In gisteraand se onderhoud op Kyknet beweer hy die konserte daar en ander
Amerikaanse stede was 'n groot sukses, baie Exsa's het hul VSA-vriende
saamgebring na die konserte.
Die Exsa's was glo vreeslik emosioneel by sy sing van Afrikaanse liedjies,
en die Amerikaners het die Zoeloe -liedjies sterk gelaaik.
Deneys Reitz in Commando:
------------------------------------------------------------ ------
At the end of ten days Nicolas was so much better that I was able to
get away in search of General Smuts, whom I found on the banks of the
Olifants River down towards the mouth. The sea lay only twenty-five
miles from here and the day after my return he sent word to the Units
quartered within reach, that all who had never seen it were to be sent
to him. Some sixty or seventy men arrived within the next forty-eight
hours, and with these we set off for a small inlet on the coast called
Fishwater. We rode via the Ebenezer Mission Station, and towards
afternoon caught a glint of the sea through a gap in the dunes. It was
amusing to watch the expression on the men's faces as the great
expanse of ocean burst on their view, for few of them had seen
anything bigger than the dam on their parents' farms, and, as we
topped the last sand-hills, they looked in amazement on water that
stretched beyond the horizon.
With one accord they reined in their horses in silence, and then, like
the Greek soldiers, rushed forward in a body, crying, 'The sea! The
sea!' each wanting to be first on the beach.
Soon they were throwing off their clothes, and our trouble was, not to
get them to enter the waves, but to prevent them from venturing in too
deep, for they were pitching down their saddles and riding barebacked
into the surf, shouting and laughing whenever a rider and his mount
were thrown headlong by the breakers.
After a while General Smuts ordered three of us to ride along the
shore towards some huts in the distance, to inquire whether any troops
had been here of late. In doing so we had an amusing encounter with a
Hottentot fisher-man. He stared open-mouthed at sight of armed Boers
patrolling the water-line, and, seeing his surprise, I halted my horse
and ordered him in a peremptory tone to show me where the road went
through. He said, 'What road, Baas?' Pretending to be angry, I
replied, 'The road to England, you fool, and show me the way at once,
for we are crossing to-night to capture London.' He looked at me for a
moment, and then exclaimed, 'My God, Baas, don't do it; the water is
over your head here, and you will all be drowned.'
When next I met Maritz and told him this story, he said that two of
his men had recently ridden on to the beach at Lambert's Bay, where an
English cruiser lay at anchor close in-shore. Dismounting, they opened
fire. Their bullets pattered harmlessly against the armoured side of
the warship, and when the crew turned a gun on them they made haste to
disappear into the sand hills, but, on their return to their commando,
they boasted that they had fought the only naval action of the war!
That night we camped in the dunes, sitting around great fires of
driftwood, the men discussing what they had seen until far into the
night, and telling each other of the things they would have to recount
when they got home again.
We spent two more days here, boating on the estuary and helping the
local fishermen to drag their nets. Then we returned along the
Olifants River to our starting-place, proud of having ridden our
horses into the sea.
At length, on the fifth or sixth day, we breasted the long rise at
Leeuwdoorn, from which the country slopes down to the Vaal River, and
we saw the wide plains of the Free Slate stretching beyond. We slept a
night in an unburnt farmhouse on the Transvaal side, and next morning,
as we were riding off, we saw a body of English approaching, so we
climbed a kopje to see what their plans were.
The soldiers made for the farm we had just vacated, and soon smoke and
flames were issuing from door and windows. As we looked on, two old
fellows rode up from the direction of the Vaal River, and joined us on
the hill. They reminded me of my former commander, General Maroola,
and his brother, for they both wore rusty bell-toppers, and the tails
of their ancient claw-hammer coats flapped in the breeze as they came.
With a curt greeting they dismounted and sat down on the rocks,
silently watching the work of destruction below. for a long time
neither of them spoke, and it was only when the roof fell in amid a
shower of sparks, that the elder of the two sighed and turning to the
other said: 'Brother John, there go those teak-wood beams I brought
from Pretoria after the Jameson Raid.' This was his sole comment on
the loss of his home, then the couple remounted their horses to ride
back to the river.
Plundery deur wit Afrikanmers so ver terug soos 1899. Almal is maar
mense, soen....
So skryf Deneys Reitz daaroor in Commando..
We reached Pretoria by ten o'clock, and rode through the deserted
streets to our home in the Sunnyside suburb. Here disappointment
awaited us, for the place was in darkness and the house was empty. We
went to several neighbours to make inquiries. They seemed to think
that the enemy was upon them, for it was only after we had tried at
several doors that at last a shrinking figure appeared in response to
our knocking with rifle-butts, and, seeing who we were, curtly told us
that President Kruger and my father had run away, and that Pretoria
was to be surrendered to the British in the morning, after which the
door was slammed in our faces. We knew the President and my father too
well to believe that they had ignominiously run away, and the fact
that they had left Pretoria together was proof to us that they had
gone to carry on the war, so we returned home, and after stabling and
feeding our weary horses, broke open one of the doors and went inside.
We made a roaring fire in the kitchen, at which we cooked a dinner
with supplies from the pantry, and then slept in comfortable beds, a
change after the freezing nights we had endured of late.
It was nevertheless a dismal homecoming. Our younger brother had been
left stranded in a cattle-truck weak and ill, amid the chaos of a
general retreat, our other brother was missing, and for all we knew
dead, while my father was gone and our home was deserted.
We only heard later that my stepmother and the younger children had
been sent to Delagoa Bay and thence by sea up the East Coast of Africa
to Holland, where they still are.
Early next morning we set about making plans for the future. First we
saddled our horses and rode uptown to find out what was happening. The
streets were swarming with leaderless men, knowing even less of the
situation than ourselves. Of the 'A.C.C.' there was no trace, and all
was utter confusion with looting of shops and supply depots, and a
great deal of criticism of our leaders.
After commandeering provisions for our future requirements, we
returned home. The British by now were shelling the forts outside the
town, and an occasional 'over' fell in our vicinity, but we were
accustomed to gun-fire by now, and remained quietly resting until the
afternoon.
Towards three o'clock a gaunt figure appeared before us. It was our
missing brother Joubert, whom we had given up for lost. He said that
his horse had been killed when the 'A.C.C.' were rushed at
Kopje-Alleen a fortnight before, but he had succeeded in escaping on
foot. After tramping it for many days, he reached Johannesburg in time
to board the last outgoing train, which had just brought him to
Pretoria. As burghers now came galloping past, shouting that the
English were entering by the road above the railway station, I hurried
back on horseback to the centre of the town, where I annexed a
saddled-horse, from among several standing before a shop that was
being looted, and absconded with this remount for my brother. We now
prepared to leave, though as a matter of fact the English only
occupied Pretoria next day, but, as we did not know that the rumour
was premature, we thought it safer to get away in good time.
Die boek is op die web
by:http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/reitzd/com mando/
In lyn van die onlagse storie oor die telefoontariewe, gister onmoet ek 'n
afgetrede egpaar wat hul lewe lank in die poskantoor van SA gewerk het en
hulle reken dat die aanslaan van 'n besette oproep, standaard praktyk is.
As jy gaan kla, dan vra hulle askies en maak reg. Kla jy nie....wel, 95%
van alle telefoongebruikers kla nooit nie en die poskantoor 'score' dat die
sop loop!
Laat mens dink aan die storie van die Jood wat ' perdesaal verkoop het
aan 'n boer, maar dit ook op 9 ander boere se rekeninge gesit het. Drie
het kom kla oor die saal wat hulle nie gekoop het nie en hy't verskoning
gemaak en die 'fout' reggemaak. Sewe het egter vir 'n saal betaal wat 6
nie gekry het nie!
Oor korrupsie binne die deesdae se staatsdepartemente, was hulle
kommentaar dat in die 'ou dae' kon 'n werker met 'n st. 8 kwalifikasie met
die regte lengte van diens en ondervinding, die top-pos in die poskantoor
bereik. Die mense is ook deur die jare verplaas van plek tot plek om alle
moontlike vlakke van ondervinding te kry om hulle beter toe te rus vir hul
huidige taak, asook om die moontlikheid van bevordering te verbeter. Dit
het beteken dat meeste mense wat in die poskantoor gewerk het, geweet het
wat aangaan en die stelsel goed geken het. Bedrog het wel voorgekom soos
in enige stelsel, maar dit het nie op so 'n groot maat voorgekom nie omdat
die mense soveel makliker uitgevang is juis omdat daar 'n hoë algemene vlak
van kundigheid was.
Vandag word mense in die bestuursposte aangestel met algemene
besigheidskwalifikasies soos MBA's en hulle wil graag vir jou vertel dat om
'n besigheid te bestuur, is die een soos die ander want jy moet net die
'Indians' kry om die werk VIR jou te doen, maar regte ondervinding van die
tipe besigheid ontbreek. Met regstellende aksie is ook baie, baie van die
mense met die regte toepaslike ondervinding laat loop en die mense wat nou
daar werk, se vaardigheid en ondervindingsvlakke laat veel te wense oor.
Bedrog word juis weens hierdie laer vlak van algemene kennis van die
algemene personeel, veel meer gepleeg.
Net vir interessantheid: Die nuwe orde het 'n paar jaar gelede 'n
konsultant aangestel uit die buiteland om 'n rekenaarstelsel te implimenteer
om die ou handmetodes te vervang en hy's weg met 'n fooi van R21 miljoen en
'n stelsel wat nooit gewerk het nie! Hoekom? Blykbaar oor die mense wat
die ou aangestel het nie die toepaslike kennis het om te oordeel of die
stelsel goed is of nie.....
...die nuusgroep is maar baie baie stil oor die moorde wat gepleeg is deur
die ouma en haar rollie, hamer slaner boyfriend en huurmoordernaar ex
girlfriend. Kan dit wees omdat hulle wit is en nie swart moordenaars nie?
En nou kry Jacob sy kans in die hof - E-TV sal seker daar wees.
Wonder wanneer die saak 'n aanvang gaan neem?
Oud-Regter Heath het beweer dat Zuma se kanse is skraal om skuldig bevind te
word - maar Marinus Wiechers verskil ietwat. Zuma se regsmanne het die
voordeel dat die getuienes tydens die Shaik verhoor nou reeds bekend is.
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