In the middle of all of this, some interesting developments happened. On 2 November 1983, about seventy per cent of the country's eligible voters (that, of course, meant white people only) voted in favour of Prime Minister P.W. Botha’s parliamentary reforms. This step was viewed by many as a revolutionary shift away from the right. The outcome was the establishment of a new constitution which gave effect to the establishment of the Tricameral Parliament consisting of three legislative houses (one each) for whites, coloureds and Indians to the exclusion of African people.

On 1 August 1983, the United Democratic Front (UDF), a diversely representative national political movement similar to the Civil Rights Movement of the United States, was launched. Some of our latter day senior politicians formed the nucleus of the UDF and others have since gone into business. Later in the year, a national referendum, by white voters, endorsed the adoption of the Tricameral Parliament. Those were difficult days in South Africa. The government was getting more reckless, more vicious, but watered down its aggressive posture with concessions such as the Tricameral Parliament. Living in Soweto and occasionally dining out in the city created a myriad of problems. Re-entering the township at night became a hazardous undertaking.

Being vigilant against the criminal element was one thing, but dealing with the police was often the more menacing threat.

Often, the police would mount roadblocks and harass us with questions. One night, Nana and I were returning home from an occasion at the Carlton Hotel. I wore a dinner jacket and tie and Nana was in her black evening clothes. The car was flagged down by the police at a roadblock, and after a couple of questions, we were asked why we were dressed up and where we’d come from. It was clearly a way of humiliating us. These were white police constables who, sometimes out of pure malice, would entertain themselves with this sort of harassment. That was something that irritated me, and it gave a sour taste to my new life in Johannesburg. The police, under the guise of maintaining security and order, maimed and killed many civilians as was revealed during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings after the elections of 1994.