The buttons on his shirt are hanging on for dear life. The tie makes a jakkals-draai following the huge curvature of his stomach. Without moving around much, he seems quite out of breath.
The train hasn’t changed one bit. It still has that, “Sorry, but I really don’t care,” expression on arrival. Late as usual, it swallows all of the waiting people, even the guy whose buttons threaten to let go in agony.
He meets a guy as the train pretends to be in a hurry and starts moving.
“Aweh my broe. Wat sê djy?” he asks his friend.
”Naai kwaai dydelik,” the guy replies and in the same breath he says, ”Djy bra! Djy’s mos ron’ jong!”
“What hêppen?” he asks with his mouth hanging open in shock.
“Ek’t mos ’n skaap gewen vi’ employer of the month bra. Ek braai heeldag en orals waa’ ek kom,” he explains while running his hand over his potbelly.
“Net ‘ie motjie complain. Sy wys my… maak ’n plan met jou nuwe afdak of is back to school vi’ jou.”
“Imagine djy,” he says.
“Wies ma economical broetjie,” the friend advises and then continues, “djy wiet Zuma maak wee’ speech vinaan’ en elke kee’ wôd die Ran’ nervous wanne daai ou praat.”
Potbelly Guy looks at him and responds: “Ek wôd self nervous wanne daai ou praat. Nou’t hy nog vi’ Russia en China as brasse. Ek trust hulle niksie.”
“Djy’s reg. Rex Trueform, Nylon Spinners, SBH Cotton Mills is amal history because of Chinese imports en ôs mense is unemployed,” the friend adds his two cents.
“Ek sê die motjie ’n lekker dish en staan op met ’n wish moettie worry nie. Los politics virrie ouens wat kan party, soelank ôs happy is,” Potbelly Guy concludes.
As we exit the train at Bellville station a group of school kids casually walk towards the turnstiles blowing cigarette smoke in all directions.
I’m just hoping that they will not be blowing their whole school careers up in smoke.
Urban Dictionary
jakkals-draai – Afrikaaps expression which means to ‘spin around wildly like an excited jackal’.
naai – The elongated Afrikaaps version of “nai” meaning “no” possibly from Cape Malay use of the Indo/Urdu “nahin”. Not to be confused with Afrikaans word “naai” which means “sewing” or the vulgar version which refers to sexual intercourse.
ron’ – The Afrikaaps version of ‘rond’ which means ‘round’.
afdak – The Afrikaans word for ‘shed’. An open-sided roof-like attachment to a house that provides shelter/shade. In this case the ‘attachment’ is his potbelly.
“Net ‘ie motjie complain. Sy wys my… maak ’n plan met jou nuwe afdak of is back to school vi’ jou.”
“It’s only the wife who complains. She tells me… Make a plan with that new shed of yours or things will be like in your school days before you had a wife.”
“Djy wiet Zuma maak wee’ speech vinaan’ en elke kee’ wôd die Ran’ nervous wanne daai ou praat.”
“You know Zuma makes a speech tonight and the Rand becomes nervous each time that guy speaks.”
“Ek wôd self nervous wanne daai ou praat. Nou’t hy nog vi’ Russia en China as brasse. Ek trust hulle niksie.”
“I also become nervous when that guy speaks. Now he has Russia and China as his friends. I don’t trust those countries at all.”
“Ek sê die motjie ’n lekker dish en staan op met ’n wish. Moettie worry nie. Los politics virrie ouens wat kan party, soelank ôs happy is.”
“I told the wife, a nice dish and wake up with a wish. Don’t worry. Leave the politics to the guys who can party, as long as we are happy.”
Rex Trueform, Nylon Spinners and SBH Cotton Mills are some of the biggest clothing and textile companies which closed down because they could not compete with Chinese imports. Thousands of people, mostly in the Western Cape, but also across the country who had worked in those industries are now unemployed.