Contact Eric Blue

Pearce sits in the midday sun near the waters and drifts off into dreamland. If he can’t get to Mandela, he needs to go for Plan B – Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. He finds himself in Harare, befriending Bishop Reginald Banda, who has links to Mugabe’s ZANU party. Pearce’s aim is to get Mugabe to form a peaceful resolution and government of unity with his main opponent, Joshua Nkomo of the ZAPU. Nkomo holds the hopes of the Ndebele people, and Mugabe despises them, with his troops killing many. Initially, Mugabe is reluctant to meet with his arch-enemy, Nkomo, of ZAPU, and is anti dealing with the western world. Pearce manages to talk sense into the President and a way forward is found. Mugabe agrees to talks with ZAPU with Pearce acting as facilitator.

Albertina Buthelezi takes Pieter and Lindiwe through the finer details of the explosion at the laboratory. The old lady was still a virgin at the time of her employment there and wasn’t aware that she had sex with the man in the bedroom at the ‘Looking Glass’ so she was stunned to find out a few weeks later that she was pregnant. When she returned to work at the laboratory, she noticed that some of the scientists were missing. She still wasn’t too sure what the scientists were working on or what caused the explosion. Nor did she know why the laboratory was so top-secret. Pieter had done some research back at the office and had a good idea of the ‘Looking Glass’ project, but did not share his views with the ladies.

Pieter awakens in an interrogation room. A General, flanked by two armed men in uniform try and force him to talk on what he knew about Albertina Buthelezi and the laboratory. He refuses to divulge and has his head dunked several times into water until drowning point. His worst fear was that the security men would do to him what the military did to anti-Mugabe who were held in the dreaded Chikurubi prison in Zimbabwe. Those who refused to give information, had a rusty nail smacked through their penises with a hammer. A doctor was always on standby with some dirty clothes to wipe up the blood. Fortunately for Pieter, the security men who were holding him captive, never made use of this painful option. Pieter asks about Lindiwe, but is given little information other than the fact that she is alive.

General du Toit heads off in a huff at not having succeeded in getting information out of Pieter Erasmus. Then another, more liberal, man appears. Professor J.G. Strijdom. His mother was a big fan of the former South African Prime Minister, by the same name. While Strijdom is actually sent to get information out of Pieter, it turns out the other way around. Pieter learns that Mandela is back on the island, and that the Professor is just as cautious of his own colleagues, as he is. The Professor feels that Apartheid has another 10 years to go before it crumbles, but Pieter knows that is simply too long to wait. Until government get the answers that they are looking for, the ‘Looking Glass’ project will continue in secret at a place not far from the original spot at the Natal border.

Like most of the black homelands in SA, Ciskei were reluctant to relinquish power and be incorporated into the New South Africa. A march on Ciskei, that included future President Cyril Ramaphosa, SACP Secretary-General Chris Hani and ANC stalwart Ronnie Kastrils, turns ugly when bullets are fired on the protestors by the Ciskei law enforcers. Clear strategic battlelines for power would later develop between the various African cultural groups, from the Xhosas (which included Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Steve Tshwete) to the Sothos, Zulus and other groups.