This is the best piece you've written – sorry I missed it. My aunt and uncle lived in Jo'burg and I visited regularly in the 80s. I had no idea. I was between the ages of 8 and 12 when I went (about five times every Easter). My uncle and aunt had a maid and a gardener who used to walk 5 miles there and back every day. They didn't give them a lift or pay for a taxi. They worked all day, cleaning, cooking and picking up our shit. I wasn't allowed to speak to them apart from to ask for things. The one time I did speak to them about where they lived (I was intrigued), my uncle said, don't speak to the "kaffirs! unless you want something" EVER!

I look back now with repulsion. They had immigrated to SA in the 60s from the UK, they knew the life there, and choose it. I just don't know why they couldn't have treated them better. They were good people, my uncle and aunt, I thought, but their behaviour has always left me feeling uneasy about them.