Look South Column

Putting the Presidential pickle in perspective

“[ M ] Brett Murray — The Spear (2011) — detail” by Cea is licensed under CC BY 2.0

I was 17 when I personally first encountered censorship. I produced a school play in the late 1980s which reached the finals of a play festival in Johannesburg.

Unbeknown to me, the play I selected, Egoli, by Matsemela Manaka, was banned. The play focused on the hardships under apartheid of two mineworkers, played by black…