Born a Crime

real hustler, too, always trying to
cut a deal, work an angle. He could
get people to do anything. A great
guy, but fucking crazy and a
complete liar as well. I went with
him once to Hammanskraal, a
settlement that was like a
homeland, but not really.
Hammanskraal, as its Afrikaans
name suggests, was the kraal of
Hamman, what used to be a white
man’s farm. The proper homelands,
Venda and Gazankulu and Transkei,
were places where black people
actually lived, and the government
drew a border around them and
said, “Stay there.” Hammanskraal