SON-IN-LAW OF THE BOERE
by Nape ‘a Motana (Umuzi)
This cheerful but realistic novel examines the right of young people to make personal choices that are different from those of their parents and their communities. It looks at change and transformation close to home — and in the heart. It’s a plainly told story, but swift, detailed and flowing.
Set in Pretoria five years after 1994, it recounts the courtship of Kgoroto Mashoboleng, known as KK, and Katryn. KK has spent four years teaching in his own village in Limpopo but has moved to a racially mixed high school in Pretoria. When he leaves the village he also jilts the girl he has been expected to marry.
At the new school he meets an old friend, Makompo, a stalwart Africanist in political leaning. This friendship begins to unravel when KK declines to refer to his white fellow teachers as ‘settlers” on the grounds that it makes him feel uncomfortable. Makompo points out that most of the white teachers ‘haven’t yet accepted blacks as equals”.
Makompo is further alienated when KK makes friends with Katryn van der Merwe, a white Afrikaner, who wants him to coach her in Sepedi.
KK and Katryn progress from Sepedi lessons to dates and then to a full-on love affair. To complicate matters Katryn also converts KK to vegetarianism. All this is reported back to KK’s village by his khazis (cousins), Thandeka and Dipuo, and his sister, Rosina. KK’s mother and uncle, the elders of the village, are deeply unhappy, but his girl cousin and his sister, who have met and like Katryn, take his side.
In the other community Katryn’s mother takes a while to get used to the idea. But the real opposition comes from white racists at the school and in the block of flats where Katryn lives. She and KK are insulted, threatened and ultimately attacked.
Nape ‘a Motana tackles the issues head-on and shows how racial prejudice and cultural differences in both communities affect this relationship. The extremes of both Afrikaner and African nationalism are shown to be resistant to transformation, both harking back to a world that has gone. KK and Katryn are depicted in considerable detail, so that their relationship feels credible and the reader is drawn into the gradual growth of love and respect between them.
KK shows himself to be an extremely knowledgeable fan of African fiction. Clever dialogue, lots of detail on diet, sexual technique and a helpful reading list make this book a great read for young people or for anyone not too jaded to admit that the issues Motana raises are with us still. It’s also for those who like to think that love conquers all, or might if given half a chance.