The prisoner and the mayor
2007-05-17
THEY have some common ground – the most obvious is an interest in the history of Wellington.
Both of them have also worn the mayoral chain, however they have never met and are living on different continents.
This is the story of Italian prisoner of war Sibratti Sabatino of Vicenzo, Italy, and former mayor Herman Bailey of Wellington.
Sabatino, better known as Sabee, was a prisoner of war in Wellington in 1942 (65 years ago), working on the apricot farm Slangrivier in the Groenberg area belonging to the Cilli‚ family.
In 1996 he wrote to the “Honourable Mayor, Wellington, South Africa,” reminiscing about his time in the Boland and telling him about his deep respect and warm feeling for the local people. He even sent a sketch of the farm.
Bailey, then mayor of Wellington, received the letter and while Sabee never returned to South Africa, he and Bailey started to correspond.
Bailey once sent him a packet of dried apricots and other products.
“I really wish we could communicate with more ease, as his English is very limited and I don’t know Italian,” says Bailey, but added that he hopes to visit Sabatino in the not too distant future
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