The Cousins Chronicles
THE BLACK RIOTS ON SOWETO (+/- 1976)
CHARLES (Snr)
Charles Parsons: So, a few years ago I asked my sister Sheilagh to write down a story about our parents. She chatted with Andrew, my brother, and agreed to each write down a memory. Andrew did not know that it was me who initiated this, so this is what he wrote. Before I post this, my desire is to record this almost word for word as Andrew did. Charles Snr.
Andrew - To my Brothers and Sister. Sheila asked me to write a short brief about Dad.
I need you to understand that this I wrote as I saw it. You all might know the story but for some reason I thought of Dad on his birth date and phoned Sheila, and we spoke of him. I told her of an incident in his life that stuck in my mind all these years.
On 16th June 1976, it started as a very normal day for most of us. I was working in Isando and Dad was then based at Denver in Johannesburg. His territory was Soweto and he called on approximately thirty-eight municipal bottle stores in Soweto and a further five stores in the then coloured areas as we knew it. That morning he did what he always did and called on about three stores by 10am. When the young kids went on a rampage, Dad was at a store in Naledi that was deep in Soweto. We or maybe just I always thought of Dad as the tough white guy that could easily be racist.
Remember I worked with him in Isando from 1964 and know he put up this face for me; he gave me a hard time in Isando because he could not be seen a favouring me. He even kept a sjambok in his office at the time. I do not say he used it, but I saw it there myself.
Anyway, back to the story.
The black supervisor (Patrick) of Naledi Bottle Store saw the riots start and realised that Dad could be in real trouble. So, he put Dad in the roof of Dad's car and sat next to him while another black guy drove them slowly but surely out to the area called Nancefield, a coloured area. Not a stone was thrown at them nor a move made towards them by either the rioters or the police.
Nobody knew further that Dad had R28,000.00 in cash from the Govender’s, in his boot. (This is probably equivalent to about R2.8m in cash value today - my add).
A photograph was taken of Dad and Patrick on the car and sent to our boss Bruce Formby. Bruce showed me the picture and banned Dad from going into Soweto from then onwards until he went on pension. (I want to remind the readers here that my Dad worked for the SA Breweries for 52 years before he retired (my inclusion to Andrew's story).
Andrew - I do not know where this photograph is now as Dad never said anything about it. I often wondered what went through Dad's mind at that moment as he never said a word about it.
Patrick used to call most Saturdays at the house at 100 St Fillans Avenue, as Dad used to do some bets on the horses for him.
After I took over Dad's job in Soweto, I heard stories about Dad that he was very respectful to everybody that showed him respect.
Once a child had been hit by a car in Soweto, Dad put the child in his car and drove the child to Baragwanath hospital for treatment. Again, I heard this from a black source as Dad never said a word to me about it. One time I asked him about and he merely brushed it off as just a small incident. Maybe we see things as we would like them to be, but this was a real event!
Please accept that I write this as I know it, and Sheila is right that maybe our kids might want to know this story as the riots were very real and very ugly at the time. It really happened. Andrew
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