The meaning of South Africa’s most popular magazine

A GLANCE AT its website belies the historical significance of , the magazine with the highest circulation in South Africa. Among the most-read stories in early October were “ and “. For those unfamiliar with Afrikaans, the language spoken at home by 12% of South Africans, these tales concern the “Shocking moment when groom’s back breaks during wedding reception” and the sticky situation in which a “Woman’s eye is accidentally glued shut with super glue”.It is a far cry from the early days of the magazine. After the Anglo-Boer war (1899-1902) there was what Herman Giliomee, a historian, calls “the building of an Afrikaner ethnic consciousness” among the disparate group of South Africans of mostly Dutch descent. Important to that effort was (Home companion), launched in 1916. It presented Afrikaner history as a heroic epic, extolled Afrikaner literature and helped standardise Afrikaans as its articles were used in school comprehension tests.