A colleague in the IT section of our business, Dion van Eck, has provided me access to fleeting images of some of the amazing unspoilt places worldwide.
The great photography includes, among others, the picture of a mountain gorilla on a koppie, clutching a bleeding infant impala, with the mother looking on forlornly.
Jungle life is about the survival of the fittest, so they say.
Now on Monday morning when I arrived at the office, my computer screensaver had the image of a steam engine locomotive chugging its way through the hinterland.
This particular image often brings back memories of my own boyhood, when during school holidays my maternal grandmother used to bring me from the Pretoria township of Mamelodi to erstwhile Warmbaths.
I have written before about how the likes of the late Sister Edna Molewa and yours truly — because of our lighter skin pigmentation — used to trick the Afrikaner ticket man at the mineral
baths that we were Coloured and therefore “privileged” to enter the public swimming pools.
Also, I have memories of township golfers crossing the railway line to enjoy a good swing at the then Whites-Only fairways on Sunday morning.
The mischievous golfers broke the hallowed colour-bar laws knowing very well that the green-keeper had gone to the service of the local NG Kerk Warmbad Moedergemeente.
But on this particular Monday morning at the office, the white cloud of smoke bellowing from the chimney of the steam train was a painful reminder of the breaking news in the township at the
weekend.
It was on a sad note that one heard the news of the passing of halcyon days’ schoolteacher, Emma Masemola.
My memories of Sis Emma is of a woman who was married into the family of the Masemolas on a street named after the late ‘Oom Steve Masemola, who was incidentally a golfer himself, but was not part of the mischievous ones who broke Apartheid’s Separate Amenities Act.
I have been very much in touch with the reporters that we really go for broke in terms of the reporting on the passing of Mrs Masemola.
As I write this Lizzy Bapela has been instructed to pay homage to the family, to see if we can access the family album for pictures of the grand ol’ lady.
Emma Masemola is known to many as the lady who spearheaded a drum majorettes troupe, and also a conductor of yesteryear’s schools’ eisteddfods.
There should be more on her remarkable life, when Lizzy returns back to base.
May her soul rest in peace.
— The BEAT
