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By Daniel Friedman

Digital news editor


John Kani questions why apartheid leaders didn’t get Zuma treatment

The theatre stalwart said seeing Jacob Zuma facing justice made him wonder why those guilty of enforcing apartheid didn't receive the same treatment. 


South African theatre legend John Kani took to Twitter to question why apartheid leaders such as PW Botha, FW de Klerk, Adriaan Vlok and Magnus Malan were never made to stand trial for crimes committed under apartheid.

The stalwart of local and international stage, film and television said that seeing Jacob Zuma facing justice made him wonder why those guilty of enforcing apartheid didn’t receive the same treatment.

https://twitter.com/JohnKani2/status/1023885505409298433

Kani stressed that he was not implying that Zuma should not stand trial, rather that the apartheid leaders he listed should have been brought to justice much like Zuma is currently being.

https://twitter.com/JohnKani2/status/1024621099731050496

READ MORE: Legendary playwright and actor Winston Ntshona dies

Best known recently for his role in US super-hero film Black Panther, Kani is also famous for his work as an anti-apartheid performer with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona.

Ntshona passed away last week at 76.

The playwright and actor’s son Lawula confirmed that the award-winning theatre performer and creator died at 8am on Thursday after an eight-year battle with illness.

READ MORE: Elite ring of apartheid paedophiles allegedly preyed on coloured boys

Tributes immediately began pouring in for the man who founded the Serpent Players theatre group in Port Elizabeth in 1965 with Fugard and Kani.

This weekend it was revealed that a new book makes shocking allegations about one of the men mentioned by Kani, Magnus Malan. The book claims that Malan was a paedophile who, along with two other apartheid leaders and a businessman, preyed on mostly coloured underage South African boys.

According to the book Bird Island, near Port Elizabeth, in 1980s was the scene of “fishing excursions” by apartheid government officials. The men were always accompanied by young boys, and a book coming out today reveals why: the boys were given food and booze just before they would be abused in sex orgies.

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