Enquiry about the Nongqai Front Cover of November 1960

Enquiry about the Nongqai Cover

Aurelia Borcher

Dear Brigadier Hennie Heymans,

I hope you are well.

I am writing to you in the hope that you might perhaps be able to help me with a very special piece of family history. My father, Lewis Jacobus van Buuren, is on the cover of the Nongqai of November 1960 (I have attached the photo of the cover to this email).

He is shown in the photo kneeling with a little boy. Unfortunately, as a family we do not know who the little boy in the photo with him is, and we are also not sure whether my father's name, his rank at the time, or his police station is mentioned inside the issue concerned.

Since you have preserved the historical Nongqai archives so beautifully and made them digitally accessible, I would kindly like to ask whether it would be possible for you to look in your archive for this specific issue (November 1960)? We would very much like to know whether there is an accompanying article, caption, or editor's note that provides more context about this photo or my father's service.

If it is at all possible, a digital scan of the relevant pages inside the magazine would be of inestimable value to us.

Thank you very much for your incredible work in keeping the history of the South African Police and our veterans alive. I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Aurelia Borcher