That is, I was born and bred in the urban townships and therefore, under the law I could just queue at the government offices and apply for the crucial government papers.
Those who struggled were, unfortunately, folks arriving from the rural hinterland into the big cities to look for work.
I refer here to many arriving from places such as old-time Warmbaths, Nylstroom and Naboomspruit.
Political rhetoric aside, I must admit that we, the urban dwellers, from time to time used to have fun whenever the police arrived in the townships to root out poor rural folk without the life-and-death possession of the “dompas”.
In the Pretoria township of Mamelodi we used to play soccer under the banner of the Pretoria and District Football Association.
One of the affiliated teams was made up of the “mampara” cops from the City Council of Pretoria (CCP).
You would see them clad in khaki, matching helmets with the strap underneath the chin, descending on the streets looking for those without the “dompas”.
Ironically, all of these cops were Sepedi-speaking folk, also arriving from the rural areas by steam locomotive-powered trains.
At the miniature stadium in Mamelodi, the CCP soccer team arrived in their feared police truck.
It was an open secret that should the CCP do well and win on the soccer field, everything would be fine.
But should they lose, then towards the end of the fixtures you would see the rural homeboys from the hostels run for dear life, because there and then the CCP losers would get down to work, looking for the “dompas”.
The other day one of the fleeing rural men ended up hiding in a not-so-full coal-drum.
A well-known township female gossip tip-toed towards the CCP truck, and informed the policemen that one of the fugitives was hiding in a coal-drum.
The poor man was dragged screaming and kicking from the backyard coal-drum, and thrown into the police pick up.
But then, in a spilt moment, one township “klevah” (streetwise) threw open the back of the truck to offer freedom to those already inside the truck.
Rural folk are a humble lot and we had a good laugh when not a single one of them took advantage of the rare opportunity towards freedom.
They all remained wide-eyed inside the truck, waiting for the CCP men to bolt the truck door close.
