Mike Sadler

More Than Cheese for Supper Mike Sadler

After the second world war Britain divested itself of the African colonies and this provided the opportunity for the National Party of the Union of South Africa to take political power over the country in 1948. They immediately began creating segregation laws (later called Apartheid) that discriminated against the Non-European races, which resulted in a three tier race system, made up of "whites," "coloureds," and "blacks." In the early 1950's these laws and regulations were only just beginning to be formed and introduced. They included the infamous pass laws, firstly creating a curfew for black people, but also restricting access to hospitals, train stations, public toilets and even beaches, often denoted by the signs: "Whites Only" or "Net Blanks" - the Afrikaans version. At this time many liberal white people spoke up against the encroaching racist state. None more so than the educated university fraternity and especially those at Fort Hare University in Alice in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Here many black African leaders were being educated, such as Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Desmond Tutu. Mike and Eileen Sadler were newly-weds and also studying at Fort Hare at that time and were part of the outspoken anti-apartheid and anti-racist groups. These three short stories, two written in the early 1950s, and one in the 1970s, remain a testament to and record of, the frail voices of the 'liberal whites' that often risked their careers and livelihoods, and in some cases freedom or even their lives, to voice their dissent to the evil of Apartheid and general racism. They speak clearly and openly about the injustice, cruelty and incongruity of a racist society.