Content - From Malan tot Mbeki

Early yearsthem their “dop”. When I arrived at Neethlingshof the labourersreceived a tot before they started work (in summer that meant atabout five o’clock in the morning.) They then got a tot at breakfast,one at eleven, one at lunch, one at four o’clock and two tots at the endof the day. The wine was a terrible concoction and was served in acut-off “bully beef” tin. I knew that this had to stop, but realised itwas going to be very difficult. What I did was this: every time I raisedtheir salaries, I took away one tot, starting with the pre-dawn tot. Ittook me about five years to end the dop system on Neethlingshof.(Unfortunately, this practice continued for many years on certainother farms, although I believe that by the 1980s, the Stellenboscharea was totally free of the tot system.) I also really tried my best toimprove the living conditions on the farm. I built new houses,installed running water as well as electricity in all homes, and tried tomake life as easy as possible for the farm workers.Shortly thereafter I became involved in National Party politics.While at university, as mentioned earlier, I had belonged to the YouthWing of the NP. After I left university, I was elected Secretary of thelocal branch. I remember when, in 1960, Prime Minister Dr HendrikVerwoerd was due to speak in Stellenbosch, and I was given the taskof going through town with a “bakkie” and a loudspeaker toadvertise the meeting. I drove up and down the streets, broadcastingthe event: “Ladies and Gentlemen, please come and listen to ourbeloved leader of the National Party and Prime Minister, Dr HendrikVerwoerd, tonight at eight o’clock in the Stellenbosch Town Hall.” AsI went past the home of Dr Malan, I got mixed up with the names andinvited the people to a public meeting to be addressed by the latepolitical leader, instead of Dr Verwoerd. I don’t know whether it wastrue or not, but I was told that Mrs Malan had been in the kitchenwhen I went past, and on hearing her husband’s name shouted out,had promptly fainted!In 1961, I was very involved in the “Yes” campaign for theReferendum regarding South Africa becoming a Republic, and wasgiven the responsibility of Postal votes. One day I was sent toJoostenberg Vlakte, to assist an old man in his nineties to vote. Hehad fought in the Anglo-Boer War in 1899. He was very frail, as wellas blind. As I sat down, he asked me: “How is General Smuts?” I had5