Nationalism and My Generation: The Sins of our Fathers

Nationalism and My Generation:
The Sins of our Fathers
Theunis C. Stofberg

Nationalism and My Generation:
The Sins of our Fathers
A Photobook
Falmouth University 2020
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South Africa - A Short Timeline
1652 : Arrival of first Dutch Settlers in South Africa
1687 : French Hugenots arrive in South Africa bringing their own brand of staunch Protestant Puritanism
1815 : Britain annexes South Africa
1838 : Start of the Great Trek as farmers move out of Cape Colony to areas not regulated by colonial control
1852 : Zuid Afrikaanse Republic founded in the Northern part of now South Africa
1856 : Dutch Government starts segregationist policy in the Cape Colony
1877 : Britain Annexes parts of ZAR to gain lucrative gold mines
1880 : First Boer War. Britain loses
1899 : Britain annexes parts of ZAR once again to gain gold fields of Witwatersrand
1899 : Start of Second Boer War
1900 : Lord Kitchener replaces Buller as leader of British Expiditionary Forces
1900 : Britain starts scorched earth policy
1900 : Britain place captured woman and children of ZAR citizenship in concentration camps
1902 : More than 28 000 white people die in concentration camps, 22 000 of them children under the age of 16
1902 : 20 000 black people die in concentration camps, although exact figure still remains unknown
1902 : Vrede of Vereeniging treaty between Britain and the Republics who will now exist as seperate British colonies
1910 : Former boer republics amalgamated into the Union of South Africa with other colonies.
1914 : National Party is formed
1918 : The Broederbond is formed to counter dominance of British Culture
1939 : Ossewabrandwag is formed as an attempt to stop English colonisation during WWII
1942 : National Party breaks with Ossewabrandwag deeming their actions too extreme
1943 : Birth of my father
1948 : National Party formalises segregation and apartheid as a legal national policy
1958 : HF Verwoerd becomes Prime minister of South Africa
1960 : Sharpeville Massacre
1961 : The Republic of South Africa, free of British rule is formed
1964 : Nelson Mandela and others found guilty in Rivonia Trail
1966 : Start of Border war against communist insurgents active in Angola and Zambia
1966 : HF Verwoerd is assassinated
1976 : Soweto Youth Uprising
1980 : 8 MK bombs damage power stations and government buildings
1982 : 16 MK bombs do damage to power stations and government buildings
1983 : Church Street bombing kils 19, while 217 are wounded
1990 : End of Border War
1990 : Nelson Mandela released from prison
1991 : Dissolution of the Soviet Union
1991 : All Apartheid laws rescinded
1994 : First National Elections held
1994 : Nelson Mandela becomes President
1996 : Truth and Reconciliation Commission founded
1998 : Church of England apologises for its support of Concentration camps in South Africa
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My Father’s Things
My father was a good man, a kind man that rarely, if ever spoke
a bad word about others. He was a family man, a religious man
who believed in his God and his redemption through Christ
his saviour. My father was a nationalist, a supporter of the
old Apartheid government and a member of the Broerderbond,
a secretive organisation dedicated to the advancement
of Afrikaner interests. The duality of the good christian man
and apartheid was a battle that was non-existent in his life and
something we, the children of these men still have to deal with
today.
Born in a small town in the arid Swartland of South Africa, the
first child to his fathers second wife, my father was the second
youngest of the brood, his oldest sister leaving the house
before my father had enough understanding to get to know
her. My grandmother was a teacher and would raise my dad
in the way she was raised. We do what we are told, we don’t
ask questions, we don’t communicate with adults apart from
receiving orders. My grandfather was a Dutch Reformed minister,
a man who believed in the grace of God but also that God
did not have time for sinners and doubters, a man who believed
in his God and his country. With family that died in the
British concentration camps during the South African (Boer)
War he would raise my father to believe in the independence
of the Republic of South Africa, exposing my father to others
advocating against the British colonial government.
My father attended school at the prestigious Paul Roos Gimnasium,
one of the oldest schools in the country and the incubator
for men like JBM Hertzog, DF Malan, Jan Smuts and of
course Hendrik Verwoerd, all prime ministers of South Africa,
all builders of the apartheid system. At Paul Roos the cool-aid
was fed intravenously, God and country, no time for self analyses
or critique, questions were not allowed, rebellions not
even considered. Due to his fathers unexpected death my
father started in various directions, from an early career in the
Army to his own outdoor and adventure store. From running
his own tourgroups to places like Angola, to an outdoor education
centre, my father fell from one place to the other until
finally finding stability in the nationalist government. Through
his family connections as well his membership of the Rapportryers,
(the youth version of the Broederbond) My father was
appointed as the National Party provincial organiser for both
the Free State and later the Western Cape. After running into
some of the young and upcoming politicians like the now
dreaded PW Botha my father’s view of politics changed. Seeing
these leaders making decisions more out of self interest
than national interest he left the party, his ideology of nationalist
sainthood crushed. Selling life insurance for a a few years
he came to realise that his love for teaching is the thing that
ties a lot of his previous ventures together. At the age of thirty,
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with a young wife and two children in tow my father started
studying full time to become a teacher.
During all this the one that that was consistent in his life was his
love and dedication to an Afrikaans youth organisation called
The Voortrekkers. Aimed at promoting Afrikaans culture and
ideology to Afrikaans youth, this organisation, run on a loose
military structure inherited from the Boer Commandos during
the Boer-war, would take up most of his free time for the rest
of his life. He quickly rose to one of the highest positions in the
country and was the Provincial Leader for what today is three
provinces. During this his membership of the Broederbond
was still alive and well. Going to meetings with political and
business leaders of the country gave him insight into what the
country was doing and where it was heading before the man on
the street knew.
There is an old fable on the West Coast about the cooking ritual
of throwing live crayfish into boiling water. The story goes
that you don’t have to worry the crayfish it, they get used to
it. My father was a complicated man. Like many white South
Africans of his age he did not realise the apposite nature of
his christian faith and apartheid. The slow creep of a countries
nationalist mood post independence was used to subvert the
original goals of men like my father by pointing the country into
a direction away from their original goals. How does the creep
of nationalist fascism get into the heart of a family man? The
answer is: Slowly.
My father died when he was 56, an active man taken away unexpectedly
and ungraciously, one day there, gone the next. As
a young man I never quite knew how to deal with it.
I tell people that death is like a tree in your backyard. You are
used to the tree being there but one day the tree is gone and
all that remains is a hole. For the first year you can‘t miss the
hole, you see it every-time you look out the window, when you
go outside, when you walk in the grass. As time goes on the
hole become smaller, things start filling it in, a few bushes grow
around it, the hole disappears for all intents and purposes.
Then you walk outside one day and suddenly you step in the
hole again and the pain comes flashing back. This book is me
uncovering the hole and discovering thorns that we as a generation
would have preferred to forget.
Self examination lead to realisation and without either we will
make the same mistakes our forefathers made.
Theunis Stofberg

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Riebeeck Street 11, Stellenbosch; My Grandfathers house.

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Young and Future Leaders
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Film Making Equipment

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Paul Roos Gimnasium
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Lemoenkop,Hermanus
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Cameras and Slides
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Albums to Inspire
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Mother and Daughter Hermanus
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Projectile Weapons
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Commemorative Medals and Coins
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Playing in the Sand, The Plate, Hermanus

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Tools

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Shell Bay with the family dog, Hermanus
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Photography Books

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Leaders of the Leaders of Tomorrow

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Photo on the Cliff Path, Hermanus

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Old Books
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Moonshine Bay, Hermanus
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Travelling

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Heliograph, Level and Artillery Shell
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Mountain and Touring Club
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Cousins on the Plate, Hermanus

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From his Office
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A special thanks has to go to the following people
To my wife who puts up with my shit and allowed me the time and support to finish my MA
To my kids who didn’t bother me too much during the lockdown
To my brother and his family who walked with me trying to find the same spots in Hermanus
To my sister who suddenly found a lot of my dads old books in her house
To my mother who could remember where some of the things were shot and had stories to go with it
To the three friends I made studying at Falmouth without whom I never would have finished this course
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