Introduction
Conspiracies I’ve known - Part I, Part II, and Part III explored the relationship between the Afrikaans and the English in South Africa.
Conspiracies I’ve known - Part IV compared the local South African conspiracy, the Broederbond, with the international conspiracy of covid. It also brought up similarities and differences between the Broederbond and Q.
Conspiracies I’ve known - Part V and Part VI introduced the non-white population groups of South Africa.
Conspiracies I’ve known - Part VII described apartheid.
Conspiracies I’ve known - Part VIII described South Africa after apartheid.
Now I’ll share other sources of information about South Africa.
Books about South Africa
James Michener
Though the protagonists of the story are fictional, this is as comprehensive and masterful a history of South Africa as I’ve read. Just keep in mind that it was published in 1980, so it doesn’t cover the last forty or fifty years.
It’s been decades since I read this book, so I can’t remember if Michener openly stated why he used The Covenant as the title. However, no one with experience of South Africa can be in any doubt that it’s connected to the Battle of Blood River. It was a seminal experience that shaped the Afrikaans people’s zeitgeist (Part V). The Voortrekkers made a vow that, if they survived the coming battle, they would forever keep that date holy. They made good on that oath by observing a public holiday, the Day of the Covenant, every 16th of December.
Though the Battle of Blood River was a particularly dramatic event for them, it wasn’t the only factor that gave them a sense of having a covenant with God. As they ventured into the interior of Southern Africa, in their ox-drawn wagons, carrying their Bibles with them, and facing many perils along the way, they had a sense of being a chosen people. I had the impression that they regarded themselves in a similar light to the Israelites who had spent forty years traversing a desert in search of the Promised Land.
Yet this sense of righteousness didn’t even originate in the Afrikaans people in Southern Africa. It started earlier, back when their forebears were still in Europe. I’ve described the Afrikaans people as having Dutch ancestry. That is true, up to a point. Certainly, the first wave of settlers at the Cape of Good Hope, in the mid-1600s, were Dutch (Part I).
But the next wave of settlers, in the 1700s, included Protestant Huguenot refugees who had escaped Catholic persecution in France and fled to the Netherlands. They became Dutch-speaking, but still had French names. One can find many French names among the Afrikaans people to this day.
When I was a child, I heard Afrikaans people intoning an expression, “die Roomse gevar,” in whispers of dread. It means “the Roman danger.” Their paranoia about Catholicism was a mystery to me. I myself was Catholic. I couldn’t see what was so alarming about Catholics or Catholicism. Frankly, I thought Afrikaans people were unhinged.
The research that I’ve done during covid has given me a fresh perspective on that. I’ve discovered disgusting information about Catholicism in general and the Vatican in particular. That is not to say that all Catholics are bad. I believe there are sincere Catholics who are ignorant of the heinous goings on in the church. All the same, I recognize that the Afrikaans people, through their Huguenot ancestors, had insights into Catholicism that I lacked.
Add to that the Boer War martyrs, the Afrikaans women and children who died in the British concentration camps (Part IV).
The Afrikaans people undeniably have trauma in their history.
BUT, on the flip side, consider what I’ve recently learned about the Afrikaans elites’ version of Epstein Island (Part VIII).
I envy James Michener for his blissful ignorance of that.
The Lost World of the Kalahari
Laurens van der Post
These are two enchanting books about the hunter gatherers of the San (Bushman) tribe.
The setting isn’t South Africa. The San tribe lives in Namibia and Botswana. All the same, these are among the most heart-warming books I’ve read. They are based on the time that van der Post spent with the San people.
If someone told me they could read only one book about Southern Africa, I would recommend The Lost World of the Kalahari.
Alan Paton
This novel was published in 1948, just as apartheid was being imposed on South Africa. It’s the poignant story of a Zulu pastor and his son. This book is a classic. Most people would say that, if you could read only one book about South Africa, this should be the one.
Alan Paton
This lesser-known novel by Alan Paton is a gem. When I later read The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, I found it nothing like as compelling as Too Late the Phalarope. Atwood set her novel in an imaginary dystopian future, but Paton had a readymade dystopian present in which to set his novel. This is an exquisite treatment of the topic.
Nelson Mandela
This is Nelson Mandela’s autobiography.
It’s interesting to read the twists and turns that his life took. You won’t be surprised to find out that his life was fraught with difficulties. I consider it marvelous that he went on to become President of South Africa.
Something that I admired about Mandela was that, although he had every reason to feel bitter towards whites, he was gracious towards everyone. This was true not only of Mandela but also of the other black activists who were imprisoned on Robben Island at the same time as he was.
Antjie Krog
This book recounts the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that was convened after the abolition of apartheid. A moving book that covers challenging subject matter. Not for the faint of heart. But the redeeming feature is that the TRC did result in instances of repentance and reconciliation.
My Traitor’s Heart: A South African Exile Returns to Face His Country, His Tribe, and His Conscience
Rian Malan
This is a memoir.
It contains one of the most riveting lines I’ve ever read. It concerns the first meeting between a black man and a white man. In recounting the meeting, the black man says:
“It’s the first time I’ve looked into a white man’s eyes and seen all the way to his heart.”
That is a statement you may understand, in the sense that it’s written in English, and you may know what the words nominally mean. But I don’t know if there’s any way to translate the significance of that statement in that environment.
Another point that I want to draw attention to is the use of the word “tribe” in the title. The author is Afrikaans. Though the Afrikaans people used not to identify with their black compatriots, they did identify with the African soil. It seeped into their soul.
The Afrikaans people’s connection with Africa is embodied in the very name of their language.
In that sense the Afrikaans are children of Africa no less than black South Africans are.
Recall that the black tribes of South Africa migrated into much of that country no earlier than the Afrikaans people did.
As Part V explained, San (Bushman) hunter gatherers and Khoikhoi (Hottentot) herders preceded both the black Bantu tribes and the whites in South Africa.
More or less simultaneously, both the black Bantu tribes and the whites squeezed the San and the Khoikhoi out of South Africa and into the desert areas of Botswana and Namibia.
While I empathize with black South Africans over their brutal treatment during apartheid (Part VII), it’s disingenuous of certain political elements among them to refer to contemporary white South Africans as “settlers.”
For all the reasons I’ve mentioned, there are some people who call the Afrikaans the white tribe of Africa.
Traditionally, English-speaking South Africans, who tended to be more urban than the Afrikaans, did not have as visceral a connection with the land. I don’t think that English-speaking South Africans qualify as a “tribe” in the way that the Afrikaans do.
Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Naomi Klein
For the purposes of this book list, I’m specifically recommending the chapter on South Africa.
I haven’t liked Naomi Klein’s writing during covid, but I do believe she nailed the account of the handover of power from whites to blacks in South Africa. As she demonstrated, it was a cosmetic handover that kept the important levers of control in the same old hands.
I’ve come to learn that this is straight out of the Cabal’s playbook (Part VIII).
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
Alexander McCall Smith
This is the first of a series of novels set in Botswana. There is enough similarity between the two countries that it can give the reader some of the flavor of South Africa. It’s a charming and entertaining series. No interest in history required.
Next …….
Movies about South Africa
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