Whitethorn (101 page)

Miesies (Mies)
– Missus or Madam, used by black or coloured people when addressing a white woman

mina
(isiZulu) – I

musiek
– music

muti/umuthi
(isiZulu) – traditional medicine

my
– me

Nagmaal
– Holy Communion

ndio
(Swahili) – yes

nee
– no

Ngai
– God

ngiyabonga
(isiZulu) – thank you

nooi
– sweetheart or young lady

om te braai
– to barbecue

Ossewabrandwag
– Ox-Wagon Fireguard. The
Ossewabrandwag
(OB) was a strong body originally founded by Afrikaners fuelled by strong nationalism for the purposes of maintaining their cultural practices and traditions. Driven by the intense desire to disassociate themselves from Britain and ultimately gain their independence, members of the OB actively opposed and attempted to prevent the participation of South African soldiers in World War II – these and other similar activities turning the OB into a militant, right-wing organisation.

ou
– old

ouma
– grandmother

ousis
– older sister

ouvrou
– affectionate name for wife

panga
– a large and heavy-bladed knife (machete) used in farm work

pasella
– a free gift, gratuity

piel
– penis

platanna
– literally ‘Flat Anna': a spur-toed frog, dark green in colour with a yellow belly

regte
– real, as in ‘real man'

riempie chair
– a chair with a seat made of interwoven narrow strips of leather

rondavel
– a hut built in the round

Rooinek
– red neck

sawubona
(isiZulu) – literally ‘I see you', a greeting

s'bona
– shortened version of
sawubona
, a greeting

shamba
– plots cultivated by each family

shaya
(isiZulu) – hit, beat, smack

sjambok
– a thick black rubbery cane, a rod that is four feet in length

skattebol
– little treasure or treasure ball

skelm
– rascal

slaap
– sleep

slimmetjie
– clever child, used sarcastically when referring to a child wise beyond his years

stadig
– slow/slow down

sterkte
– strength

stoep
– veranda

stom
– lips are sealed, dumb

Stormjaers
– storm troopers

surrogaat
– surrogate

tante
– aunt

tickey –
South African coin, threepence (pre-1961)

tiekiedraai
– twirling-type of Afrikaner dance

toke
– marijuana cigarette

totsiens
– goodbye

uhuru
– freedom

ukubonga
(isiZulu) – thanks

umbulelo
(isiXhosa) – thanks

umchamo
(isiZulu) – urinate

umfana
(isiZulu) – small African boy

veels geluk
– congratulations

veld
– field

verdom
– damn, an exclamation

verdomde
– damned, an exclamation

verkramp
– ultra-conservative or unenlightened

verneuk
– to cheat

vierkleur
– literally means four colours: the glorious flag of the Republic of the Transvaal

Volk/Boerevolk
– Afrikaners

wamana
– of forty

ware Rooinek/ware Boer
– real thing, a genuine
Rooinek
or
Boer

Wragtig!
– well, I'll be damned! (with an exclamation mark)

Wragtig
– truly, indeed (with no exclamation mark)

Acknowledgements

My first debt of thanks must go to Celia Jarvis, who has done the research required for my past five books and to whom I dedicate this one. No request for information I made was ever too hard; no deadline, no matter how impossible, not met. Often she would work throughout the night so that I could have the information I needed on my desk in the morning. Simply, thank you – I know there have been times when it hasn't been easy.

I need to especially thank Marilyn Seaton McIntosh of Cape Town, South Africa, who acted as my researcher in that country. She too did more, more quickly than I could have hoped and always with great good humour and diligence. She was always conscientious in her guardianship of the rights, correct nomenclature and cultural portrayal of the different ethnic groups in her nation, and was quick to point out any aspects in my work she thought were inaccurate or unfair.

My researchers in Kenya were Tim Noad and Bumble Dawson-Darner, both of whom went to considerable trouble on my behalf and supplied me with detail and local colour I might not otherwise have known. I thank them both.

If a novel could be likened to a pie, then the crust is experience, the gravy the imagination, and the meat and potatoes the information other people so generously supply. I thank all of the following people for their help, information and advice, always generously given: Professor Richard Bauman, Professor of Law and Classical Studies, University of New South Wales; Sheila Bauman; Dr Jodie Braddock; Tony Crosby; Janine De Saxe; Adam Courtenay; Benita Courtenay; Clare Forster; Kerry Freeman; Christine Gee; Alex Hamill; Dr Ross Hayes; Rosali Hicks; Alan Jacobs; Christine Lenton; Dr Irwin Light; Sylvia Manning; Jon Mayled; Annette Stackman; and Graham Walker.

It is a rare book indeed that doesn't need the attention of a good editor and I certainly have never written one. Jody Lee, new to the role of editing one of my novels, gave me unstintingly of her talent, patience, opinion and plain commonsense. I am enormously grateful for the care and attention as well as the calmness, diligence and the many valuable insights she brought to the task.

Always in the background are the talented people who bring a book to fruition. To my publishers, Penguin, and those people within the organisation who labour on my behalf, my heartfelt thanks. Those to whom I especially owe my gratitude are Bob Sessions and Clare Forster, my personal publishers; Julie Gibbs; Susan McLeish; Saskia Adams; Anne Rogan; Ian Sibley; Lyn McGaurr; Sarah Dawson; Nicci Dodanwela; Kate Dunlop; Tammie Gay; Mary Balestriere; Deborah Brash; Cathy Larsen; Tony Palmer; Beverley Waldron; Carmen De La Rue; Gabrielle Coyne; Dan Ruffino; and Sally Bateman.

List of Sources

Anderson, David,
Histories of the Hanged: Britain's Dirty
War in Kenya and the End of the Empire
, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, New York, 2005

Barnett, Donald L.,
Mau Mau From Within: Autobiography and
Analysis of Kenya's Peasant Revolt
, MacGibbon, London, 1924

Brookes, Edgar Harry,
The History of Native Policy in South
Africa from 1830 to the Present Day
, N.P., Capetown, 1924

Bunting, Brian,
The Rise of the South African Reich
(revised edition), IDAF, London

Elkins, Caroline,
Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of
Britain's Gulag in Kenya
, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 2005

Hewett, Peter,
Kenya Cowboy: A Police Officer's Account of the
Mau Mau

Mayled, Jon,
South Africa: For the children of Soweto
(manuscript), UK, 1990–2000

Libraries: Mitchell Library, NSW; National Library of South Africa, Cape Town; Mr Christopher Hunt – Imperial War Museum, Department of Printed Books, UK.

Newspapers:
The Cape Times
– South Africa;
The
Argus
– South Africa;
The Star
– South Africa;
Die
Vaderland
– South Africa;
Die Burger
– South Africa.