Gordon Brown?

[Charmain Meier (Heusdens)]

Gordon's wife's name was Ingrid

[Diana Rudd (Boehme)]

The Freemantle girl, Tony's sister.

[Richard Opperman]

Yes I remember the story, he was married to Ingrid whose brothers Pepe and Tony I knew.

Tony passed away some time back and Pepe I last heard was some where in the old Transvaal, I only use the old name because I do not know in which new province he lives.

Ronny the youngest brother worked for De Beers Marine in the 90s, he may still be there Mike if you need more info on his brother inlaw? Lance Olivier might be able to help you he works for De Beers Marine.

Keep well all!

[Cherry (Alcock)]

I worked for the GM at the time that Gordon made his allegations against De Beers "strip mining" all the diamonds at Omd; he was a SWAPO member and involved in the struggle at the time.  He took his allegations to the highest levels of the SA government which resulted in the appointment of the Thirion Commission.  Roger Burchell will remember the story very well as would Koos Holl. 

[Lance Olivier]

Hi Guys
I also remember Gordon as the swimmer/Mark Spitz type guy. He taught myself and a couple of other kids how to swim properly on a voluntary basis (as he was quite a competitive swimmer in his day). Yes he did cause quite a stir re. De Beers with some accusations. There were stories at one stage that he appeared on some Scandinavian TV station about the topic. Richard, the last I heard is that Ronny is still with De Beers but I think in HQ (a larney).
Bye for now

[Delia]

Hey boet, good to see you on board..........finally...........welcome to the "home away from home".......hope to see many more postings........lotsa luv, small sis

[georg ruf jr.]

Yes Delia. Great Rusty has joined. Hope it's fine to you, for me to use your old nickname...

[Nada Ulbrich (Rall)(RIP)]

Ronny Freemantle worked for De Beers Supply Chain (oldtimers called it the Depot) in Joburg and was killed in a car accident a few years ago.  I heard that Gordon Brown and Ingrid are divorced.  He was involved in one or other diamond deal some years ago, at the time he was living with a lady in Whk.  He was caught but managed to escape, crossed the Orange and was rumoured to have gone to Scotland. 

[Michael Alexander]

.... and sold his story to the Scottish papers....

[Patricia Lotte]

No Nada, they're still together.

[Nada Ulbrich (Rall)(RIP)]

Hi Patricia, greetings to your parents!  Had a ball working with your mom and Ingrid in Creditors.  What a combination of different cultures we had with Cora being Dutch, Ushi German and then the verrry conservative others. 

[Patricia Lotte]

Hi Nada. My parents often mention your folks and the good times they shared. I remember a trip we did once to go see wild horses in the desert. Must still have photos of your dad in his cowboy hat somewhere. I'll try and scan some when I go to France at the end of the month.

Oops, I think we're going to be in deep kak for being off topic again ...

[Nada Ulbrich (Rall)(RIP)]

Hi Patricia, if you track normal conversations it also goes off the original topic! Tough!  I was never part of the Riding Club group, was "grown up" and had my own social group.  I remember the trip and I also remember my dad was apparently always whistling "Love is in the Air" on that trip.  After the trip the kids had to make drawings of what they enjoyed most on the trip, my dad got quite a few "paintings" of him, beer in the hand and a bubble with Love is in the Air!  CAn yo believe that it was almost 30 years ago!

[Cherry (Alcock)]

Back to the topic .... I found this on the net - who knows who's telling the truth??

Dumbarton woman's campaign to clear name of diamond industry whistle blower
You are here: Home / News Desk / Dumbarton woman's campaign to clear name of diamond industry whistle blower
23 May 2008

Campaigner Joan Baird with diamond industry whistleblower Gordon Brown and a commemorative cake with an image of the puffer Vital Spark.A Scot who was sentenced to five years in jail for blowing the whistle on inhuman working conditions and illicit practises in the South African diamond mining industry is taking the case to clear his name to the United Nations in New York.

Sixty-year-old Gordon Brown, who comes from Pollok in Glasgow and is a former pupil of Hutcheson's Grammar School on the city's South Side, is receiving support from a newly formed campaign group called Vital Spark after the Clyde puffer of that name.

Dumbarton woman, Joan Baird, a leading member of the campaigning Clydebank Asbestos Group, organised the first meeting in Glasgow's Caledonian University where Gordon protested his innocence and outlined what happened to him.

Mrs Baird, of Geils Avenue, Silverton, is one of hundreds of Clydeside widows whose husbands died of asbestos-related diseases picked up in local shipyards, heavy engineering factories and major building sites.

She told the meeting that the South African diamond industry had also been blighted by lung disease and that there had been a huge death toll amongst men forced to work in conditions that were both unacceptable and inhumane.

Mrs Baird met Gordon Brown in Cape Town while taking part in a television documentary film about lung disease and death at work.

She said: "No man, woman or child is safe from this disease. I am no academic or great mind with a solution or a cure for it, but I do have an honours degree in human suffering from watching my husband die.

"Hence my support for this campaign to clear Gordon who was jailed for blowing the whistle and revealing to the world the facts about what was going on in South Africa."


Members of the Clydebank Asbestos Group, including former Upper Clyde Shipbuilders shop stewards Bob Dickie and Jimmy Cloughley, with Joan Baird (front left) Gordon Brown and his biographer. Laurie Flynn.Mrs Baird read out letters of support for the campaign from Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, West Dunbartonshire MP John McFall, Tony Benn and Liberal peer David Steel, who was one of her classmates at primary school in Dumbarton.

Gordon Brown started work when he was just 20 as a technical assistant to the general manager of one of the largest diamond mines on Namibia's Atlantic beaches.

He was dismayed by the injustices he witnessed. Black workers were recruited under the hated migrant labour system, which meant they could not live with their families.

Gordon said: "To add to their misery they were abysmally paid and were housed in single sex compounds unfit for humans to live in."

He smuggled out documents which detailed the employment policies of the mega-rich diamond companies and submitted them to a public inquiry. He also revealed that diamonds were being mined well in excess of the industry quotas,

Gordon claims he was victimised by his employers and sacked from his job and when he later started out in a diamond business of his own he was framed for illegal dealing in unpolished stones and jailed for five years. He was held in prison for just seven weeks before being released however.

He now wants the people responsible for his arrest - and those he says perjured themselves to secure his conviction - to be brought to justice on the orders of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the UN.


Joan Baird presents Gordon Brown and Laurie Flynn with a bottle of Scotch whisky.He said: "The South African government said it was not their problem and even the Truth and Reconciliation Commission refused to hear my case. I went to the International Commission on Civil and Political Rights and now the matter is going to the UN."

Joan Baird said: "These diamond companies were amongst the richest in the world with enormous profits going to their shareholders yet they treated their workforce appallingly on the Namibian beaches, where diamonds were 'harvested' and public access was strictly forbidden, and down the mines where so many people died of lung disease."

She said: "What has happened to Gordon is disgraceful. He is totally innocent of all the charges that were trumped up against him. We decided to call the campaign to clear his name after the Vital Spark because it is vital that we get people aboard and spark public interest which will light the way ultimately to justice for Gordon.

"We hope that it will also bring to account those totally corrupt companies which treat their workforces so inhumanely."

[Diana Rudd (Boehme)]

Very interesting reading Cherry