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There was a special noon-day meeting of community leaders in
the neighboring town of Edenvale, where I was personally invited
by the mayor, an avid PLAIN TRUTH reader. There was another
luncheon in the very elaborate office in Cape Town of the Chairman
of the South Africa Foundation. He also is the Chairman or President
of the largest bank in the country. He, too, is an enthusiastic
reader of The PLAIN TRUTH.
I was actually astonished when nearly every official, or
person of importance (including the President), mentioned being a
PLAIN TRUTH reader, most of them for years. The PLAIN TRUTH
circulation in South Africa is currently 100,000.
We recelved a speclal telephone invitatlon from a former mayor
and civic leader at Port Elizabeth, fourth largest city (250,000),
to speak and be his guest at dinner that evening. Present at the
meeting he had arranged were the mayor, sitting next to me at the
speakers' table, and the head of just about every phase of government,
university, what-have-you--all leading citizens and wives--660
altogether.
We also took the time to fly to the capital city of South-West
Africa, Windhoek, where the South Africa Foundation had arranged
a noon luncheon with the nine leaders of that state--including two
blacks and two colored. Mr. Rader, Mr. Fahey and I made only
twelve at the table, so we had a fine opportunity to get to know
our hosts quite well.
The semi-public personal appearances came last. I say semipublic
because there had been virtually no effort to get the general public
out to these larger-scale meetings--little or no advertising--
just invitations sent to PLAIN TRUTH subscribers. The first was
at Durban, on our second visit there. They had engaged a hotel
ballroom seating 800. About 950 came. People were standing all
along the side walls and back wall, and even an overflow in an
adjoining room.
At Cape Town the same thing happened. More than a thousand
came--with standing room only.
The final two nights were for the Johannesburg meetings. But
the riots had started two nights before. And a sudden cold snap
with winds (it was winter in the southern hemisphere) caused perhaps
more than half those who planned to come to stay home. We had
perhaps about 800 the first night and 750 the second. But they were
very attentive and INTERESTED audiences. A local motion picture
theatre manager said his attendances had been cut to one-fourth
those evenings.
Those audiences heard the TRUE GOSPEL of the KINGDOM OF GOD
which the world has not heard for 1900 years.
When I arrived at Johannesburg, based on what I had read in
Western newspapers and magazines, and seen on TV, I expected to see
arrogant whites and trembling, cringing, abused blacks. But I didn't.
In the hotel where I stayed in Johannesburg, for example, the large
coffee shop employed blacks and whites in equal numbers. Each went