In Johannesburg Long Walk Original Manuscript (Image #50)

business with high academic qualifications and I assumed that our host was a graduate. At the end of the interview he escorted us to the outer door and those pretty fingers were still dancing on the keyboard. On Walter's recommendation Lazar Sidelsky of the law firm of Messrs. Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman agreed to take me on as an articled clerk on my completing the B.A. degree. I stayed with Reverend J. Mabatho of the Anglican Church at Alexandra Township. He also came from Thembuland and knew my family well. His wife was a warm person and liberal with food. I had a wonderful time in their house. I had, however, learnt very little from my experiences with Pilisco and did not tell them how I had left home. A few days after my arrival at Alexandra, Festile, the headman at the Chamber of Mines, and who was present when we met Wellbeloved, visited the Mabathos. I wished then I had told them the whole truth right from the start. But it was too late. The following day they made it clear that they could no longer keep me, but they were kind enough to find me accomodation with the next door neighbours. I lived there until the end of 1941. In that first year in Johannesburg I learnt more about poverty than I did during my childhood days at Qunu. The common practice was for an articled clerk to pay his principal a premium from which he would be paid an allowance. I could not pay the premium with the result that I started with the salary of £2 a month. I had no other source of income. My monthly expenses, however, far exceeded the income. Out of the £2 a month I had to pay for my food, rent, transport, clothing and other necessities. The cheapest means of transport between the city and the township was a bus