Riotous Assembly

Reviews

Harry Brindley

The absurdity of it gave me hope that the system would not last -- although it did, for another two decades. Take a wild ride on the funny side of a dark time in South Africa’s history that everyone can learn-and-laugh from! At first glance, a white South African author writing satirically about apartheid may seem inappropriate — until you read it.

I read this as a young South African living under apartheid in the 70s. Sharpe lampoons the shenanigans of the South African Police, in the person of one Kommandent Els in particular, in the imaginary town of Piemburg — which is based on the real city of Pietermartitzburg which I once lived in. Sex across the colour line was considered immoral under apartheid, so when Kommandent Els learns that White Ms Hazelstone killed her Black cook in a crime of passion — having humped the man since she was widowed — the cop believes the explicit revelations, which are hilariously funny, would collapse their pure-blooded social structure and disgrace his city, so he decides to cover up the crime.

It's an hilarious take-down of a failed system that is laugh out loud funny.