In August, 1956 and February, 1975 I traveled these two times to South Africa. In the first occasion, the "Apartheid", what the supremacistas were naming “developed separately” of the white and black races, it had 8 years of existence. In the second occasion, with “The Reporters” of channel TVE, the segregation was already entire. Beaches, taxis, buses, restaurants, hotels, quarters, the separation was absolute and it was imposing the laws literally. Any sexual relation between white and black, even mulattos, was hardly punished. The only solution was to come the weekends to the neighbor Rhodesia del Sur (today Zimbabwe) that, being still dominated by the targets, was not forcing to the hotels of American origin, to practise the segregation. The weekends of interracial sex were so requested that were forcing to reserve room with months of advance.
The night Manager of Holiday Inn of Cape of Good Hope, was a Swiss who would not have any more than 24 years when it told me his first months in South Africa. “A closed night, he was leading my Volkswagen under a torrential rain for the outskirts of the city. The windshield wiper was not managing to take the water from me quickly enough how to see the highway. Suddenly, a strong blow forced me to brake sudden and stop. I prayed because it was an animal while I went out of the vehicle to see what was. A black had pushed. I verified that he had died and, like good Swiss citizen, I left it in the place without moving it, I controlled my speedometer to locate the place, and went away in search of a police station.”
When finally it reached a position of the Police of Highways, it found an official only one reading the newspaper with the feet on the table. “Tomorrow we will investigate the case … Here, it has to the return of the corner a shop that bandages liquors. Buy a "trunk" of the worst Greek, cheapest brandy. Return to the place of the accident and spray the dead person. Tomorrow we will say that it was drunk and that it threw itself against his vehicle. Calm Váyase”.
To approximately 120 km to the north of City of Cape of Good Hope there is one of the most perfect bays of the world, Saldanha this way baptized by the Portuguese navigators of the XVth century. They could not install there his principal scale in the route of the East Indies because he was lacking drinking water. In 1652 the Dutches fortified Cape of Good Hope with the fortress of Good Hope. The vegetables and the fruits relieved the damages of the scurvy. In 1975 Pescanova and his co-informed branch Is Food Harvest Ltd, they were dominating Saldanha with the presence of 400 Galician sailors, some other natives and a dozen of factories ships. The Captain of the port of Saldanha was called … “Nemo“.
With certain frequency, the Spanish sailors were going of permission to Cape of Good Hope where there was many diversion in the Waterfront. A group of six or seven Galicians was directing his steps towards the bars area. In a given moment, before a shop window, one of them remained a straggler. When he wanted to give scope to the rest, the others had doubled the corner and it did not manage to find them. In that moment it was attacked by a pair of xhosas to razor top and it deprived of his clock and money. Since it could, doing hitchhiking, it returned to Saldanha Bay.
A pair of days later, supported in the rail of his ship of Pescanova, the Galician was contemplating distracted the pother of the stevedores and the provisions arrival for the imminent partanza of the fleet. Suddenly, between the loaders, the sailor recognized the xhosa that had attacked two nights earlier in Cape of Good Hope. It ran to the kitchen and armed itself with a good knife. When it reached and held the man, this one proclaimed terrified that was making a mistake, which he had not gone to Cape of Good Hope from hacía weeks and which was innocent. The clock of Spanish was denouncing the thief in his doll. Without being able to recover his money, the sailor killed the black. Led before the judge a few days later, it was fined by 12 Krugerrands, approximately 15 dollars of that one then. “But do not believe that the next time is going to work out for him so cheap!”. The white police officer who was returning him his belongings, whispered to the sailor:” It might cost you even three times more!”
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