This man's knowledge is nothing short of encylopaedic, only it's much more fun hanging out with Kolbe than with an encyclopaedia. But the Japanese go to shrines, the Christians go to shrines, lots of people go to shrines and invoke God and the forces of good to fight evil. That evil could be very tangible. It could be the government. To Kolbe and film-maker Shariff Cullis, another passionate Capetonian with whom I reconnect in Kolbe's front room, there is nothing exotic or intriguing about the kramats.
People go to different kramats for different things.
If you've got marriage problems you go to a certain kramat. If you've got legal problems you go to another kramat. Each one has a local significance. Kolbe tells me that Sheikh Yusuf's shrine at Faure is the 'St Peters of kramats'. Every Easter weekend, people go camp there.