(scroll down for English)
Diegene wat Stellenbosch ken sal weet dat 'n lang pad in die dorp - vanaf Polkadraai, verby Plankenbrug, Cloetesville en Welgevonden tot amper in Wellington - alles na Adam Tas vernoem is.
Sy grootste nalatenskap is seker Tassenberg wyn (of ‘Oom Tas’ of ‘tassies’, soos dit in die volksmond bekend staan). Tas was inderdaad self ‘n wynliefhebber en -produsent, eers op die plaas Meerlust en later op Libertas nadat hy met Hans Jurgen Grimpe se weduwee getrou het.
Maar dit is nie waarvoor Adam Tas bekend geword het nie. Die omstrede Adam Tas (1668 – 1722) was ‘n weerstandsleier en ywerige dagboekskrywer, en vertel in ‘n fassinerende dokument hoe hy en sy oom Henning Hüsing betrokke was in ‘n komplot teen die goewerneur Willem Adriaan van der Stel (Simon van der stel se seun).
Tas was oorspronklik van Amsterdam, maar het op 29-jarige ouderdom besluit om sy fortuin in die Kaap te kom soek. Hy het op Meerlust by sy tant Maria en oom Hüsing kom bly - Hüsing was self ook ‘n gemeenskapsleier vir die vryburgers. Tas was ‘n uitgesproke, humoristiese en later invloedryke man, en het baie te sê gehad oor die gebeure van sy tyd. Soos ek dit verstaan was die vryburgers ontevrede met hul lot omdat hoër aptenare van die V.O.C. beoog het om hul as boere te vervang. Later het Van der Stel en sy amptenare ‘n monopolie op sekere landbouprodukte verkry, iets wat die goewerneur toegelaat het om die vryburgers uit te buit en te onderdruk (amper soos die houtkopers in Dalene Matthee se Kringe in ‘n Bos).
Tas skryf in sy dagboek byvoorbeeld oor 'n verbod op sout (oorspronklik in Hollands maar hier in Engels vertaal):
[...]the Landdrost and his rascals have sought to forbid the people to fetch salt in Groene Kloof, and that none may fetch salt without an order from the Governor, and in addition those who go to fetch salt have to carry one load besides for the Cape for the Company, yet another measure contrived to vex the free burghers.
In sy joernaal noem Tas die goewerneur n ‘tiran' en insinueer dat daar korrupsie en misbesteding van geld in die Kompanjie se bestuur plaasvind. (Van der Stel beskuldig op sy beurt vir Tas en die vryburgers daarvan dat hulle lui en agterbaks was, wat mens laat dink dat die twee partye redelik sterk bevooroordeeld teenoor mekaar was).
Voor sy arrestasie het Tas al vermoed dat Van der Stel hom wil vervolg. Een van sy dagboekinskrywings lees:
Wednesday the 9th. Warmish morning. This morning brother Jacobus van Brakel came here. He told me various items of news, among others that the Governor intended oppressing and persecuting to the utmost four men at the Cape, namely Husing, Meerland, van der Heijden and Tas, being the principal instigators of the mischief, which has been occasioned him.
Hierdie mischief verwys na ‘n omstrede petisie, of klagskrif, wat Tas en Hüsing opgestel het teen die Goewerneur. Die petisie is deur 63 van die Kaapse vryburgers geteken en is direk na die Here XVII in Amsterdam gepos, in plaas daarvan om na die plaaslike owerhede te gaan. Aanvanklik is die petisie verwerp, Van der Stel het van die gebeure uitgevind en het Adam Tas in hegtenis laat neem in 1706. Hy het 13 maande in ‘n troksel in die kasteel se kerker deurgebring voordat hy vrygelaat is en sy saak heroorweeg is.
Adam Tas se oorspronklike dagboek bestaan nie meer nie, waarskynlik omdat dit gekonfiskeer en vernietig is. Maar fragmente van die kopieë bestaan nog, selfs met kruisies in die kantlyn waar die kopieërders gevoel het Tas spreek hom te veel uit teen die Goewerneur.
Te danke aan sy joernaal leer ken ons Adam Tas as een van die mees interessante karakters in Stellenbosch se geskiedenis en inderdaad een van die eerste literêre figure uit Stellenbosch.
So who was Adam Tas?
Those who know Stellenbosch will know that a large piece of the highway - from Polkadraai to where the R310 becomes the R44, past Welgevonden and then almost to Wellington - is named after Adam Tas.
His biggest legacy is probably Tassenberg wine, - ‘Oom Tas’ or ‘tassies’, as it is known fondly among students. Tas was indeed a big wine lover and a farmer himself, first on the farm Meerlust and later on Libertas, after his marriage to the widow of Hans Jurgen Grimpe.
But wine was not the reason for his fame. The controversial Adam Tas wrote a fascinating journal in which he describes how with his uncle Husing he was involved in a plot to bring down the governor William Adriaan van der Stel (Simon van der Stel’s son).
Tas (1668 – 1722) was originally from Amsterdam, but at 29 years of age decided to seek his fortune in the Stellenbosch, where he stayed on the farm Meerlust with his aunt Maria and uncle Henning Husing, a community leader for the ‘free burghers’. Tas was an outspoken, humoristic and later influential man, and had a lot to say about the events of his time. It seems that the ‘free burghers’ were unhappy with their lot because the officials of the V.O.C. planned to replace them as farmers. Van der Stel and his men later managed to obtain a monopoly on certain agricultural products, allowed them to exploit and oppress the farmers (almost like the timber merchants in Dalene Matthee’s book Kringe in ‘n Bos/Circles in a Forest).
Tas writes in his diary that
[...] the Landdrost and his rascals have sought to forbid the people to fetch salt in Groene Kloof, and that none may fetch salt without an order from the Governor, and in addition those who go to fetch salt have to carry one load besides for the Cape for the Company, yet another measure contrived to vex the free burghers.
In his diary Tas calls the governor a ‘tyrant’, accusing him of corruption and the squandering of money on the part of the Kompanjie It seems that the two parties were greatly biased against each other, because Van der Stel in turn accuses Tas and the Free burghers of being lazy and dishonest!
Before his arrest Tas already suspected persecution from the governor. One of his diary entries read:
Wednesday the 9th. Warmish morning. This morning brother Jacobus van Brakel came here. He told me various items of news, among others that the Governor intended oppressing and persecuting to the utmost four men at the Cape, namely Husing, Meerland, van der Heijden and Tas, being the principal instigators of the mischief, which has been occasioned him.
The said mischief refers to a petition, or document of complaint against Governor Van der Stel, drawn up by Tas and Husing, and signed by 63 of the Cape burghers. In stead of going to the local authorities, Tas’s followers sent the petition directly to die Here XVII in Amsterdam. Initially the petition was rejected, Van der Stel found out about the scheme, and had Adam Tas arrested in 1706. Tas spent 13 months in one of the cells in the Castle’s dungeon before he was released and his case reevaluated.
The original diary of Adam Tas doesn’t exist anymore – probably because it was confiscated at his arrest and destroyed. But fragments of copies still exists, still containing indications in the margin of where the copyists thought Tas expressed himself too strongly against the governor.
One of the most intriguing characters in Stellenbosch's history, Adam Tas was indeed one of the first and greatest literary figures of the town.
Sources: