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Radical centRe | 41<br />
banned. Malusi was in jail. Nineteen organisations were banned.<br />
Percy was arrested later in the day.<br />
Instinct said, “Better get back.” Brain replied, “What for?” I<br />
was confused. There was a free show in town: foreign Minister<br />
Pik Botha, opening Transkei president Kaiser Matanzima’s new<br />
palace. I went to watch. fascinating. Praise singers in full form,<br />
Pik in prize shape, hell of a party; everyone telling everyone<br />
sotto voce that the money should have gone into schools or<br />
clinics, everyone tucking into the Beef Wellington.<br />
Politics, too. When Sabata Dalindyebo arrived the cheers and<br />
chanting resounded. Sabata was king, in many eyes, and Kaiser<br />
had cheated, boosted by his friends in Pretoria in thanks for<br />
taking apartheid’s independence. I’ll say one thing for Kaiser,<br />
no matter what, I’ve never seen a larger personal presence.<br />
Huge, handsome, sublimely indifferent to pygmies below, he<br />
bestrode that gathering.<br />
On this day government was, of course, The enemy, more<br />
than ever. But one of Pik’s acolytes had been a Judge’s clerk<br />
with me eight years earlier. We talked. He was still a human<br />
being, imagine. Half my head was in commando road, World’s<br />
premises. When Pik was leaving, hours before my flight, I asked<br />
on a whim if I could catch a lift. My ex-co-clerk went to check. His<br />
boss was in a group of Pik people. I saw him speak to them, turn,<br />
point at me, and then say something more. at the same instant<br />
they all jerked like they’d been shot, and stared at me in horror,<br />
thought-bubbles saying: a communist terrorist in our plane?!<br />
My friend came back to say terribly sorry, the plane is full,<br />
and left. I said to Marcus, “He says it so that we’ll know he’s<br />
lying, hey.” Marcus said, “Yes, but I’m glad.”<br />
Marcus gave me a fine tour while I decided he was one of the<br />
planet’s great humans. He took me to the airport and bade me<br />
farewell with uncommon feeling. Only then did I realise that he<br />
expected me to be arrested at the other end. I hadn’t embraced<br />
this notion, which may look (and be) incredibly stupid but it<br />
also reflects a relevant mindset. arrest? Me? What did I have to<br />
do with the world of arrests and crimes?
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