BRUCE WHITFIELD: Crisis in trust revives faith in ink and paper
The written word somehow brings hope to a jaded public
South Africa truly is the land of Chicken Licken - the fluffy little bird in the children's story, not the purveyor of fiery wings at the local drive-thru. Like the chick, South Africans are prone to jump to the worst conclusion in a crisis, of which there are plenty, and assume that this time the sky is indeed falling on our heads. The notion of crisis, though, has some remarkably positive spin-offs. A friend WhatsApped me the moment the lights went out during the packed official launch of Jacques Pauw's The President's Keepers at Johannesburg's Hyde Park shopping centre on Wednesday night: "Got to bit about State Security Agency. Electricity suddenly cut out so we could not hear Jacques. V suspicious." She and most in the audience assumed this was another ham-fisted censorship attempt. That's what happens when there is a breakdown of trust in society. Nobody believes anyone anymore. For now, though, heightened levels of cynicism are useful tools as South Africa looks for a more ce...
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