History of Transvaal (Volume V)

This page is a history of Transvaal from August 2010 to June 2011.

Endgame in Pretoria
JULY 26, 2010

''RADIO-TRANSVAAL: On Saturday, the government will be recognising the one-year anniversary of the end of military rule and the accession of Prime Minister Annetjie van Matteus with a military parade past Government House in Pretoria. The display of Transvaal’s military power will be led by the reknown Transvaler Oorsese Korps – who will be returning home shortly from deployment in the recent Tahoe conflict and whose commander also happens to be the prime minister herself. The Oorsese Korps are expected to touch down at Johannesburg’s Botha International Airport sometime on Friday.''

- - -

“Mr. Strijdom, we have the results from your recent tests...” the doctor said, taking off his glasses. “Unfortunately, it is what we have suspected all along, you have the onset of terminal lung cancer.”

Hendrik Strijdom uttered a quiet sigh, as if the news was a welcome relief from uncertainty. He took the news as stoically as possible. “How long do I have, Meneer Doktor?”

“I would give you three to four months – if you make it to Christmas then that would be a miracle.”

“I see...” confirmed Strijdom. He light up a cigarette, something he gave up months ago when he first started to have symptoms. “Excuse me for smoking doctor, but I doubt these are going to kill me now...”

- - -

“Field Marshal Malan? This is Strijdom. Yes, the news is I expected. Therefore we do not have much time to act.”

“Acknowledged,” replied the field marshal, “I will set the wheels in motion. And the timing is perfect.”

JULY 27, 2010

''RADIO-TRANSVAAL: Prime Minister Annetjie van Matteus has announced that after its return to the Republic this weekend, the Transvaler Oorsese Korps will be re-deployed to the joint-administration territory of Transvaal-Arctica. Under the territorial charter agreement, both nations can deploy up to 2,500 troops within the territory; the Oorsese Korps will make up part of Transvaal’s permitted deployment as regular Krygsmagte troops are rotated home.''

"This was to be expected," said Governor Pasqua to himself as he read the daily press digests. He took some stationery out of a drawer and set it on his desk. He put his pen to the paper and tried to think of something to write. Deciding it would be easier to just call, he swept the paper aside and picked up the telephone receiver. His secretary was on the other end.

"I need you to dial Governor Mzumu's office."

The line was crackly but at the other end, a voice could be heard: “Yes? This is Comrade Mzumu. Who is this speaking?”

"Good day, Governor. This is Pasqua. I expect you will have heard the news by now. Van Matteus has ordered the Overseas Corps deployed to the territory. I suspect this is for the reasons Ambassador Dietz discussed with you. Whatever she may be planning, I need..." Pasqua paused, grudgingly reminding himself that he was not speaking to a subordinate. "I would like for you and your supporters to show restraint. If they are plotting against your party, it would be best for everyone if you did not provoke them to action."

“You see, I told you and your people we could not trust those Boer snakes at all! They speak lies and deceit, that is their way to us Africans!” Mzumu bellowed. “Obviously we both know what the Korps’ purpose will be in Mozambique – and I cannot in good faith tell my people to stand aside and simply wait to be let out to the slaughter. If it appears the Boer government is going to strike first against us, I will have to take preventive measures.”

"And if you strike first, how will that look? Then they are going to continue their war, and they are going to continue it in this territory, with all of the forces that they have! That is unacceptable. The ambassador tells me there was only barely enough support to stop the 'war', and now you are going to restart it? Do you think you will get another chance after this? Not only will your cause be ruined, but so will this territory. There is already an assassination to mar its history, and now you want to add a war." Then, under his breath, "Merde."

"If you insist, I will have to remove the soldiers stationed at your office. I cannot be seen to support instigators."

Jonathan Mzumu changed his tone, seeing that Pasqua seemed to be sympathetic to him.

“Okay, okay... I will keep my troops garrisoned in the towns which are under our control but if the Boers make a move to force their way in, I cannot guarantee my people will keep restraint. But I will do my best to tell them not to provoke the situation. However if – and when – the Boers do attack us, the ceasefire will obviously be regarded as broken and any white Transvaler in the territory will be deemed a military target.”

There was a prolonged silence when Mzumu finished. "If you intend to target civilians in some racial campaign...I cannot stress how deplorable this is. If you wish for your party to be seen as anything more than a rogue guerrilla group, you had best refrain from such action.

I will keep a close eye on this situation, and if I discover anything unbecoming, rest assured I will not remain silent."

Pasqua was not particularly sympathetic to Mzumu. It didn't help that they occupied opposite poles of the political-economic spectrum. However, he knew that with a war, there would be little prosperity in the territory. He also knew that if either side in this conflict got its way, there would be a bloodbath. Accordingly, he was committed to making sure this didn't happen. Reminding Mzumu of his cause and his public image seemed like it was working. Unfortunately, he found the Transvalers were much harder to talk to, and he was glad that the ambassador was a competent one.

JULY 28, 2010

Meanwhile, anonymous letter arrived in Ambassador Deitz’s in-tray this morning. It was written on Transvaler Lugmag stationary and postmarked Mauritius - but otherwise gave no indication whose its author was.

Typed out on a blank piece of paper was the following text: <>

- - -

Seamus O'Grianna met with his Transvaal-Arctica contact in the Tahoan Embassy in Pretoria. Van Haesten had recently returned to Swakopmund and was most likely continuing the groundwork of a viable outpost in the Transvaler Northwest. O'Grianna had other interests, though. Transvaal was not his assignment merely because he was seniormost in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He had a vested and ideological interest in the stability of the Transvaler state.

Now was not a stable time. For one thing, O'Grianna didn't like communism particularly well. He was somewhat a totalitarian himself (who rather disliked Tahoan's demand of personal freedoms, one of the reasons he found Transvaal a nice place) but everything about communism, both its utopianism which he found utterly repulsive and its more realistic, practical side which stood for the destruction of nationalism and Christendom, O'Grianna's two pillars of life. On the other hand, supporting van Matteus was a plus, since Transvaal had not had an effective leader like her in quite some time, perhaps ever. The whole fiasco in Transvaal-Arctica was beginning to be a real problem.

His contacts revealed that something was happening in Transvaal-Arctica, what exactly he did not know yet, though he predicted he would soon enough. Either way, the remaining Armtha SS men who had elected not to go fight in Germany against the communists were increasingly outraged that a communist was governing a region of Transvaal. The fact he was black did not help at all, though truthfully he would be a target for the fanatical Armtha SS even if he was a redheaded Tahoan named Patrick.

O'Grianna penned a simple message for Van Matteus.

"I can no longer guarantee the Armtha SS will obey orders issued by myself or Peter Van Haesten. He pulled off a coup by sending ten thousand to Germany to fight the communists there, but thousands remain and are increasingly restless. The cancer in Transvaal-Arctica is beginning to demand amputation, and the Armtha SS in Swakopmund can no longer be relied to not...deploy themselves...to carry out that operation themselves."

Annetjie van Matteus sent a reply back to O'Grianna via courier to the Tahoan Embassey:

"The Transvaler Oorsese Korps will be arriving home shortly; it is my intention to deploy them to Mozambique to sort out this whole communist business. Unfortunately, while the territory is Transvaler - it is also Arctican at the same time. Amy action we take there must be dealt with delicately. Granted the Arctican government is not enamoured with marxist ideologies, but their government and ministers must answer to their populace. Any offensive action taken in the territory will come under their scrutiny. And while we have a legit reason to deploy troops there, any intrusion by Tahoan troops could be viewed as an act of war by Arctica as it would in essence be a violation of their sovereign rights over the joint-territory. I appreciate your concern but we must tread lightly with them; I have had personal run-ins before with their nosy diplomatic staff, media, and government bigwigs. The Staatspresident has always been explicit that Transvaal-Arctican relations only come second to Transvaler-Tahoan relations."

JULY 29, 2010

"Madam Prime Minister, Transvaler stability is of course one of my key concerns and I of course respect and understand the political reality in Mozambique. However, our control over the Armtha SS is beginning to slip. They truly are fanatics who would rather start a war with Arctica if it meant the death of the Communist Party in Mozambique. General Van Haesten recently approached me with what he believes will serve both your interests in Mozambique as well as ours (in terms of keeping control over the Armtha). He proposes sending a detachment of the Armtha SS into Mozambique as part of the Transvaler contingent. After all, they do serve the provincial government of Tahoe-Transvaal in Namibia and have had their Tahoan enlistments revoked. Replacing Krygsmagte troops with those you may rely on (I can vouch for their reliability once in theatre) may be a smart move and will avoid bloodshed in Namibia as well. As for Arctican interference, well, as far as they are concerned these are nothing more than a new unit being deployed as part of a rotation. Any overly nosy agents...well, my agents can always take care of that should it get to that point."

Annetjie van Matteus became alarmed at the prospect of uncontrolled Armtha troops running amok in Southern Africa.

“You realise Ambassador that after the recent troubles in North America, many in Africa and elsewhere will not take lightly the prospects of rogue Tahoan troops going around on a rampage in Mozambique. This could have dire consequences for my government and our diplomatic relations with a few states.”

“Look... this is a rather busy and hectic moment for me. There is some National Party business which has suddenly come up in Pretoria which I need to attend to before tomorrow’s anniversary parade of the restoration of the civilian government. Perhaps after tomorrow’s events have been and gone, we can then meet up at Government House privately and sort out this problem with the Armtha and Mozambique.”

JULY 30, 2010

Dietz, of course, knew who it was from. The message was rather cryptic and he could do nothing other than pass it up the chain.

The next day, it arrived at the office of the Commander of the Indian Ocean Territory Defense Force, in Saint-Denis, Reunion. He had someone contact the radar monitoring stations on Tromelin as well as those on Reunion itself and those in the Mozambique Strait. They were ordered to report immediately to the Air Force all movements of aircraft known to be used by the Transvaler Lugmag.

As the IOTDF lacked significant air assets, the aircraft carrier Storm's End was taken out of regular duty to tour the Indian Ocean Territory along with Ticonderoga-class missile cruiser ANS Incorruptible. Naturally, they would arrive at Reunion in the wee hours of Friday and would stay there for three days. Much to the chagrin of the sailors, they would be getting no shore leave.

Soon after dawn over the Indian Ocean, the radar station on Tromelin radioed Arctican air force headquarters with their latest update:

''“This is Tromelin Radar Station reporting. As per request to keep an eye on Lugmag activity, we are currently tracking two aircraft which took off a few minutes ago from Mauritius. According to their call-signs they are Lugmag F-22 Raptors. They seem to be on a direct course towards a military charter or commercial jet which is probably two hours away on a heading towards Mauritius. Tromelin over.”''

The Arctican radar operator on duty on Tomelin Island watched the three blips moving across his screen. One heading south-west towards moved at a snail’s pace compared to the two fast blips moving away from Mauritius northbound towards the slow blip. From communication relays from other air traffic controllers around the Indian Ocean, he had learnt this was a commercial aircraft under charter to the Transvaal military. It had departed Tahoe many hours ago the previous evening and had been hop-scotching its way across the Pacific.

Although unconfirmed, radio chatter between controllers seemed to imply that the famed Transvaler Oorsese Korps was onboard making their way home to Transvaal, he could not verify this as none of the Transvaler planes had made any radio contact with Tromelin yet over the usual communication channels. Either they were all flying silent or using other encrypted military frequencies. The commercial jet had one refuelling stop left in Mauritius before their final leg to Johannesburg.

After around ten minutes, the pair of blips made contact with the slow blip. For a brief moment all three blips converged and the radar mistook all three aircraft for one large blip. ‘Must be an over-flight at different altitudes’ the control thought to himself.

The next pass around on the radar resumed showing the two fast blips close together, now making a clockwise arc to head back to Mauritius. But the slow southwestern-bound blip did not re-appear... The radio operator called the small station's commander over. He explained the situation, and when the blip did not reappear after five minutes, the commander immediately phoned Air Force HQ. The office receiving the call was abuzz with activity in a matter of minutes trying to figure out what just happened.

Meanwhile other radar operators had noticed the event. After perhaps 30 minutes of confusion at Reunion's Coast Guard station, both seaplanes present took off, followed by a cutter, and began to make their way to the last known location of the likely downed aircraft. A downed jet liner being a serious incident, the tour of the territory was postponed and the two naval ships headed for the site of the incident. Because three of its helicopters were outfitted for sea rescue, the carrier would be a valuable asset. A squadron of F/A-18 Hornets launched from the carrier on an interception course with the F-22's. Their instructions were to establish contact, identify the planes to as narrow a group as possible, and if possible ascertain what had just happened. They were to head back if they reached Transvaler airspace.

After two hours, Ambassador Dietz got the call informing him what happened. He then dialed the office of Dietrichs Gerhard. The phone had a number of lines, so he could speak with Gerhard and deal with any concerned callers following the incident.

The story appeared on the 6 o'clock news, as many civilian air monitoring stations had detected it. Many of the stories were short due to lack of information, but state-run Arctica News Service reported that recovery operations were ongoing.

On arrival at the last known co-ordinates of the jetliner, the Arctican naval ships began to scour the area for clues.

As pieces of debris began to appear in the water, it was obvious that whatever happened to the aircraft had been catastrophic and there would be no survivors. Based on the wide debris-scatter pattern, investigators would soon figure out that the plane had broken up well before it hit the water; the last known altitude recorded by Arctican radar had its cruising altitude at 30, 000 feet. There would be little identifiable parts remaining, although incredibly the vertical stabilizer was still intact – easily the largest piece of the plane recovered. It bore the orange and blue colours and springbok logo of Afrikaans Lugdiens.

From following the interception course on radar, the air force command in Oceana could tell the F-18’s were unfortunately unable to make any sort of visual contact with the two unidentified aircraft before they had reached Mauritius – where they appeared to land. The two planes had probably hit their afterburners as soon as they had turned around back towards Mauritius.

Based on the co-ordinates of the crash site, whatever happened occured in disputed Arctican airspace and waters around 100 to 120 kilometres due east of Tromelin Island - near the Cargados Carajos atolls.

Some hours later…

“Sir, I had our people in Oceana record the status and whereabouts of all Transvaler commercial jets. The presidential private Boeing 747 is currently in maintenance in Johannesburg. Therefore judging from its origin of departure and range of the crash site, this must have been one of their old Boeing 707’s. We can account for all but one, which turns out had been loaned out on charter by the government to return home the Transvaler Oorsese Korps from Tahoe.”

“As for whatever brought the plane down, at that height it must have been incredibly sudden and destructive for it to come down so fast that it still didn’t register on our radar as multiple blips. If you ask me, it was probably a bomb. Structural failure wouldn’t be so ‘complete’ in destroying the plane so quickly.”

The ships would continue to collect wreckage for storage, to be later passed on to Transvaal's authorities for investigation - even though it was quite clear what the cause was. Day by day, the emergency vessels returned home, replaced by only a few smaller craft searching for the black box, if it was still intact. The naval vessels continued on their tour.

- - -

Dietz’ phonecall to Transvaler Lugmag’s headquarters in Johannesburg ran into some trouble:

“Sorry sir, but Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard is currently on active duty… err, let me see what it says here on his file… ah, yes… he is currently on active duty in Mauritius with one of the carrier air wings. Is there something I can help you with?”

- - -

One of Dietz’s assistants walked into his office with some news. “Ambassador, we’ve got our televisions and radios tuned to the Transvaler stations – and there’s been nothing reported on it yet even though it has been around six hours since the plane went down. All attention seems to be focused on the military parade tomorrow in Pretoria.”

Dietz had picked up his phone when the assistant came in. It was the Air Force. "This is the ambassador. Yes...hold on a minute, please." He looked at the assistant with a slight impatience evident on his face.

- - -

"Uh-huh. Thank you. Tell me if anything new happens..." He turned his attention back to the phone.

- - -

After he finished his call with the Air Force, Dietz called the Prime Minister's office to inform her of what they had discovered. No doubt she already knew about the incident, but he suspected the details were mostly unknown to her. He could have no idea what was transpiring in Government House even as he punched in the numbers...

   Ons is jammer maar die nommer wat jy wil, uit diens is    We are sorry but the number you want is out of service    

- - -

“What is the meaning of this?” screamed Annetjie van Matteus.

She had been expecting a show down with Malan for some time – but when it finally occurred, it caught her off-guard due to the timing. It was after all, the one-year anniversary of her becoming prime minister after the restoration of civilian rule.

While she had been told that an emergency session of the Volksraad had been summoned, what met her on arrival at her office at Government House was somewhat different. Across from her she stared down Field Marshal Malan, Deputy Prime Minister Hendrik Strijdom, along with Ministers Marthinus Hofmyer and Herrman Steyn.

“Madame prime minister…” began Strijdom, “due to numerous violations of the legislation governing the selection and qualifications of the prime minister of Transvaal, on behalf of the central party committee of the National Party of Transvaal, we hereby deem you morally unsatisfactory to govern as a leader of the National Party and thus govern the Republic. The National Party upholds the christian nationalist culture of the Afrikaner people and you do not represent that ideal.”

Like a hunted animal trapped and cornered, Van Matteus immediately knew where they were going with this…

“Therefore, we give you two options. You can either resign on good faith for whatever reasons you may wish to devise – in which case we shall not reveal the true natures for your deposition by the National Party… or, if you choose to resist, we shall reveal to the public why the National Party deems you unfit for office. It is your choice.”

“You devious fiends!” she yelled. She turned to Malan, who had been sitting quietly but studiously throughout Strijdom’s statement. “I trusted you in Rome, Petrus… I cleared your name after the end of the junta and ensured you kept your rank and command. And now you repay that trust with… this… blackmail.” She then spat in Malan’s direction.

“Did you tell Strijdom that you set me up… that it was you who introduced me to one of your former mistresses?”

Strijdom interjected. “It doesn’t matter, the fact is that your homosexuality is a criminal offense – albeit it usually ignored, but still a criminal offense – in Transvaal. We could even imprison you for it. Then there is the matter of your catholicism. No honest Afrikaner bows to any sort of pope!”

“Sorry, but you have two strikes against you. The third strike is the disputed status of the election. Granted no one in the National Party would settle for a DBP government, but the manner you handled the election is questionable and embarrassing to our foreign policy and diplomatic relations.”

“If I am guilty of tampering with the election, then you are all just as guilty” she responded in defense.

“Should I go on…?” Strijdom quizzed her. “We can also bring up the whole issue with the CPTSA now parked in Mozambique and making the oversight to not ban the communist party there.”

The deputy prime minister sat down and waited for Van Matteus to make her final choice.

- - -

"Ambassador, we've just got Radio-Transvaal broadcasting..." It was the smooth, sultry, and suave voice of Radio Transvaal, Lukas Reitz:

In other news today, the entire 300-man Transvaler Oorsese Korps was killed this morning when its Afrikaanse Lugdiens charter plane struck heavy turbulence and came down in a fireball into the Indian Ocean.

The cause of the crash is under investigation and many in the Transvaler civil aviation industry are laying blame with Transvaal’s antiquated commercial airline fleet.

''The Oorsese Korps were on their way home from Tahoe to their base in Namibia when the unfortunate accident occurred. No word has been heard yet from the government as Prime Ministers Annetjie van Matteus is also the commanding officer for the Korps.''

JULY 31, 2010

ANNETJIE VAN MATTEUS RESIGNS AFTER ONE YEAR

Hendrik Strijdom begins his second term as Prime Minister

CYBERNATIONS NETWORK NEWS [PRETORIA]: Annetjie van Matteus unexpectedly resigned today as Prime Minister of the Republic of Transvaal, citing in a brief statement issued from Government House, “family issues” as well as “one year is long enough for anyone to tackle this job - it is time for some new blood”.

Ms. Van Matteus took office one year ago today on August 31 after the end of the military junta which had governed Transvaal during the Karma War.

In her place, Deputy Prime Minister Hendrik Strijdom will succeed her to serve out the remainder of her term.

- - -

With all the backroom deals going on over the months that seemed to be necessary in his dealings with the Transvalers, Ambassador Dietz was glad to, for once, do something in his job description.

Prime Minister Strijdom,

On behalf of the Union of Arctica I congratulate you on your accession to the post of Prime Minister.

''In regards to the recent incident over the Indian Ocean, I can assure you that it was an attack and not turbulence that caused the tragic deaths of your nation's soldiers. More specifically it was a pair of F-22's tracked back to Mauritius that shot down the airplane. I attempted to inform the Prime Minister of this fact last night but had trouble with the phone line, and it is now yours to know.''

''I am told that efforts will continue for the next several days to recover more pieces of the plane as well as the black box, and that these pieces and other evidence incl. radar telemetry will be handed over to your government.''

Best wishes, Anton Dietz

The ambassador grimaced as he signed his name. There was little doubt in his mind that Strijdom was at least aware of what exactly happened. Whether he had a hand in it, Dietz was not certain.

AUGUST 1, 2010

As Ambassador Dietz settled back into his office after returning from a cordial and pleasant lunch meeting with another ambassador based in Pretoria, his secretary walked in with a message for him.

"Sir, while you were out, we received a phonecall from Government House. Apparently you have been summoned to meet with the new Transvaler prime minister, at your convenience."

"Very well, I can make it there at...3:00."

Dietz did paperwork and other tasks that were not quite much fun for the next few hours, so the meeting would be somewhat of a relief to him as he drove up to Government House in the embassy car.

- - -

On account of the nice balmy winter day, and the growing annoyance of paperwork, Dietz decided instead to cut his afternoon early and get some fresh air. He’d make the ten-block distance along Church Street from the Arctican Embassy to Government House on foot.

Dietz was glad he decided to forego the car and stroll over to Government House. He rather appreciated the rich architecture of the place. Most important buildings in Arctica were modern, usually skyscrapers and large office buildings.

Downtown was typically quiet on this Sunday as stores and offices were closed – but as he approached where Leyd and Zeederberg Streets intersected with Church Street, he noticed the heavy military presence around the government building grounds.

He kept on his way until he reached a perimeter of troops right in front of the grounds entrance, a group of four who then stopped him to ask what his business was. Dietz flashed them his diplomatic credentials. After a quick examination, and some amazement that an ambassador was traveling around on foot and not in an official automobile, they let him pass.

He then cut across the empty gardens which formed the front approach to the brick and stone building. The gardens were some of the most beautifully maintained in Transvaal – if not the entire continent. He thought to himself how for a few minutes at least he could withdraw here from his mounting pile of paperwork and all the troubles going on in the world and bask in the tranquil peacefulness of Staatspresident Botha’s famed rose and tulip gardens. Whether the Staatspreident himself actually tended the gardens himself was an occasional talked-about rumour brought up amongst the high-society types of the diplomatic corps. But from his own experience, when Botha was actually staying at Government House in his own private residential wing, he was never seen by the public. But then again, Government House was generally closed to public visitors when Botha was in residence.

When he finally made his way to the front roadway approach to the building, he suddenly emerged from a narrow passageway opening through one of the hedged walls and surprised more guards around the building. The half dozen Krygsmagte soldiers all swung around with their semi-automatic rifles pointed at him. One of them walked up to him cautiously; Dietz once again flashed his diplomatic passport.

“Okay Ambassador, you can enter the building” said the guard, now pointing “Go through the main entrance over there”.

Dietz walked up the stairs leading into the main entrance. A woman in her early-thirties in a black suit and wearing glasses walked up to him. If she wasn’t so damned attractive, Ambassador Dietz would have mistaken her for a mortician.

“Good afternoon, Ambassador Dietz, the prime minister is expecting you” she said politely. “If you will follow me…”

She took him through the maze of hallways which housed the offices for the various government ministries and elected deputies to the Volksraad. As they walked through the empty hallways - as most government officials did not work on Sundays, it being the Lord's Day and all - he looked around and read the various notices and name-plates on the offices. The building was abandoned except for him and the loud clicking of the secretary's heels which echoed throughout the main building floor.

“Mister Ambassador, this way pleasse…” she urged, as Dietz had fallen somewhat behind distracted.

They approached the one marked EERSTEMINISTER – he had been here in previous visits to the parliament buildings.

Strijdom’s secretary lead him into the office’s waiting room. “Please wait here, sir. I shall fetch you a cup of tea while you wait.”

A few minutes later, after she had returned with a cup of rooibos tea with a sliver of lemon floating in it, the office door opened. Both Dietz and the secretary looked up, in the doorway stood Transvaal’s new prime minister, Hendrik Strijdom.

“Dankie ambassador for taking time out from your busy schedule to come visit me, come let’s go talk inside my office…”

Dietz was taken aback by how polite Strijdom was – usually the man was as serious and as gruff as they come.

Dietz was just finishing the sweet tea when Strijdom arrived. The ambassador set the cup down and entered the office. He was amused that their secretaries shared a name, but soon turned his mind to more important matters.

As Dietz walked into Strijdom’s office, the prime minister said: “Marie, this is an important meeting with one of our most important neighbours – please make sure we are not disturbed”.

"Greetings, Prime Minister." Dietz was not quite sure what to make of Strijdom's new attitude. He had been very different in their previous meetings. "I hope you don't mind if I was a little late in getting here. I decided to walk. The weather is quite pleasant today.

I understand there is something you need to speak to me about?"

Ambassador Dietz sat down in Strijdom’s office while the Transvaler prime minister slowly paced behind his desk, occasionally looking outside the one large window into the courtyard below.

“I read your letter you sent me. That is why I requested you to come here. Tell me, Ambassador, tell me what you know… or what you think you know… or your theories what you think happened. And in return, I shall tell you what I know. And between us, somewhere the truth will be…”