The Post-Apartheid City in the New South Africa: A Constitutional "Triomf"?

Pace International Law Review Volume 18 Issue 2 Fall 2006 Article 3 September 2006 The Post-Apartheid City in the New South Africa: A Constitutional "Triomf"? Becky L. Jacobs Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pilr Recommended Citation Becky L. Jacobs, The Post-Apartheid City in the New South Africa: A Constitutional "Triomf"?, 18 Pace Int'l L. Rev. 407 (2006) Available at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pilr/vol18/iss2/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pace International Law Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact . THE POST-APARTHEID CITY IN THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA: A CONSTITUTIONAL "TRIOMF"? Becky L. Jacobst I. Introduction ....................................... II. The Fictional Landscape .......................... III. Excavating Triomfs Stratified Imagery and R eality ............................................ A. Triomf in the Apartheid Era ................... B. Triomf in The Post-Apartheid City ............ IV . Conclusion ......................................... I. 407 411 414 414 425 451 INTRODUCTION In her mercilessly satiric novel Triomf, Marlene van Niekerk recounts the oppressive daily lives of an impoverished family of White 2 Afrikaners on the eve of South Africa's first democratic elections. Imbued with Afrikaner history and politt Becky L. Jacobs is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee College of Law. Professor Jacobs offers her most heartfelt thanks to Jennifer Whittal, a Senior Lecturer in the Geomatics Department of the University of Cape Town, with whom she conducted research. She also thanks Pierre de Vos, a Professor on the Faculty of Law at the University of the Western Cape, for introducing her to the work of Marlene van Niekerk, and Professor Judy Cornett, a Professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law, for helping her decipher the critical literary aspects of the novel. Professor Jacobs also is grateful to former Dean Thomas Galligan, Dean John Sobieski, Associate Dean Doug Blaze, and to the University of Tennessee College of Law's Summer Research Grant Committee for their support of her diverse research activities, including her work with Jennifer Whittal. Professor Jacobs also extends her most sincere appreciation to the entire faculty and staff of UCT's Geomatics Department who so professionally and warmly welcomed and assisted her during her stay with them. 1 MARLENE vAN NIEKERK, TRIOMF (Leon de Kock trans., The Overlook Press 1999) (1994). 2 The author uses a capital "W" in White, a capital "B" in Black, etc. when referring to a South African racial category. These concepts clearly are artificial constructs, legalized in Apartheid South Africa with the Population Registration Act of 1950. This Act required that all inhabitants of South Africa be classified in accordance with their racial characteristics. These terms still are widely used in South Africa. 1 PACE INT'L L. REV. [Vol. 18:407 ics, the novel reveals the ironically tragic effect of Apartheid 3 on the White underclass and ravages the myth of Afrikaner supremacy. 4 Triomf also may serve as a cautionary tale for the post-Apartheid South Africa as it takes stock of its ambitious land reform program. Triomf is widely considered to be the outstanding Afrikaans novel of the 1990s. 5 It was first published in 1994, only 3 At the risk of appearing somewhat obvious, Professor Jacobs thought it might be useful to define what she refers to as Apartheid. The term itself is an Afrikaans word meaning "separation" or literally "aparthood" (or "apartness"). See wordiQ.com, http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Apartheid (last visited Oct. 28, 2006); see also Answers.com, http://www.answers.com/topic/apartheid (last visited Oct, 28, 2006). Its commonly understood meaning is the legally sanctioned system of racial or ethnic segregation, such as the legally sanctioned system that existed in South Africa. South Africa's Apartheid Era generally is considered to have lasted from 1948-1993. See ANNIKA BJORNSDOTTER TEPPO, THE MAKING OF A GOOD WHITE - A HISTORICAL ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE REHABILITATION OF POOR WHITES IN A SU3URB OF CAPE TOWN 165 (Helskinki University Press 2004), available at http:ll ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisutvalsosio/vklteppo/themakin.pdf; see also LEONARD THOMPSON, A HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 187-88 (Yale University Press 1990). Reports suggest that the first recorded use of the word Apartheid occurred in 1917 during a speech by Jan Smuts, who became the Prime Minister of South Africa in 1919. See, e.g., wordiQ.com, http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Apartheid (last visited Oct. 28, 2006). 4 The "disintegration of the fantasy of white supremacy" has been chronicled in the works of several South African writers. Shaun Irlam, Unraveling the Rainbow: The Remission of Nation in Post-Apartheid Literature, 103 S. ATL. Q. 698, 702 (2004). For example, in My Traitor'sHeart, Riaan Malan examines the theme of disenfranchised Afrikaners, as does Mark Behr in The Smell of Apples, his 1993 tale of child abuse in the militantly masculine culture that dominated Apartheid South Africa. See id. (discussing RIAAN MALAN, My TRAITOR'S HEART (Atl. Monthly Press 1990) and MARK BEHR, THE SMELL OF APPLES (Abacus 1995)). 5 See With Razors in Their Tongues, ECONOMIST, Sept. 16, 1999 (book review), available at http://www.economist.com/cities/displaystory.cfm?story id=346212. See also Rob Nixon, The White-Trash Bin of History, N.Y. TIMES, Mar. 7, 2004, § 7, at 8, available at http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res= 9B05EFD9133CF934A35750COA9629C8B63. This is a remarkable accolade considering the enormous amount of literary talent that South Africa has produced, including Nobel Prize winners Nadine Gordimer and J.M. Coetzee. Among this author's favorite novels by South African writers are MARK BEHR, THE SMELL OF APPLES (St. Martin's Press 1997); J.M. COETZEE, DISGRACE (Penguin Books Ltd. 1999); NADINE GORDIMER, NONE TO ACCOMPANY ME (Penguin Books Ltd. 1995) (1994); ANTJIE KROG, COUNTRY OF MY SKULL (Times Books 1999) (1998); Es'KiA MPAHALELE, DOWN SECOND AVENUE (Faber & Faber 1985) (1971); ALAN PATON, CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY (Scribner 2003) (1948); SIPHO SEPAMLA, A RIDE ON THE WHIRLWIND (Heinmann 1984) (1981); ZOE WICOMB, DAVID'S STORY (Feminist Press at the City University of New York 2001). https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pilr/vol18/iss2/3 2 2006] POST-APARTHEID CITY IN NEW SOUTH AFRICA 409 one or two months after South Africa's historic elections, 6 and was skillfully translated into English by the poet Leon de Kock in 1999. 7 With "superb historical timing, '8 the novel was distributed to worldwide acclaim in 2004, the tenth anniversary both of Triomfs first publication and of the landmark South African elections. A further coincidence of timing also ar (...truncated)