Elections & erections - Pieter-Dirk Uys

Pieter-Dirk Uys is arguably South Africa's most famous satirist, AIDS activist and entertainer. Here, in his memoirs, he writes with his customary combination of wit and wisdom on such diverse topics as his youth, his early days in theatre, and the birth of Evita Bezuidenhout - his alter ego. He deals frankly with sex, politics, HIV/AIDS and the bizarre twists and turns of contemporary South Africa. It is also a book of journeys, such as Evita Bezuidenhout's road trip through South Africa on the eve of the 1999 election, to educate the populace on how to vote. Needless to say, one hilarious adventure after another unfolds along the dusty country by-roads.;Much of the book is about Uys' great passion: educating schoolchildren about the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Uys decided that it was time to go to war against ignorance, brandishing his own unique assortment of weapons - wigs, costumes and - of course - a plastic penis. On his visits to schools far and wide, Uys and Evita convey the safe-sex message through honesty, openess and outrageous humour. The characters he meets are sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always human.