After self-diagnosing himself and ending up in a hospital in Mauritius, Tony Leon reflects on some of the lessons and perspectives offered by the recent event.
The political history of South Africa during the apogee of apartheid in the 1960s and early 1970s is well canvassed, even if interpretations remain deeply contested.
Less attention is paid to the cultural dimension of living under a dour state-imposed Calvinism – no television, no Sunday sport or entertainment, and a draconian censorship regime which added to an officially decreed joylessness.