3 DAYS AWAY
The press was now urging the negotiators to complete the job they had started. City Press said: “This week support, prayers and sheer old-fashioned staying power were the request we threw at the feet of men and women writing our country’s new constitution. The work has been hard. Almost back-breaking … But they have one consolation: the harder their work, the more glorious will be their triumph.” The media were not the only ones praying.
I was sitting in my office early one of the last mornings when an old woman from Somerset West phoned. Where she got my telephone number, I don’t know. She said, in Afrikaans, ‘When I got up this morning, something told me that I should get on my knees and pray for you particularly.’ Can you believe it? I’m religious, but this call touched me right into my heart. I’ve never seen that lady. But something said to her that there is a man in Parliament who you should now phone and tell him that you’re praying for him. I will never forget it.
Piet Marais
Then National Party Member of The Constitutional Assembly
