SOUTH AFRICA: Of God & Hate

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* Even the name was his. He proposed the "Commonwealth" during World War I.

† Meaning anything from stuffy to surly.

* A bejeweled, cigar-smoking cartoon character used by Malan in Die Buerger to lampoon the Jews.

* It was not a new idea: around 1655, Jan van Riebeeck, first governor of Cape Town, planted a bitter almond hedge to separate his colonists from the aborigines (1,100,000 Cape Colored half-castes prove that the hedge was not very effective).

* Malan attended the world premiere in Johannesburg of the movie version of the book. Said he: "I enjoyed it. That's all. Don't ask me any more."