/ 15 November 1996

Declining nude

M&G Reporter

A fuss this week over a personal secretary to Nelson Mandela who posed for Hustler magazine offers an alternative explanation for the decline of South Africa’s porn industry: that the smut merchants don’t recognise a golden opportunity.

Lilian Arrison, a secretary at the president’s official Cape Town residence, submitted her portrait to the 1996 Beaver Hunt Competition – the intimate nature of which is conveyed by the patriotic slogan offered by Hustler: “Local labia is lekker.”

Hustler completely failed to recognise Ms Arrison’s professional status – describing her merely as “Lily, a secretary from the Mother City”.

They missed the significance of her answer to a question as to what she would most enjoy in life. “I would like a special person to shower with me,” she answered.

The president coyly ordered her transfer from his home to his office at Tuynhuys.