My New Book.

This little book is to bring closure to a subject that has been with me since 1960. In 1958 I joined the Department of Bantu Agriculture as a professional Agricultural Officer and was appointed after a year to the Basuto homeland of Witsieshoek. Soon after I married, my wife Elaine became a lecturer in the Teachers Training College. She became embroiled in a very small issue which at the time of Sharpeville was blown up out of all proportion. She resigned her post and we decided that it would be best if we leave and I further my studies by doing a post graduate degree in Pasture Science. I asked for and was granted permission to take unpaid leave. At the beginning of 1961 I applied for a post in the Department of Pasture Research to be transferred from Bantu Agriculture and at the same time be able to carry on the degree course, which many of the staff were doing. All seemed to be going well in the pipeline when in the middle of March of that year I received a telegram that I should report back to Witsieshoek by the 28th February or I would be dismissed. After this I tried to find out what was happening to my hoped for position. Dr. Charles Tidmarsh, Head of the Department of Pasture Research in Pretoria asked me to take him for a drive in my VW beetle so we could talk. He told me that because of what happened to my wife with the political implications at the time of Sharpeville I would not be able to get a post in the Department.