Last week I had to deviate from my normal route by having to cycle down a short section of Scott Street.
I noticed a woman walking along the pavement wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a Zulu word.
This reminded me of a T-shirt that I had bought in Lusikisiki shortly before the Transkei gained its independence in 1976. In my case, the word printed on my T-shirt was, “Nkululeko”, meaning “Freedom”.
Remember the Mottos? But the main memory that arose was of a time when I had a temporary job as a sales representative for the firm, Edward Sharp Pty Ltd.
This firm was famous for its Sharps toffees, although it also sold a variety of other sweets such as liquorice, chocolates and, inter alia, Mottos.
When calling on customers, the shopkeepers would occasionally ask for a credit, because the Mottos had been broken into pieces during transit by rail.
In such cases, I had to take the damaged boxes back to head office where a credit would be passed. Since the broken sweets were of little value, the staff would be free to take the sweets for their own use.
It came to pass that these boxes of damaged Mottos served a valuable purpose in breaking the strict security of South African Railways and Harbours!
The SAR & H were also responsible for the security of lighthouses in the country, as the government suspected that terrorists would target lighthouses to disrupt shipping along the coast.
One such lighthouse was the Cape Recife lighthouse that guarded the southern entrance to Algoa Bay at Port Elizabeth.
At the very spot where the lighthouse stood, surfing conditions were, at times, extremely favourable with big swells curling in from the open sea but, of course, access was strictly controlled.
The only way to enjoy these surfing conditions meant a long hike along the coast and, in those days, our surfboards were too heavy to carry such a distance.
One day my friends and I could see big swells with perfectly shaped waves right in front of the lighthouse.
The temptation was too great, so we drove down to the security gate, hoping to persuade the security guard to allow us in. On that occasion, the security guard was either sleeping or fishing, so his youngsters ran down to the gate to inform us that access was denied.
Out came a box of damaged Mottos and the youngsters opened the gates without further question.
For the duration of my employment with Edward Sharp, I was able to enter the forbidden zone as the youngsters would, upon seeing my red Vauxhall coming down the road, drop everything to rush down to the gate and have it open by the time the box of Mottos arrived at the entrance!
What a wonderful symbiotic relationship that was!
