André Brink

A flawed result – but this poll gives me hope for a new South Africa

by André Brink

Voters’ queues snaked around many city blocks in South Africa on Wednesday in scenes reminiscent of the first democratic elections in 1994 – but the mood was less exuberant. On that day, for most of the millions who braved extremes of heat and inclement weather, that had been their first experience of casting a ballot in their lives.

How well I remember the mixture of delight and shock it had been for my good friend Mazisi Kunene, Zulu poet and for many years the ANC’s chief representative in Europe: delight, because after 38 years in exile he’d come back, almost 70 years old, to take part in the democratic process to which he’d devoted most of his life ; shock, because in his trembling eagerness to make his mark between the photo of Nelson Mandela and the green, black and yellow flag of his party, he had drawn his cross in the blank square allotted to the Pan-Africanist Congress which headed the ballot paper.

This time the mood was more subdued. Yet after the two presidential terms of Thabo Mbeki, recent events had, for the first time since the transition to democracy, begun to cast clouds of doubt over the ANC’s arrogant assurance of an automatic landslide majority.

The unexpected split in the ruling party, the emergence of a predominantly black new party, the Congress of the People (COPE), the investiture of Kgalema Motlanthe as caretaker president late in 2008, and the persisting grave doubts surrounding the moral and political qualities of the president-to-be, Jacob Zuma, put the whole country under pressure.

(Evening Standard, 24 April 2009)

Continue reading: A flawed result – but this poll gives me hope for a new South Africa

Last night, author Abraham Nicholas ‘Ronnie’ Phillips was awarded the Patrick Petersen Gedenkprys at the Breytenbach Centre in Wellington.

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Afrikaanse Skrywersvereniging

UITNODIGING
Die Voorsitter, Willem Fransman Jr en sy Uitvoerende Bestuur nooi u en ‘n metgesel, van harte uit na ons jaarlikse Patrick Petersen Gedenk-aand.
Die skrywer, Abraham Phillips, is vanjaar die ontvanger van ons prestigé toekenning, die

Patrick Petersen Gedenkprys

Datum: 28 November 2008
Plek: Breytenbach-huis,
Malherbestraat, Wellington
Tyd: 19:30 vir 20:00

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Join André for the launch of the latest edition of the Groot Verseboek, the ultimate anthology of Afrikaans poetry, at the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town this Friday, 21 November 2008, at 6pm.

For more details click here.

At the end of the month André will be a guest of the Bjørnson Festival in Molde, Norway.

Kiran Desai who has visited the CTBF in 2007 will also be attending.

From the homepage of the festival:

Journeys

At the time when Bjørnsonfestivalen 2007 chose climate as our framework festival theme, it was already evident that extensive migrations would be one likely consequence of global climate changes,- migrations on a larger scale than ever before in human history. Due to global warming, extreme drought, floods and other environmental disasters will accelerate on our overcrowded planet, increasing the level of poverty, hunger and conflicts and forcing countless thousands of people to flee – become climate refugees.
In 2008 we have witnessed just how dramatic the consequences are for people in the most vulnerable parts of the world when food and oil prices soar. The same parts of earth that also will be hit hardest by eventual large scale climate changes. Thousands of the most helpless people will be forced to flee, and even though the vast majority will become internal refugees or migrate to neighbouring countries, Europe and Norway will have to deal with an increased flow of needy people in the years to come. The question is hardly if more people will have to migrate, but rather; how we, in the most secure part of the world, will receive them. And how we will shoulder our responsibilities as fellow humans.

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André will interview Willemien Brümmer at the launch of her debut collection of stories entitled Die dag toe ek my hare losgemaak het.

Date: Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Time: 6:00 PM for 6:30 PM

For further event details click here.
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What better way to celebrate Bastille Day than with a performance of Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment? And one does not have to travel far.

Cinema Nouveau (Rosebank, Brooklyn, Cavendish, Gateway) is offering a superb opera schedule at only R65 per person/per performance:

Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment
Mozart’s The Magic Flute
Puccini’s Manon Lescaut
Puccini’s La Bohème
Rossini’s The Barber of Seville
Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette

All performances are live recordings from the Metropolitan Opera and include wonderful backstage interviews and insights.

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…as gas word op Vrydag 6 Junie om 12:00 in Theo’s Restaurant in die Willowbridgewinkelsentrum in Durbanville aangebied. Toegang, wat ‘n driegangmaal en wyn insluit, kos R140.
Skakel: 021 406 3890 of stuur e-pos na agoosen@dieburger.com om te bespreek.

This Saturday at 11 o’clock André will be launching his latest, ANDER LEWENS, at the Protea Boekwinkel in Stellenbosch.

For more information contact:

Protea Boekwinkel
Andringastraat
Bergzicht Plaza
7600 Stellenbosch | Map
Tel.: 021 882 9100
proteaboek@mweb.co.za
http://www.proteaboekhuis.co.za/

André and I will be travelling to Windhoek at the end of March to take part in the following events:

On Monday, 31 March, at 11 am, André is giving a lecture on his novels at the Windhoek College of Education in Khomasdal (entrance is free).

On Wednesday, 2 April, at 8 pm, he will participate in a public discussion with Prof. André du Pisani about literature and history at the Warehouse Theatre (there is an admission fee of N$100).
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