Fascinating view of the Afrikaner

[Woestynryer]

April 18, 2005

By Eleanor Momberg

Boerejood by Julian Roup (Jacana, R145)


Taking a journey into the hearts and minds of Afrikaners to discover their rich history, culture, the reasons why they so easily capitulated to what they most feared for decades - majority rule - and their hopes and aspirations for the future has been an enriching experience.

Boerejood is a revealing personal journey by the author that many of us should undertake, particularly those who are of mixed heritage.

Roup calls himself a "Boerejood", born to Jewish father and an Afrikaans mother.

Raised as a Jew, Roup had the desire to learn more about his mother's people, thus the journey to South Africa.

And what an interesting journey it turned out to be, not just for him, but also for the reader.

As part of his journey Roup does what no-one has done before; he has given a voice to the Afrikaner, despite the fact that Boerejood was written in English.

It is not a book about politics. Rather it is a personal journey in which Roup not only recalls his youth and the wonderful relationship he had with his family during his formative years in the Western Cape, but also delves into the Afrikaner psyche.

He returned to South Africa a decade after the advent of democracy and for the first time since he left the country in 1980.

In the first chapter he states that he had no love for the Afrikaner, "this bull-necked tribe of biltong and boerewors eaters, worshippers
of rugby players" with whom he had nothing in common except his mother, Elise Louw, whom, he says, gave a lie to everything he felt about her people.


Having grown up Jewish, Roup had a greater sense of anti-Semitism than how the Afrikaner, the only so-called white tribe of Africa, felt 10 years after majority rule.

From this opening remark he embarks on his voyage of discovery to a better understanding of how the South African "miracle" occurred, how Afrikaners feel now and what they think of the future.

He interviews an array of South Africans, from academics and outspoken students to the ordinary man in the street.

These include Afrikaans literature Professor Ampie Coetzee; the principal of Laerskool Groote Schuur Anton Meyer; political scientists Prof Amanda Gouws and Jannie Gaggiano; historian Prof Albert Grundlingh; ethnobotanist Fiona Archer; singer, playwright and entertainer David Kramer; and Danie Malan, wine farmer and DF Malan's grandson.

What comes through in this book is that all is not lost. While Afrikaners grapple with issues such as crime, the future of their culture and language and their new role in a democratic South Africa, they also have hope for the future.

Leaving South Africa, Roup has only one message for Afrikaners - "wees geduldig" (be patient).

Afrikaners, he concludes, still have a place in Africa. "The continent will be poorer without them," he writes.


This is one of Exclusive Books' Homebru titles celebrating local literature