Mphuthumi Ntabeni

In this extract from The Broken River Tent, by Mphuthumi Ntabeni, the protagonist, Phila, makes a fiery courtroom speech

Many of us feel that the South African media's shortcomings -- especially newspapers -- are exemplified in the manner in which it reports on the president. President Thabo Mbeki has been something of an enigma to the local media for so long that now it has grown tired of trying to understand him, opting instead for vilification, writes Mphuthumi Ntabeni.

My single friend believes that social pressures placed on bachelors are a new phenomenon. I tell him bachelors have suffered social stigmas in many cultures. "Think of severe Roman marriage laws," I say, "that regarded old bachelors as reprehensible, barring them from advancing in a public career and prohibiting their receiving inheritance."