Madam is white and middle-class and Eve is her black maid. They are rivals and yet accomplices. Together, the two leading ladies of a wildly popular cartoon strip have entertained the new South Africa for more than 10 years. The strip is now carried in about 12 newspapers as well as in the Mail & Guardian Online.

The church may not be full, but the mainly male congregation is enthusiastic as a gay pastor leads a service in the heart of Johannesburg for the city’s gays, lesbians and transsexuals. South Africa, with a post-apartheid constitution that bans discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, stands out on a homophobic continent.