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Cape

Contributed by Anton Kruger Advocates are passionate people and their passions very often spill over into diverse spheres of life far removed from their professional interests.

Instead of telling you about who took silk and who is acting when, we aim to intro­duce you to the passions of the passionate members of the Cape Bar.

The passion of Trevor Emslie

Trevor Emslie was the driving force behind the publication of a trilogy of the works of Deneys Reitz in a single publication titled Adrift on the Open Veld. It is an account of South African history from 1899 to 1943. A quotation on the flyer of this book gives an inkling of Trevor's motivation for editing and publishing out-of-print works in the words of the author: 'I wrote this book because I like setting down things seen and experienced and also because I wished to prove that in spite of our racial and political squabbles South Africa is a

Brokkies

'n Engelse Vrystater lei die eiseres in 'n mediese nalatigheidsaak voor Van Reenen R: 'En se vir my mevrou, na die operasie, het u wakker geword?'

Van Reenen R: 'Klaarblyklik, mm ... '

Eisssssssssh. * *'Eish' is 'n kontemporere uitdrukking - maw kyk na die advertensies op TV - wat 'Eina' of 'That hurts' beteken. Die duur van die intonasie dui die graad van empatie met die slagoffer aan.

'n Namakwalandse boorling met die sui­werste Namibiese Afrikaans* verskyn voor 'n regter in 'n onbestrede egskeiding - die eerste van vyf, en sy eerste voor die regter, soos dit later sou blyk. Al sy kliente is van Springbok en het reeds die vorige dag per trein in die Kaap aangekom, grootogig in hulle verwondering oor die baie water, die see en 'n stuiwende winterreen wat om Leeukop verbytier, so anders as waar hulle vandaan kom.

'Dit is die saak vir die eiseres. Indien die agbare hof so tevrede is ... ,' stu die advo­kaat voort toe hy in sy spore gestuit word met 'n eenvoudige vraag vanaf die bank:

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country of good will and good temper, and has the hope and prospect of unity into a single nation in years to come.'

He likes to preserve and inject with new life literary works apparently doomed to dusty dormancy. The content of these works is not necessarily indicative of yet more passions. His more recent involve­ment in the publication of yet another trilogy, this time C Louis Leipoldt's Cape Cookery, Three Hundred Years of Cape Wine and Culinary Treasures, in a single publication titled Leipoldt's Food & Wine, has not turned him into a chef. The last of the trilogy is the first English translation of Polfyntjies vir die Proe, a collection of articles published in Die Huisgenoot between 1942 and 1947.

If you can translate it, you may as well republish the original Afrikaans work as well. Trevor was the co-editor of Polfyntjies vir die Proe published in 2005. The book is currently available in most bookshops in Cape Town. It is instantly recognisable by the highly evocative black and white photograph of 'Man in suit dozing in beach chair in shallow waters'

'Wat van domicilium?' 'n Stilte volg. 'Wat van domicilium?' spreek dit duidelik uit die advokaat se blik wat ry op en ry af wanhopiglik sy kollegas om hulp smeek. Brevette ritsel en diegene wat poog om raad te fluister, fluister almal tegelyker­tyd. Die hof is skielik warm, amper soos vroegrniddag in die middel van die somer op Springbok. Sweet perel op sy voorkop. Vyftien vrae later en terwyl hy steeds in die suiwerste Namibiese Afrikaans voort­spartel, word hy uiteindelik verlos met 'n 'En u vra vir ... ?' Met 'n sug van verligting gaan hy uiteindelik sit. Watter een van die vyftien vrae was die deurslaggewende een of was dit die kumulatiewe effek? Hy raadpleeg sy kollegas in sy onmiddellike omgewing. Wysere kollegas met 'n vin­nige blik oor die skouer wonder wie vir wie verder die dieptes in gaan lei en sit terug in die hoop dat die drama nie tot 'n eerste toneel beperk sal wees nie.

Die hoop beskaam nie. Die tweede klient kyk toe terwyl haar advokaat soos 'n marlyn met die hoek diep in die bek aan die regter se lyn voortveg. Weer vyftien vrae later en sy is uiteindelik geskei. Weer vinnige blikke oor die skouer vanuit die voorste ry - die jong advokaatjie sit nog steeds. Dalk is daar 'n derde toneel.

Sy derde 'onbestrede' egskeiding volg onmiddellik na die tweede. Daar is nie tyd

BAR NEWS

(perhaps Strand Beach?). The model is apparently not Leipoldt! The prose is, and it is quite stunning.

Knowing his linguistic limitations, Trevor involved some of his colleagues in the publication of Polfyntjies vir die Proe ­one of them, the Namakwalander, receives a little more exposure, probably unwanted for such a humble man.

om verder hulp by kollegas te soek nie. Hy dink aangename gedagtes - Namakwaland in die blomtyd; enigiets om sy oorverhitte brein 'n blaaskans te gee voor hy weer die kort, dog betekenisvolle vraag van nuuts af aandurf. Onder die subtiele invloed van sy kliente se kleurvolle taal en woordvorm, begin hy sy ferme greep op sy suiwere NarnibieseAfrikaans verloor. 'Sy' word 'hy' en somrnige klinkers word platter gemoker terwyl ander boog gemaak word.

Die tyd tussen die derde en vierde toneel vind horn in diepe bepeinsing. Dit is vir horn duidelik dat somrnige van sy kollegas horn nie kan help nie, en dat andere horn nie wfl help nie. Maar erens in die warboel van gedagtes is daar uiteindelik 'n ligstraal van insig soos die flits van Williamson R se oe onder die stormwolke van sy weer­barstige ruie swart wenkbroue.

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* Namibiese Afrikaans slaag daarin om almal, noord en suid van die Heksrivierberge, tevrede te stet. So byvoorbeeld raak dit nie ontslae van die kappie op 'more' nie. Die Vrystaatse en verder noord se groet sonder die kappie klink al te veel na 'n waarskuwing van 'n inval deur Noord-Afrikaanse Berbers. En 'n klinker is 'n klinker sonder dat hy (of is dit nou 'sy') afgeplat word.

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BAR NEWS

Vervolg van bladsy 25

Ongevraag en op sy beste boorling N amakwalandse Afrikaans, vra hy klient nornmer vier: 'Nou mevrou, se my, is dit korrek dat u man op Springbok gebore is, hy al sy hele lewe daar woon en hy van plan is om daar dood te gaan ook?!'

Haar 'ja' word gevolg deur spontane applous uit die advokatebanke en 'n

Pretoria

8ygedra deur Henk Havenga

Transformation at the Pretoria Bar

On 2 November 2004, an historic special general meeting of the Pretoria Bar took place. At this meeting two matters had to be voted on - first, the proposed amend­ment of clause 12 of the Constitution of the GCB, and second, an amend­ment to the constitution of the Pretoria Society of Advocates to provide for 50% AFT representation on the Bar Council. The proposed amendment of the GCB constitution was motivated by Norman Arendse SC, and was accepted by the majority of the members present at the meeting.

The proposed amendment to the consti­tution of the Pretoria Bar was motivated by Seth Nthai. The Bar Council also invited Arnold Subel SC, chair of the Johannesburg Bar, to address the Pretoria Bar on the transformation process at the Johannesburg Bar, and the reasons for adopting a similar amendment to the Johannesburg constitution. He informed the meeting of the positive manner in

" ... wanhopiglik sy kollegas om hulp smeek"

effense trek aan die mondhoek van die regter, terwyl almal toekyk hoe hy op die hoogste punt van sy vlug bo die diepblou see die hoek vir eens en vir altyd uit sy mond spoeg.

Erratum: TS Madima In the April 2005 issue of Advocate

which the members of the Johannesburg Bar had experienced the transformation process. After a full and lengthy debate, the AFT proposal was accepted by the Pretoria Bar with a two-thirds majority, subject to the condition that the constitu­tion of the Pretoria AFT be amended to remove all references to race or gender from that constitution, and subject to a further condition that only members of the Pretoria Society of Advocates can be nominated by the AFT to the Bar Council. Subsequent to the meeting the AFT constitution was indeed amended to provide that membership of the AFT is open to all members of the Pretoria Bar, irrespective of race and gender.

The amendment to the Pretoria Bar Constitution differs from similar amend­ments at other Bars in that our members have not opted for a sunset clause, which confirms the commitment of the Pretoria Bar to transformation.

Balieraad

The spirit of co-operation and goodwill between members was also illustrated by the AFT nominations for the first transformed Bar Council. The list of nominations included Dawie Fourie SC, who was elected by the Bar Council as

we indicated that (amongst others) TS Madima joined the Cape Bar after suc­cessfully completing pupillage in 2004. In fact, Madima joined the Cape Bar in June 2004 after a stint as general counsel for Transnet. Before that he completed his pupillage in 1996 at the Johannesburg Bar. Our apologies for the error.

chair of the Pretoria Bar Council for 2005-06.

In 2004 Augustus Advocate is berig dat Fourie SC 14 jaar ononderbroke op die Balieraad gedien het en geregtig was op ' n ruskans. Daar is ook voorspel dat hy nie toegelaat gaan word om te lank te rus nie. Fourie SC is derhalwe nie net die mees ervare lid van die Pretoria Balieraad nie, maar was ook 'n logiese en gewilde keuse as eerste voorsitter van die getransformeerde Balieraad.

Die volgende lede is verkies tot die 2005-06 Balieraad: DS Fourie SC (voor­sitter), P Ellis SC (ondervoorsitter), MA Badenhorst SC, RG Tolmay SC, BH Swart SC, LM Molopa SC, IM Bredenkamp, JG Naude, MH Mabena, TP Krtiger, N Janse van Nieuwenhuizen, KK Kekana, GLM Bokaba, VVW Duba, AP Laka, MS Mangolele, FW Botes, T Mkhwanazi, M Olivier (ere-sekretaris) en S Strauss (sekretaris).

New judicial appointments from the Pretoria Bar

The news that WRC (Bill) Prinsloo SC was appointed to the TPD Bench with effect from 16 May 2005 was well received at the Pretoria Bar. Bill is one of the most respected senior members of

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