5. MEDIDAS DE PREVENCIÓN
5.4. Herramientas para un sistema de prevención
In July 1976 Sydow reported Eoan’s future plans to the Commissioner of Coloured
Affairs, stating that during the financial year of 1977/8, Eoan would ‘endeavour to present an Opera Season or production of a musical in either the Nico Malan Opera House or the Baxter Theatre.’291 This initiative, however, never took place. In November 1977, at the age of 69, Joseph Manca resigned from Eoan on grounds of ill health. 292 He had been with Eoan for 34 years. During the meeting of the Executive Committee on 29 March 1978, it was agreed that May Abrahamse would again write to Gordon Jephtas ‘to try and see how he felt about the group and if he would at all consider coming to South Africa to aid the group if the necessary funds were available to suitably employ him’.293 In an interview with Bruce Heilbuth published in Scenaria, David Bloomberg, who had had a long association with Eoan and was a Trustee member, stated that ‘my biggest worry about the future of the Group is not financial but directional. Joseph Manca’s going has left a wide gap. They knew it was coming eventually and for years they have tried to find someone who could take his place. Jephtas might have been the answer, had he been available. No, the main problem is to find a new driving force to co-ordinate and train the Group.’294
The disintegration of the organizational structures and motivation within the Group accelerated when Ismail Sydow also resigned in March 1978 after having been with Eoan for 36 years. He served as Eoan’s Chairman from 1963 to 1977. The reason provided for his resignation was, like Manca’s earlier resignation, ill health.295 Mrs. Veronica Allan was appointed the new chairlady, but no treasurer or artistic director is mentioned on the list of executive committee members during 1978. Although the reasons for Manca’s and Ismail Sydow’s resignations were stated as ill health, the minutes of an Executive Committee meeting held on 3 May 1978 records that Manca and Sydow had received much criticism
291 Letter to the Commissioner of Coloured Affairs, 8 July 1976, p. 1. Eoan Archive, box 7, folder 55.
292 Bruce Heilbuth, ‘The Eoan Group, is this the end?’ in Scenaria, June/July 1978.
293 Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting held on 29 March 1978, p. 2. Eoan Archive, box 37, folder 300.
294 Ibid. 295 Ibid.
from members.296 During this meeting three more members of the Eoan Executive
Committee resigned, Mr. M. Modak, Mrs. S. Gierdien and Eoan’s voice trainer, Mrs. Olga Magnoni. During his resignation speech, Mr. Modak referred to ‘the ingratitude and utter unfairness reflected in the recent attacks against Mr. Sydow and Dr. Manca’ indicating that all had not been well between Eoan’s management structures and members for some time.297 The minutes also mention that no replacement had yet been found for Dr. Manca.298 Mrs. Carmen Sydow, who had been Wardrobe Mistress since the early 1950s,
also left Eoan together with her husband. The ballet dancer Dick Jaffer was appointed as new Wardrobe Master.299 Eoan continued to apply for annual grants from the Department of Coloured Affairs and received R 20 000 for the financial year 1977/8. After the
departure of Manca, the activities of the Music Section and opera production ceased almost entirely.
Early in 1979 Eoan eventually managed to obtain the services of Gordon Jephtas as artistic director for the group. Manca had always viewed Jephtas as his successor for Eoan and, although Manca was now retired, this was an ideal solution for the Group.300 However, the solution turned out to be temporary, as Jephtas’s term as Artistic Director turned out to be fraught with disagreements and differences between him, the Eoan Executive and the members. Jephtas left the Group in that same year, shortly before his contract expired. Much seemed to be amiss with Eoan’s administration during this time and his worries about Eoan surfaced when he wrote to Dulcie Howes301 in 1979: ‘At the eve of my departure, I am still not able to present you with a strong governing body, nor a powerful administrative body.’302
296 Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting held on 3 May 1978, p. 2. Eoan Archive, box 37, folder 300.
297 Ibid. 298 Ibid. 299 Ibid, p. 3.
300 Jephtas moved to Europe during 1967 and had a successful career as a pianist and repetiteur in Europe and the USA ever since. As has been documented in this chapter, Manca had tried to convince Jephtas to direct Eoan on many occasions, but to no avail.
301 Howes was a ballet teacher at the University of Cape Town and had been involved with training Eoan’s dancers for many years.
During the AGM of 25 October it became evident that much disagreement and dissention existed among Eoan members regarding a number of issues, amongst others about
Jephtas’s role as Artistic Director. Besides alleged overspending on a concert in the Nico Malan Theatre, he had apparently written an unfavourable report about Eoan’s artistic capabilities which had been leaked to the press.303 Shortly before the AGM was held,
Jephtas resigned from his post via telegram. He formulated his reasons for doing so as follows:
Eoan Executive and members,
I, the willing, let by the unknowing have been doing the impossible for the ungrateful. I am cancelling my commitment to Eoan because I will not deal with an amateur and mediocre business manager and not being a social worker I am not capable of dealing with people with no identity, big mouths behind authority’s back, lots of talent but no skills.
Mediocrity and second class situations have never interested me. You all are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Gordon Jephtas.304
In 1980 Eoan’s opera activities came to a complete standstill. The organization was entangled in a maze of political difficulties and internal divisions, exacerbated by a gap between the older and younger generations. Early that year, Roy Stoffels, head of the Drama Section of Eoan, compiled a report entitled ‘Reasons why the Eoan Group is no longer a viable arts project’ for the Eoan Executive Board to be discussed during a meeting on 1 June 1980. It is evident from the minutes of this meeting that the report was deemed necessary as the public (read: the Coloured community) no longer supported Eoan, resulting in empty houses at performances. The report stated the following reasons:
1. Eoan is synonymous with ‘Coloured Culture’.
2. ‘Coloured Culture’ is a political offspring of the government of the day.
3. The young people do not identify themselves with a politically cultivated culture. 4. The history of the Group is riddled with the organizations’ acceptances of this
phenomenon, i.e. being a showpiece of ‘Coloured Culture’.
5. The stigma is indelible because the present generation have been schooled into rejecting Eoan.
6. The scholars who attend at present, often have to keep their membership a secret for fear of victimization from fellow students and also staff.
303 Minutes of the AGM held on 25 October 1979, p. 3. Eoan Archive, box 4, folder 29. The report was not filed with the minutes of this meeting and is assumed to be lost.
304 Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting held on 29 November 1979, p. 3. Eoan Archive, box 23, folder 167.
7. Lack of foresight by previous administrations have caused the Group to evolve a stale image; e.g. a place where opera is done or a place where Indian movies are shown.
8. This staleness has remained and the lop-sided distribution of funds proves this point.
9. Businesses have failed to respond effectively enough to appeals for assistance for fear of damaging their own images. We are therefore wholly dependent on the government subsidy.
10. The Eoan Group (with its charter and aims of its founder) has served its purpose to a particular generation.305
Stoffels’s report was discussed during a general meeting of Eoan’s Executive Committee and approximately 60 members on 1 June 1980. It is clear from the minutes that the members were out of their depth and found it difficult to react constructively to the report. The general feedback was recorded in loose sentences in the minutes as follows: ‘a
fantastic piece of work which could not be dismissed; a delicate matter required deep and earnest thinking; there is hot and cold air and they need to balance; too many crumbling memorials; members must re-assess the situation, not rely on the past and be unaware of the present and future.’ Members of the older generation were clearly upset to be labeled ‘hot air’ and found it difficult to accept the reality of the generation gap. A noticeable ambivalence was expressed about the label ‘Coloured Culture’. 306 During the meeting David Poole307 commented that ‘the phrase “Coloured culture” unfortunately does exist, including the generation gap, and while [it was] hurtful to be called old generation and hot air, they cannot sit talking hot air and not notice what is happening. The younger
generation cannot accept that one is good enough to be second class. … One can benefit from some training instead of no training at all. The idea should be to continue training whether called coloured or anything else.’308 The minutes further noted that:
305 Roy Stoffels, Reasons why the Eoan Group is no longer a viable arts project, no date. Eoan Archive, box 4, folder 30. The report is discussed during the Eoan Group General Meeting of 1 June 1980. See minutes of this meeting in the Eoan Archive, box 4, folder 29.
306 Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 1 June 1980. Eoan Archive, box 4, folder 29. 307 Poole was head of the Ballet Department at the College of Music at the University of Cape Town and had been involved with Eoan for some years. Both Patricia van Graan and Gerald Samaai (former Eoan singers) confirmed during interviews with the present writer that Poole was originally classified as a so-called Coloured and that his family still lives in Athlone. Apparently he had himself re-classified as a White person with the authorities whilst living in England. During a meeting with several former Eoan members, the present writer was told that Poole ‘left South Africa as a Coloured and came back as a White’. Interviews with Van Graan and Samaai were held on 19 November 2008 in Paarl and Somerset West respectively. This story was repeated during a group meeting at the University of Stellenbosch on 26 February 2009.
Some members felt [that the] animosity stemmed from [the] Government subsidy received. Mr. Arendse pointed out that [that] has been a problem for years. Eoan refused [the] grant many years ago, [and that the] public and ‘fence-sitters’ did not support [them then either].309
Roy Stoffels, however, reiterated his opinion that the subsidy was not the crux of the matter and young people’s complaints were that ‘1) the history of the group was subject to suspicion, 2) the public is lead to believe that the centre is run by the government, 3) that Eoan was under direct control of the Coloured Affairs Department, 4) that its members associated themselves with pro-government parties and 5) that they performed at the Joseph Stone Theatre under a permit.’310 Older members still found it difficult to accept
that the political situation of the day influenced the existence of Eoan fundamentally. Mr. Arendse replied that ‘we have been sitting with these problems all the years. All have their personal views, but here we must keep politics out of the Group. [I am] a member because of the love of music, but that does not make [me] a government stooge. We can stick to our principles and continue learning or else stay away.’311
During his short tenure as Artistic Director of Eoan in 1979, Gordon Jephtas appointed former Eoan ballet dancer Peter Voges as his assistant. After a year, at the end of 1980, Voges also resigned and reported to the Eoan Board regarding this department as follows: ‘The Music Section, which was in the doldrums after the glorious days of Grand Opera, presented a different problem. Gordon Jephtas wanted the Opera “stigma” to be removed and the choir to sing as a choir and its activities to become more diverse.’312 The only way forward seemed to be a change of direction and during 1980 the Eoan Choir formed an alliance with the Gilbert and Sullivan Choir. Rosemary Steward was appointed as choir conductor and informed the Artistic Committee that the Choir had broken away from the opera-type music.313 Voges also reported that ‘The Music Section enters a new era with its amalgamation with the Cape Town Gilbert and Sullivan Society.’314 The strict Apartheid laws seemed to be thawing as collaboration with a primarily white organization became
309 Ibid. 310 Ibid. 311 Ibid.
312 Peter Voges, Artistic Report, November 1980, p. 1. Eoan Archive, box 45, folder 352.
313 Minutes of the Artistic Committee meeting held on 5 November 1980, p. 2. Eoan Archive, box 45, folder 352.
possible. At this time yet another Eoan stalwart resigned when long-time voice trainer and producer, Allesandro Rota, retired. A farewell concert was held for him on 26 November 1980 at the Italian Embassy.315
Adding to the existing difficulties caused by the political situation and the lack of artistic resources, the organization continued to be crippled by infighting, distrust and gossip. In his Artistic Report of November 1980, Peter Voges echoed Gordon Jephtas’s memorable resignation telegram a year earlier: ‘Too many uninformed people stir up needless trouble by spreading malicious gossip with the main aim being character assassination and further with the aim of promotion of personal opinions; and these in turn lack total artistic
commitment or value. Where else but in Eoan are so many unqualified people allowed to voice so many unqualified opinions, and sadly receive qualified attention.’316
Political imperatives were also belatedly entering into Eoan’s decision making. During the Executive Committee meeting of 30 October 1980, the Group decided not to participate in the Republic Festival celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the South African Republic, changing direction from their participation in previous celebrations in 1966 and 1971.317
Despite the Group’s disintegration, some former Eoan members were still active as musicians or singers locally and abroad. Since the late 1960s a number of singers had left South Africa and pursued careers abroad. Joseph Gabriels was the first singer to leave Eoan. In 1971 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in the role of Canio in Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci. He also sang for the English National Opera and Dusseldorf Opera, but later settled with his family in Milan, Italy.318 Patricia van Graan,
Abeeda Parker and Charles de Long left for the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia respectively. In 1980 both Ronald Theys and Sidwill Hartman joined the opera choir of the Cape Performing Arts Board as the first Coloured singers for this (till then) completely
315 Minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held on 30 October 1980, p. 4. Eoan Archive, box 45, folder 352.
316 Peter Voges, Artistic Report, p. 3.
317 Minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held on 30 October 1980, p. 3. Eoan Archive, box 45, folder 352.
White institution.319 However, for many of Eoan’s principle singers of the 1960s and 70s this relaxation of apartheid legislation came too late. By this time singers such as May Abrahamse, Ruth Goodwin and Winifried du Plessis were in their late forties, too late to start a professional singing career in what was still a racially unfriendly environment. In 1985 Gordon Jephtas worked on Broadway in New York. He accompanied former Eoan singer Sidwill Hartman, who at the time studied at the Julliard School of Music. Jephtas wrote to Ismail and Carmen Sydow (whom he addressed as ‘pa Ismail’ and ‘ma Carmen’) that Hartman struggled to get funds for studying and that the US government wouldn’t allow him to work despite being ‘super-talented’.320 Hartman eventually settled in South Africa where he currently pursues a successful singing and teaching career. Jephtas’s career in Europe was alleged to have been even more illustrious and it is said that he accompanied world renowned singers such as Luciano Pavarotti and Renate Tebaldi.321
On 10 October 1985 Joseph Manca, the main driving force behind Eoan’s thirty years of formidable music and opera productions, passed away in Cape Town.
1985
A state of emergency is declared in South Africa.322