Tandia

by Bryce Courtenay

  'Colonel Geldenhuis, why have you arrested him?' he asked suddenly.

  'Because I was satisfied that a prima-facie case exists that he has committed a murder.'

  'Prima facie! That's hardly proof positive! And you didn't think to inform me first?'

  'No, Minister. Colonel Geldenhuis is not of sufficient rank to have made that necessary.'

  'Good God, man, must I remind you that I am the Minister for Police also! The man is a brilliant young police officer. He exemplifies the best things in the force. He stands for something important in the white community. He has just captured, at great risk to his life, the most wanted terrorist in the country! He's a national hero, man! And you go and arrest him as a murder suspect!' The minister brought his fist down hard. 'How do you know that this so-called murder wasn't an accident brought about in the course of the man's official duty?'

  Bul Van Breeden's voice was very quiet when he spoke. 'I hope you don't mean that last statement, Minister?'

  'Grow up, Van Breeden!' Vorster shouted.

  Bul Van Breeden rose up from his chair. 'Is that all, Minister?' he said, standing to attention. He was having difficulty controlling his anger.

  Vorster clicked his tongue in annoyance and then sighed. 'Sit down, we are not finished yet.'

  Van Breeden returned to the overstuffed high-backed chair in front of the minister's desk. 'I want you to make an arrangement, General,' Vorster said.

  'What sort of arrangement?' Van Breeden was still angry.

  The Minister for Justice ignored his question. 'The arrest of Colonel Geldenhuis, taken together with the treason trial of Mandoma and the five others, is going to have international ramifications.' He leaned back in his chair. 'It's a delicate time for the republic, you understand? Britain and America and some of the more important European countries, Germany in particular, are talking of imposing trade sanctions. The treason trial will be bad enough, but if it is held in conjunction with a murder trial involving Colonel Geldenhuis it would greatly enhance the cause of our enemies overseas and has the potential to do great harm to the republic. London reports people gathering outside South Africa House - and it's the middle of the blerrie night in London!' Vorster picked up a pencil from the desk and pointed it towards Van Breeden. 'Tell me, General, how compelling is the prima-facie evidence against Geldenhuis? Can this whole thing not be pinned on the kaffir, what's his name?'

  'Nguni.'

  'Ja, Nguni.'

  'I don't think so, Minister. The evidence outlined to me by Advocate Peekay is precise and very detailed and seems to implicate Geldenhuis categorically.'

  Vorster grunted. 'Him again! Why is it always him! Can we not bring some sort of injunction against the man?'

  'Not one that would stand up in court.'

  'Well, what then? What do you recommend?' Bul Van Breeden looked surprised. 'Recommend, Minister? I am a police officer, I deal with the law. Advocate Peekay hasn't broken the law!'

  'Yes, yes I know that, man,' Vorster said impatiently, then adding, 'When something involves the security of the state we all have to expect a few twists and bends in the straight and narrow road of legal precedent.'

  'I could arrest Advocate Peekay on a DWT, detention without trial, but Minister, I don't recommend it. You would be adding a great deal of fuel to an already blazing fire,' he said.

  Vorster appeared to be leafing through a file in front of him and Van Breeden realized it was his own dossier. 'Hmm, I see here you are a known friend of Hymie Levy, the partner of Advocate Peekay, himself an advocate?' Vorster looked up. 'Can we not do business with this Jewish friend of yours?'

  'I'm sure you can talk to him, Minister.'

  Vorster seemed to be thinking for a moment, tapping the end of the pencil on the edge of his desk. Finally he looked up at the policeman. 'I want you to arrange a meeting, a casual meeting that never took place, you understand?' He straightened up and closed the file in front of him. 'I want Advocates Peekay and Levy and the coloured girl to be present.'

  'You mean Advocate Patel, Minister?'

  'Ja, her. Make it a private dinner, at your house. One of my people will be there to brief you.'

  'Brief, Minister? We will be receiving orders?'

  To put a proposition to your friends,' Vorster corrected.

  'And, General, I charge you with the task of making sure no record exists of it having taken place, if you know my meaning?'

  'Certainly, Minister.' General Van Breeden rose.

  'Oh, and let my secretary know the venue first thing in the morning. Can you see yourself out, General? I think you know the way.'

  Bul Van Breeden called Hymie on his return to Johannesburg an hour later and arranged for dinner the following evening, simply saying it was important and inviting Peekay and Tandia as well.

  The three partners arrived promptly at eight. Van Breeden met them at the door of his modestly stylish home in a suburb called Saxonwold. 'We have a "guest" from Pretoria,' he said in an undertone. 'I'm afraid everything's "Mr" tonight, the complete protocol.' He ushered them down the hall into the living room. 'Hettie is visiting her sister and it's the maid's night off. I hope you don't mind a cold collation?' A tall thin man with rimless glasses on a head roughly the dimensions of a shoe box standing on its end stood up as they entered the living room. He was dressed in a blue pinstriped suit, a white shirt and a light blue rayon tie. He appeared to be about forty, though his perfectly square crew cut was already quite grey. 'I'd like you to meet Mr Cogsweel from Pretoria.'

  'Graham Cogsweel,' the tall man said, shaking hands all round.

  Supper was a finger affair eaten on their laps and it passed quickly enough with Hymie and Bul Van Breeden keeping the conversation going. Tandia offered to make coffee and after she'd poured for everyone Van Breeden addressed them briefly.

  'Frankly, I'm not totally sure why I've invited you here tonight, though I have some idea.' He looked at the tall government man enquiringly.

  'It serves no practical purpose for you to know,' Cogsweel answered, smiling thinly. His accent suggested one of the better private schools somewhere in Natal and though he hadn't been exactly talkative during supper he'd kept his end up and was obviously an intelligent person. Judging from his slightly didactic manner, Hymie concluded that he was probably a lawyer.

  'Okay, just as you wish,' the general said, 'I haven't a lot more to add other than to suggest we listen to what Mr Cogsweel has to say.' He leaned forward and recovered his coffee cup from the table beside him.

  Cogsweel took a hurried sip from his own cup, then placed it on the coffee table. 'I'm sorry we have to go through all this cloak-and-dagger stuff, it isn't really as it seems,' he said, immediately confirming to them all that it was indeed what it seemed. 'It's just that this is an unofficial meeting, no notes are being taken and no record kept.' He spread his hands. 'If we can't make any progress then I'll…' he smiled, 'slip silently back into the night!'

  'A very cloak-and-dagger expression,' Hymie laughed. Peekay and Tandia smiled; the man from Pretoria was making such an obvious attempt to play it down.

  'I'll come straight to the point,' Cogsweel said. 'We are led to believe that the case against Colonel Jannie Geldenhuis is substantial?'

  'Surely that's for the courts to decide,' Tandia said quickly.

  Cogsweel looked over, obviously surprised that she'd spoken. In talking he'd looked mostly at Hymie, on whom Pretoria had directed him to concentrate. 'Well, we'd hoped to avoid this, you know, happening.'

  The people in the room were stunned. 'What? The case coming to court?' Hymie asked astonished. 'Ja, it's not in the ultimate interest of the state.' Peekay started to laugh. 'I'm bloody sure it isn't,' he said. 'Gentlemen,' Cogsweel said and then quickly added,' and Miss Patel, I am appealing to you as South Africans. This case has the potential to damage our overseas relations at a time when thi
ngs are very delicately poised for the government. The prime minister himself is involved in this matter.'

  Peekay snorted. 'And what if we refuse you, Mr Cogsweel?'

  They all waited. Cogsweel turned his hands upwards. 'It's still early times, let me talk some more. You will note that we haven't questioned your evidence? At a preliminary hearing we could examine your evidence very, very closely!'

  'We are very, very used to that happening, Mr Cogsweel,' Tandia shot back.

  'But we want to negotiate in good faith,' Cogsweel continued. 'We are going to accept that your evidence is compelling and try to reach a compromise before we find ourselves lost in a legal wrangle.'

  'Hold it right there!' Peekay said. 'We are appearing on behalf of two parties. The sister of the deceased victim and Mr Solomon Levy! We are quite used to legal wrangles and certainly we believe our evidence indicting Colonel Geldenhutis is compelling. But it isn't open for discussion or for bargaining! We are not prepared to discuss anything, with you or the minister for justice or even the bloody prime minister or anyone else outside a court of law!'

  Cogsweel looked at Hymie, who shrugged. 'I guess that's the end of our discussion, Mr Cogsweel.' He raised one eyebrow. 'Time to slip silently into the night?'

  But the man from Pretoria was made of sterner stuff and wasn't to be denied. 'I respect your point of view, Advocate Peekay. Your encounters with our government over the years may have left you somewhat disaffected. I admit it isn't always easy to understand the ways of Pretoria.'

  'Please don't patronize me, Mr Cogsweel.'

  'Oh but I'm not! Politics and politicians often confound me as well. Can I change the subject for a moment?'

  Cogsweel said suddenly. Then without waiting for their agreement, he continued, 'Let me talk about the other case, the treason trial. You people in this room are the defending lawyers. It's interesting isn't it how in this case it is the government who has the compelling evidence. There appear to be no mitigating circumstances; the six men have already been charged with treason and they will certainly be convicted.'

  Peekay moved forward in his chair as though to speak and Cogsweel held up his hand. 'No please, advocate, there is no possibility of any other verdict.' He paused and they all knew what he was about to say. 'The sentence for treason is death. Gideon Mandoma and the other five men will certainly die; your defence, no matter how provocative or brilliant, is purely academic. Nothing will prevent Mandoma going to the gallows.'

  Peekay started to rise. 'I think we've heard enough, Mr Cogsweel.' Hymie and Tandia also began to move out of their seats when Tandia saw Peekay bring his forefinger up and lightly touch his nose.

  'Jesus, Mandoma in exchange for Geldenhuis!' His voice was barely above a whisper, but they all heard him.

  'A simple swap,' Cogsweel said, rising and pulling at the lapels of his suit jacket, and then flicking at the left-hand lapel with his hand. 'You have twenty-four hours to decide. There can be no discussion. Mandoma will be allowed to escape, providing he undertakes to leave the country. The other five will receive ten-year sentences. You will agree to withdraw all your evidence against Colonel Geldenhuis.' Cogsweel glanced towards Bul Van Breeden and, putting his hand into the inside breast pocket of his suit, he withdrew an envelope and handed it to the police general. 'This is an instruction from Brigadier General du Plooy. In it he asks that you carry out the government's wishes in this matter as though the instruction had come from him personally.' Cogsweel smiled his thin smile, 'Which, I suppose they have, in a manner of speaking.' He turned to the others. 'Please convey your decision to the general here before eight o'clock tomorrow night.'

  Cogsweel stooped and picked up a brown felt hat from beside his chair. He placed the hat on his head, adjusting the brim. 'Please, don't anyone get up,' he said. He moved over to each of them and shook them formally by the hand, only just touching the tips of Tandia's fingers. Then he walked to the doorway of the room as Van Breeden rose to accompany him to the front door. 'No, no, I can see myself out, General.' Cogsweel looked over at Hymie. 'Now it's time for me to slip silently into the night, Mr Levy.' He smiled, turned and was gone.

  'Mama Tequila always said, a man who wears a brown hat has trouble with his one-eyed snake!' Tandia said, not sure why she'd made a statement so entirely inappropriate, though they all laughed, which somewhat eased the shock they felt.

  Van Breeden shook his head, 'Here, man! You must believe me. I had no idea.'

  'Bul, you must excuse us, it looks as though it's going to be a long night,' Hymie said as they heard the sound of Cogsweel's car driving away.

  The three partners left soon afterwards and went directly to Hymie's apartment where Hymie perked a large pot of coffee. They hadn't spoken much in the car, each involved with their own thoughts.

  'First,' Hymie said, 'we ought to set the rules, decide what constitutes a decision from all of us? Or do we have one already, are we all prepared to simply say yes or no?'

  'No, I've got problems. I need to talk them out,' Peekay said.

  'Ja, me too,' Tandia added.

  'Well then, do we decide by unanimous vote, or what?'

  'We've always resolved things unanimously, why should we change now?' Tandia asked.

  'Because I'd be bloody surprised if it doesn't get personal,' Peekay grinned, 'and I want to leave here still loving you both.'

  'Ah, I see, you are not inclined to vote with a simple "yes" to the government's offer?' Hymie asked. 'No, I have to talk. It isn't that easy.'

  'Okay, but it has to be unanimous,' Hymie said. 'Peekay, you start.'

  'I know I'm going to sound like a bit of a prick, but swopping Geldenhuis for Gideon is too easy. When we went to Oxford it soon became clear to me that the law E.

  W. taught wasn't the law I was going to find when we returned. Our law has never been colour blind, it has always judged pigment. But in the ten years we've been practising we have seen a madness come into it. Innocent people die every day on the gallows and murderers go free to kill again, to kill in the name of the law! That a man as vile and loathsome as Geldenhuis, the man who fired the first shot at Sharpeville, can become the youngest colonel in the history of the South African police force proves my point. If it was simply a matter of letting him go free to save Gideon's life, a swap, it would be easy. But it isn't! That's precisely what it isn't!' Peekay's voice was filled with emotion. 'It's joining the madness! It's allowing ourselves to be a part of it, part of this dreadful conspiracy!'

  'Hang on a mo, Peekay! This decision involves just the sort of universal integrity that makes man decent. It allows us to return life to a man who has gone to war and is prepared to die to defeat an evil system, to replace it with your kind of justice,' Hymie cried.

  'Let me finish, Hymie! Then you can go for your life. Man's highest single collective achievement is the application of natural justice to society, his greatest defeat is when he destroys it. If that sounds didactic I don't apologize. If mankind forsakes this single premise, then we are doomed as a species!' Peekay looked up at Hymie. 'You're right, Gideon is at war, a righteous war, but nevertheless one in which the consequences were clear to him. He has always known that if he was captured he would die. By swapping him for Geldenhuis we are making a mockery of the very principles for which he is prepared to die. I don't think Gideon would find this acceptable. I'm not at all sure I do either.' Peekay's voice trailed off, full of emotion.

  'You'd have made an excellent God, Peekay,' Hymie laughed. Then he turned to Tandia. 'I am going to take the position of Solomon; hear all the evidence first and then capitalise on it. Your turn next, Tandy?'

  Tandia sat with her shoes off and her legs curled up under her. 'I don't share Peekay's respect for the law. But then I have never seen it operate so that the scales of justice gave me and my kind an equal weighting. Frankly, the law stinks! I use it because, though a blunt and stupid weapon, i
t is the only one we have - the country of the blind where the one-eyed man is king. My other choice would be to do what Gideon is…was doing. And you both know that I've thought more than once about that! All my life I have seen evil triumph over good. Even when we win a case against the state it isn't because justice has triumphed, or good has beaten evil, it's because our proof is so overwhelming that the state can't afford to be shown up for what it is, or some corrupt or incompetent magistrate or judge will be exposed - and that's only when, despite the best efforts of the bench, we manage to get away with a jury who don't suffer from collective brain damage. From where I sit, hate always wins! Always! Geldenhuis's hate beats me,. beats you, beats Gideon! The only way we're going to destroy his kind - and that means the white racist regime in South Africa - is by using the same weapon they use, hate and fear! It's the only thing they understand! But to do this we need leaders who are prepared to take up arms and wage a relentless and ceaseless war of attrition until the last racist is burned out of the system. Gideon Mandoma is a charismatic leader who can get the people behind him and he's not afraid to take up arms, not afraid to kill! For once the black people have a leader who doesn't want to sit on the indaba mat and talk platitudinous crap with the hairy backs! If we manage to get a murder conviction against Geldenhuis, and even that isn't certain, all we do is create a vacancy for the next bastard from the queue stretching from Pretoria to Cape Town! Quite apart from Gideon being my loving friend, my country cannot afford to lose him. You can stick your principles, Peekay. I want him released so we can wage war!'

  Tandia was shaking by the time she was finished and very close to tears. She had never spoken like this in her life before. All her life her hurt and her hate had been folded up and locked away inside her heart.

  Peekay wasn't surprised. Tandia's uncompromising feelings were no less rigid than those of Gert or Colonel Smit and he told himself he had no right to expect that they should be.