Who could forget the day that the town was proclaimed " OPEN " ? My memory fails me as to the exact year ( 1974 ? ), but the town was abuzz with excitement. It was a very hushed and clandestine affair, due to the obvious security concerns by the company. In effect, the "checkpoint" was relocated from the town ( where everyone in the town who wanted to leave or enter, including children), were subject to X-RAY, to the mine, where only mine personal would be subject to X-RAY.
This literally happened overnight, with stories of all the companies' vehicles being rounded up and driven to security. People came out of the cinema, only to find out that their company vehicle had " disappeared ", which led to much confusion to everyone concerned. I do remember all the excitement, as this meant that everyone could now bring their private vehicles into town. Before this, the vehicles had to be left at the bridge in garages on either side of the river. I'll never forget all the cars being " paraded " around town, and a new experience for us kids at the time ....... Traffic !! There was also a new pastime that became part of everyone's weekend routine ....... The washing and polishing of the family car. Some would spend untold hours on this newfound hobby!
The transition .. yes a big surprise for me .. I was on holiday at the time .. and arrived back on the day it all occured .... I arrived at the bridge and was told to drive straight on .. "take your car home sir !! " no need to stow in the Garage ...
Think back to when we were allowed out once a month to go look at and start our private cars .. Kotie Kruger had a wheel balancing and tye repair service and a couple of mechanics would do work on those needing attention ... one thing it reduced wear and tear on vehicle keeping Km low only problem was the ravages of the then untarred Steinkopf road ....
About 90% of the garages on this side of the river have been converted into hostel living accomodation, and only about 20% are left on the ZA side, used by the SAP as garages for their cars, the rest are gone....
:-\
This is quite hard to picture, Mike ...... things really have changed ... !!
Didn't alot of floorboards get lifted after that ?
lol
Amongst other places!!
Did the wall between the two post office entrances come down at this time.
I think you may be right there.
Where was the wall between the 2 postoffices? By the po box section or in the main building?
???
main building, there were two enterances, the one one the left was the one we used. The one on the right for ovambo clients.
there was also a hatched door at the back of the shopping centre were they were required to go and hand someone there shopping list.
I also remember a air shoot that was used to send money to the room with a safe. This was used to get change as well if I remember correctly.
Barbara, the air shot you mentioned.
My company markets a product called "Teletube" which is exactly the same type of thing that was used in Omund in the 60s,but of cause much more modern and computerised.
ABSA bank in South Africa use it for their cashless counters. Makro and larger shops also use it.
Bye
Richard 8)
Thanks for that, I had a moment of insecurity about my memory there, as I was something only BIG stores in Cape Town had when we vacated as a kid.
Well done you.
Hey guys, remember when the shopping center used to deliver your groceries to your house... closed town and all so there were no cars, all the mothers had those wicker basket shopping trolley efforts (like Wicker golf carts really) but if you has too big a load your just arrange for the shopping center to drop it off at your house.... FLASHBACK
I remember in the Old shop, there was a bin area that was full of empty box's for the customers to put their groceries into... great place to play in!
:)
I remember my mom's wicker shopping basket trolley thing. Pretty useful object really. You could push it or pull it or hook the handle onto a pram and tow it along. It was also great for transporting the cat or dog around the house after dressing them up in dolls clothes (poor things !).
Who remembers sometime in the 70's when the company/somebody made a mistake on the markdown specials in the mens department....it was a madhouse, the prices were marked way to low.... on every item in the mens dept...... it was unbelievable, but they went ahead and let the community buy the lot....remember the DALLAS straw hats going like hotcakes......
allgood
That's right,I had a shopping trolley,I use to hook it on the back of my bike
over the carrier and sit Sonia,my youngest,on the carrier and off we,d go
no problemo, yeh, you can laugh but it worked.....and there were NO HILLS!!!!!
Pam woo_hoo
As far as i remember the town openend in 1975
I see Harold is posting too
I think Daddy Georg is right 1975.....the year I fell in love with Stephens car "Dodge Colt." then went forth to find the owner. image11a
Mmm so you did have a teenage shallow moment ?? catmusic .. just as well you did .. you got him ..
I well remember the change from closed town to open. It was 18th October 1975. There were only four people who knew about the pending change. (There may have been five) The four were John Mackenzie GM, Jim McLuskie AGM, Jim Turner Engineering Manager and Steve Meyer, Security Suiperintendent. They kept it very hush hush and no one had an inkling about what was to happen.
They ordered the security centre design from a construction company in Johannesburg. It was called a hospital for Bulawayo, so no one would be suspicious. Kleinzee opened on the same day.
I remember the huge cars which drove into town on that first Saturday. Huge jaguars and Mercs. The roads were too narrow for them.
So many people had left there personal effects on the mine when the gates were closed and they had no way of retrieving them. people were both happy and sad. They would live normal lives from then on, but they lost the paternalism which the company provided. Everyone's status was defined by what size carpet they had in their lounge. After October, it did not matter as people could bring in their own furniture and carpets.
cheers
Yes Harold,I was in the Rec club that Friday afternoon and one of the the engineers said to me "John, if you have a car on the other side of the fence,you will be able to drive it into town tomorrow morning,the town will be open!!".
Yes there were five who knew that the town would be open and the person was Mr O'Brien (I am sure that was his name,could someone find out for me Anton Muller would know) a fantastic fella who was head of the survey dept.He was out by himself surveying the new fence line after work before the town was open.I was working in the drawing office and actually saw the drawings of the "hospital" at a later date.
PS My status was that I was not allowed wall to wall carpet,did not matter anyway because there was no carpet on the other side of the fence to bring in. !!!!!!!!!
Pat o'Brian was head of the Survey Department at the time. His 2ic was John Townsend. Super guys.
Thanx Gordon,yes Pat 0'Brian was the name I was looking for,fantastic guy.I was at his send off when he retired and the GM and others gave him the greatest wrap and Pat's opening reply was " after all these years I have been here and the great wrap I have been given, how come I am still the Head Surveyor " which brought the house down.