AFTER nearly three decades of small town living, well-known Empangeni couple Malcolm and Emilia de Klerk have made their way back to the ‘Mother City’.
With 26 years of memories in their President Swart Avenue family home, the De Klerk family bid farewell earlier this week as they headed back to Durbanville in Cape Town.
Malcolm, who served here as a Regional Court magistrate and Emilia, a popular designer and seamstress, decided to move to sunny Zululand in 1989 after Malcolm was offered a job opportunity.
Although this was an exciting time in their lives, it was also nerve-wracking as the small town was a fraction of the size of their previous surroundings.
‘I remember the day Malcolm pointed out the small town on the map and said that this was to be our new home,’ said Emilia.
The couple quickly hunted down a number of available properties, but their final choice rested on the house they called home for 26 years.
Back in time
Meeting at the then University of Port Elizabeth, Malcolm, who was studying law and Emilia, who was studying for a teaching degree, quickly hit it off.
After marrying in Cape Town in 1978, the couple moved to Cradock for Malcolm’s first appointment as magistrate.
They then moved back to Cape Town before making the trek to Empangeni,’
‘My fondest memories will be the many wonderful friendships we formed here in Zululand,’ said Emilia.
She successfully completed 11 Comrades Marathons during her time here and Malcolm was one of the longest serving magistrates in a Regional Court in KZN.
Their move from Empangeni was neither easy nor without heartbreak and they will be sorely missed in the community.
