Dawie Roodt is as respected and respectable as they
come. Neat appearance with a short back and sides
cut; lucrative job as chief economist and chairman
of the Efficient Group; and impeccable taste in
women - in his words, anyway.
Normally debating the second-round effects of the
oil price in his day job as an economist, Roodt, 45,
changes tack very quickly when he talks about his
wife, Marina.
Or, to be clearer, his beautiful Russian bride
fetched from the wide expanses of Siberia. Quite an
accomplishment for the self-described "little
boertjie".
It wasn't a mail-order scenario, he'll hastily tell
you, but a wonderful example of how love can blossom
over the internet.
Roodt's voice gets positively
crackly when he talks about the woman he met in St
Petersburg four years ago, her unbelievably blue
eyes shielded by a pink umbrella.
"Those eyes," he oozes. "If you meet my wife you'll
see what I mean - there's something very special
about those eyes."
They met by chance when Roodt, also a television
producer, was researching a documentary for kykNET
on Russian brides.
He came across a photograph of Marina, a vet by
profession, on a dating website and fell in love
with "those eyes".
A year after meeting and corresponding from a
distance, they tied the knot.
He'll wax lyrical, given a chance, about everything from
the Russian church in Midrand to the similarities
between Afrikaners and Russians.
They are both "very conservative" and tend to hold
the same views about the traditional roles of women.
"I like the idea that they stay at home and look
after the family," Roodt explains.
His relationship is but one example of the potential
fairy-tale endings online romances can result in.
Barely five or so years after it was acceptable to
shriek in horror at the prospect of hunting for love
online, the craze is now all the rage.
Whether you are a singleton in the city, gay,
straight, a redhead with spiral curls, or have a
penchant for swinging - there's an online site for
you.
And what's more, the country's own "Dr Eve", Marlene
Wasserman, gives online romance a thumbs-up, saying
it's about time South Africans caught up with what
has become a big phenomenon in the rest of the
world.
In America especially, shrewd businessmen have made
a mint off the industry and there is a plethora of
DVDs, books and online guides available to instruct
users in the ways of the web.
Wasserman says the mind-boggling variety of options
has helped ease the stigma formerly attached to
online dating - that only "loners or losers" should
bother with it.
It simply isn't true - and trying it out can be a
dizzingly romantic experience, too.
"It can be very flirty and intense and allows for a
lot of sexual innuendo. The other advantage is that
you get to test your social and sexual skills just
by having a chat," says Wasserman.
On a more practical level, and at a time when crime
rates have sent citizens reaching for the Trellidor,
online dating also eliminates the need to go out
alone at night, she says.
"People are busy during the day and many women are
too afraid to go out alone at night. It's convenient
to just go online."
Online dating also cuts out the need to spend money
on boring dates, she adds. And those who do indulge
in the wonderful world of cyberspace aren't labelled
"desperate and crazy" anymore.
This was a taunt Greg Thompson suffered with pride
at the height of his online romance several years
ago.
South African by birth, Thompson, 37, met his
Australian wife of four years, Anna-Greta, 35, in
the chat room of sixdegrees.com, described by
Wikipedia as the "original social network service".
Greg, a computer technician, remembers with a
faraway voice how he used to burn the midnight oil
in the office because of the time difference between
Joburg and Sydney, waiting to chat with his online
girlfriend.
"It started off as just a bit of fun chatting to
this person on the other side of the world. We
exchanged e-mail addresses and every morning I would
have an e-mail from her. It was like having a pen
pal."
The messages became routine - that is, at least,
until Anna-Greta's mom took it upon herself to write
to Greg, interrogating him on his intentions for her
daughter. "She wanted to know what the hell was
going on," he laughs. "She thought we should meet."
So they did. Anna-Greta travelled to South Africa in
December 1999 and the two met for the first time at
Cape Town International Airport. Greg wore a
pre-arranged black outfit and held a rose.
The two then spent a glorious month together at
Greg's brother's house in Cape Town.
"People thought I was nuts. Others thought I was
desperate and crazy, which I probably was. My
parents were very sceptical," he says.
Greg waited just two months before hopping on a
plane to Sydney and the couple were married on May
25, 2002.
Wasserman says those who choose to surf the net for
love need to bear the pitfalls in mind.
The most common complaint was the usual
disillusionment people felt when they met their mate
and the sparks failed to fly.
There was also a real danger in people
misrepresenting themselves on their profiles.
Yet another danger is that the fad can consume you.
Normal dating fades away and your relations with the
opposite sex become dysfunctional.
"It can become your whole world. It is concerning
that it really is so encompassing. It almost becomes
your calling card and can become quite obsessive,"
Wasserman says.
She advises online punters to look up the object of
their affections on Google. It can do no harm and
can certainly throw up any dark secrets he or she
might have stashed in the closet. It is also a good
idea to meet in public for the first time.
