Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Uncedo


It seems not everything was bad in apartheid South Africa. Here, in the early 1960s (this envelope came in a batch from the Port Elizabeth City Treasurer, all dated 1961, though here the date is not discernible) we had a black man, Mr Belu, owning a Shell service station in Kwazakele, or more correctly, Kwazakhele, with an "h".

Notice that the letter was incorrectly addressed to the Town Clerk (today known for some obscure reason as the Municipal Manager - perhaps another way of dissing the old era). It was then redirected to the CT - City Treasurer.



A melting pot of Xhosa, mixed-race Khoi-San descendants, British settlers and descendants of early Dutch settlers, Port Elizabeth certainly isn't boring. Here the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk has rendered its due to Caesar.



Also paying his dues was E C de Witt, who no longer seems to be in the phone book.



I wonder if this company - with almost a full-page ad - got blown away over the past 5o years. Yep, no sign of it in the directory.



Town Motors has also gone. I wonder if anyone remembers them?

No comments:

Post a Comment