The Foreman

The Foreman is Karl Evans's debut novel in his Southern African Tales series. Gert Labuschagne, a foreman in a power plant facility in the East Rand of Johannesburg, comes home from work one day to find that his wife has left him taking their three sons with her. His father-in-law, Advocate Nel, is busy removing all his household goods and having them loaded into a pantechnicon. Gert discovers that his wife is divorcing him and that his house, which he thought he owned has been sold. Nel coerces him into signing a document relinquishing all future contact with his sons again. Gert has not seen this coming and is devastated and completely bewildered. Left with nothing but his job, his best friend Frikkie Botha and their drinking buddies at the 'Bulldog' who all have their own contradictory advice to give him, Gert sets out to rebuild his life determined to be reunited with his sons. His journey is as much a reassessment of his life thus far as a quest for his sons. He is assisted by an elderly activist, Desiree, a homeless street child called Charlie who has definite opinions about what he wants from life as well as how to get it and the sinister Butch Naidoo who can find anything for a price. When Gert meets a beautiful widow, Fiona, life begins to look up. Fiona is a trust fund babe who introduces Gert to wealthy South African society and a luxurious lifestyle which he never even dreamt could exist. But Fiona also has three sons who are very protective of their mother. The eldest of her sons known by his nickname 'The Saint' and Gert are wary of one another. 'The Saint' has a ruthless quality to him that Gert does not trust and is not comfortable with. In spite of this and his deep insecurities about his humbler background, Gert is falling in love with Fiona. He is even more determined though to be reunited with his sons. Then Gert is told that the power station is restructuring and that he will have to reapply for his job, a job which he has had for ten years. South Africa is seen as a perilous society by many in the first world. There are many myths abroad about some of our population being subjected to racial genocide, or that South Africa is in a state of civil war. This novel seeks to dispel these negative tropes. South Africans are no more dysfunctional than people living anywhere else in the world. We have our own brand of warmth and humour that have enabled ordinary folk to carry on with their lives since our first democratic election in 1994, and despite the many serious problems which beset our society and economy now. South Africans in all walks of life are always filled with hope, no matter the odds. South Africa has twelve official languages, including sign language, representing the country's many linguistic and cultural traditions. It is inevitable that a local slang should have developed and taken on its own life from the cross fertilisation of this multi-linguistic society now that the walls of Apartheid have come down. A Glossary has been added to help the non-South African reader with some of the jargon. The caveat to the glossary is that all languages, formal or slang, grow organically and by the time you read this book some of the colloquialisms and slang will have been superseded or gone in a different direction. The author has had access to many wonderful references which have been acknowledged and accepts all mistakes as a consequence of his own ignorance and place in time.