‘Perhaps Captain Swanepoel can tell us where our evidence differs, sir?’ I asked.
‘Well, yes, of course.’ The head cleared his throat. ‘According to Captain Swanepoel you did not co-operate with the officer in charge of the visit and you were abusive in the extreme.’
‘We were not given the opportunity to co-operate, sir. The officer was both abusive and bullying and referred to me as a Kaffirboetie, Levy as the Jewboy and to Gideon Mandoma as a blerrie stinking Kaffir.’ I looked up to see the beginnings of a smirk on Captain Swanepoel’s face.
‘This is not possible, a police officer of the South African Police Force is trained to be respectful to the public,’ he turned to Singe ’n Burn. ‘People make things up all the time, things the police are supposed to say.’
‘Are you calling us liars, Captain?’ I said.
Swanepoel ignored my question. ‘It says here that you used abusive language to the officer in charge of the investigation?’
‘Yes, I told him to piss off,’ Hymie said, ‘but you have yet to answer Peekay’s question, Captain.’
‘I will answer it later, son, don’t you worry about that,’ Swanepoel shot back. ‘Is what you said not abusive language?’
‘Levy was extremely provoked and as the officer had no right to be on the premises the remark was not unjustified, sir,’ I replied.
‘I didn’t ask you and he didn’t answer my question.’ He pointed his finger at Hymie. ‘I’m asking you again, is what you said not abusive language?’
‘Put like that, yes, but …’
‘No but, man, you admit you were abusive to the officer then?’
‘I admit I told him to piss off, Captain,’ Hymie replied.
‘Then we are in agreement. The first face we challenge turns out to be correct, why must I not believe this report is a correct statement of what happened?’
‘I say, that’s not fair rules of debate, Captain Swanepoel,’ Singe ’n Burn demanded.
Captain Swanepoel turned to face the headmaster. ‘I am a police officer, not a school teacher, I look at the evidence, I do not play games.’
‘We have forty-two Africans as well as our own chaps who will confirm what we’ve said,’ I protested. I’d heard the warders interrogate prisoners and they would use the same technique as Swanepoel was now using on us.
‘Ah yes, forty-two hostile witnesses. Africans do not have the same idea about truth as a white man. As for the other white boys, we are reluctant to take evidence from juveniles.’
‘You still haven’t answered my question, Captain,’ Hymie said, his teeth clenched.
‘You know something, son, sooner or later your type of person comes before the police again. I will remember your face.’
‘
Swanepoel laughed. ‘When we meet again, I will answer it then, you hear?’
‘What happens to this report, Captain Swanepoel?’ Singe ’n Burn asked.
The police captain sighed. ‘Because of the technical error in the search warrant I must very reluctantly withdraw this report.’
‘May I please have it, Captain Swanepoel?’ I asked.
Swanepoel laughed again. ‘The South African Police do not give souvenirs, if you want some souvenirs, go to the Easter show.’
‘I’m delighted to hear that’s the last of it,’ Singe ’n Burn said, obviously relieved.
‘No, Headmaster, it is only the beginning. You can consider yourself very lucky we got the wrong school name on the search warrant because today I have come here as a friend. If we come again next Saturday night and we find that this wonderful school you have here is teaching black communists then we will be forced to make some very unfortunate conclusions.’
‘I really do protest, sir!’ Singe ’n Burn was suddenly angry.
Captain Swanepoel grinned. ‘These days it is not very hard to find a black communist.’ He looked at Hymie. ‘Or even a white one,’ then at me, ‘even more than one. When blacks want suddenly to have education you can take it from me, they up to no good, somebody else or something else is behind it.’
‘Are you telling us to close down the night school, Captain?’
‘Headmaster, the law in this matter is not clear yet, but teaching black people in a white school will not be allowed in the new Group Areas Act. You can see my position, Headmaster. I must tell you also my duty in this matter is very clear. Next time we will not make a mistake with the search warrant. And when we come we will find something.’ He paused and looked again at us. ‘We always find something.’
He rose and extended his hand to Singe ’n Burn. The headmaster did not take it, instead he gripped the side of his desk and leaned forward slightly. ‘We will not be intimidated by the police, Captain Swanepoel. We have not broken the law and as far as I know this is still a free and democratic country.’
Captain Swanepoel shrugged and stooped down to retrieve his cap from the floor by his chair. ‘I am sorry you will not co-operate with the police, sir.’ He adjusted his cap, then turned back to face the headmaster, touching the peak lightly in a casual salute. ‘Good afternoon, sir.’ Without a look at Hymie or me he turned and left, closing the door quietly behind him.
‘Shit, what now?’ Hymie said under this breath.
‘What was that, Levy?’
‘Nothing, sir.’
The light from the window backlit Singe ’n Burn’s snowy hair and he looked frail as he continued to grip the desk, swaying slightly as though the motion kept him from disintegrating into a million tiny bits which would silently float away on the dusty beam of sunlight.
‘Bravo, sir,’ Hymie said.
He shook his head slowly, ‘We are beaten.’
‘But you just said …?’
‘Sheer bravado, my boy. We will have your school on Saturday and Captain Swanepoel will officially raid the Prince of Wales School, after which the board of governors will meet and their conclusion is foregone.’ He looked up. ‘Nevertheless, we will open next Saturday evening, a Pyrrhic victory to be sure, but there is an important principle at stake.’
We left the head’s office on a thorough downer. ‘Fuck the Pyrrhic victory, the principle and the principal as well!’ Hymie exploded, once we were out of earshot.
‘We’ll have to let Gideon and the other boxers know. It’s only fair that they decide for themselves whether they’ll come.’
‘Yeah, I suppose,’ Hymie said morosely. ‘What about the others?’
‘Forget it, they won’t come. Last Saturday was enough, there’s no principle involved for them, just another opportunity taken away, another door closed. They spend their lives being screwed by the system. Would you turn up if you knew you were almost certain to be arrested, thrown in jail, lose your job and be branded as a communist?’
‘I’m beginning to realise how lucky I am to have a white skin.’ Hymie was taking it worse than I was. I had been around this kind of intimidation all my life and I knew Captain Swanepoel could have been a lot more difficult had he chosen to be.
‘What are we going to do, Peekay?’
I laughed, ‘You really are a city slicker aren’t you, you still think the police are there to protect you from the big bad wolf? After Saturday night this whole scenario was predictable. The Nationalists don’t see it as a kindergarten for adult blacks, to them we are starting a black revolution in the heartland of white privilege.’
‘You can’t be serious. Our dumb school for boxers and house boys?’
‘From little acorns mighty oak trees grow. The Nats are not stupid. You should know; the Jews made that mistake before with the Nazis, they thought of them as a bunch of thugs whom they could buy off. Have you seen the educational qualifications the Nationalist government has for its cabinet? It’s probably the best educated cabinet in the world. Racism does not diminish with brains, it’s a disease, a sickness, it may incubate in ignorance but it doesn’t necessarily disappear with the gaining of wisdom!’
‘Are you telling me you knew all along this was going to happen?’
