korkie Memorial race from Pretoria to Germiston. His 4hr. 34min. 12sec. was nearly seven minutes faster for the 38-mile course than George Burdett had achieved in the inaugural event the previous year.
Most of the Springbok cricketers who had played the M.C.C. in the tests returned to club matches during the week and Bruce Mitchell, in action for Old Johannians against Old Ed- wardians at L i n k s f i e 1 d, scored a magnificent 133, including 20 boundaries.
•He added 112 for the first wicket with Russell Endean, and at one stage Johannians were 222 for two. They eventually won by 43 runs.
A week of keen play brought together Mrs. Betty Peltz (left) and Mrs. Stella Gaynor Lewis to contest, the final of the Transvaal Women's golf championship in 1949. A memorable match.
Messagefrom
His Worship the MayorCouncillor Patrick Lewis
OINCE establishment over fifty years ago as a First World War ° Memorial of the Methodist Church of the Transvaal, the Epworth Homes have passed on to hundred of orphaned and needy children of all denominations the love and sympathy, care and selfless service of countless men and women, who have worked in the interests of the children.
Without the support and generosity of persons such as the audience tonight, Johannesburg’s public, the financial needs of the organisation could never be met.
I believe tonight’s premiere is especially to raise funds for the new Epworth Homes being established in Germiston. I am certain that those who will be accommodated in these Homes will ultimately become happy, well-balanced men and women appreciative of the value of this living Memorial and the sacrifice made by others on their behalf throughout the years.
The Mayoress and I express thanks to the staff and voluntary workers who give so much of their time and energy, and hope that tonight’s premiere will prove both a social and financial success.
PATRICK LEWIS, Mayor.
This Page Sponsored by Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Co. Ltd. Group of Companies
3
In a la st desperate e ffo rt to prevent W orld W ar III, a se cre t m eeting is arranged* One m an is called
j upon to su cceed w here all the world leaders have failed.That m an w as once a prisoner in a R ussian
i labor camp* He is now the Pope.
A distinguished international cast ignites all the dramatic power
all the magnificent spectacle of Morris L West's best-selling novel.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents a George Englund production
THE SH O ES THE
FISHERMANstarring
Anthony Quinn Oskar Werner David Janssen Vittorio De Sica
Leo McKern • Sir John Gielgud Barbara Jefford • Rosemarie Dexter
also starring Sir Laurence Olivierscreenplay by John Patrick and Jam es Kennaway • based on the novel by Moms LWest
a«eciM6yMichael Anderson-produceabyGeorge EnglundPanavision*and M etrocolor © MGM
n aid of The Epworth Children’s HomesW elfare Organisation No. 2 7 2 6 )
GalaFilmPremiere
(By Courtesy of
A frican Consolidated Theatres)
Fine Arts Theatre JohannesburgWednesday, March 19th, 1969
Linder the auspices of;
The Methodist Church of South Africa— Johannesburg South Circuit
Gala Film Premiere(By Courtesy of A frican Consolidated Theatres)
In aid of The Epworth Children’s Homes(W elfare Organisation No. 2 7 2 6 )
Address of Welcome and Greeting by the President of the Conference of The Methodist Conference of the Methodist Church of South Africa .... .... .... Rev. C. E. Wilkins.
Greetings and Good Wishes from The Citizens of Johannesburg — His Worship the Mayor Councillor Patrick Lewis.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents a George Englund production
THE SH O ES
O F THE FISHERMAN
Suggested for GENERAL audiences.
swrrmgAnthony Quinn • O skar W erner David Janssen • V ittorio D e S ica
Leo McKern • Sir John Gielgud • Barbara Jefford Rosem arie Dexteralso starring Sir Laurence Olivier screenplay by John Patrick and James Kennaway based on the novel by Morns L West
directed by Michael AnderSOn-produced by George Englund- Panavisionand Metrocolor M G M
Benefit ProgrammeGala Film PremiereFine Arts Theatre, Johannesburg
Wednesday, March 19th, 1969 8 .0 0 p.m .
Produced by GEORGE ENGLUND
Directed by M ICH AEL ANDERSON
Kiril Lakota ....David Telemond George Faber ...Ruth Faber .......Cardinal Leone Cardinal RinaldiFirst Pope .......Vucovich .........
Kamenevand
The CastAnthony Quinn . Oskar Werner . David Janssen Barbara Jefford
.... Leo McKern Vittoria De Sica ... John Gielgud ..... Clive Revill
Laurence OlivierANTHONY QUINN OSKAR WERNER
SIR JOHN GIELGUD BARBARA JEFFORD SIR LAURENCE OLIVIER ROSEMARIE DEXTER DAVID JANSSEN VITTORIA DE SICA
Screenplay by MORRIS L. W EST
Based on his best-selling novel
Director of Photography ERW IN H ILLIER
PANAVISION-METROCOLOR
GEORGE ENGLUND ENTERPRISES PRODUCTION
Presented byMETRO-GOLDWYN MAYER
LEO McKERN BURT KWOUK
1819
Acknowledgements
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Johannesburg - Cape Town - Salisbury Raymond Vice Steel Ltd.C. F. Lawson & Co. (Pty.) Ltd.President Neon Signs Ltd.Nestlé (S.A.) (Pty.) Ltd.Newtown Bag Co. (Pty.) Ltd.C. & C. Electroplating (Pty.) Ltd.Ernest H. Johnson Ltd.Frederick Sage & Co.Union Castle LineAfrican Associated Stevedoring Ltd.Ryall Trading Co.Ferro Enamels Ltd.W L. Ochse & Co.Truworths Ltd.Six Hundred S.A. (Pty.) Ltd.Metal Rolling & Tube Co. (Pty.) Ltd.Hay-Hoe Manufacturing Company
UDC Bank Ltd.E.M.I. (S.A.) (Pty.) Ltd.Monahan & Frost (Pty.) Ltd.Clapper Goodwin & Stanton Ltd.Elvolac (Pty.) Ltd.Summit Construction Co. (Pty.) Ltd. Simon-Macforman (Pty.) Ltd.Plate Glass Bevelling & Silvering Co.L & F Metter (Pty.) Ltd.Vortex Ventilation Ltd.The Central Engineering Works (Pty.) Ltd. Alex Lipworth Ltd.Legal & General Assurance Society Hobkirk-Doves Group P. C. Zanen (Pty.) Ltd.B & M Chrysler Ltd.Schindler Lifts (S.A.) Limited Sagit Trust Ltd.Ore & Metal Co. Ltd.J. Blakeborough & Co.Union Metal Windows (Pty.) Ltd.G. E. Symons & Co.Hammond Organ (S.A.) (Pty.) Ltd.Clydesdale (Tvl.) Collieries N. J. Breedt Ltd.H. J. Henochsberg (Pty.) Ltd.Aero Metals (Pty.) Ltd.B & J Mechanical & Structural Co.Oerlikon South Africa (Pty.) Ltd.Partex Products (1957) (Pty.) Ltd.Reef Engineering & Manufacturing Co. Ltd. Weblers Steel Windows Ltd.American Motors Ltd.Aycliffe Cables (Pty.) Ltd.A. Reyrolle & Co. Ltd.Pilkingtons Tiles (S.A.) (Pty.) Ltd.Gardner Engines South Africa (Pty.) Ltd. Switchcraft Ltd.Essmor Meats Ltd.Bush Boake Allen (S.A.) (Pty.) Ltd.Elgin Structures (Pty.) Ltd.James Howden & Safanco Ltd.Robert Hudson & Sons Ltd.Maurice Flior & Co.Globe Electrical Safnit Mills Ltd.Dryden Communications Ltd.Evelyn Haddon & Co. Ltd.Ideal Cubes (Pty.) Ltd.L. Suzman Ltd.Hard Metals Ltd.Beacon Batteries Ltd.Drake & Scull Africa (Pty.) Ltd.Ingersoll Rand Co. Africa (Pty.) Ltd.Dominec (Pty.) Ltd.W ith Best Wishes To The Epworth Children's
HomesFrom H. H. Robertson (Africa) (Pty.) Ltd.J. H. Isaacs & Co. Ltd.AnonymousWright Anderson (South Africa) Lfd.Reckitt & Colman Ltd.
20
found ambiguities and grave errors in Telemonds writings and recommends that the philosopher be prohibited from preaching, teaching or publishing until a further investigation is made.
Kiril receives a telegram saying Peng agrees to their meeting. He informs Telemond of the Commissions recommendation and asks him to remain tranquil until Kiril returns from his peace mission, when they can talk once more.
In a deserted hangar on a remote airstrip, Kiril meets with Kamenev and Peng. The Chinese Premiere demands some sign of trust from Kiril that the churchman is also willing to risk something in the interests of peace.
The day of Kiril’s coronation arrives. As the people gather in St. Peter’s Square, Faber reports on the scene for the TV cameras of the world. Ruth watches nearby. Telemond gives Kiril assurance of his submission to silence as long as the Pope chooses Kiril asks his friend to hear his confession, but during the sacrament
Telemond’s heart collapses. Kiril catches him as he falls.
In the Pope’s apartment just before th e c° r°^f̂ 10 ̂ ceremony begins, Leone comes to Kiril and corn esses his iealousy of Telemond’s relationship of trust witn Kiril begging forgiveness. The two men talk openly t o the first time Leone warns Kiril: “You are condemned to a solitary pilgrimage until the day of your death. The longer you live, the lonelier you will become.”
Carried on the Sedia Gestatoria from the entrance of St Peter’s to the coronation throne on the balcony, Kiril 'astounds the gathered crowd by a staggeringly dramaticgesture. It is accompanied by an announcement that reflects all the humanity and humility of thte man who has suffered long and survived much hardship — a man who in this moment of consecration as Pope demonstrates his acute awareness of his responsibilities to all people, both Catholics and non- Catholics, of the world.
thanksThe Chairman and Committee ofThe Epworth Children’s Homes
wish to thank the following for their wonderful co-operation and assistance in making this premiere a success.
The Managing Director of the 20th Century Fox Organisation.-, of South Africa for the use of The Fine Arts Theatre and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Fil (S A.) (Pty.) Ltd. for the use of the film "The Shoes of the Fisherman .
The Manager and Staff of the Fine Arts Theatre.The Sponsors and Advertisers and all other well-wishers who have supported The Epworth Children's Homes enormously.
17
lim as he
;oronation confesses
trust with ilk openly i are con- ay of your
you will
; entrance ie balcony, aggeringly announce- umility of ved much nsecration af his resand non-
Johannesburg's Mayoress, Mrs. Pat Lewis, believes dangle tags save lives.Standing in front of the mayoral Rolls Royce, she shows how she prefers
.to wear her tag.Novfevra WepoiusY- -
Top people wear dangle tagsST A F F REPORTER
Prominent Johannesburg citizens are wearing “ dangle tags.” They are supporting the city’s claim to be the first to launch a practical campaign to fight road accidents in South Africa,
To make oneself visible at night is a bright thing to do, they say, and wearing a dangle tag (looped around the wrist or dangling from a pocket) is an easy and convenient way to protect oneself and each member of one’s household — including children and African employees — from a possible accident.
These little glass-beaded tags “ reflectorise” pedes
trians up to 500 feet for the motorist behind the wheel of a car although they do not make one visible to everyone else.
They have been enthusiastically supported and sponsored by the City Council, the South African Road Federation and the Johannesburg Road Safety Association. These organisations are anxious to see that every citizen wears these tags. The Northern Reporter will feature a “ Dangle Tag Celebrity Parade” every week, showing leading personalities support of the campaign.
The tags were issued to five million French school
children last year and it was found that no child involved in an acicdent in France was wearing the tag at the time of the collision. Fatalities and casualties in Norway have also proved the dangle tag’s success.
The Mayoress of Johannesburg, Mrs. Patrick Lewis is one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the dangle tag. She told the Northern Reporter:
“ I 'think every person in Johannesburg should use the dangle tag whenever they are walking on or crossing over a road at night. The dangle tag, being reflective, glitters in the light of an oncoming car
so that the presence of a pedestrian on the road ahead is brightly pinpointed for a driver for a distance of about 500 feet. This is nearly five times the distance that a person not carrying a tag would be visible, so that the chance of a collision occurring is clearly very greatly re- dúced.
“ I am proud that Johannesburg is the first city in South Africa to fight the scourge of road accidents in this modern way.”
The dangle tags are available to all at Stuttafords in Rosebank, in return for a 10c donation to the Johannesburg Road Safety Association.
17
b T P t g______ - * 5 6 7/ é A ^ ____
HOW OYER APPOINTMENT
A point by point reply by Mayor
to allegationsrpH E MAYOR OF JOHANNESBURG, Mr. Patrick Lewis, stated today that 1 there was no truth in Nationalist allegations that he had acted in a
political manner unworthy of the Mayor in regard to the recommended appointment of the Deputy Manager o f the Non-European Affairs Department.
In a statement the Mayor says that at no time did he contact any member of the Urban Bantu Council, nor did he have any discussions with any member of the Urban Bantu Council regarding this matter.
He replies to an allegation by Mr. C. P. Venter, whip of the Nationalist Party in Johannesburg City Council that he had acted politically and in an unworthy manner.
The incident originated at the last meeting of the city council on May 27 when one of the items was the appointment of the deputy manager and Mr. I. W. Robinson was recommended for the post.
CAUCUSMr. Lewis said that he was not
In the council at the time.According to newspaper re
ports Mr. Venter had stated:1. That the Management Com
mittee had unanimously agreed to appoint a Mr. J. C. de Villiers as the deputy manager (the other applicant being considered for the postt-
2. That I had attended a caucus meeting of the United party.
MR. PATRICK LEWIS
3. That the Urban Bantu’ Council had been advised of the Management Committee’s decision to appoint Mr. de Villiers.
4. That the Urban Bantu Council had contacted me, and expressed their view that theyfavoured the appointment of Mr. Robinson, and that Mr. de Villiers would be unacceptable.
5. That I should have refused to discuss this matter with the members of the Urban Bantu Council.
6. That after my discussions with the Urban Bantu Council, and in order to appeáse them, I had induced the caucus to appoint Mr. Robinson, thus overruling the management committee decision.
7. That the effect of this was that a junior body (the Urban Bantu Council) was bringing pressure to bear to influence the council’s decision.”
SUITABLEMr. Lewis said that he wanted
to reply point by point.1. The management committee
had considered the appointment of the deputy manager at a number of meetings and both Mr. Robinson and Mr. de Villiers were considered eminently suitable for appointment, although their experience and length of service varied.
“ It was considered whether joint deputies should be appointed because both the candidates were worthy of appointment. The decision against a
j joint appointment was taken ; because of the repercussions it
might have in regard to other departments.
However, the advisability of joint deputies in the council’s departments is being investigated, but this will take some time.
“The management committee had not at any time taken a decision to appoint Mr. de Villiers.
HELPFUL2. I did attend the caucus
meeting in question and was present only during discussions of this one item. The acting chairman of the Non-European Affairs Committee, Councillor Sam Moss, the Deputy Mayor, asked me to be present because of my intimate knowledge of the department and the applicants.
I have been chairman of the committee since 1958. He felt my views would be helpful to the caucus. As far as I was concerned this was not a political matter, so I acceded to his request.
3. The management committee had not taken a decision to appoint Mr. de Villiers.
4/5. At no time did I contact any member of the Urban Bantu Council, nor did I have any discussions with any member of the Urban Bantu Council regarding this matter.
6. As the management committee had not taken a decision to appoint Mr. de Villiers,t here was no question of overriding a management committee decision.
7. The reply to questions 4 and 5 shows this to be wut foundation.
Ordinary Meeting of * MINUTES s 923
OPENING PRAYER.The Mayor opened the proceedings with a prayer.
WELCOME TO NEW COUNCILLORS.The Mayor extended a welcome to Councillor Prof. H. Krige who
had been appointed by the Hon. the Administrator to represent the north-western areas incorporated into Johannesburg. He expressed the hope that he would have a long and successful term of office.He also welcomed Councillor C.A. Long who had recently been elected unopposed and expressed the hope that he would have a long and productive term of office.ILLNESS OP CHAIRMAN OP THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE s COUNCILLOR P.M. ROOS? J.P.
The Mayor referred to the fact that the Council had requested Councillor Roos to undertake a study of Art Galleries and Museums whilst overseas on behalf of the Johannesburg Civic Theatre Association. Before completing the tour which had proved to be strenuous and exacting Councillor Roos became ill and was obliged to return to Johannesburg. He was happy to report Councillor Roos was recovering from pneumonia but would have to rest for a while. When he was well enough Councillor Roos proposed to proceed to his south- coast residence for the purpose of convalescing. He expressed the hone that Councillor Roos would soon be restored to complete health.APPRECIATION TO THE MAYOR.
Councillor Cuyler said that the previous Saturday was an important day in the history of the Rand Afrikaans University in that it was the University's first graduation day. The Mayor had attended all three functions organized by the University;, namely the graduation ceremony in the morning, the luncheon and the concert in the evening. In his capacity as Leader of the Opposition group in the Council and as a member of the University Council he expressed appreciation to the Mayor for the interest he had taken in the affairs of the Rand Afrikaans University. He also commended the Mayor on the impromptu speech he had delivered in Afrikaans that evening.
1. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES.Ordinary Meeting held on 25th March 1969.
CONFIRMED.2. LEAVE OF ABSENCE.
The following applications for leave of absence were granted sCouncillors P.M. Roos* J.P. (Si.ck)
D.J. Dalling from 12th April to 5th May 1969 (Vacation')A. P.J. de Klerks J.P» (Sick)B. D. Eagar from. 1st to 4th and 10th to 14th May 1969
(Vacation) and from 5th to 9th May 1969 (Council business).
3. TENDERS OPENED.Since the meeting of the Council held on the 25th March 1969?
tenders for 72 contracts were opened. Details of these tenders are shown in the register laid on the table.NOTED.
4. DOCUMENTS SEALED.Since the meeting of the Council held on the 25th March 1969?
no documents have been sealed with the Common Seal of the Council.NOTED.
5. CONSIDERATION OF REPORT OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE.
R.£xïYl.
Lewis denies___________
Burgermeester sê dit ^pddlinfi’ in politickery1 1X v U v X i X X L g X X I Deur 0ns Stadsversl
politics’MUNICIPAL REPORTER
TH E M A Y O R o f Johannesburg, Mr. Patrick Lewis, yesterday denied recent allegations by the Chief W hip o f the National Party in the City Council, M r. C. P . Venter, that he had acted in a m anner unworthy o f a m ayor by involving him
self in politics.
Deur Ons Stadsverslaggewer
HY het nooit die aanstelling van ’n amptenaar met die Stedelike Bantoeraad be- spreek nie en die aanstelling was nie vir hom politiek van aard nie.
Só het mnr. P. R. B. Lewis, van nut wees en wat mnr. burgemeester van Johannes- Lewis betref, was die saak nie burg, gjster in ’n persverklaring politiek van aard nie. Daarom
het hy aan mnr. Moss se ver-
The allegations were made af last week’s council meeting. Mr. Lewis was not present at the time.
The issue involved the appointment by the council of Mr. I. W. Robinson, as deputy manager of the Non-European Affairs Department.
Mr. Venter claimed that the Management Committee had initially agreed to appoint Mr. J. C. de Villiers to the post.
He said the Management Committee had changed its decision after Mr. Lewis had made representations on behalf of the Urban Bantu Council at a United Party caucus meeting.
Mr. Venter claimed that Mr. Lewis had induced the change to appease the Urban Bantu Council.
Mr. Lewis said in a Press statement, issued yesterday, that the Management Committee had considered both men as suitable for the post.
“ It was considered whether joint deputies should be appointed, because both candidates were worthy of appointment.
“ The decision against a joint appointment was taken because of the repercussions it might have in regard to other departments.”
Mr. Lewis said that the Management Committee had at no time taken a decision to appoint Mr. De Villiers.
“ I did attend the caucus meeting in question and was present only during discussion on this one item.
“The acting chairman of the Non-European Affairs Committee, Air. Sam Moss, asked me to be present because of my intimate knowledge of the department and the applicants.
gesê. Hy het geantwoord op aantygings wat mnr. C. P. Venter, hoofsweep van die Nasio- nale Party-groep in die Jo- hannesburgse stadsraad, meer as ’n week gelede by die maand- vergadering van die raad ge- doen het.
Mnr. Venter het gesê die burgemeester het hom skuldig ge- maak aan politiekery na aan- leiding van ’n besluit van die bestuurskomitee oor die aanstelling van mnr. I. W. Robinson as adjunk-hoofbestuurder van die afdeling nie-blanke sake.
KoukusVoigens mnr. Venter het die
bestuurskomitee aanvanklik besluit om mnr. J. C. de Villiers aan te stel.
Dié aanstelling was glo nie vir die Stedelike Bantoeraad aanvarbaar nie en verteen- woordigers van die raad het mnr. Lewis daaroor gespreek. Toe het mnr. Lewis, voigens mnr. Venter, die ongehoorde ding gedoen en ingegryp.
Hy het ’n vergadering van die VP-koukus in die stadsraad bygewoon en ’n skerp aanval op mnr. De Villiers gedoen. Hy sou glo ook druk in die koukus uitgeoefen het en daarna het die bestuurskomitee besluit om mnr. Robinson aan te stel.
GeskikMnr. Lewis sê in sy verkla-
ring mnre. Robinson en De Villiers is albei besonder geskik vir die betrekking, hoewel hul- le nie oor dieselfde ervaring beskik en ewe lank in diens van die raad is nie. Die bestuurskomitee het nooit besluit om mnr. De Villiers aan te stel nie.
Hy het die koukusvergade- ring net bygewoon toe dié saak bespreek is, sê mnr. Lewis. Dit was op versoek van mnr. S. Moss, die onderburgemeester en waarnemende voorsitter van die komitee vir nie-blanke sake.
Die versoek is gerig omdat mnr. Lewis so vertroud is met die afdeling en die aansoekers so goed ken. Hy is sedert 1958 voorsitter van die komitee. Mnr. Moss het gemeen mnr. Lewis se menings kon vir die koukus
soek voldoen.Hy sê die bestuurskomitee
het nie besluit om mnr. De Villiers aan te stel nie en daar is dus geen sprake van dat ’n besluit van die komitee omver gewerp is nie.
Mnr. Lewis het, voigens sy verklaring, nooit ’n lid van die Stedelike Bantoeraad oor die saak genader nie en dit ook nie met hulle bespreek nie.
Mnr. Venter het gister gesê hy volstaan met wat hy by die vergadering van die stadsraad gesê het, omdat hy opreg glo dat dit korrek is.
“ I have been chairman of the committee since 1958. Mr. Moss felt my views would lie helpful to the caucus.
“As far as I am concerned, this was not a political matter, so 1 acceded to his request.
“At no time did I contact any member of the Urban Bantu Council, nor did I have discussions with any member of the Urban Bantu Council regarding this matter.
“ As the Management Committee had not taken a decision to appoint Mr. De Villiers, there was no question of overriding a Management Committee decision,” Mr. Lewis said.
S r a R - \ c/ (s/ \ ^ éP [
Nursing awards
TT h a p p e n e d at a small x ceremony in the school-hall last Friday.
The Mayor of Johannesburg, Mr. Patrick Lewis, was there to hand out money-boxes to the children as part of the countrywide R.S.A. savings campaign. Then he explained to the pupils a little about the mayoral chain.
"It is sad," he said. "The chain is so beautiful that when people talk to me they do not look at my face — they only look at my chain!”“Well.” piped up one helpful blonde 10-year-old sitting cross-legged on the floor, “ Why
! don’t you put the chain on vour face then?"
SavingsPhotographed at. the presen- i-----tation of prizes and certificates to nurses at the Johannesburg General Hospital last: night, these nurses had good reason to celebrate.Two of them, the, Oberhol- zer twins, Anna a n d Johanna, (centre), had just been awarded the preliminary training certificate to start them on their nursing career. Sister Linda Sullivan (left) won the Gold ‘ Medal for the highest marks over the three-year training period, and Sister Wendy Moroni (right) was awarded the Johannesburg General
Hospital Gold. Medal.
M O N D A Y JUNE 16 1969
| City’s part J in savings birthday
THE Mayor of Johannesburg, Mr. P a t r i c k 1
j Lewis, has called a meeting I of interested people and
organizations for tomorrow afternoon to discuss Johan- ; nesburg’s contribution to j the celebration of the 50th | anniversary of the savings ; movement in South Africa, i
In his invitation, Mr. , Lewis says that the theme is to be “ Saving for Personal j Objectives,” and the slogan will be “ Save for Your j Future.”
“ However, my thinking is that rather than concentrate on actual physical saving of money, that Johannesburg should concentrate on the thought of saving by means of anti-waste,” he says.
Reflecting hopefully on the fortunes they want to amass m their new savings boxes are Peta Richardson (left) and Susan Bagg, prefects of the Saxonwold Primary School. The Mayor, Mr. Patrick Lewis, looks on, after having presented them and other pupils
with the boxes today as part of the Republic Savings Campaign.
<Sf>=> g ; n - <l> - 1
aste
The Mayor of Johannesburg, Mr. Patrick Lewis (above), visited the Central Library and the market, on Mary Fitzgerald Square, today, as part of the civic phase of the Republic Savings Campaign. The campaign is being held to mark the 50th anniversary of organized savings in South Africa. “Preventing waste is as good as saving” is the slogan chosen by Mr. Lewis for Johannesburg's part
campaign. Inspecting damaged books in the Children s Library, the Mayor said that R5.000 to RIO,000 urns wasted ’ every year on their repair. He emphasized the waste of human lives through deaths in road accidents or by violence in the 16— 30 age group, and said: “ These ___ are lives lost to the nation.”
It was a great moment for 16-year-old Marlene Arkin (right) of Johannesburg, when she was placed third in an international Miss Teenage competition held in Chicago this week. Miss Arkin was voted Miss Teenage Personality of South Africa in a competition run by “ Personalitymagazine. The title teas won by Miss Sahrona Marech of Israel ( centre), and second was Miss Jenny MacIntyre of
N ew Zealand.
Uino s ou-year love is the hotel industry
By a Staff ReporterV i ORE than 80 congratu- ̂ 1 latorv letters and tele
grams from all over the world, including ones from the Minister of Finance, Dr, Diedrichs, and the Minister of Mines, Dr. C, de Wet were received this week by Johannesburg hotelier Dino Tommasini who celebrated his 50th anniversary in the hotel industry.
In fact, Mr. Tommasini (66), had two anniversaries this week,
He met his wife, Margot, thirty-six years ago on Wednesday.
“ So.” said this suave, handsome manager of the President Hotel, “ I was
feeling that at my age I should have a little rest, and planned a quiet day with my wife and son, followed by a theatre in the evening, just the three of us.”
His voice trembling a little he continued, “ I can't say how touched and surprised 1 was at the mail I received, and the surprise laid on for me in the evening.
“ I also had a letter from Johannesburg’s Mayor, Mr. Patrick Lewis; from John Schlesinger in London; a telegram from Mr. Bernard Glazer, managing director of the President Hotel, and from so many I can’t count them all.”
In the evening, through a clever ruse, the hotel’s assistant general manager,
Mr. H. Apel persuaded Mr.Tommasini to go to one of the banqueting rooms in the hotel.
” As Í opened the door about 60 people started applauding and there too were my wife, my son Rudolfo, aged 28, and my two brothers.”
He said there was “ a fantastic cake,” with 50 candles which was decorated w ith the names of the p l a c e s where he had worked.
“ For my golden jubilee, I was presented with a Golden Book in which to keep my letters and telegrams of congratulation, and the photographs which were taken at the party.”
He added, “ I didn’t deserve it all. What is my great love is the hotel, and the hotel industry.”
I
o R p i í l 'të/V6^Waste is running into millions, war
JOHANNESBURG would not need water restrictions if peo- ple stopped wasting water, the Mayor of Johannesburg, Mr. Patrick Lewis said when he launched an anti-waste programme in the city yesterday.
The programme was initiated at the start of the Republic of South Africa Jubilee Savings Campaign in Johannesburg.
Mr. Lewis said that flat dropped ice-cream wrappers, shot out street lamps and people with leaking taps or those who fed safety pins to animals at the zoo were costing the city Rl-million a year.
“But,” he said, “ adults need schooling just as much as children in this matter of waste.”
Staff ReporterMr. Lewis said that flat
dwellers who do not have metered water supplies use 25 per cent more water than people living in houses, including water used in gardens.
“We wouldn’t need water restrictions if people didn’t waste water,” he said.
Bad drivers were one o f the country’s great wasters — 5,965 people were killed in 1967.
He said most of those killed were in the age group of 18 to 24 — at the beginning of their working lives.
He said that while deaths on the road could not be accurately measured in terms of cost, a conservative calculation was that road accidents cost the
country R70,000,000 a year.Bills that the city incurs as a
result of waste and vandalism include: RIOO.OOO for removing i l l e g a l l y dumped waste; RIO,000 for replacing garbage bin lids; R7.500 for library books mutilated by readers; R45.000 for vandalism to city electrical equipment; R45.000 to replace zoo animals killed by being fed poisonous or dangerous objects; RIO,000 a year to tow away derelict cars left parked in city streets and another R18.000 a year to hire extra personnel for the annual last-minute rush by motorists to obtain their car licences.
A committee of five to combat waste will meet soon.
Refuse dumped on Johannesburg’s market square costs the city R40.000 to clean up. Mayor Patrick Lewis, above, visits the square before opening an anti-waste campaign.
Launching of jubilee
savings campaign
Accidents on South Africa s roads and in factories and workshops cost an estimated R116-million a year and their reduction could be a significant help in a savings drive, the j Mayor of Johannesburg, Mr. Patrick Lewis, said at the j launching of the civil phase of the Republic Jubilee Savings Campaign in Johannesburg yesterday.
Saving was not confined to monev, Mr. Lewis said, but included the conservation of material and spiritual assets.
The campaign’s aim was to build up a savings reservoir that would stabilize South Africa s economy and provide capital for new irrigation schemes, roads, public loans and hospitals.
Mr. Lewis said Johannesburg spent R40.000 a year keeping its market alone clean and large sums could be saved if people did not discard litter in the streets.
“ If these costs can be eliminated. we can make a major contribution to this campaign, he said.
An invited audience of leaders o f local organizations, banking and commerce groups who attended the opening selected a committee to keep the savings campaign in the public view.
SUIKERBOSRAND GRANT
City to pay R1.3-m.towards reserve
JOHANNESBURG is to pay R l ,380 ,000 over the next 30 years towards the development of the Suikerbosrand scheme. in red tape and the money was
not paid out.The Minister of Planning, Dr.
de Wet, eventually gave the scheme his approval, and a few
The Citv Council’s Manage-, badly needed open-air recreation
S?,iS5rvft. S3*: fSSS*J£JSZ£JSg Ï L r i T t e m i r o / T a g r í í m S The Transvaal Executive Com- j weeks ago the Ad$with the Provincial Administra- mittee j “ " S d X ï h m e heldtion five years ago. J P™ jea in principal on talks on their pians. it was de-
The province Is to develop conditions. cided that immediate stepsSuikerbosrand— a strip of land q The Department of Lands, s])oulc] t,e taken to buy the about 11 miles long and s ix . must buy the land and transfer, roundmiles wide in the Vaal Valley jt at cost to the province. 6 ’ ................between Heidelberg and Meyer-: ^ ^he province to be respon-ton—as a nature reserve and g -j^ j'0j* supervision of develop-mass recreation ground. ment and planning. ................. - ------
The area will become a giant Ree{ municipalities must; Province is trying to raise a loanpark with animals, restaurants, , . R100.000 a year f o r ; from the Government to buy thebotanical and historical features,' .land and will later proceed withas well as a scenic cableway,; ’ ’ its planning.motels, facilities for youth camps ! In 1964 the City Council dc- ------ ------------ „ — .— -----------1and an open-air stage. cided to take part in the scheme
Together with the City Coun- and pay contributions towards its oil’s proposed playbelts along the development. Provision for the Klip River south of the city and contributions has been made in along the Jukskei River in the j the budget every year since then, north, Suikerbosrand will provide but the project became entangled
| ground.Now the local authorities have
been asked to make the first of their annual donations as soon as possible after July 1. The
RAND DAILY MAIL, Thursday, June 19, 1969.
Mr. Lucky Sibiya (left), of Senoane, Soweto, lost a sister Lewis. Mr. Sibiya s sister died in hospital three weeks in the Langlaagte train disaster. As an expression of after the disaster. Looking on is the Mayoress, Mrs. his gratitude for help given to survivors and relatives of Lewis, and Mr. S. L. Dishy, chairman of the Johannes- victims, he presented a calabash — which he carved burg African Music Society, which presented a cheque himself — to the Mayor of Johannesburg, Mr. Patrick for more than R1,000 to the Mayor’s Relief Fund.
Mrs. Inna Ramsbottoin. wile of the late Justice If7. H. Rainsbottom. who was last night awarded the "Citizen o f the Year" trophv by the Johannesburg Lions Host Club. For the Iasi W Years. Mrs. Rainsbottom has been working lor the Johannesburg Child If elf arc Society of which she is president. Site is also vice-chairman lor the Transvaal of the South African \atinnal (uunciI for Child Welfare. The winner of the trophy is chosen irehundreds ol people nominated for the award. Last Years
winner teas Mr. "Tubby ' (rcldenhuys. <0/1 m
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Collection Number: A1132 Collection Name: Patrick LEWIS Papers, 1949-1987
PUBLISHER: Publisher: Historical Papers Research Archive, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Location: Johannesburg ©2016
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