Pieter Dirk Uys
Pieter Dirk Uys is a South African satirist, particularly well known overseas for his character Evita Bezuidenhout, a white Afrikaner housewife, similar to Australian comedian Barry Humphries' character Dame Edna Everage. Born of Afrikaner and Jewish parentage, Uys also caused annoyance to traditional Afrikaners as he was also gay.For many years, Uys and his characters lampooned the apartheid regime and its leaders, and also the sometimes hypocritical attitudes of white liberals. One of his characters, a kugel (wealthy Jewish woman) says: 'Y'now, dear, there are two things wrong with South Africa: one's apartheid, and the other's black people.' Evita Bezuidenhout was South Africa's Ambassador to Bapetikosweti, a fictitious Bantustan or black homeland located outside her home in the affluent, whites-only northern suburbs, and whose president was previously her gardener.
Following the country's first non-racial elections in 1994, Uys produced a TV series called Funigalore in which Evita (Uys in drag) interviews then President Nelson Mandela and other politicians. Evita also has performed such shows as You ANC Nothing Yet, as well as ones dealing with serious topics like AIDS.