The day we invaded Zambia
A HIGH court judge has made some damning findings against the SABC. It unlawfully manipulated news coverage; it blacklisted certain political commentators; and it blocked coverage of former KZN Premier S'bu Ndebele being pelted and booed, later allowing him to deny the incident had happened – which was a blatant fib.
The judgment follows an application by the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI). The item involving the then KZN premier recalls another proud moment of the SABC.
It was back in the early 70s when Prime Minister John Vorster announced to a cheering Free State congress of his party that South African forces had crossed into Zambia.
The newswires hummed. It was headline news on radio, television and print, all over the world. The SABC put the story out on every station (No TV in those days).
There was consternation in Zambia. And there was equal consternation among the military brass of Pretoria, who didn't know a damned thing about this operation they were supposed to have mounted.
Yes, it was garbage. What prompted Vorster to make the announcement has never been explained. The most convincing theory is that it followed an over-convivial lunch.
A denial was later issued that the prime minister had said any such thing. (Those who heard it – including the SABC – were no doubt hallucinating).
This denial met with universal derision. Except from the SABC, which broadcast it deadpan. The prime minister had not said what it had quoted him saying. No invasion. End of story.
The more things change ... except that now we at least have bodies like FXI and the kind of framework that can bring these issues before the courts.
Midlands Picasso?
I WAS DINING in Howick the other evening in a pub called Sixty-two on Main. I was with a character named Tim Ward, who was once a captain in the Welsh Guards and Equerry to Charles, Prince of Wales.
The place was quiet and we got chatting to the barman, a young man named Joe Freer who said he had just passed matric and planned to become a cartoonist. While we were there he sketched the two of us on the only paper he could find, from a lined jotter. That explains the vertical lines (No, we weren't in jail). It is reproduced on this page.
Who knows, this could be the equivalent of an early Picasso.
The Dunn ladies
HISTORIAN and writer Peter Quantrill reminds me that John Dunn, mentioned on Tuesday, already had one wife before he wedded the 48 Zulu ladies.
"History of course has just recorded the 132nd anniversary of the Battle of Isandlwana, so your John Dunn description was very appropriate.
"His first wife was Catherine Pierce, father a Port Natal businessman and mother of Cape Malay origin. That makes 49 wives!
"Of interest is that he paid lobola for each of the Zulu women he married, many of royal stock. Today his progeny, scattered all over the world, number some 120 000 and it is a source of great pride to belong to the Dunn's Descendants Association, indicative of the high esteem in which this extraordinary "White Zulu" is held. His grave is worth a visit and lies at his eMoyeni home, near Gingindlovu."
Yes, I used to know Dan Dunn, head of the Dunn clan, a jovial former ship's bosun who had sailed the world. I think he lives in Cape Town now.
Once I was paging through the firearms register at the Gingindlovu Hotel. The place was a bit like the Wild West. Except you had to check in your shootin' iron for safekeeping before they would allow you into the bar. Every other name in the register seemed to be a Dunn. I'm sure those in between – many of them Portuguese – were also part of the clan.
The Ging hotel burned down years ago, the firearms register no doubt going up in smoke as well. A bit of history gone.
Lotsa gin
A LOVELY name, Gingindlovu. Some say it means "Gin, gin, I love you." But it actually means "Swallow the elephant." How that arose, I can't say.
Tailpiece
SOCIOLOGICAL research has discovered that the ultimate fantasy of any woman is to have two men at once. One is cooking, the other cleaning.
Last word
Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.
GRAHAM LINSCOTT
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