Broken baths

Sanders, Sasha

Broken baths

Thesis / Dissertation

2026

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

School of Languages and Literatures

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

In apartheid South Africa, an unlikely but lifelong friendship develops: between Saul Levine, a Jewish boy from the White suburb of Sea Point, and Newton Daniels, the son of the Levines' domestic worker, who comes from the squalid and notoriously violent Lavender Hill. Their friendship begins and blooms with the innocence of early adolescence, but is always complicated – initially, by the inescapable nature of their different upbringings and the rarity of relationships across colour lines; over time, by murder unsolved, suspicion unresolved, and ethically questionable actions by both friends. As their friendship is interrupted by circumstances and choices, they disappear from and return to each other's lives over a period of fifty years, starting in the late 1980s and ending in the late 2030s. In the background, inseparable from the friendship, are highlights and low points from South Africa's modern history: apartheid, the dawn of democracy, the hosting of the football World Cup, corruption, and controversial attempts to redress long-standing socio-political issues in a speculative near future. The story examines themes of friendship, goodness, and moral greyness, asking the question: can two people from radically different backgrounds truly be friends, especially in a country where those differences are so consequential?