Port St Johns Stories

The Selous Scouts in Port St Johns The region known as Transkei in South Africa , gained self rule in 1963; and became a semi autonomous area. Then in 1976, it became an independent homeland. The Republic of Transkei. Inserting Banana before Republic is optional, but recommended. There was nothing independent about Transkei ; it was financially controlled by South Africa , who poured a million Rands into it on a daily basis. And one million was a lot of money then. South African taxpayers (read: whites – blacks didn’t pay much tax, if any), footed this enormous bill every day. Angola , and one in Mozambique , and….)   on the government coffers, the economy didn’t collapse. The Port St Johns aitstrip in the military base on Mount Thesiger Without complaining, after all, who said anything against the President? And it just goes to show how hard working South Africans are – with this enormous drain (actually, one of many, there were other ‘independent homela...

The Little Red Aeroplane The view south from Mthumbane Township, Port St Johns It had another wonderful Wild Coast weekend. Beautiful hot weather, good friends, fun things had happened. It was Sunday afternoon, Sunday brunches and lunches were over, people were relaxed, some taking afternoon naps, others catching the last bit of sun. Others had gone for constitutionals, walking along assorted beaches. One local was birdwatching, and was disturbed by a low flying helicopter. Idly she trained her binoculars on the helicopter as she watched it fly over First Beach and then disappear out of sight. She had no conscious memory of having memorized its ZA – number. A phone call came through to a local resident – a plane had just been seen crashing in to the sea, not far from shore. The description was ‘ a little red plane flying south’. Well, this was Sunday afternoon, the caller was known to enjoy a good many beers, and well, this sounded like he’d had one too many. ...

                                                         The Posting of Fish Both recreational fishing, and commercial fishing have been practiced in Port St Johns since humans first started settling here. Port St Johns as a tourism area, attracts all sorts of fishermen:  rock and surf, deep sea, fly fishermen, and many world records have been established in the area. Salt Water Fly Fishing Fish sources started dwindling in the 1990's, due to uncontrolled over fishing and exploitation. During the annual   ‘runs’ of cob (aka cape salmon or dagga), Garrick ( Leervis in Afrikaans) and spotted grunter, 100’s of these fish were caught, with catches of 10 or more per fisherman, per night, being common. The fish would be laid out on lawns for photographs, inspection and bragging by the fishermen.  Discussion...

                                                                                   The Love Scam (Nigerians get the better of a lonely woman)* Love scams, especially those orchestrated by Nigerians, often get into the newspapers, and we laugh at them, but seldom think that we’ll ever get involved in such a ludicrous scam. Sylvia, and her husband, Alex, were going through a bad patch. She had moved away to her daughter on the Natal South Coast, and didn’t seem to have any intention of ever taking up with her husband ever again. He got himself a girlfriend, and he was pretty happy. Sylvia heard about the girlfriend, and immediately came back to town to claim her husband, chasing the girlfriend out of the house, and started playing the happy wife. The happy wife, of ...

                                                              DJ's in the Jungle Advertising in the press had gone on for months – the British Radio Station, Capital 604, was going to open a station in Port St Johns, and broadcast from there, 24 hours a day. It would reach Durban , East London, Johannesburg , and all the latest music would be played by top notch DJ’s from England and the United States . In 1976, Radio 5 (previously L M Radio), was regarded as mod, but they only broadcast in the major centers. Capital 604 would show the SABC what broadcasting was about. The mansion known as the Port Captain’s house on the hill overlooking Port St Johns, was turned into a radio station, the windows were all double glazed, so that the rooms could become studios. Broadcasting equipment was brought in, technical staff we...