At Geel, near Nietverdiend, Marico Bushveld, Transvaal (North-West Province), December 1964.
At Geel. Oom At and his father, Oom Krisjan Geel, were captured by the British during the Anglo-Boer War. At was fifteen and a half years old at the time. 'But I was no child. I knew how to ride and fight and shoot,' he said. At and his father were Cape citizens and therefore rebels. At was imprisoned and his father sentenced to death. Later, both were released. At thought that the British had been quite correct in the way they had treated his father and him and he taught his children that whatever the government, their duty was to stand by it.
Much as he disliked the Verwoerd regime, At said that he would fight for it in war. He fought against the Germans in South West Africa (now Namibia); the rebels in 1916; the strikers in Johannesburg in 1922; and, as a major, against the Italians and the Germans in the Second World War. 'Then I was a man,' he said. 'Now I am nothing.' At the age of 79, he was farming in the Marico Bushveld, together with a new wife - his second.
The names of several of the Geel family are to be found in Herman Charles Bosman's stories. Bosman seems to have embroidered freely on the lives of those he met and heard tell of when he taught at the Heimweeberg farm school in the district in 1925. And those few still to be found in the Marico in 1964 thought it neither strange nor offensive that he should have made free with their life stories and names. 'Ja, dit was ons' (Yes, that was us), they invariably said of Bosman's Marico tales. Except for At Geel's daughter, Mrs van Staden, who was taught by Bosman and who fondly remembers how he gave haircuts to the girls, none remembered him with great affection. 'Rough' and 'wild' they called him. At Geel, who was chairman of the school committee when Bosman taught in the Marico, said that he gave them a lot of trouble.
Then Oom At told how, one day when he was at the shooting range, he held up an old rifle and called: 'Who'll give me £3 for this?' 'I will,' cried Bosman. When Oom At asked Bosman what he would do with the weapon, he replied: 'Ek wil daarmee in Johannesburg gaan pronk' (I want to go and show off with it in Johannesburg). A few weeks later Bosman shot and killed his stepbrother, probably with this rifle.
Much as he disliked the Verwoerd regime, At said that he would fight for it in war. He fought against the Germans in South West Africa (now Namibia); the rebels in 1916; the strikers in Johannesburg in 1922; and, as a major, against the Italians and the Germans in the Second World War. 'Then I was a man,' he said. 'Now I am nothing.' At the age of 79, he was farming in the Marico Bushveld, together with a new wife - his second.
The names of several of the Geel family are to be found in Herman Charles Bosman's stories. Bosman seems to have embroidered freely on the lives of those he met and heard tell of when he taught at the Heimweeberg farm school in the district in 1925. And those few still to be found in the Marico in 1964 thought it neither strange nor offensive that he should have made free with their life stories and names. 'Ja, dit was ons' (Yes, that was us), they invariably said of Bosman's Marico tales. Except for At Geel's daughter, Mrs van Staden, who was taught by Bosman and who fondly remembers how he gave haircuts to the girls, none remembered him with great affection. 'Rough' and 'wild' they called him. At Geel, who was chairman of the school committee when Bosman taught in the Marico, said that he gave them a lot of trouble.
Then Oom At told how, one day when he was at the shooting range, he held up an old rifle and called: 'Who'll give me £3 for this?' 'I will,' cried Bosman. When Oom At asked Bosman what he would do with the weapon, he replied: 'Ek wil daarmee in Johannesburg gaan pronk' (I want to go and show off with it in Johannesburg). A few weeks later Bosman shot and killed his stepbrother, probably with this rifle.
printed 2006
silver gelatin print on fibre paper
30.5 x 46cm
© 2006 Michael Stevenson. All rights reserved.