My parents had enrolled me at the local high school in Krugersdorp, some 40 kms away from my home. That was the nearest high school for Africans. I travelled by bus to Randfontein, then took a train to Krugersdorp, then took yet another bus to get there. The two-hour commute, each way, was a sore trial. Not that the trip was ever lonely; to the contrary, my great friends, Leopard, Monty, and the garrulous Moss Mokotong, and I shared hilarious times during those daily trips to and from school. Looking back, I do believe it is around this time that I began to notice that things in our country were beyond just unjust.

At Munsieville, we met older boys. These were boys to whom I looked up for they were, in my youthful opinion, almost grown. I learned from their courage and wisdom. They were from a big town; older, wiser in the ways of the bigger locations.

It is also at Munsieville that I first met Archbishop Desmond Tutu in what was reportedly his first teaching post. He taught us English and Music. I remember one of his favourite songs:

Tlong Tlong Thaka Tseso Re Sa Bina Pina (Come, Come Friends, Let's sing this song)

E Tla makatsa bohle batla e utlwang (This will surprise all who hear it)

I remember him as an eloquent, thin, frail-looking and well-dressed young man with a tapering chin and short hair. His home was adjacent to the school and his father an ordained minister.

Later in life I would be re-acquainted with the Archbishop in his different role of a fiery opponent of apartheid dogma. That school teacher and his colleague, Stan Motjuwadi, as well as the principal, G.G. Mamabolo, were real masters – role models – and the years spent at that school were, for me, years of enlightenment. It is here that my political awakening took place. Other influences were also at play, however. I was in the big city, and I had to grow very fast.

Munsieville, called the Wild West, was notorious for its colourful gangsters and pick-pockets – such as the infamous Lefty and Jeffrey. But the most feared gangster was Buller. That man was reputedly capable of single-handedly causing a riot. Very adept with his knife, Buller was known to have vanquished many an enemy silly or stupid enough to challenge him.