CHARMAIN NAIDOO: The most repugnant, personal act of violence
'It is fair to say that this tortured woman was hardly the kind of person you would assume would be selected to be the victim of an acid attack. Yet she was'
Thandi Klaasens. The woman I am talking about was not particularly pre-possessing of face and feature. Hers was not a symmetrical face: her mouth was too wide; her eyes too close together; her forehead too high, exposing a receding hairline. The hair behind that hairline was thin and wiry – brittle my mother called it, but in a kind way. Which was apt. But then everything about this woman was seemingly brittle. I say seemingly because behind the less than perfect façade, she was a gentle soul with a wry sense of humour and a self-deprecating manner that disarmed people and exposed a vulnerability that made those she met oddly protective of her.Not everyone of course. She had her critics, those who laughed at her behind her back; who sniggered about her imperfections. Her smile, through crooked teeth, was dubbed a grimace, the way she ducked her head when she talked was deemed an affectation. It seemed she was destined for a hard life, constantly having to justify her existence in a ...
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