Wickus DeKock came to Peachtree City from South Africa three years ago with a mission: United States citizenship.

He says when that day arrives for him and for his wife, Leonie, "the celebration will be really big." Meanwhile, the 66-year-old with a fascinating background is enjoying being with children and grandchildren, observing what he describes as the "orderliness of American society," and serving as international affairs cochairman with the Peachtree City Kiwanis Club.

"I have never been so happy," he says of their time in Peachtree City. They are members of Peachtree City United Methodist Church and say they try not to dwell in the past, as compelling as DeKock's roles in that past might have been.

DeKock says he is a "third-generation Rhodesian," though his Dutch forebears arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in 1701. His grandfather was a leader of "the Martin Trek," invited into Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1890 by Cecil John Rhodes to settle the sparsely-populated eastern district on the border with Mozambique.

That grandfather served in Parliament after Rhodesia became a self-governing British colony, "rather than a fifth province of South Africa," DeKock said. Following the family traditions of both successful farming and politics, DeKock later served in Parliament and was a cabinet minister of immigration, information and tourism.

It was his stand on solving the issue of "black majority rule" in his country that caused him to leave for South Africa in 1977, he says. DeKock stood solidly for face-to-face negotiations between whites in power and the black nationalist groups, but "it was not a popular stand," he says.

A newspaper report of the time quotes DeKock as saying that only candid talks would solve the problems, once both sides could stop thinking in terms of "domination." He says that Rhodesian policies would have led eventually to a black government anyhow, since the Parliament was set up to contain 50 white seats and 60 black seats, and a Senate was designed 50-50. The country's Declaration of Independence and Constitution were patterned almost word-for-word after those of the United States, he says.

"I never feared black majority rule," DeKock said. "What I feared was Communism." He said that some leading nationalists groups were backed by the Russians and Chinese, and he took his "reasoning together" stand to try to insure a democratic, not socialist, government.

DeKock's youngest son, Wickus Jr., is still managing the family's farming interests in South Africa. At one time, the local DeKock says, he grew tobacco and raised cattle on 20,000 acres. His paid workers came mostly from Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania, he adds, "because the black farmers in Rhodesia had their own lands to farm; there were simply not enough local workers to go around."

He maintains that the major attraction of any country is "the opportunity to work ... still hundreds of thousands want to come to America for that reason." Leonie recounts that they were "very, very lucky" in having been able to immigrate, with their children as sponsors. Some family members are still waiting for the chance, she says.

What he loves best about the U.S., Wickus says, is "the absolute freedom, and law and order." Democracy is not possible without both of those components, he says. Both he and Leonie say they believe that American children are "disciplined and well-informed," based on his work with young Key Club members at McIntosh High School.

The couple described a recent trip across the U.S. to visit a daughter in Calgary, speaking wonderingly of watching Americans "stand patiently in long lines, give each other space, approach our table at a restaurant and serve us with smiles and dignity ... it was wonderful to see."

DeKock recounted an incident in which he "approached the counter at American Express after I had lost my traveler's checks," and seeing a smiling young "American, a young black American man."

"When he saw the South African passport, he actually joked with me and said, 'Oops, wrong counter,' but I knew by his smile he was joking. He fixed the problem quickly and efficiently," DeKock says. Americans are good to each other in ways that simply couldn't happen in other countries, he says.

Literacy and education, DeKock says, are the keys to progress in any culture or country. He earned a law degree at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and advocates equal chances "especially in education and health" for everyone. He says it was the black members of Parliament who sought him out to say they were sorry he was resigning his seat and leaving the country.