Graaff-Reinet – the home of famous brothel owners, spies and politicians

Khumo Ntoane meets some unforgettable citizens in Graaff-Reinet.

You could say Wikipedia lured me there. The free-content encyclopedia on the Internet with millions of yearly hits told me that Graaff-Reinet was the fourth oldest town in South Africa and a flourishing market for agricultural produce. It showed thumbnail photos of the gothic Dutch Reformed Church and one from the top of the Valley of Desolation, with the Sundays River encircling the town.

The page listed an impressive collection of names of famous spies, brothel owners, politicians, writers and scientists who’d lived there. Among them was struggle hero Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, billionaire Anton Rupert and the legendary Sophia Johanna Werner, known as Black Sophie because of her dark complexion.

Black Sophie was born in 1827 but left Graaff-Reinet as a young woman in search of excitement in Cape Town. She became the owner of one of the most successful brothels on Table Bay. Author Lauren Beukes described Black Sophie as a ‘savvy wheeler-dealer’ with shrewd tactics in Maverick, her book on extraordinary South African women. She loved rowdy sailors and would go to the harbour in a carriage full of women of all shades to solicit young men who’d end up spending all their earnings at her Bree Street premises.

Graaff-Reinet’s struggle hero Robert Sobukwe was founding president of the Pan African Congress, which was fiercely opposed to the apartheid government. He ended up as a political prisoner in solitary confinement on Robben Island, where he died in 1978.

Anton Rupert remains one of the most celebrated sons of Graaff- Reinet, having donated money towards the preservation of some of the town’s finest buildings. His vision, however, stretched beyond his hometown and he helped to set up the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Armed with all this information from Wikipedia, I found myself on a Sunday morning under the baking sun in the centre of Graaff-Reinet, listening to a painter whistling a tune. His song added to the happy hum of families streaming out of church in their Sunday best as the tolling bells echoed off Graaff-Reinet’s closed shops. I waited at the Karoo Connections office for David McNaughton, my tour guide.

When he arrived, he sat down and began paging through an age-stained book. ‘There’s a very interesting local I’ve been trying to find out about, but nothing comes up,’ he said, moving to the computer. He pointed to the highlighted name: Sylvia Raphael. ‘She was one of the first agents of Israel’s external intelligence agency, the Mossad, to penetrate Yasser Arafat’s bases in Jordan and Lebanon,’ he continued.

‘There’s also William Smith, the mathematician, on that Wikipedia page,’ I added.

‘I know, I put it together,’ replied David. Turns out he’s an avid historian in his free time and is the person who started the Wikipedia page on Graaff-Reinet.

When the boom stopped
The web page is a highly abbreviated version of what David knows about Graaff-Reinet. On our tour, he peppered his tales with anecdotes and became as animated as a sports commentator.

Graaff-Reinet’s lure is more than its historic buildings – it’s about the town’s spirit of camaraderie. In 1926, Major Herbert Urquhart called together the citizens to discuss ways of keeping the town economically viable, realising that it was never going to expand as an industrial hub. That meeting was the beginning of the community’s involvement in promoting this charming town.

Various buildings were designated as possible national monuments. Historic places such as the Drostdy Hotel, Reinet House, the Old Library, the Hester Rupert Art Museum, Stretch’s Court – a street of restored houses once occupied by emancipated slaves – and even the new Pierneef Museum, where acclaimed artist JH Pierneef’s work has been loaned from Transnet, are evidence of the community’s ongoing devotion to this project.

The town was established by Dutch farmers moving away from Cape Town. They became vulnerable to attacks by Xhosa and in 1786 the Dutch East India Company claimed authority over the region. The farmers, having escaped the company before, were tired of being ruled from Cape Town. They declared independence in 1795 and became the first – albeit shortlived – republican government in South Africa.

The other side
‘Only overseas travellers ask about the other side of Graaff-Reinet,’ David said as we drove into Kroonvale, the township formerly classified as coloured. Neco Bokwe, his assistant, pointed out Acacia Street, a growing attraction because of the light display during Christmas holidays.

‘This is Patrick’s spot,’ they teased our driver, Patrick Donaldy, as we approached Rolene’s Tavern and sat down to a round of cold drinks.

‘We once brought a rowdy group of Australians here and they had a fantastic time,’ said David. ‘That party went on for ages.’

We hopped back into the minibus and drove to Umasizakhe Township, which dates back to 1870. Like so many South African townships, it had crumbling buildings, stray dogs and intoxicated people. Neco pointed to Sobukwe Street. ‘Over there is the Sobukwe House. It’s been declared a national monument,’ he said. The PAC hero’s homestead was also crumbling.

In spite of this, donations and increasing visits from foreign visitors have created a new ethos in the township. ‘Some community members think that declaring local Khoisan mud houses national monuments is a good idea,’ said Neco. If this happens, the houses will add to the 200 buildings already declared national monuments in Graaff-Reinet.

River of grass
The next day, David’s game-viewing vehicle was taking strain climbing a mountain road in the Camdeboo National Park, but his enthusiasm knew no bounds. The park, proclaimed in 2005, began with just the Valley of Desolation as a tourist attraction in 1935.

The expansion of the Camdeboo National Park has given David more to smile about. ‘Now when I drive up here, I don’t have to be embarrassed and apologise to my guests that there are no animals. Antelopes indigenous to this region are slowly being re-introduced.’ Mountain zebra, wildebeest, blesbok, kudu and gemsbok are some of the herbivores that are back again.

We stopped at a toposcope and looked down at the town. David pointed to the dry Sundays River. ‘It only flows on Sundays,’ he joked. The Bushmen had a more fitting name for it, Nuka Kamma, meaning river of grass.

The panoramic view was spectacular; the arid desert was green from a rainy season unlike any in the past 18 years. It had filled the Nqweba Dam, which supplies 25 per cent of the town’s water, to its brim. The adjacent Spandaukop Mountain looked liked a giant Basotho hat with a bald red patch on its peak.

Three Verreauxs’ eagles glided above us, the parents chasing the maturing youngster away. We made our way to the Valley of Desolation, a place some say got its name from early tourists because they’d leave the town early in the morning to reach the valley around midday when nothing down there moves in the heat. Dolerite stacks stood majestic against the sky.

David pointed out dates and names scratched into the rocks by early travellers. There was no chance of forlornness right then as the shouts of baboons echoed off the cliffs and the evening seemed to explode into fiery colours. There are some things that you just can’t get across on Wikipedia.