October 21, 2004
Aparthied leaders make "Greatest South African" list.
South African Broadcasting Corporation pulls the plug on the Greatest South African contest when prominent Apartheid leaders make the list**. SABC had planned to air a TV program where the viewers get to listen to debates and then vote for the one they think was the greatest citizen.
It all starts to go horribly wrong when the white population starts voting in large numbers for people like ex-President PW Botha (#87) or convicted murderer Eugene TerreBlanche (#25)
**The link is to the list is a Google cache of part of the list,as SABC has pulled the pages off of their web site. What makes this even more interesting is that the broadcaster pulled the show rather than expose the thoughts of the viewers. Is this censorship? BBC in England and Germany's state broadcaster have run similar contests. CBC in Canada is currently wading in with it's own version.
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Convicted attempted murderer... please, don't credit the guy with, you know, competency. I belive when they did this in Germany, certain historical figures were barred from appearing on the list. Of course, when we did it in Britain, we voted for loads of vicious military leaders. Just, y'know, we seem to be proud of ours. That a large number of my fellow contrymen believed that Princess Diana was the Briton who made the greatest contribution to the world... it hurts my brain.
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Well Pitt the Elder never lived his life like a candle in the wind, so it's his own fault.
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Sort of to be expected really, as Apartheid as an official government policy was ended relatively recently. There are still many proponents of the old system around one would imagine. Years of rhetoric, indoctrination and upbringing aren't erased quicly by official decree. This is definitely censorship, the sticky part is should it be censored or not. That I cannot say. I would lean toward letting people speak their minds though. The appearance of Apartheid leaders on such a list though is a clear indication South Africa still has a long way to go (took the US what 100 years from Emancipation Proclamation to the Civil Rights Act and we still have work to do).
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Why not just use it as an opportunity to re-count just what some of those people said and did. Not much point ignoring the reality that there is a sizeable minority that would like Apartheid back.
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Personally I like the idea of a combination of barring and what dj suggested. Let them be voted in before the official list comes out, then knock them out and take numbers 101, 102, 103, etc. Then make the second-last (so you don't finish on a depressing note) program about knocked out historical figures the country should never forget for their crimes. South Africa should be proud of finally over-coming Apartheid, but that pride is worthless if they do not remember the horror that Apartheid was. Any country has events it should never forget for identical reasons.
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While I like Nal's idea, I suspect some people may have felt that - while it would be great for the "Truth" bit - it would kind of not be in the spirit of the "Reconciliation" element of the whole Truth and Reconciliation effort. Just a thought, though, I know buggerall about the political workings of the South African TV industry.