Teenager will miss his white 'brother'

2003-05-21 09:34

Simon Nare

Pretoria - "I will miss my white brother. He and I were very close since childhood and it is very sad to learn that he is gone."

So said a young black township dweller from Mpumalanga on hearing that his "brother", an 18-year-old white teenager called Happy Sindane, handed himself over to Bronkhorstpruit police, saying he was kidnapped by a domestic worker when he was six.

The young black man, who refers to Happy as his brother, said he last saw him at a local shop on Saturday.

"We had food for him at supper but he never returned. He never indicated to me that he was planning to leave. He never said to me that he wanted his real parents.

"I understand that even though he and I were close, there are some things that he wanted to keep for himself," he said.

He said he remembers his white brother first coming to his home in 1993. He and Happy soon became friends. He has fond memories of Happy when they were growing up.

The teenager said he always knew that Happy was not his biological brother and that Happy was given to his mother by a friend in Johannesburg.

The teenager said life became difficult after their mother died last year.

In November they decided to move in with their grandfather.

"It is very hard because mkhulu [grandfather] is a very strict person. He was not strict on him [Happy] alone, but to all of us. My brother's dream was to have a decent job," he said.

Sarah, a shop assistant who went to school with Happy, said she heard rumours about how he arrived in the township.

One of the rumours was that the black parents picked him up on a street.

"He was very well behaved. When he did something nasty and you shouted at him he would listen and take advice," she said.

She said Happy used to do casual work at the shop after dropping out of school. Most teenagers in the township spoke of how pleasant Happy is.

Some of the children used to herd cattle with him. He used to enjoy fishing, they said.

A school principal whose school Happy attended said he wasn't very academic, but was good with his hands.

She said the school registered Happy even though he did not have a birth certificate. "We had to do so because he was a child who needed to learn like every other child. We told his parents to get a birth certificate for him."

- Beeld