this business of gordon's son. be careful, ben. these are not normal times -- one has to make allowances.
i understand -- it's your christian duty to your neighbor.
just don't get too close. teachers must stay out of politics. love to susan!
the security police don't arrest people for nothing, ben. leave it alone.
blacks lead double lives. one you see and one you don't. these people surprise you all the time.
a hard worker? i had to get rid of him. susan doesn't react. she leaves to join the womens' group.
i fired him a few days before he was arrested for staying away from work for days. and for the sake of the school i say good riddance.
i have a responsibility for the children. these are troubled times, ben, we can't trust the natives any more.
then he's got nothing to worry about!
i hope you don't mind us talking here.
i'll come to the point. you can't imagine how shocked i was by that scandalous photograph in the ossewa.
a kaffir woman, du toit.
have you gone color blind then? and what about the apartheid laws? our first responsibility as teachers is the reputation of the school, the pupils entrusted to us. we have to be an example to them in and out of this school yard.
i thought i had warned you about involving yourself with kaffirs. obviously you didn't heed my advice. that's all i have to say for now.
think of your heritage, man. my god -- think of your wife, your family, friends, neighbors. what's going to happened to them -- all of us -- if we can't depend on our own kind? we're educationalists -- teachers. we are building for the future.
we're boers, man -- afrikaners. we are your nation. what's justice for us is justice -- period!
traitors like you are threatening centuries of afrikaner sacrifice.
slanderous? my god, man, you slander a whole people. he walks silently through the office then continues.
you have given me no alternative. i have to abide by the regulations of the department of education -- so i have made my report. and there will have to be a formal inquiry. but until such time.
thank you for making things much easier. ben stares at him for a moment, then turns to leave. as he reaches the door, cloete says:
and it would be better if johan left too. ben turns to stare at him, amazed.
he's a kaffir-lover too, isn't he? the color drains from ben's face. then he steps forward, slaps cloete thunderously across the face, hurling him back into his chair, and strides out, leaving the door ajar.