The Harris Family

I know I have been slack in posting over the last month or so, but now I have a life again outside of just travelling I have found other things to fill my spare time rather than just writing up my blog.  Over the last few weeks Anna and I have been up to Polokwane (previously known as Pietersburg if you are looking for it on an old South African Map) to visit her family.  Anna’s father, Ben Harris is a bit of a local legend around Polokwane.  The old apartheid system in South Africa classified people into four categories based on ‘race’, with ‘Whites’ having access to the most benefits, then ‘Indians’, ‘Coloured’ and finally ‘Blacks’ having the least benefits and rights.  While the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa now enshrines equality for all, many people still use this ‘racially descriptive’ terminology in a non offensive way to describe a person’s cultural heritage.  The term ‘Coloured’ is used to describe people of mixed ‘Black’ and ‘White’ heritage (with sometimes Indian thrown in), and while the smallest of the four ‘race’ groups, they seemed to cause apartheid officialdom a real conundrum in trying to ‘classify’ people.  Sometimes it came down to the ‘pencil test’! A government official would stick a pencil in your hair and if it fell out you would be classified as ‘White’, if it stuck in your hair you could be classified as ‘Coloured’ (true story).

Anyway, back to Anna’s Dad.  As a coloured man living in apartheid South Africa he lived and rose above the many challenges that were thrown in his way.  On the personal side he become a very influential businessman, owning many business’ around Polokwane:

The sign outside the Harris 'business office', listing the scope of the family business'.

He became the first ‘non-white’ to own a farm in South Africa (which has now grown to four farms/rural properties):

Ben Harris and Anna at the original family farm.

The 'driveway' leading in to the farm.  On these two adjoining farms the family runs cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, which are often slaughtered and butchered in the family butchers.

Another internal track on the farm.  It is very green at the moment due to recent rains.

All farms have got to have 'big toys'.

The house (under renovation) and rondavel used by the family when staying on the farm.

Out of interest I did a quick sweep near one of the water troughs and recovered six poacher snares.  These snares were very lightweight and designed to catch guinea fowl.  I will come back in mid Jan and do a full survey.

He fought for and had established the township of Westernburg just outside Polokwane for ‘Coloureds’, which prevented the apartheid government from forcibly relocating the ‘Coloured’ people away from a mixed neighbourhood in the city into marginal land.  Even now the main street of Westernburg is officially called Ben Harris Street, on which Ben Harris lives, and has many of the family business’:

The 'family home' in Westernburg.

The cafe, service station and shop opposite the house in Westernburg.

The office and bus workshop.

As well as leading the ‘Coloured’ community by example he was covertly involved with the struggle for freedom against the apartheid regime, but since the new government has been a very strong and vocal advocate for reconciliation and acceptance of all ‘race’ groups in South Africa.  Even now he still gets involved in sorting out community disputes. There has even been a book written about him!

African Animals

Over the last month or so I have spent most of the time in major South African cities, therefore I have not really had a chance to interact with a lot of wildlife, which is something I have missed.  Although, this weekend I visited one of Anna’s family’s farms, which was good to get back into the low veldt again.  I really miss it!  So for all you animal lovers out there, here are some archive snapshots of animals in Kruger NP:

A young Kudu buck.

The young Kudu buck again.

Kudu does from the same herd.

Kudu doe.

Impala buck.

Duiker buck.  These animals are extremely small, about the size of a small dog and very shy.  I think this one may have been sick, given how close we got to it, and the number of flies on it, which is unusual.

A herd of Impala.  Note how the dominant buck puts himself between the herd and us.

Cricket

Living in the Northern Territory, especially remote, you do not get much of a chance to see international sporting fixtures, therefore I told myself that I would try to get along to the cricket while I was in South Africa.  Anyway it turns out that Anna absolutely loves cricket, so we brought tickets for the second test between South Africa and Australia recently held here at Wanderer’s Stadium in Jo’burg.  Below are some of the photos from the Pink Day for the Jane McGrath foundation.

Sorry I have been a bit slack on the posts lately, but it is simply because we are having too much fun socialising.  Given the time of the year, it seems to be an endless succession of parties, lunches, dinners and coffees for the ‘festive season’.  Additionally, many of Anna’s friends want to meet me, so we have had these meetings in our social calendar!  We have a few trips coming up over the next few weeks until Christmas so I will try and take some more photos and keep everyone informed on what I am up to.  To that end we are off to Polokwane for the weekend to spend some time with Anna’s family, and visit their farm.  A bit daunting for me really, as she seems to be related to about half of Polokwane!

Wanderer's Stadium at Jo'burg decked out in pink.  South Africa are batting.

Anna and I supporting our respective teams.  We also had our national flags.

The 'pink' scoreboard.

At least i wasn't the only Australian supporter in the crowd, but we were definately in the minority.

A couple of the South African supporters trying to get a mexican wave happening.

'Standard dress' for a keen South African supporter?

The same South African supporter getting an autograph from the South African 12th man.  He spent the rest of the day showing his 'autograph' to people in the crowd.  I don't know whether he washed it off that night?

Michael Clark bowling one of his spin overs.

Trevor Lyons fielding nearby.

Graham Smith playing a shot.

How the South African's serve beer to the crowd.  That back pack must be heavy when it is full.

The Kingdom of Swaziland

Anna and I went to the Kingdom of Swaziland for the Remembrance Day weekend, which was absolutely amazing.  Swaziland is the last Kingdom left in Africa and unlike the constitutional monarchies that we are used to in the West, the King is both head of state and head of the government.  What he says, goes!  The kingdom is absolutely beautiful, and the people are just amazing, with a very laid back lifestyle.  As an independent country, Swaziland was not subjected to Apartheid and became a haven for many people from South Africa fleeing the racial segregation.  As such, there are none of the racial divides which are still quite evident as a legacy of Apartheid in modern South Africa.  We went out to dinner on Friday night and almost every group in the restaurant was of a mixed background with no one paying any attention to skin colour.

The trip was to visit some university friends of Anna’s but also to have a bit of a reconnaissance for future trips.  As it was we spent most of the days cruising around the various craft markets located in the Ezulwini Valley.  I managed to finish all of my Christmas shopping there, as well as buy some nice things for myself.  I will definitely go back at some stage in the future to explore the Kingdom further, especially some of the National Parks.  Here a few photos to give you a bit of an idea of the place.

Execution Rock (didn't get to ask about how it got its name) from the Yebo Gallery.

A close up of execution rock.  Basically this was the view from Stacey and George's house where we stayed for the first two nights.

Anna at the coffee shop at the Yebo Gallery.  Swaziland is known for these humerous 'angel' carvings.  In this case the angel is using a brush cutter?

A Swazi cow!

The show room at Swazi candles (some of you will get Christmas presents from here!).

One of the Swazi Candle makers.

A Swazi craft market (saw a few of these).

The view from the verandah of Kathy and Mark's place where we spent the last night.

More of the view from Kathy and Mark's place.

Johannesburg and the Women’s Prison

Constitution Hill also contained a Women’s Prison, which interestingly enough for me as an Australian was built in the same design as the ‘model prison’ at Port Arthur in Tasmania.  The main ‘cell block’ located inside the prison walls, consisted of a central ‘hub’ with wings of cells, both communal and individual, radiating out from it.  This allowed the minimum number of guards to supervise a larger amount of ‘cells’.  The design was based on a 19^th Century British concept.  The old Women’s Prison complex is still in use as offices by the organisation (not sure if it is RSA Government) that look after equal rights within South Africa, specifically gender issues, which I think is extremely poignant given the history of the place.  The presentation of the Women’s Prison as both a museum, a memorial and a working office block is extremely well done.  Some photos of the prison are included below.

The ramparts of the Fort also provided some good photo opportunities over Johannesburg, which I have included below:

A huge bronze statue of Madiba (Nelson Mandela) at Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg.  Without doubt he is one of the greatest political figures in modern history, and rates right up there with people such as Gandhi and Castro.

The 'Africa Steps' leading up to the main door of the Constitutional Court constructed from the bricks recycled from the old Apartheid era court which once inhabited the site. In the photo the Constitutional Court is to the left and the old No 4/5 prison is to the right.

The Constitution Hill Women's Prison complex as seen from the ramparts  the old Fort.

In the 20th Century the area near Constitution Hill was also characterised by a range of world class hospitals and medical research facilities which paradoxically produced some fantastic medical breakthroughs during the Apartheid era.  The building pictured above was the old black and coloured hospital.

The central 'hub' of the Women's Prison showing the doors of one of the wings or 'spokes' containing a large communal cell on the ground and first floors.

The 'spoke' containing the isolation cells in the Women's Prison.

A 'reconstruction' of the interior of one of the isolation cells (with plywood walls) made by an ex prisoner as part of a display in one of the communal cells.

Constitution Hill Fort

The following series of pictures deals specifically with the old fort on Constitution Hill. Unfortunately the interior was closed on the day I visited, but a walk around the ramparts was worthwhile just for the view over Jo’burg.

The ramparts of the old fort seen between the remaining stair wells of the apartheid era court on Constitution Hill.

The corner entrance through the ramparts.  My assessment is that this entrance was created when the fort reverted back to being a prison after the Anglo-Boer War, and the defences no longer needed to be complete.

Inside the ramparts, showing how store rooms for weapons and ammunition were incorporated into the walls.

The same view as above but from the top of the ramparts.

A view along the top of the ramparts, showing some of the internal 'prison' buildings.

What was the original gate to the fort, set into the ramparts.

More store rooms and buildings inside the fort.

More of the prison buildings.  The wire fence also dates from this period as it is designed to prevent people climbing the ramparts from the inside.