Die Verdwyning van Mina Afrika – For Your Bookshelf
In Die Verdwyning van Mina Afrika, Mina Afrika grows up as an outsider, caught between worlds that fail her. After betrayal leaves her alone and pregnant, she fights for survival in Cape Town’s unforgiving streets. Returning home years later, she’s no longer the same girl—her pain has forged a woman with unshakable strength and purpose.
Author: Zuretha Roos
Genres: Young Adult, Fiction
Format: Paperback
Pages: 233 pages
Publisher: Tafelberg
First Published: 1995
Plot Summary of Die Verdwyning van Mina Afrika
Die Verdwyning van Mina Afrika is the story of a coloured girl who was born during the Apartheid years. At the age of three, she lost her mother and was left by her father in the care of his employers Erik and Sara de Graaff, a white couple in the Hex River Valley. The De Graaffs give Mina shelter but never the feeling that she really belongs there. When Sara gave birth to a son of their own, Mina was slowly pushed aside.
Mina’s life is plunged into darkness when a rich young man violates her trust and leaves her pregnant and outcast. With nowhere else to go, Mina goes to the Cape. There she confronts the harsh realities of life in District Six and Greenpoint, communities teetering on the brink of survival.
Through years of struggle, Mina discovers strength she didn’t know she had. When she returns to the Hex River Valley, she is no longer the child who left. She is a woman shaped by loss, but steadfast in her own resilience.
Meet The Author
Zuretha Stefanie Coetzer was born on 21 September 1941 in Joubertina, Eastern Cape. Her parents, Stephanus Coetzer and Ursula Ferreira, were educators, and she was their eldest child. She grew up with a sister five years younger and a brother twelve years younger. When Zuretha was about one, her family moved to a farm near De Doorns in the Hex River Valley. Her father balanced teaching and vice-principal duties at the local secondary school with part-time farming.
She attended Hexvallei High School in De Doorns, where she excelled in athletics and netball. After graduating, she pursued higher education at Stellenbosch University, completing a BA majoring in German and Afrikaans-Dutch and obtaining a Higher Education Diploma. She started her career at President High School in Cape Town, where she worked for a year and a half before moving to Johannesburg in 1966.
Zuretha married Gideon Roos, a former university friend, in 1967. She joined the publishing team at the Automobile Association in Johannesburg, where she handled writing, translations and the creation of Die Motoris magazine. After her marriage, she worked briefly at Soekor’s library and wrote and translated content, including an article for Huisgenoot about the company’s activities.
As a mother of two young sons, Zuretha initially focused on freelance writing and translation. She contributed to publications such as Die Motoris, The Sunday Times and Dalro, while she also wrote for Die Transvaler’s Vroueblad. Later she became a journalist for Ster magazine and ran the food column for Darling magazine for six years. In addition, she has written freelance articles on nutrition for Rooi Rose.
From 1983 to 1994, Zuretha taught Afrikaans as a second language at the Johannesburg College of Education (JCE), moving from a temporary position to a permanent role. During this time she completed her BA Honors degree in Afrikaans-Dutch at the University of South Africa in 1985. She also contributed a weekly food column to Beeld’s Calendar supplement in 1989 and wrote for a short period for the Sunday Times Magazine , but her Teaching commitments required her to step back from this job.
In 1997, Zuretha and Gideon retired to the coastal town of Cape St Francis on South Africa’s south-eastern coast, where they settled after years in Johannesburg.
“Die verdwyning van Mina Afrika is eerstens (en laastens) ‘n wonderlike storie. Dit is ‘n verhaal met ‘n verlossende, gelukkige einde; dit is vol menslike deernis; dit betrek oer-temas en vraag- stukke; dit teken ‘n lewendige prentjie van ‘n amper vergete Distrik 6; dis deel van ons kollektiewe geheue… ‘n boek wat alles het waarna die Afrikaanse leser dikwels vra.” – Riana Scheepers
Listen To Die Verdwyning van Mina Afrika On RSG
About The Author
