Antjie Krog’s Cape Town Press Club launch for Begging to Be Black - the third volume in a trilogy that began with Country of My Skull - centred on the concepts of right and wrong in South Africa.
Krog asserted that our perceptions of what’s right and what’s wrong remain warped by our country’s warped history - citing the Tony Yengeni corruption case as an example:
“I know that one thinks the only way to save this country is to create a non-tolerance for corruption … But I am concerned that the strong daily emphasis on yet another example of corruption leaves us with only a vocabulary of non-tolerance.”
Krog said when the scandal around Tony Yengeni broke, a part of her wanted him to be contextualised in a space which also understood his past - not only as an activist but also the specific hurt and damage he experienced at the hands of his torturer.
“What are the consequences in one’s psyche when one’s lived through that?
“I am not saying he should be regarded as not guilty. But shouldn’t he be treated with an understanding of the complicated and complexness and the f****d-upness of oneself inside?”
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