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Greeff
Genealogy Journal
Journal of the Greeff and related families, No
15, November 2008.
Editor: Francois Greeff.
Index of previous editions
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About 80% of the Greeff clan lives in South Africa, and most of them understand Afrikaans and English. Roughly 10% of the clan lives in Germany, and they speak German, and understand English. Another 10%, more or less, live in America, where English has not been spoken since the revolution. Because the Greeff Genealogy Journal is also read in New Zealand, Australia, Cuba and Qatar we try to write most of it in English.
The main picture was painted by Josephine Adams but the border containing the portraits is the work of Adele Greeff. (Thanks to Anthony Ercolano for the photos)
Contents
Wie is Ek
Hardus Greeff.
Met dank aan Annatjie Tiran vir die artikel.
Wives of Baghdad Four left in the lurch
The wives of four South African men missing in Iraq for more than a year will no longer receive financial assistance from their employer.
Andre Durant, Callie Scheepers, Hardus Greeff and Johann Enslin were abducted on December 10, 2006 after being stopped at a roadblock outside Baghdad.
The men were employed by Safenet and their salaries were paid to their families.
However, on Sunday the company said it had met its "legal, commercial and moral obligations to its former sub-contractors and their families".
Spokesperson Brian Gibson said the relationship between Safenet and the families of the missing men was strained due to a difference of opinion regarding further support.
Gibson said the firm had provided "voluntary financial support" of about R300 000 a month for the past 12 months.
"Safenet had also provided insurance cover for both accidental injury and death, and has conducted extensive and ongoing efforts to trace and recover the missing sub-contractors," said Gibson.
He said a year had passed without any meaningful information about the four.
"We have reluctantly advised the families that it would be in their best interests to initiate the administrative procedure that would result in the registration and payment of insurance claims," he said.
According to Safenet, the families expected the firm to continue paying the monthly contract fees indefinitely, or until there was certainty regarding the missing men.
However, the women are reluctant to have their husbands declared dead.
"They have no grounds to say that my husband (Hardus) is dead. I believe they will come back," said Elmarie Greeff.
She said they did not expect the firm to pay them indefinitely, but at least to talk to them. - Tribune and Sapa
This article was originally published on page 5 of The Cape Argus on January 28, 2008
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| Date: |
24-02-2008 |
| Producer: |
Susan Purén |
| Presenter: |
Derek Watts |
| Genre: |
Military/Peacekeeping |
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A civilian convoy rolling through a country ravaged by war It's a dangerous trip over treacherous terrain in probably the most unsafe country in the world - Iraq. The journey started earlier, at the airport in Baghdad. These men may be wearing bulletproof gear, but they're civilians - contractors working in Iraq. Those protecting them are South Africans.
Andre Durant is the former spokesperson for the Air Wing of the South African Police in Pretoria.
His colleague, Hardus Greeff, also a former policeman, hails from Vanderbijlpark, while Callie Scheepers from Potchefstroom has years of experience in the South African National Defence Force. The team leader, Johann Enslin, is a former policeman from Durban.
The four are your everyday South African citizens; family men with wives and children, but unable to get work or promotion back home. Three years ago they were lured to Iraq.
Derek Watts (Carte Blanche presenter): 'It's estimated that there are around 30 000 South Africans in Iraq, mainly in the security industry, protecting convoys and high ranking foreigners and Iraqis. It may sound like a routine job, but it's done in a country where life is at risk every single minute of the day. It's said that in present day Iraq nobody's your friend and no job is just a job.'
Disaster struck on 10 December 2006. Hardus, Andre, Callie and Johann with five Iraqi colleagues were kidnapped at a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Baghdad. These transponders [inside a vehicle on screen], meant to send distress signals to base, were immobilised by the kidnappers.
They released the five Iraqis three days later, but 14 months on the whereabouts of the four South Africans - now referred to as the Baghdad 4 - are still unknown. The uncertainty has left their families crushed.
Marie Enslin (Johann's wife): 'The pain, the fear, sometimes just the anguish of not being able to say that what tomorrow holds is going to be bearable.'
Retha Scheepers (Callie's wife): 'But inside I am falling apart. I can't do this anymore.'
Elmarie Greeff (Hardus' wife): 'It is not improving. It is getting harder every day.'
Eleven children's lives have been disrupted and they too are anxiously waiting for news of their missing fathers.
Marie: 'Our lives are literally suspended in a void where the rest of the world is moving on.'
Little Tharina Durant is still too young to understand what's happened to her father, Andre.
She was just over a year when he was captured, but she helps ease her mother's grief.
Laurika Durant (Andre's wife): 'I always say: if it wasn't for my children They keep me busy and focused and this little one, I always say to my mom, she was sent by God because whenever she says a new word you just laugh at her and it just keeps you positive and going.'
Derek: 'It was just four days before Christmas, eleven days after the kidnapping, Laurika was in the entrance hall talking to friends, about six in the evening and suddenly her phone rang.'
Laurika: 'And when I answered I could hear somebody in the background, not South African, a strange language. Then I heard 'Laurika' and Andre's voice in the background. Then he spoke to me so normally. He said he was okay and that he was going to be released soon. I was so excited.'
Derek: 'How long did that call last?'
Laurika: 'A few seconds. He said four sentences.'
Derek: 'And no mention of a ransom or a demand?'
Laurika: 'Nothing, nothing. He just said he was okay and he also sounded okay.'
Derek: 'It's also been tough for Andre's brother, Pierre. Amidst all the grief, he's made it his life's mission to find out what's happened to his brother and in fact to all of the Baghdad 4.'
Pierre Durant (Andre's brother): 'I try to keep a business together during the day and then in the evenings I am on the Internet, and it's every day for the last 14 months.'
Derek: 'You are very close, you and Andre?'
Pierre: 'Yes, we are. If there is 10 percent chance that Andre is still alive I will keep looking for him.'
Andre and his colleagues were employed by SafeNet Security Services. The man in charge of the company is millionaire businessman Mauritz le Roux, who has a background in the old South African security forces. SafeNet has paid the missing men's salaries up to now, but that will soon stop. The company's lawyer, Avril Pagel, says the wives now qualify for insurance payouts.
Derek: 'Avril, in my discussions I have found out that the company has been fair in paying out the wives up until recently and you have come to a settlement.'
Avril Pagel (Lawyer): 'SafeNet Security Services carried on making payments as if nothing had happened until this stage where they now qualify for insurance.'
SafeNet has always maintained that the situation was highly sensitive and that very little information was available on the actual kidnapping. But late last year Pierre Durant obtained this incident report that had been kept from the families all along.
Pierre: 'It indicated that there was a GPS point taken at the place where the checkpoint was and that two employees from SafeNet actually followed the convoy after they left the checkpoint and took some more GPS points.'
More disturbing are the statements made by the Iraqis colleagues who were later released. They said an Iraqi Police colonel and another person approached the vehicles at the checkpoint and asked Andre to identify himself.
[Statement from Iraqi colleague]: 'They then pulled him out of the vehicle and dragged him to the pick-up.'
The men were then handcuffed.
[Statement from Iraqi Colleague] 'And I began to think this was not a proper check point.'
The place where the men were detained afterwards is also described.
[Statement from Iraqi colleague]: 'I heard the sound of the mosque calling for midday prayers. It was the Shi'ite.'
One statement lists the name of a SafeNet employee who was allegedly involved. Also mentioned are the names and telephone numbers of members of the notorious Shi'ite Mahdi Army - who it is alleged may have information. Pierre's investigation seems to go in the same direction.
Pierre: 'I cannot say that this is the truth because it has not been tested. But this information I got from other cells of the Mahdi Army that operate on the same level as the group that has got these guys. It comes from three or four sources.'
Algie Coleman (Former colleague): 'It was definitely an inside job. I know for a fact that one of the guys was a disgruntled local national.'
Algie Coleman was the missing men's roommate and team member in Iraq, but he was on leave when they were kidnapped.
Algie: 'The inside information that these bogus policemen had on how to disable the transponder inside the vehicle, which would have sent a panic alert through to the Rock and to the Coalition Authorities. The fact that they knew that and which vehicle it was located in, how many they had in each vehicle and where they were located and who was located in each vehicle - it was definitely an inside job.'
Avril: 'There was no such story. That is ludicrous, even to state that without proper backup.'
Derek: 'But it was in the statements. So it was official.'
Avril: 'Well, it wasn't an inside job... that I can say to you.'
Algie also believes that Andre's phone call to his wife, Laurika, ten days after the kidnapping, was indeed proof of life and a sign to pay a ransom.
Algie: 'I was told a rumour, and it is hearsay, that it was $2-million per head.'
Derek: 'No proof?'
Algie: 'No proof of that. That is just what came from the office.'
Pierre: 'Derek, the information that I have says that there was a ransom demand for a million dollars. The information that I have says that the phone call that Andre made to his wife was actually proof of life.'
Derek: 'What ransom demands were there?'
Avril: 'No, every time demands were made in, no, there were no formal demands stating that we do have the men. There was one telephone call made, if I am not mistaken, to the wife of one of the men, shortly after, a few days after. But no ransom demands were made to SafeNet.'
During the past 14 months Retha Scheepers has kept a diary for her husband, Callie. They only got married a few months before he left for Iraq.
Derek: 'It doesn't get easier?'
Retha: 'No.'
Derek: 'Can you describe Callie to us?'
Retha: 'Callie is a strong man with a strong heart. A person with a sense of humour - that is what I miss from him very much.'
Laurika: 'He is an outgoing person who can talk easily to other people.'
Marie: 'He is great fun. He is a loving and caring husband and dad. He is a great companion. We did Kilimanjaro together just before he got taken. He is just one of those people that, when he steps into a room, the room lights up.'
Elmarie Greeff has kept an album with newspaper clippings and messages for Hardus and recorded the important events of the past 14 months.
Elmarie: 'I even recorded the world cup for him because he is a great rugby lover.'
While in Iraq, Hardus created this slideshow of life over there. It shows his empathy for the Iraqi people and their struggle.
Derek: 'Just describe Hardus to us. What sort of personality does he have? What sort of man is he?'
Elmarie: 'He loves his job very much and he adores his family. He is a great dad and a husband. He is quite funny. He is a very hard guy also. I know in my heart that he will make it there.' |
Source:
http://www.mnet.co.za/Mnet/Shows/carteblanche/Story.asp?Id=3459
Letters and Correspondence
To join the Greeff Correspondence Circle send an email to GREEFF-request@rootsweb.com with just the one word, subscribe, as subject and body of the message. In Afrikaans the Greeff Correspondence Circle is known as "Die Greeff Kuiernet" because it is a forum for all the clan to visit each other and stay in touch, worldwide.
In a letter from Anthony Ercolano I learned about a series of portraits painted by Adele Greeff. I have a book by Adele Greeff on my shelf. It is a collection of poems she wrote, and I was aware of it that she painted professionally. But the story that Anthony told me when I phoned him in New York was very interesting indeed!
Josephine Adams painted two murals on the walls in a ward of the New York Downtown Hospital. Some time later, for an unknown reason, someone else painted a border below the murals that Josephine Adams had painted. Several portraits of prominent members of the hospital were included in the border, and this addition to the original painting remained unsigned. Verbal history indicates that it is probably the work of Adele Greeff, who lived in New York at the time. There are twelve portraits in the two borders, and they represent Robert Haydock, Hannah Haydock, Charles Dana, Henry J. Raymond, Margaret T. Talbott, Mrs J William Bauer, Dr Helen Baldwin, Horace Greeley, Mrs Irving Putnam
The hospital so greatly valued these paintings that they removed the entire walls from the ward and carried them to the entrance hall of the hospital, where they are displayed in a position where the public can easily enjoy them. Now the hospital is trying to verify that Adele Greeff actually painted the borders that contain the portraits. Anthony Ercolano, who works for the hospital, searched Google for "Adele Greeff", and found her on the Greeff Family Web Site. Then he wrote to me.
I forwarded his letter to Adele's grandson, Chris Greeff, with whom I had been corresponding for some time. Anthony had promised to send me some photos of the painting. He did, and I forwarded them to Chris and I asked that Chris and his father (Adele's only son) visit the hospital with a portfolio of Adele's work, so that they can compare style, colour and technique in order to verify that Adele was the artist in question.
I am waiting to hear the official outcome of the matter, but Chris assures me that the work is clearly that of his grandmother.
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