Vearey has a spellbinding biographical story to tell at the Cape Times breakfast

PROVINCIAL top cop Major-General Jeremy Vearey says those attending the Cape Times breakfast will learn about his time as a toddler, his imprisonment on Robben Island, work at the ANC intelligence wing and time spent with Nelson Mandela.

He will be a keynote speaker at the breakfast on July26 at the Cape Town Hotel School, Granger Bay, where he will give more insight on his biography, which he described as a memoir covering the period he grew up in Elsies River, written in a language authentic to the community.

“During the 1980s in the northern suburbs and Elsies River, nobody spoke English.

“We spoke Afrikaaps, and this journey is told from (the) toddler years, right through where we lived in various parts of the province. The book is told in the Elsies River context,” Vearey said.

Vearey, who has been described as the “most avid anti-gang crusader” said, “the book ends between the mid and late 1990s, where I speak about the Worcester bomb blast and gang investigations”.

‘‘It makes more sense to experience this book in the context of Elsies River before everything became more anglicised. One cannot anglicise Elsies,” he said.

Vearey said his second book would follow this sequence from the early 2000s to around 2017, and would be written in English. Asked about the inspiration behind his book, Vearey said he was influenced by two factors.

“If we look at the current environment of Afrikaans, it is narrowly seen.

“We need to understand that Afrikaaps was revolutionary and it was transformed for what people wanted to privatise. But Afrikaaps cannot be privatised, it is a language that is organic and grew from its people,” he said.

For the second factor influencing his book being told in an authentic language, Vearey recalled a Truth and Reconciliation Commission incident in which Zabonke Konile was one of the men killed in the Gugulethu Seven massacre.

“Konile’s mother’s way of speaking, and her narrative, along with its symbolism and imagery, could only be experienced in that environment.

“This is what I set out to do in this book.

“It is a narrative that can only be found in Elsies River, and if it is told anywhere else, the narrative might get lost in translation,” he said.

Being given the opportunity to share his story at the Cape Times breakfast, Vearey said the platform was needed.

“I accept that these experiences must be exposed to other audiences, these stories must be shared,” he said.

To book a ticket for the Cape Times breakfast, visit Quicket. co.za. Tickets cost R250 per person.