On Monday evening we stayed at Klipkolk Guest House in Northern Cape's Mier area, near the Rietfontein border into Namibia. Our hosts, Hendrik and Getruide Bot run a lovely establishment in an old farmhouse. Hot water in the kitchen came from a "donkey"; geese and peacocks roamed the raked gravel yard and we all moved outside to watch day turn to night. It was an evening reminiscent of my Karoo childhood.

Hendrik is a typical go-getting, middle-class businessman. Irritated by bureaucracy he ...