Archive for the ‘Book Excerpts’ Category
by Amanda on May 23rd, 2012
In Broers in die stryd skryf Chris Schoeman oor die groot aantal Hollanders en Hollandse uitgewekenes wat gedurende die Tweede Anglo-Boereoorlog in 1899 aan die kant van die Boere geveg het.
In die eerste twee uittreksels hieronder word die verhale van Hollanders vertel wat deur die Britse Leër tereggestel is. Die laaste uittreksel bevat interessante aanhalings uit Hollanders se dagboeke wat die kommandolewe in Suid-Afrika beskryf:
Die Britse Leër se teregstelling van Kaapse rebelle en ander vir sogenaamde oorlogsmisdade en verraad het ook groot woede plaaslik en oorsee ontketen. Die legendes van Boerehelde soos Kommandante Gideon Scheepers en Hans Lötter, en Veldkornet Willie Louw is almal deeglik geboekstaaf, maar wat minder bekend is, is die verhale van sommige buitelanders wat gedurende die oorlog tereggestel is. Onder hulle was tien Hollanders, van wie nege in die veld saam met die Boere was.
Een van die mees aangrypende verhale is dié van die 22-jarige Hendrik Johan Veenstra, wat op 4 September 1901 in Colesberg tereggestel is saam met ‘n Sweed, Frederick Toy, en ‘n Boer, Hendrik van Vuuren. Veenstra is in Amsterdam gebore, was in die beste skole en het verskeie sertifikate op die gebied van handel verower. Sy toekomstige werkgewer, ‘n Frans-Hollandse maatskappy, het hom na Suid-Afrika gestuur om sy oom, Frans van der Ahee, in Colesberg te besoek kort voor die uitbreek van die oorlog. Hy het op 3 April 1901 by Kommandant Gideon Scheepers se kommando aangesluit, waarskynlik omdat hy soos baie van sy mede-Hollanders geesdriftig oor die Boeresaak gevoel het en daadwerklik iets wou doen om dit te bevorder. Sy adres is later in hofdokumente aangegee as ‘Rietfontein, Murraysburg’. Skaars drie maande later is hy saam met Toy en ‘n Luitenant Izak Liebenberg by Onbedacht in die Camdeboo gevange geneem. Op 5 Augustus 1901 is hy deur ‘n militêre hof in Graaff-Reinet verhoor op aanklagte van hoogverraad, die dra van vuurwapens en rebellie – aanklagte wat streng gesproke onmoontlik was aangesien hy steeds ‘n Hollandse burger was en op geen manier Britse burgerskap kon verkry het nie. hy is ook aangekla van brandstigting en stropery. Volgens die hof het hy drie huise in die Murraysburg-gebied aan die brand gesteek, waaronder die magistraatskantoor en die pragtige ou woning op die plaas Vleiplaas. Waarskynlik in die hoop dat hy as Hollander gevrywaar was teen vervolging, het Veenstra skuldig gepleit. ‘n Paar maande later, toe Scheeepers in Graaff-Reinet verhoor is, het hy erken dat hy Vleiplaas afgebrand het, sowel as die Rose-Innes-huis, Sharwood-huis en ‘n stoor.
Nog ‘n Hollander wat in die Kaapkolonie tereggestel is, was Piet de Ruyt, blykbaar die eerste man aan Boerekant wat tereggestel is vir die dra van ‘n Kakie-uniform. Lord Kitchener het vroeër bevele uitgevaardig dat enige Boere wat in ‘n Britse uniform gevang word, deur ‘n standregtelike krygsraad verhoor moes word, en indien hulle skuldig bevind is, moes hulle op die plek doodgeskiet word. Die verhaal rondom De Ruyt se gevangeneming is ietwat komies, maar nie minder tragies as dié van Veenstra nie.
De Ruyt, ʼn voormalige lid van Theron se verkennerskorps, het hom later in die Kaapkolonie by Generaal Ben Bouwer se kommando onder Generaal Smuts bevind. Hy was een van ʼn geslote groep van elf man wat deur Deneys Reitz die ‘Rijk Section’ gedoop is – ʼn ironiese verwysing na die vodde wat hulle as klere gedra het. Jan van Zijl, ook ʼn Hollander, was ook in dié groep, soos Reitz self. Die afdeling is deur Smuts gevra om as sy verkenners op te tree.
As dit nie die skroeiende son van die Suid-Afrikaanse somer was nie, was dit die snerpende koue en reën wat hul lewens uiters miserabel buite in die veld gemaak het. Vir die Boere wat gewoond was aan die land se toestande was dit erg genoeg, maar vir die buitelanders was dit selfs erger.
‘Hier ben ik nu onder enkel boeren, gedwongen te leven als zij en geen hooger eischen dan zij te stellen,’ skryf Ver Loren van Themaat. ‘Het kost me in het eerst wel moeite aan dit harde leven te wennen; ‘s nachts slaap ik onbehagelijk van de kou. De beschutting van den enkelen doornboom mag iets helpen tegen de uitstraling en den regen, het is of de nactwind er nog vinniger onder door blaast. Eens op een nacht, als we de paarden bij ons aan de takken van den boom hebben vastgebonden, kom een verschrikkelijk onweer opzetten. Zoo fel slaat het licht uit, zoo vlak boven ons ratelen de slangen, dadelijk op het licht volgend, dat ik het onverantwoordelijk oordeel langer onder den boom te blijven slapen; ik neem mijn kooigoed op en ga in het water in de modder wat verder liggen. Het felle lighten kan ik aan mijn oogen niet verdragen en ik kruip geheel onder de kombaars. Een echte nact der verschrikking. Den volgenden dag houdt predikant Louw uit Heidelberg, die dezer dagen in het lager verblyft, godsdienstoefening; hij dankt God, dat we allen weer de zon hebben mogen zien opgaan, en dit zijn zeker geen ijdele woorden; door dit buitenleven wordt men weer meer natuurmensch en voelt de geweldige natuurmachten in haar volle verschrikking.
Boekbesonderhede
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by Amanda on Apr 16th, 2012
Zebra Press brings you an exclusive extract from SuperVan & I, the autobiography of Sarel van der Merwe. Written with renowned sports biographer, Steve Smith, SuperVan & I details the exploits of South Africa’s greatest racing driver.
In the following passage, van der Merwe describes a “very scary” night race at Le Mans:
It was 10.30 p.m., 15 June 1984…and I was doing 385 km/h. Not only had I never gone that fast before, but I was hurtling around an unfamiliar track, in an unfamiliar car. And it was dark too. This wasn’t just any racetrack either. This was Le Mans. I was shit-scared. Easily the second most scared I’d ever been. And there were three reasons for this. One: 385 km/h is very, very fast. If you think 200 km/h is quick, let me tell you that 300 km/h feels a whole lot quicker. And approaching 400 km/h is like another realm altogether. Two: not only was I doing 385 km/h at night, but I was doing it down the testicle-shrinking Mulsanne Straight. And three: I had been far more scared 23 years earlier, but we’ll get to that a bit later. Before those French idiots went and put a chicane in the middle of it, the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans was the longest piece of straight track in motor sport. At seven kilometres long, cars like the mighty Porsche 956, which I was currently strapped into, could reach, and sometimes pass, the 400 km/h mark. Now usually going down a straight in a racing car isn’t that difficult. Often it’s an opportunity for a seasoned driver to relax a little and take stock of the race he’s currently involved in. The Mulsanne Straight at night, though, is another story altogether.
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by Amanda on Dec 5th, 2011
Today we bring you an extract from Zulu Zulu Golf: Life and Death with Koevoet, the true story of Arn Durand’s first years with police counter-insurgency unit, Koevoet. The extract is courtesy Namibiana Buchdepot:
Fill your head with Marxist communist ideologies. Pick up an RPG-7, an AK-47 and some landmines and hand grenades, put on a Cuban or Chinese camouflage uniform and march across the border of another country. Shoot and kill the locals who don’t support your ideas. Abduct the schoolchildren at gunpoint, march them to your training bases to indoctrinate them and fill their heads with your bullshit to force them to do what you are doing. You’re looking for shit and you’re bound to get your head blown off and those crap ideas spilt out all over the fine white sand. Who the fuck were SWAPO and its military wing, PLAN, to do what they were doing? I was going to stop them, not because I was told to or forced to, but because I chose to fight and to show that the enemy could not be allowed to do what it was doing. I was young, dumb and full of testosterone. Never mind what was right and what was wrong. No one had the right to do what they were doing ánd someone needed to stop the enemy. The world screamed, the world condemned, but fuck the world. If only the world knew the truth.
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by Amanda on Nov 30th, 2011
In die volgende uittreksel uit Steve Hofmeyr se roman Die verste uur, kom ‘n student op geskrifte oor ‘n komponis en ‘n liefdesbrief af toe hy die studeerkamer van ‘n vermiste professor skoonmaak. Hierdie gebeurtenis lei tot ‘n tydsreis waarin die student ‘n fout begaan wat ‘n alternatiewe heelal tot gevolg het – een waarin die meisie van sy drome smoorverlief is op hom. Lees dié lusmaker uit Hofmeyr se wetenskapfiksieroman:
“Eendag nog hier, toe skielik weg.”
“Wie, tannie?”
“Die oom.”
“Waarnatoe?”
“Skoonveld. Weet nie. Ek vra myself elke dag. Was dit die kinders, ‘n ander vrou miskien, was dit ek, was dit moord, selfmoord? Hy had geen ander familie nie. Sy pa is vroegerig reeds dood in ‘n vreeslike motorongeluk, sy moeder ná ons troue. Hy’t tog gepraat van ‘n Elsabe, maar… ag.”
“Miskien het hy net gery, tannie…”
“My man het nooit bestuur nie. Iets te doen met daardie ongeluk, sê ek jou. Ek was maar altyd die drywer hier rond. Winkels toe. Port Edward toe. Hy het agt-en-dertig jaar lank universiteit toe geloop.”
“As daar nie ‘n lyk is nie, tannie, dan…”
Boekbesonderhede
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by Amanda on Nov 11th, 2011
Read an extract from the book all rugby fans have been waiting for, Victor: My Journey, the autobiography of sporting legend Victor Matfield. In this excerpt, Matfield describes how the Springboks mentally prepared for a test match against the All Blacks:
Cape Town – We invited former Bok captain Hannes Marais to hand out the jerseys before the All Black Test, and he had a special message for us: ‘You are in the same position we were in after our tour of the British Isles in 1969/70, when we lost two Tests and drew two. We had our backs against the wall and the All Blacks were on their way to South Africa.’
We told ourselves exactly what the Boks told themselves 41 years ago: Each player had to believe in himself, because if he didn’t, how could his teammates or the nation believe in him? And we had to play for each other.
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by Amanda on Jul 14th, 2011
Today we share an excerpt from Dan Retief’s new book, Springboks and the Holy Grail. Retief describes the “paranoid” atmosphere surrounding the 2003 Rugby World Cup, when Adriaan Heijns, instigator of the infamous “Kamp Staaldraad” saga, was in charge of Springbok security:
Schalk Burger and his wife Myra had flown to Australia to support their son, Schalk jr, who, along with Hougaard and Jaque Fourie, was one of the three 20-year-olds in the side (interestingly, all three were born in April 1983), and ‘Groot’ Schalk hinted that it may be worth trying to find out more.
“Some of the guys are not happy at all,” he told me. Reporters are well known to the players and, in spite of Heijns’s absurd efforts to try to isolate them, some hair-raising stories nevertheless started to reach us.
I must admit that at first I dismissed any claims made of players having to strip naked and spend hours in an ice-cold dam. Or of them having to fight each other in a boxing ring, or going hungry and being sleep-deprived.
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by Amanda on Nov 2nd, 2010
With the release, yesterday, of Herschelle Gibbs’ tell-all autobiography, The the Point, the cricketer has – quite understandably – been at the centre of a media storm. Here we present the best of the post-release coverage, starting with a competition to WIN a copy of the book:
Next, a fresh excerpt from the book?
The Proteas were to tour the West Indies for the first time in 2001. Although the Proteas had played a few ODIs and one Test in the West Indies in 1992, this was the first full-blown South African cricket tour to the islands. You could say that it was a fairly big deal.
Shaun Pollock was the Proteas captain, and when we got to Antigua for the fourth Test, we were leading the series 1-0, with two to play. By the fourth day of the Test, it was already clear that we were going to win the match and, therefore, the series. We just needed a few wickets on the last day, and that would be it – we would have beaten the West Indies in their own backyard.
So, sitting in the changing room at the end of that fourth day, enjoying a few beers with the guys, I suggested that perhaps it might be fun – not to mention highly appropriate – for us to celebrate the sheer momentousness of the occasion by partaking of the local herb.
Gibbs sat down for an interview with Zoopy TV; catch his thoughts about releasing the book and looking back on his international career:
The reaction from Gibbs’ fellow cricketers and the public at large has swung wildly between condemnation and support. Here are some tweets that have got everyone talking:
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by Amanda on Nov 1st, 2010
International cricketing superstar Herschelle Gibbs’ new autobiography, To the Point, made the biggest splash of all at the weekend, dominating the Sunday Times’ headlines. The book is available in all good SA bookshops from today. Here are the stories that had everyone in SA glued to their papers yesterday:
First, an excerpt from To the Point:
I could couch this chapter in a whole bunch of safe-sounding euphemisms, but given the book’s title, I’ll get straight to the point, shall I? Two words: “women” and “booze”.
Whatever else has happened in my life, I can say one thing for sure: I have had a huge amount of fun in my cricket career. Three things have undoubtedly contributed to this: 1) I’m a friendly and outgoing guy who’s comfortable in anyone’s company; 2) I have the gift of the gab, which I get from my dad, and clearly women love it. My open demeanour often comes across as flirting, but that’s just the way I am. I guess you could say I am charming and, as I said, chicks dig it; 3) And this is the double-edged sword – I like to drink, and alcohol has only exacerbated points 1 and 2. It has lubricated some of the best evenings of my life, but it also nearly ended my international career in 2008.
Next, a few notes on “sex, drugs and match fixing”:
Herschelle Gibbs has exposed the dark side of South African cricket, including sexual orgies, marijuana smoking and how the Proteas are controlled by a “clique”, in an autobiography that is set to rock the cricket world.
The book, To The Point, includes descriptions of sexual encounters in which Gibbs and other players took part, including one with a young girl attending a matric dance and a hotel-room orgy involving three girls.
Gibbs writes: “Two beds, two cricketers and three women. One of them wasn’t all that keen, though; she just lay on the bed. Which was fine – there was enough for everyone. The other two girls, however, more than made a go of it.
Read about how Hansie Cronje lured Gibbs into cheating:
“Okay, cool.” A decision and two words Gibbs would come to “bitterly regret” as he agreed to his captain Hansie Cronjé’s proposal to score fewer than 20 runs in a game in exchange for $15000.
The late cricket captain had come to Gibbs’s hotel room early that morning in March 2000, prior to the one-day international against India at Nagpur, to discuss the proposal with him.
Finally, Gibbs on his troublesome marriage to Tenielle:
What started out as a fun night at a cousin’s wedding ended with a “pissed” Herschelle Gibbs pulling out his wife Tenielle’s hair on their way home.
“We were physically fighting while I was driving. I was trying to prevent her from grabbing the steering wheel and hitting me … and in the process I managed to pull some of her hair out,” he writes in his autobiography, To the Point.
Book details
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