South Africa 38

Listen to South Africa 38, a 68-year-old man from East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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* Please note that this subject speaks only part of Comma Gets a Cure.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 68

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 06/02/1949

PLACE OF BIRTH: East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: (Cape) Malay

OCCUPATION: tradesman and owner of construction company

EDUCATION: National Technical Certificate NTC3 (Carpentry)

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:

The subject identifies as being from the Eastern Cape (where he grew up), but he’s actually spent most of his life (50 years) in Cape Town, in the Western Cape. He also spent two years in Saudi Arabia.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

The text used in our recordings of scripted speech can be found by clicking here.

RECORDED BY: Nadia Barnard

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 05/11/2017

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I was born in East London, a little town, city, whatever you want to call it, in the Eastern Cape. And that’s where I schooled. I finished schooling and Standard 8, back in the day, old JC. It was the best time of my life, that area. I’ll always tell people that I’m from the Eastern Cape, even though I’m fifty years in Cape Town. And I came to Cape Town because there was no, er, apprenticeship in East London for, uh, Muslim people.

I played sport, all sport, at a very high level, but because of Apartheid, um, it couldn’t go any further. Ja, we’re over that now, but, er, it was — it was very sad for me to, to play sport; Apartheid kept us back a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot in life. The one thing that I can tell you about Apartheid that I felt — you know it was very unfair for us — is that we didn’t have opportunities, to excel, in whatever we did. I mean, I started off playing soccer as a young person, and I could only go to provincial level, and I thought I, I, I had much more; I could outplay anybody. And in my mind; maybe it wasn’t like that. We never knew about international stuff like that, man, because we were kept back.

I worked very hard in my life, as a tradesperson, and, and I still like to, to, to do things, you know, hard way, and, and I think we are much –.. we were much phy-, more physical people than today’s p- youngs- young people. … I applied for a bond when I came back from Saudi Arabia; I was 30 years old. I worked in Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh and Dhahran. And in that heat. I slogged. When I came back, I had twenty-thousand rand, ja, in my pocket. And I worked hard there for two years. A house in Wynberg, in the coloured area, went for forty-thousand rand, in a great suburb. I was engaged to be married. I went to the banks, and I’ve asked them to borrow me a twenty-thousand rand: Here, take my twenty-thousand rand; I want to buy this house. I was very ambitious. Give me … I went to every bank, but because of my colour, I couldn’t get that money. The first thing they asked me: Where do you work? I said I just come from two years without having a day hol- holiday, in Saudi Arabia, in that desert; it wasn’t pleasant. And you asking me where I work? You can’t borrow me money? If I can’t pay the bond, whatever, all you can do, take the house, I can’t r- run away with the house! I swear to you that was the hardest thing for me in Apartheid. That same house today, you’ll get twenty-million rand for. It h- broke me! When I, when I think now of, of, of it, how it was, it — I mean – – you know what, I, I, I don’t think I — there was a young man, that I was 30 years old, that could tell people about the hardships I went through. I mean I didn’t know anybody in Cape Town. I — it was difficult. But when I had money, when I could — and that first house … If I, if I could have purchased that house, today probably would I have been a rich man. But then I had to take ten-thousand rand and buy a plot in Grassy Park, and I had to build a house out of my pocket. It took me over ten years. Now ten years down the line! It took — to build that house out of your pocket. As you were earning you had to build, and, and layer a brick on another brick, and, and that house is still standing; it’s on my name today.

But that’s what Apartheid did to us, man, to me as a person. That’s what Apartheid has done to them: “Jou soort moet bly by jou soort” — er, “Your, your kind must stay with your kind.” You see, if you pronounce the word “Xhosa” — that’s how it’s pronounced — that is the click sound of it. The Xhosa language is spoken? … The Arabic language is? … “Kaif al-hal?” — how are you? Xhosa: “Kunjani?” You know, something like that. “Nadia, kunjani? Namhlanje [subject continues speaking in Xhosa]” What I said was: “How are you, Nadia? I … went to the West Lake golf course, I played golf there, and I came to have lunch here with my sister-in-law.”

TRANSCRIBED BY: Nadia Barnard

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 10/11/2017

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY: N/A

COMMENTARY BY: N/A

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

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