As medeskrywer van Nelson Mandela se biografie het joernalis Richard Stengel ure in Madiba se geselskap deurgebring. Drie jaar lank het hy hom bykans oral heen vergesel – selfs onder die mees senutergende omstandighede. Op pad met Mandela: vyftien lewenslesse is sy manier om hierdie ervaring met ander te deel.
Dié Afrikaanse uitgawe van Mandela’s Way bied ook aan Afrikaanse lesers ’n nadere blik op dié merkwaardige man, wat deur mense wêreldwyd as ’n lewende legende beskou word. Die lewenswysheid wat Madiba uit sy grootste uitdagings geput het, word hier in vyftien lesse oor die liefde, die lewe en leierskap vervat: waarom dit belangrik is om jou teenstanders fyn dop te hou, waarom waagmoed nie noodwendig ’n gebrek aan vrees beteken nie, en hoekom dit belangrik is om dinge in die lewe te vind waaruit jy plesier en vervulling kan put.
Oor die skrywer
Richard Stengel is die redakteur van die tydskrif Time. Hy was die medeskrywer van Nelson Mandela se outobiografie, Long Walk to Freedom, wat in 1993 verskyn het.
Stengel is ook die outeur van January Sun en You’re too kind. Die dokumentêre film, Mandela, waarvan hy die medevervaardiger was, is vir ’n Oscar-toekenning benoem. Hy is getroud en het twee seuns.
Diane de Beer gives four stars to Rachelle Greeff’s Die Naaimasjien, which showed at the Centurion Theatre in early March. Die Naaimasjien was the winner of the 2008 Nagtegaalteaterteksprys.
This is one of those plays that is going to be part of the South African theatre landscape for a long time to come. Currently in the process of being translated into English, it will run as long as actress Sandra Prinsloo wants to play this particular character.
With most plays, that would probably not be much longer – it's already run for a year and is booked all around the country until the end of this year (from Cape Town to Richards Bay with a Free State season in between). But because of the density of the text and Prinsloo's understanding and empathy with the 81-year-old Magdaleen, who is taking leave of her sewing machine (and a large slice of her life), it seems to have a journey all of its own.
Author André P Brink is a man with a lot to say – as Alan Yu found out at the recent Man Hong Kong Literary Festival. Yu caught up with Brink to chat about South African letters post-Apartheid. It makes for insightful reading:
“Language,” André Brink says, “is the starting point of literature, an invention in and through language.” As someone who writes in both English and Afrikaans, he should know. He tells me that since the transition to multi-racial democracy in South Africa, more literature is written in Afrikaans, often seen to be the language of racial oppression. It is perhaps not so surprising, since Afrikaans was, in the words of Brink, “shaped in the mouths of slaves” which in a process of “creolisation” became the language of the bourgeoisie in the 19th century.
In a wide-ranging, erudite and stimulating lecture at the 2010 Man Hong Kong International Festival, held recently at the University of Hong Kong, Brink talks about South African fiction after apartheid.
He begins by observing that apartheid has not been eliminated, but is “receding”. “The road to freedom for the creation of literature,” he says, “still has to be walked.”
The wheels of justice may turn slowly, but turn they do. Today the Equality Court in Johannesburg found Julius Malema guilty of hate speech and harassment for comments made regarding President Jacob Zuma’s rape accuser over a year ago:
The Johannesburg Equality Court on Monday found ANC Youth League president Julius Malema guilty of hate speech and harassment.
“This court is satisfied that the utterances by the respondent… amounted to hate speech,” said magistrate Colleen Collis.
“The uttered words constitute harassment as contemplated in the Equality Act.”
Malema has to issue an apology – something he’s previously sworn never to do – and pay a fine. We look forward to bringing you his response to the judgment, as and when he sees fit to issue it…
ANCYL darling Julius Malema is in the hot seat again – this time for purportedly failing to submit his tax returns, two years running. Malema’s lawyer, Tumi Mokwena, predictably is taking the stance that it was unethical for the media to report on the issue. And in other news – Malema recently accused Helen Zille of “suffering” from Satanism after churches were demolished in Kayelitsha and declared that Jacob Zuma will definitely enjoy a second term as President. Read on for more Malema madness. You can also get a closer look into Julius’ mind with The World According to Julius Malema by Max du Preez and Mandy Rossouw:
The lawyer of ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has accused an SA Revenue Service (Sars) employee – who revealed that Malema has not submitted his tax returns in two years – of “unethical” behaviour.
Malema’s attorney, Tumi Mokwena, said yesterday: “It’s very unethical for any Sars member to divulge any information about someone to the media.”
City Press yesterday reported that four companies, of which Malema is a registered director and shareholder, were not “tax compliant”.
Die pen (of dalk eerder die sleutelbord) van skrywer Herman Giliomee was onlangs weer druk besig met die skryf van briewe aan sy dogter Adrienne wat in London bly. Die brief is in Beeld gepubliseer as ‘n uittreksel uit Kroniek – ‘n manuskrip in wording – volgens Giliomee. Die skrywer het bekendheid verwerf met Die Afrikaners: ‘n Biografie.
Ons het Vrydagaand ’n wonderlike ervaring gehad.
In November verlede jaar was ek in kontak met Athol Fugard in die VSA oor sy woorde op die voorblad van die tweede uitgawe van my boek The Afrikaners , wat pas verskyn het.
Hy nooi ons toe uit na die opening van die nuwe Fugard-teater, ’n ou pakhuis op die rand van die ou Distrik Ses wat in ’n teater omskep is.
Herman Giliomee recently released an updated version of his definitive work The Afrikaners: Biography of a People in which he discusses some of the latest challenges facing a group all too often mistaken as a monolithic bloc. In a recent article, Giliomee points out that Afrikaners represent a minority with little experience of fighting for its rights. That, however, is changing now he says: Afrikaners, represented by various groups and leaders, are staging a political comeback, and not necessarily always within the framework of the New South Africa. The Afrikaner’s last chapter, concludes Giliomee, is far from ready to be written:
For most Afrikaners, the past 20 years of politics have been traumatic. They have lost four institutions in which they had vested their hopes of retaining some control of their future: the state, the Government of National Unity, and the National Party, while trust in the constitution has faded.
Formerly powerful Afrikaner organizations have also withered. By 2009 the Afrikanerbond retained only one-tenth of its 1994 membership (and a quarter of its 2001 membership). The gatvol (fed-up) factor among northern Afrikaners became so great than in a recent Beeld poll more than half indicated that they would prefer to live in a volkstaat. The late Chris Louw grasped the feeling of alienation when he wrote in his Beeld column that Afrikaners political influence has been reduced to their demographic proportion – a mere six percent.
Dana Snyman is ‘n man met ‘n oog vir die emosies wat in situasies uitgeleef word. Hy spits hom toe op die dinge wat nie gesê word nie maar in ‘n kyk, ‘n gebaar vasgevang word. Snyman maak weer so tydens ‘n trippie lughawe toe waar hy twee ouers beskou wat van hul dogter afskeid neem. Op die toneel is ‘n versameling van Dana se waarnemings.
Ek sit in ’n koffiedrinkplek op die Johannesburgse lughawe. Ek drink ’n espresso en bekyk die gesinnetjie wat pas by die tafeltjie langs my ingeskuif het.
Daar is ’n pa, ’n ma en ’n kleinsus. Nie dat die kleinsus meer so klein is nie: Die beloftes van vrouwees slaan ferm onder haar Truworths-toppie deur. Sy is op pad oorsee, lei ek af, want die ma vra: “Het jy jou paspoort, Sus?”
En sy antwoord: “Ja, Ma. Ek sê dan.” Sy beduie na die rugsakkie op haar skoot. “Hiér.”
Never one for shying away from controversy or the men and women of SA who bring it daily to our doorstep, 702 Talk Radio’s Redi Direko recently brought ANCYL leader Julius Malema on to her show for a grilling, asking him uncomfortable questions about tenderpreneurship. Their conversation has just been posted online, and makes for a must-listen – though you may want to pace yourself!
Melt Myburgh het onlangs die N2 aangedurf om ‘n geselsie te gaan aanknoop met een van die grande dames van Afrikaanse letterkunde, Elsa Joubert. Op 84 is Joubert steeds vol stoom aan die gang en het laat verlede jaar die tweede helfte van haar outobiografie, Reisger, gepubliseer.
Elke keer wat mens die N2 aandurf na die hart van die Moederstad, val dit op hoe skrikwekkend onversetlik die grense tussen ideologie en praktyk kan wees. Distrikte van ellende aan die een kant van die snelweg, met, aan die ander kant, bedompige akkers nywerhede waarheen lugskepe welvaart met kort intervalle besorg.
Met die lees van Elsa Joubert se Reisiger, die tweede deel van haar outobiografiese bestekopname, kry mens ’n binneblik op die wyse waarop die letsels van apartheid ons landskap versteur het tot dit wat ons vandag steeds aanskou.
As medeskrywer van Nelson Mandela se biografie het joernalis Richard Stengel ure in Madiba se geselskap deurgebring. Drie jaar lank het hy hom bykans oral heen vergesel – selfs onder die mees senutergende omstandighede. Op pad met Mandela: vyftien lewenslesse is sy manier om hierdie ervaring met ander te deel.
Diane de Beer gives four stars to Rachelle Greeff’s Die Naaimasjien, which showed at the Centurion Theatre in early March. Die Naaimasjien was the 
