Charles Prahl

In 1948, the National Party of DF Malan won a majority of the seats in the South African parliament. It was an astounding political victory given that the party peacefully managed to gain political control of a country in which its core constituency constituted no more than 12% of the population. It was a party that came to power by its careful mobilization of the Afrikaner population along lines of ethnic nationalism, racialism, and an exaggerated history of victimhood at the hands of the British. The concept of the Afrikaner’s unique relationship with God played an important part in the narrative the National Party constructed and which resonated deeply with a broad segment of Afrikaner society. Such sentiments continue to exist, although not expressed in any but the most private of gatherings and then under one’s breath, in South Africa.

Walking along a ridgeline that parallels Table Mountain, the majestic mountain around which Cape Town furls itself, I came across something most unexpected. It was a squat building with white-washed walls that had been painted aquamarine and yellow complemented by red-ledged windows. Most curiously, the building had three very prominent minarets. It was, I realized with a start, a mosque. I was self-conscious and embarrassed that I should question its presence in South Africa.