Elvis of Athos
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n 1978, Disco really dominated South Africa and nowhere more so than at Club Athos in Schoeman Street. Situated to the west of Pretoria’s central business district, near the corner of Schoeman and Potgieter Street, the area was deserted at night. A long passage led to a flight of stairs beyond which a gate opened to a magical underworld. First, one saw the black and white squares of the dancefloor and as one’s eyes got used to the disco lights, the tables and chairs took form. At the back, a low stage came into view with more seating and a wide view of the dancefloor. Then you noticed the patrons. Species you never could’ve imagined inhabiting Pretoria at the time when the Vorsters ruled South Africa. Prime Minister B. J. Vorster and his brother Dr J. D. (Koot) Vorster, the moderator of the Dutch Reformed Church, the largest of the three Calvinist churches. This church dominated the power structures of culture, politics and religion to such an extend that it was labelled “The National Party at prayer.” In 1980 Dr Koot Vorster declared: “Nobody can be a good South African if he is not first an Afrikaner.”1 It’s nearly impossible to describe the social separation between people in South Africa under Apartheid. Individuals were classified into 4 races: Black, Coloured, Indian and White. Things were slightly more relaxed in the ex-colonies of Natal with its majority English speakers amongst the “white” population and in the Cape Province where “coloured” people formed the majority. The inland provinces of Orange Free State and Transvaal were the most conservative and the capital city Pretoria was stiflingly Calvinistic. Amongst nationalistic Afrikaners, even white English speakers were regarded with distrust although they did not suffer the indignities of Apartheid. Most of them supported the moderate United Party whilst the brave Mrs Helen Suzman, for many years the single member of parliament for the Progressive Party, was the lone parliamentary voice of the disenfranchised. The voters in her Houghton, Johannesburg constituency were overwhelmingly wealthy English speakers. The Afrikaans version of Calvinism was a fusion of religious dogma and Afrikaner Nationalism. Dr J. D. Vorster had a strong hand in censorship. Television was banned until 1975 and a censorship board either made deep cuts to or banned many popular films. No fewer than 20 000 books were banned at one stage.2
Britten, Sarah. The Art of the South African Insult. 30° South Publishers (Pty) Ltd, Newlands, Johannesburg, 2006. ISBN: 192014305X / 97819201432053 2 Van Rooyen, Kobus. A South African Censor’s Tale. Protea Book House, Pretoria, 2011. ISBN: 1869194152 / 978-1869194154. 1
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