Living Coloured

Once in a while, a publisher receives a book submission that makes them sit back in their chair, read out loud what is in front of them and laugh at the pure joy the writing and imagery evoke. This was the case with the first three short stories author Yusuf Daniels submitted to Jacana Media. They were instantly recognisable. They were funny as hell. The nostalgia, triggered by the mere mention of a sight, sound or smell, instantly transported the reader to a time and place that spoke to Coloured culture and lived experiences on the Cape Flats and surrounding townships. There was something magical about the way Daniels recollected his memories from his childhood in those first three stories, which he had also posted on Facebook, eliciting a slew of likes, shared experiences and feedback from his followers to “write more” and “do you remember, Yussie …”. Living Coloured (Because Black and White Were Already Taken) is acompilation of short stories that is an ode to an era all Cape Coloured people will instantly recognise – from the nightclubbing at Space Odyssey and the shenanigans at the Mitchells Plain public swimming pool, to the traditions of delectable food exchanges during Ramadan among Muslims and Christians, alike. This book truly is a tribute to all that the Coloured community holds dear and sings of the spirit which helped them eek out an existence on the dusty flat plains of the Cape. But as you read story after story, you will also be confronted with the blatant racism that was the Group Areas Act, the legacy of a peopleremoved and dumped in this windswept place that wasn’t of their own making, and the constant forging ahead to make life worthwhile under very harsh political and economic circumstances. The stories will also leave you seething with anger at the sheer brutality of what this community had to endure (and still do), while their black counterparts in the township next door lived even harsher realities.

Yusuf Daniels grew up in what some still refer to as the Cape Flats ghettos. One of four children, he was born in Bridgetown and later moved with his family to Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats. His family, like thousands of other families, carved out an existence in a close-knit Coloured community that still today eat, laugh and pray together, despite the hardships of South Africa’s horrific political, economic and social past. Today, he is a property auctioneer and a father of three.

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