South Africa

South Africa seems to be the main center of fandom on the African continent. It is home to the Science Fiction & Fantasy South Africa club.

Pearle Appleford was the South African representative of Operation Fantast in 1953 and 1954, operating a postal lending library of paperbacks.

In an article on 'The State of Science Fiction in South Africa' published in Space Times #7 (January 1950) she estimated the fan population of the country as 25:

Undoubtedly there are a great many more people who read an enjoy science-fiction, but those 25 are the ones who have been interested enough to write letters at one time or another, to the editors of magazines, mostly, which is how they have become known to one another.

Some of these were, she considered, 'lone wolves' but there was 'a small nucleus of fans who are keen on all the recognised activities which mark the s.f. fanatic'.

Science fiction was hard to come by as:

Ever since the end of 1943, s.f. magazines in this country have been few and far between, as in an attempt to conserve dollars, the government banned a great many so-called 'luxury goods, which appeared to include the pulp magazines in bulk.

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