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After another day or two in London and stopover in Rome, we left
Rome Wednesday, arriving Johannesburg at 1:00 a.m. Thursday morning.
It was 3:30 a.m. by the time I had gotten from the airport into the
city, my luggage brought to the room, and I had turned out the
bedside light to get some sleep. I had to rise early enough to drive
to Pretoria to speak at a luncheon before the Rotary Club of Pretoria.
At 2:45 of the same afternoon we met with the new Mayor of Pretoria
in his very elegant office at City Hall. We found him to be an ardent
reader of The PLAIN TRUTH. He asked me to autograph two different
issues for him and another piece of white paper for his son. Dinner
that evening in Johannesburg with Mr. Fahey and his chief assistants.
Friday, March 11: Luncheon engagement with Mr. and Mrs. Owen
Williams at Ellis Park (he is the leading tennis promoter in South
Africa), together with Arthur Ashe (he is President of the Black
Tennis Foundation). A connection is being considered with AICF to
assist underprivileged and promising blacks to develop and enjoy
tennis. During our talk following lunch we were able to watch Bjorn
Borg (Swedish and Wimbledon champion) defeating Fred McMillan. That
night we had dinner with several of our South African ministers and
their wives.
Sabbath, March 12: Church services of combined churches of this
area. Mr. Fahey led and gave announcements. Mr. Rader spoke on the
comparisons between Joseph's life and this Work today, and I spoke
on "JUST WHAT IS CONVERSION?"
March 13: Could this be possible? Mr. Rader's report indicates
I had a day of rest--but I wrote an article or two. Mr. Rader to
tennis luncheon to meet Judge Blen Franklin, President of the South
African Tennis Federation. Mrs. Rader arrived from New York.
Monday, March 14: In the morning flew to Windhoek, Southwest
Africa (Namibia). Arrived 12:30 p.m.. Met by Martin Bode and Frank
Nelte, ministers from Johannesburg. At 3:00 p.m. met Mayor and Mrs.
Yssel, Mayor of Windhoek. Mayor Yssel is a PLAIN TRUTH reader,
though he holds to his own Protestant beliefs. Also present were
the City Secretary and the City Engineer. The Mayor welcomed us to
Windhoek and presented me with the Windhoek Yearbook. We discussed
my worldwide work and portions of the book of Revelation. Our visit
was 46 minutes.
At 4:00 p.m. Mr. Rader was interviewed by press and radio
preparatory to my address to the Turnhalle that evening.
6:30 p.m. Came the big event. Representatives of 11 population
groups who were framing the constitution for the new nation, being
given its independence by South Africa, came in special session to
their grand meeting room to hear my address. They had been meeting
since September, 1975, in a constitutional convention at Turnhalle
to draft a constitution, form an interim government, and achieve
independence by December 31, 1978.
Mr. Rader introduced me. He said he understood they had been
criticized for taking so long, then explained that only the
Declaration of Independence was signed in the United States on
July 4, 1776, and that the Constitutional Convention, which began