Guest Speaker – Kobus Meiring
Kobus Meiring, the 14th and last Administrator of the Cape Province

Crew and guests were privileged to welcome and listen to this remarkable former politician, introduced by Jan Buurman, with whom he has historic family connections. He said, that “as a young Afrikaner, I wanted to make a contribution to my country, so I went into politics at half the salary”.

The highlight of his life that he shared with us, was hosting President Nelson Mandela after the election on 27 April, 1994. The ANC had won. Mr Mandela had to come to Cape Town to be formally elected, as president. He was to stay at the Cape Sun Hotel. Everything was arranged, but the people who had to look after him, and look after the security, were worried about the fact that he was going to stay with a doctor, not only for his security, but for his service.

‘You can imagine that the whole world was asking to talk to him, to have an interview with him. We were still living in Leeuwenhof, the official residence of the Administrator of the Cape. They were worried about his privacy so I was asked whether Mr Mandela could come and stay with me, at Leeuwenhof. Well, that would be wonderful. Thank you very much for the opportunity. However, Leeuwenhof was built in 1880, the rooms were not en suite, he would have to cross the corridor to get to the bathroom, and so on. The contact person said, “well, I will speak to Mr. Mandela”. Five minutes later, he phoned back to say that Mr Mandela will gladly come and stay with you. And he came.” An Afrikaner government minister welcoming Mandela was more than just a gesture—it was a turning point in how dialogue and dignity could begin to replace division.

“We all have the highest respect for Mr. Mandela. It was like your favourite uncle coming to visit . It was such a privilege to have him in our house. I realized that evening, that they were busy, forming the cabinet for a New South Africa. For the next hour or so, I played secretary for Mr. Mandela, FW, the black phone, the Twitter phone, and, they were seriously talking about the new cabinet. When I came down at 7 o’clock that morning, he stood with his dog, ready for his election, and he was on television all over the world. It was the most important day in the history of this country. For the first time, a fully democratically elected man will be elected, and will be elected as president.”

The rest is history.

The above is just a small snippet of the incredible historic moments in our country’s past that Mr Meiring shared, but just too lengthy to transcribe in full. Many of us felt quite emotional. Mr Meiring had touched our hearts with his open honesty on our country’s history and challenges – both on the mistakes made, but also on the incredible positive strides that our country has made in respect of integration, since 27 April 1994 and the retention of our democracy.

Above: Spiro, Captain Mymoena, Mr Kobus Meiring and Jan, who introduced our guest speaker. Jan’s Grandfather was the Administer of the Cape when the King and Queen came to South Africa in 1914. Spiro in his thank you, said “in the 20 odd years that I have been a member of the club I’ve never seen the audience so impressed with what you had to share with us this morning. Thank you, not only for this morning, but for what you did for the country”.