South Africa has a very proud history of producing award-winning musicals.
This includes King Kong, Sarafina and District Six the Musical. The common denominator of these musicals was the injustice of apartheid, such as forced removals and protests against the pass laws.
But there is a worrisome development. The song Delarey, issued last year and a hit among Afrikaners, has prompted its composer, Sean Else, and playwright Deon Opperman to stage a play - Ons vir Jou Suid-Afrika.
If ever there was an issue that needed to be exposed and opposed, it it is the neo-nationalism taking shape among South Africans.
Why focus on an issue, the Boer War, that took place more than 100 years ago. It is this kind of thinking and portrayal of an Afrikaner "struggle" against the English that poisons young minds as seen in the Reitz hostel case.
Afrikaners such as Beyers Naude, Bram Fischer, Breyten Breytenbach played an important role in the liberation of South Africa. The hero worship of leaders who saw South Africa as a white man's country is out.
I call on civic, union and political structures to ensure that this play is not staged at the State Theatre or any public place. Let Opperman and Else take their play to Orania.
Y Thumbran, Arcadia
This play is fit for Orania
South Africa has a very proud history of producing award-winning musicals.
This includes King Kong, Sarafina and District Six the Musical. The common denominator of these musicals was the injustice of apartheid, such as forced removals and protests against the pass laws.
But there is a worrisome development. The song Delarey, issued last year and a hit among Afrikaners, has prompted its composer, Sean Else, and playwright Deon Opperman to stage a play - Ons vir Jou Suid-Afrika.
If ever there was an issue that needed to be exposed and opposed, it it is the neo-nationalism taking shape among South Africans.
Why focus on an issue, the Boer War, that took place more than 100 years ago. It is this kind of thinking and portrayal of an Afrikaner "struggle" against the English that poisons young minds as seen in the Reitz hostel case.
Afrikaners such as Beyers Naude, Bram Fischer, Breyten Breytenbach played an important role in the liberation of South Africa. The hero worship of leaders who saw South Africa as a white man's country is out.
I call on civic, union and political structures to ensure that this play is not staged at the State Theatre or any public place. Let Opperman and Else take their play to Orania.
Y Thumbran, Arcadia