We have a complicated relationship with dogs in South Africa. Who can forget that in 2012, on a tour of his rural dominions, South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, while dispensing his annual Christmas gifts and wisdom, warned his people that loving a dog was merely mimicking white people? It showed that one suffered from a “lack of humanity,” especially if one walked one’s dogs or took them to a vet. Indeed, love of dogs meant a rejection of African tradition and values. Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi spoke to Prof. Sandra Swart, chair of the Department of History, Stellenbosch University.