By ROD AMNER
A couple of months ago, I took a hike at Burnt Kraal with a companion. Sensing there was some beguiling valley bushveld beyond the usual footpaths, we decided to hike north along a dirt road.
We had no idea we were entering forbidden territory because most signs warning that access to this area was prohibited had been torn down and obscured by the thicket.
After a half-hour walk/run, we found some derelict farm buildings overlooking a disused tennis court, a half-empty dam and some exquisite vistas. Being humans of the naively inquisitive variety, we decided to snoop around.
Curiously, I found dozens of empty beer bottles strewn around one of the outbuildings. Was this a student party venue? A shebeen?
I then noticed a solar power panel on the lawn with a cord leading into the main farmhouse. Ah, people were living here?! Off-grid bohemians, perhaps? High-tech squatters?
“Who’s that!?” said a uniformed SANDF soldier, suddenly emerging from the house.
I spluttered my apologies for the intrusion.
He said I had no right to be on the ‘property’ – which, he explained, was part of the 6 SAI Battalion’s training ground.
I apologised again, this time for the navigational error, and promised to leave the way we had come.
But, a second, half-dressed soldier emerged. He was considerably less courteous than his colleague – and substantially more intoxicated.
He asked for my name, address and occupation.
I gave him my name but politely demurred on the physical address and further biographical details.
After an extended philosophical exchange about citizen rights and the appropriateness of these lines of questioning, he said this would be my “first and last visit” to this place.
I didn’t disagree. And after he made a slicing gesture to his throat that indicated to me that a second visit to this place would be my last visit to any place, we all agreed that it would be best if my companion and I took our leave.
Our run home was brisk.
Lesson learnt
Think twice before following an unfenced and unguarded road into the inviting Eastern Cape countryside near the SANDF. This is because you may be inside a ‘high-security’ SANDF training base.
Questions to the Minister of Defence, Thandi Modise
What is being done to secure the perimeter of the base? Why has it been unsecured for so long?
