Rian Malan

The Great White Hyena

Rian Malan on the Boer whose racy tabloid has challenged South African pieties by championing such traditional values as witchcraft

issue 17 December 2005

Cape Town

‘This is a goer,’ declares Deon du Plessis. It’s Sunday afternoon, and the Great White Hyena is presiding over a news conference in the Johannesburg offices of the Daily Sun, the largest daily in Africa. Mr du Plessis is publisher and part-owner. Seated before him are his editor, Themba Khumalo, an amiable Zulu in a baseball cap, and a cheerful menagerie of subs and reporters.

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