Opperman. In 1974 he was promoted to senior lecturer. He has been known nationwide since 1974 with his donkey stories and later general stories that are broadcast on the morning program Monitor of the Afrikaans Radio Service of the SABC. Later he joins P.G. du Plessis as hosts in the popular television program Spies en Plessie. Anti-apartheid stance From his student years he was a staunch opponent of apartheid and when the constitutional negotiations for independence in Namibia gained momentum, he moved back to his native country in 1977, where he farmed part-time on his the Swartberg near Usakos. He then became editor of the new newspaper Die Republikein, which supported the political party the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance with Dirk Mudge as leader. In 1986 he retired as editor, but until his death was still involved with the newspaper as policy editor, while also serving as director on the board of the Republican Press in Windhoek. Later years and death In the years shortly before his death he was involved in a number of accidents. In 1994, he was involved in a car accident when he hit a kudu near his farm. Shortly afterwards, he was dipping goats on the farm, when he lost his balance and fell upside down on his head top of the dip hole and was badly bruised and suffered a fracture to his pubic bone. In April 1995, the scaffolding with which he loaded ostriches onto a bakkie broke and he broke his arm in the fall. Spies died on 4 January 1996 in Windhoek of multiple organ failure, three weeks after he was seriously injured in a car accident. Writing Poetry He made his debut as a writer with the poetry collection Voetvolk. The volume is dedicated to Mervyn Kahn, his best friend at the Indian College. In the title, a crowd of ordinary people as well as an army are suggested, but one who should not shoot but write. The poems in this volume are related to folk verses, but despite points of contact with words and writing, the erotic boorishness and neologisms are spoken with their own voice and bring their own message. Social and political critique is delivered and art theory is considered, while more earthly matters like donkeys, the barren world of South West Africa and its people are also discussed. Religious matters are also involved, reflecting on the saving