Content - From Malan tot Mbeki

CHAPTER 1I was born on the 27 th of July, 1938, into a staunchly Nationalistfamily, to whom the National Party was not just a political party, butalso a way of life. My father, Niels Petersen Momberg, was a winefarmer near Stellenbosch, with very limited academic qualifications.In spite of this, he was a highly successful businessman, who waswell regarded in the community. He married late in life, being 40years old when he wed my mother Magrietha Gertruida, a Brinkfrom Molteno in the Eastern Cape.My father was strongly against the War, and pro-German. It mustbe understood that at the time South Africa was deeply polarisedbetween those supporting Britain and those supporting Hitler. Thisled to the collapse of the Coalition Government of Smuts andHertzog, and caused bitter animosity between people. Those whosupported Germany formed an organisation called the “OssewaBrandwag” and some of the more extreme members even committedacts of sabotage, which led to my father’s resignation from theorganisation.I still remember vividly one morning in 1945 when I came into thekitchen, and noticed my father sitting with his head in his hands,crying softly. I immediately knew something was badly wrong,because I had never seen my father so upset before, and I asked mymother: “Why is Pa crying?” She hinted with her eyes that I shouldnot approach him or speak to him, and replied: “Hitler is dead.”Today, more than 65 years later, this may seem weird, but it mustbe remembered that 1945 was only 43 years after the end of theAnglo-Boer war, with all its suffering and hatred for the British. Itwas therefore not strange that a large number of Afrikaans-speaking1