Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
College friend captures spirit of Ben Dekker
Gerald McCann has written an intimate portrait of South Africa’s own wild man, writes JOHN HARVEY
FAMOUS South African nomad, actor, writer and activist Ben Dekker has been immortalised in a new book by his old university roommate – and what you thought you knew pales in comparison to the flamboyant reality that is this giant of a man.
Standing almost 2m tall, Dekker has been in exploits around the country that have become the stuff of legend, through his years as a television actor on the series Die Vlakte Duskant Hebron to his charity work in and around Port St Johns, where he lives in a self-built cottage – for long or short periods each time, depending on where his whim next takes him.
He is a frequent visitor to the Western Cape, where his gargantuan frame is spotted loping around Cape Town or the Garden Route.
For the best part of 55 years, Dekker’s path has been followed by Saasveld College (now Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in George) room-mate and friend Gerald McCann, a writer and forestry expert who has painted a portrait of the man affectionately known as “Big Ben”, in his book Ben Dekker, Larger Than Life.
“Ben was already quite eccentric when I first met him 55 years ago. I was in contact with Brian Bredenkamp, whose book With a Beer in the Hand has a few Ben anecdotes. Brian had a database with the names of all the major people in forestry, so he helped me get their stories about him,” McCann said.
“Ben also had written a few stories himself, so for the past year I have been putting the book together.”
Describing Dekker as a “grandiose character”, McCann said one of his favourite tales about his old friend was how he introduced himself to people when asked what he did.
“He says that he used to ‘de-ball’ pigs in Jonkershoek. The story goes that in Jonkershoek the local pigs had been infected with worms, so they brought in German swine which unfortunately started breeding with the local pigs.
“During the rut, though, the male pigs became extremely aggressive, so Ben suggested that they be castrated. Others tried to explain that these were wild pigs, but Ben stripped down an old VW Beetle and used to lasso the pigs from the car as he roared after them. A friend even suggested that he market the product as ‘Forest Oysters’ in Stellenbosch.”
More recently, Dekker visited McCann at his home at Botrivier near Hermanus to discuss the book – and even this meeting yielded material that simply could not be excluded from the finished product.
“Ben is 72 years old. We discussed a show that runs overseas called The Wild Men of Europe, where men dress up as wolves or other animals to represent the wild. I said to him that we should have a Wild Men of the Fynbos. I suggested he wear a geelboom tunic for the photo.
“Ben, who was getting irritable, then went away and started rummaging around. He came back with his scarf tied around his waist which was used to hold a waboom tree stump in place and said, ‘Take the photo now.’ My daughter told me she didn’t know I did pornography.”
For all his humorous and “wild” antics, however, Dekker was perceived as always being humble and charitable by those who knew him, McCann said.
“He never makes a fuss, for all the schools he has helped build in rural communities. He is a gentle soul,” he added.
Officials at the Port St Johns Library, who often liaise with Dekker, said he did not own a cellphone, and last they knew he was trekking “somewhere in KwaZuluNatal, we don’t know where”.
Orders for Ben Dekker, Larger Than Life can be placed with McCann on e-mail: geraldmc@telkomsa.net or phone 028 284 9179.