Nelson Mandela

By Marco Miranda

The location of the Pretoria Hilton is unique. On one side you have the interminable plains of the southern Savannah, on the other the majestic range of the Transvaal and all around it, the luscious valley irrigated by the Olifants and the Krosolbal rivers. The hotel is indeed one of the finest in South Africa.The exquisite furnishings and appointments are matched by an excellent cuisine and impeccable service. Herr Aleck Van Michelsen runs a tight ship.

There was a knock at the door of my suite on the 25th floor. Without waiting for me to invite whoever was at the door to come in, the door opened and in walked someone I did not expect to see:

"Jesus, Mandela" I exclaimed.

"No, no, Nelson. Nelson Mandela" he replied and laughed.

It had been a few years since Mandela and I had shared a cell in a place that, I was sure, we were both trying to forget. I got up and we embraced, while his Biri Biri body guards stood outside by the door.

"What happened to your beard" he asked while he looked at me with affection. I returned the look and asked:

"What happened to your black curls? You are as gray haired as Richard Gere!"

He proceeded to tell me about his problems with the various coalitions, the new labor laws and the pressures from the white separatists. But he referred to them in a very objective way but not devoid of passion. At the end he said:

"I heard you were in Pretoria and I knew I would have to come and see you in spite of the crazy schedule my people keep me under. I want you to come with me for lunch at the Pretoria Lawn Tennis and Country Club. You know, that club used to be a milk white facility. He sort of rubbed that one in. He knew I had been a member. What he did not know was that at the time I was madly in love with two of the member's wives, and the club with its manicured forests, gentle hills and its discreet and inviting guest suites was a perfect place for illicit love affairs.

"I'll be delighted." I replied while I pulled out the miniature Phillips recorder from my attaché case and set it on the coffee table. He looked at it and with some resignation and observed:

"I see you still pushing a pencil. What happened to book number 6?"

He was referring to the book I worked on when I was in jail.

"Book number 6 came and went. You remember it was all about the situation in South Africa in the seventies. A French publisher picked it up and it did well, judging by the checks I get once in a while. But, I am not going to ask what you been up to. You Nobel prize winners are all the same. You run up to Stockholm, fill up with smorsgarbord and acquavit, get your medal pinned on your new suit, verify the numbers on the check and hightail it to warmer climates. "

He laughed and produced some Callard and Bowser Mint toffees from his pocket. I took a couple and we toasted each other as we removed the familiar green wrapper. It had been a ritual in jail.

"You got to keep things in perspective" he observed in a sober tone.

"It took the human race several million years to learn how to walk on two feet. And it has taken less than twenty years to recognize the rights that some people have in their own land. We are happy about our accomplishments in South Africa "

I added: " Nelson, it is only the beginning. We all have much to learn still. Especially about tolerance. Incidentally, where did you get the mint toffees? I can't seem to find them anywhere in Pretoria"

"Our Ambassador in London sends them by diplomatic pouch. I call it getting even for all those years without them! Now, let us go to the Club"

We took the elevator down to the lobby. His bodyguards led us to the front door of the hotel.

"Gee, this is a nice bus" I said. It was a 450 hp Mercedez Benz equipped in Italy with air conditioning, bar, lavatories and reclining seats.

"Where do I sit" I asked Mandela.

He turned to one of his lieutenants and listened for an instant. Then he turned to me and said:

"This time you sit in the back of the bus!"

Chemical engineer by training, international executive by merit and writer by addiction. Former syndicated columnist of Technology columns, has written for television and movies. His humorous articles contain fine satire and have been published in 4 languages.

Quote: "Love and smiles teach tolerance; days without either are days wasted."

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marco_Miranda

Who was Sammy Marks?

Find out more

If you want to know more about Sammy Marks, you will quickly find out he was an exceptional entrepreneur, businessman and self-made millionaire. He started with practically nothing, but going ahead, he established the first factories in the Transvaal. From your place of accommodation in Pretoria, make the decision to and go visit the Sammy Marks’ museum on the original farm Swartkoppies, just outside Pretoria.

Background and first success          

Sammy Marks was born in Lithuania, Russia, in 1843 as the son of a Jewish tailor. He arrived in Cape Town in 1868. His cousin, Isaac Lewis, also from Lithuania, arrived shortly after. Sammy Marks started hawking with jewellery and cutlery in Cape Town. He later moved to Kimberley, where he got involved in the French Diamond Mining Company, and formed a partnership with his cousin Isaac. Lewis and Marks then moved to the Eastern Transvaal, and with the discovery of gold, they started trading in Barberton and formed the African and European Investment Company. This company developed into a significant Rand finance house with controlling interests in many gold mines. In order to mine coal deposits, Sammy Marks in 1892 started the Zuid-Afrikaanschen Oranje Vrystaatsche Mineralen en Mijnbouvereeniging. This company set the foundation for the town of Vereeniging, where Sammy Marks established flour-mills, brick and tile works, and the Viljoen’s Drift coal mine. Marks became the driving force behind the expansion of the Witbank coalfields.

Sammy Marks significance for Pretoria

Being a well-known figure in the Transvaal business community, Sammy Marks moved to Pretoria in 1881, where he became an admirer and very good friend of Paul Kruger. Marks advised Kruger to build a railway line between Pretoria and Lorenco Marques, Mosambique.

 

When a manufacturing contract between AH Nelmapius and the government could not be carried out because of financial constraints, Lewis & Marks took over and constructed the factory and business Eerste Fabrieken just outside Pretoria.

Marks became senator in the Union Parliament from 1910 until his death.

He liberally supported the Jewish community in South Africa. He supplied the bricks for the Pretoria synagogue that was built in 1898. He also paid for the installation of electricity and chandeliers.

In 1902, he presented a cast-iron fountain to the city of Pretoria. The design was Edwardian and it was shipped from Glasgow. Today it stands in the National Zoological Gardens.

Marks also commissioned the statue of Kruger, today to be seen on Church Square. It was sculpted by Anton van Wouw and cast in bronze in Europe.

His family

At the age of forty, Marks was a very wealthy man and still not married. He then married Bertha Guttmann, nineteen years younger than himself, in Sheffield, England. Nine children were born from this marriage, six boys and three girls. As Marks himself received only limited schooling, he made sure that his children got the best education. Hence, they were taught at home by governesses up to the age of eight, for the boys, and twelve, for the girls. Thereafter the Marks children were sent to private schools in England.

The grand mansion just outside Pretoria…

Make sure to go and see the genius Sammy Marks’ house. It is a grand colonial mansion on the original farm Zwartkoppies, just 23 km outside Pretoria. The house, surrounded by a beautiful Victorian garden, has been turned into a charming museum. The rose garden, started in 1906, bear testimony to Bertha’s love for roses. Tours at the Sammy Marks museum take place daily. Don’t miss it!

Sir Herbert Baker - A legacy of elegance

Sir Herbert Baker is renowned for leaving behind an elegant architectural legacy throughout South Africa. He was born in Kent in England in 1862 and studied at the Royal Academy School of Architecture. Already from an early age, he started showing an interest in the stone construction used for Norman cathedrals, Anglo Saxon churches and Renaissance buildings. Traditional construction methods that made use of bricks, plaster and wood as building materials caught his attention. During his work at the office of Sir Ernest George in England, he became particularly involved in the maintenance and restoration of old buildings.

A visit to his cousin who lived in South Africa, led to Sir Herbert Baker also moving here in 1892. Shortly after his arrival he met the then prime minister, Cecil Rhodes, who asked him to restore his Cape Dutch mansion, Groote Schuur. Initially restoring old buildings and Cape Dutch homes, Sir Herbert Baker used his own specially trained artisans. He developed an interest in using indigenous materials to ensure sturdy and permanent buildings in line with his own standards. In 1900 Rhodes sponsored Sir Herbert Baker to undertake a study tour to Greece, Italy and Egypt.

Baker returned to South Africa and designed several buildings that remind of the early Cape Dutch style. In 1896 one of his projects included a total re-design of Grootte Schuur after it was destroyed by fire. Grootte Schuur was later renamed to Genadendal and now forms the permanent residence of the president of South Africa.

After Rhodes’ death, Sir Herbert Baker built the Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town (between 1910 and 1912) in memory of Rhodes. His design for the Memorial was similar to the Greek Temple at Segesta. Rhodes’ death and the end of the Boer War in 1902 marked a time of rebuilding the Transvaal and Orange River Colony. In 1902 Baker moved to Johannesburg where Lord Milner now commissioned him with several architectural projects, including Government buildings, churches, houses and agricultural and mining settlements.

Some of the residences designed for the British colonials can be seen today particularly in the suburbs like Parktown and Westcliff in Johannesburg. Pretoria also shows off several examples of residences designed by Sir Herbert Baker. Residential houses designed by Sir Herbert Baker are known for their sturdy construction, simple finishes, absence of frills, and impressively large gardens. These gardens were personally designed by the architect himself to match the buildings. When visiting Pretoria, you will easily vind accommodation in Pretoria for your overnight stay.

Sir Herbert Baker is especially known for his design of the majestic Union Buildings in Pretoria in 1908. The construction began in 1909 and was completed in 1913. His use of stone in this project was unique. He extracted the stone from the hills of Pretoria. Other prominent buildings in Pretoria designed by Sir Herbert Baker include the Pretoria Railway Station, the Old Reserve Bank on Church Square, and the Engelenburg House Museum, near the Union Buildings.

In Johannesburg, the first house built by Sir Herbert Baker was Stonehouse (his own house) in Rockridge Road, Parktown. Other examples, amongst others, in Johannesburg include Pilrig House and St Margaret’s, also on Rockridge Road, Parktown; Northwards; the South African Institute for Medical Research; St Andrew’s School for Girls; the Roedean School, and St John’s College.

Some of the buildings designed by Sir Herbert Baker in Cape Town include: Groot Constantia; the McClean telescope building at the Royal Observatory; Rhodes Memorial; St George's Anglican Cathedral, and Wynberg Boys’ High School. In the Northern Cape (Kimberley) he designed the Honoured Dead Memorial.

Other examples in other parts of South Africa include Michael House, (Balgowan, KwaZulu-Natal); St Anne's College Chapel (Pietermaritzburg); Grey College (Bloemfontein); Dale College (King William’s Town); Rhodes University (Grahamstown); Bishop's Lea (George); St John's Anglican Church (Mafiking); the Post Office, City Hall and Standard Bank Building (Kroonstad). In Salisbury, known today as Zimbabwe, he designed the Anglican Cathedral.
In his designs, Sir Herbert always carefully considered the region’s climate. For example, in the Cape he found it necessary to use bigger windows than in the Transvaal, where sharp light and heat necessitated darker and cooler residences.

After twenty years in South Africa, Sir Herbert Baker left for India where he was influential in his design of New Delhi together with Edwin Luytens. Thereafter he went back to England, where he worked until his death in 1946. Sir Herbert’s tomb is in Westminster Abbey. Sir Herbert Baker’s work in South Africa is considered the best of his career.