Zakes Mda - Black Diamond

Black Diamond - Zakes Mda - Penguin Books  - 2009, first edition - 207pp - Paperback as new.

Kristin Uys is a tough Roodepoort magistrate who lives alone with her cat. She is on a one-woman crusade to wipe out prostitution in the town for reasons that have personal significance for her. Although she is unable to convict the Visagie Brothers, Stevo and Shortie, on charges of running a brothel, she manages to nail Stevo for contempt of court and gives him a summary six-month sentence.

From Diepkloof Prison, the outraged Stevo orchestrates his revenge against the magistrate, aided and abetted by his rather inept brother Shortie and his erstwhile nanny, Aunt Magda, who believes mass action will force the powers that be to release Stevo.

Kristin receives menacing phone calls and her home is invaded and vandalised. Even her cat is threatened. The chief magistrate insists on assigning a bodyguard to protect her. To Kristin’s consternation, security guard Don Mateza moves into her home and trails her everywhere.  Don’s long-time girlfriend Tumi – a former model and successful businesswoman – is intent on turning Don into a Black Diamond sooner rather than later. But Don soon finds that his new assignment has unexpected complications which Tumi simply does not understand.

In Black Diamond, Zakes Mda tackles every conceivable South African stereotype, skillfully (and with the lightest touch) turning them upside down and exposing their ironies, often hilariously. This is a clever, quirky novel that captures the essence of contemporary life in Gauteng and will resonate with all South Africans.

BLACK Diamond is a defiantly revealing novel about contemporary SA. By turns sane and insane, evocative and hilarious, cranky and considered, legitimate and crooked, the 207-page novel further elevates Prof Zakes Mda’s reputation as a robust and relevant storyteller.

You won’t find a title as contemporaneous with the avaricious democratic SA as Black Diamond.

As early as page 64, the narrator announces: “These are new Black Diamonds or Fat Cats, depending on who you are talking to, who revel in the membership of the Johannesburg Country Club in Auckland Park, a club that was out of bounds for them only a few years ago.

“The Black Diamonds see themselves as the new Randlords. Like the original Randlords, they come from humble backgrounds and suffer the same prejudices that were piled on their predecessors by the snooty English establishment which accused them of being the nouveau riche with garish tastes.