Red Card for Malema

Hayibo.com’s new book gives personalities, politicians, rock stars, sportsmen . . . whoever, The Red Card.

Title: The Red Card – The Best of Hayibo.com Vol 2. Author: Hayibo.com; Published by Jacana Media; Review: Garth Johnstone; ISBN: 978-1-77009-831-2

Living in South Africa, there’s such a wealth of material for satirists, they must wake up every morning, peruse the papers and morning TV and rub their hands with glee. You can almost here them say, “Ah, it’s good to be alive”. While we have a host of talented cartoonists led by the irrepressible Zapiro and youngbloods like Yalo – and hilarious comedians aplenty – my favourite port of call for an online giggle is Hayibo.com.

Never afraid to take on the challenge of lampooning whoever is making a fool of themselves on any given day, or taking up an issue in the news, Hayibo.com provides the kind of humour that makes you hold your sides when you laugh. Headlines like, “Malema wants W Cape flooded with blacks, doctors want Malema brain flooded with Blood”, or “Unions and strikers make ‘conceptual breakthrough’ about destroying stuff”, “Zuma rejects non-Afrikaans whites but their tax is good enough”, or “Luke Watson marries in kilt, manages not to vomit on it”, touch on the important issues, but make you cackle at the same time.

All the usual suspects and more are taken on: The ANC, Cope, the DA, Julius Malema (of course), President Jacob Zuma, Helen Zille, Madonna (for her adoption obsession), our parliamentarians, local stars, international stars, sportsmen, you name it, they feel the lash off Hayibo’s extremely sharp pen.

A great gift idea for those into issues, news and politics, or get one to keep for yourself.

For more on Malema see Julius wants Octopus Paul

Local author publishes work on SA mountain passes

Title: A Guide to South Africa’s Mountain Passes and Poorts; Author: Patrick Coyne
Published by Osborne Porter Literary Services; Review: Garth Johnstone; ISBN: 978-0-9814489-0-9

Local author Patrick Coyne released a guide to South Africa's mountain passes

Local author Patrick Coyne of Glenashley has just released this epic work on the mountain passes of South Africa. Full of detail and written in Coyne’s compact and at times witty style, this is a great reference book for anyone heading off on a South Africa road trip adventure.

I’m sure if you take out a map of South Africa and have a look at all the roads and mountain passes covered, you’ll grasp the scale of this entertaining work. Coyne and his wife Helen decided to conquer 50 of the country’s most famous passes in their classic 1960s Rover . . . and once they’d done it, the author set his mind to conquering the history of the passes, their background and some of the famous names associated with pass building in the country.

As anyone who is familiar with the story of passes in South Africa would expect, the name Bain pops up almost immediately and it’s truly remarkable what the Bains achieved in opening up the Western Cape, in particular, to the interior. Coyne covers their story and contribution in depth in a number of his reviews of passes.

Some of the famous routes that roll off the tongue include the Swartberg Pass, Piekenierskloof Pass, Sir Lowry’s Pass, the Outeniqua Pass, Meiringspoort, Sani Pass, Oliviershoek Pass and Robber’s Pass.

Coyne, who incidentally was previously Headmaster of Atholton Primary School in Umhlanga Rocks, has included useful section like “About this book” and “How the passes have been grouped”, so the reader is aware in which direction he’s driving as he sets off into the sunset.

The book is available from Exclusive Books, Gateway.
Publishers: info@osborne-porter.com

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