Swaziland

August 2005
Up to 300 people are sacrificed every year in South Africa so that their body parts to be used in traditional Muti medicine. Most of these are young children, tortured to death.

“It’s done while she’s still alive because the more she screams, the more powerful the Muti’s going to be,” explains crime expert Kobus Jonker, gesturing at the picture of a mutilated six year old girl. He was the first South African to acknowledge Muti murders and has set up a special police unit to deal with it. But Muti murders are notoriously hard to prosecute. “My son will never sleep in peace,” laments Salome Chokwe. Her ten year old boy, Sello, disappeared when out herding. By the time she found him it was too late. His hands, genitals, tongue and brain had been ‘harvested’. Most practitioners use nothing more sinister than roots and leaves to make their Muti. But belief in the power of human body parts continues to fuel a demand for the ‘other’ type of Muti.

Produced by ABC Australia
Distributed by Journeyman Pictures

Duration : 0:24:34

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May 1999
In this report South Africa’s growing vigilante crisis is thrown into sharp relief when the rape of a black girl is publicly avenged

Some of her attackers live in her street and she now fears for her life. Frustrated that the police will do little to help she approaches the local taxi firm to help her get revenge. “Will you be satisfied and stop crying once we’ve beaten them?” the firm ask her. At 4am the girl points out her township tormentors to willing vigilantes. They strip the culprits naked, strap them to a lamp post and lash them. The girl herself gives the first stroke. The legacy of apartheid leads South Africans to such violence, when even the police disregarded their own laws. The mob ruled when it black against white. This past has depersonalised and dehumanised. The police stand accused of apathy but often they are frustrated by clever criminals. But unless the police earn people’s trust, vigilantism may become the norm.

Duration : 0:24:14

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December 2008
More than a decade after apartheid ended millions of South Africans still live in basic home-made shacks. We hear from the inhabitants as they eloquently argue their case for real citizenship rights.

Duration : 0:15:19

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Simon King spends a lot of time allowing the meerkat family to get used to his presence, and his efforts pay off as he witnesses a baby meerkat’s first ever sight of life beyond the burrow. See these cute baby animals on their first adventure in the wild African plains, from the BBC.

Duration : 0:3:54

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May 2009

The end of the Apartheid regime saw black South Africans gain from democracy and climb the social ladder. On the other hand white South Africans are learning that now the tables have turned, life isnt so easy.

Duration : 0:6:8

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Feb 2004
In South Africa, cultural dismissal of Aids is making any advances against the disease almost impossible.

A group of young Zulu women form an orderly queue. They are waiting to have their virginity tested and to check that they are free from Aids. To have Aids is a disgrace, and most blacks, especially men, don’t believe the disease really exists. ‘Cures’ for Aids include having sex with a virgin, leading to 1 in 3 children in South Africa being abused. Until attitudes change, the pandemic will continue to grow.

Duration : 0:10:9

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Feb 2004
In South Africa, cultural dismissal of Aids is making any advances against the disease almost impossible.

A group of young Zulu women form an orderly queue. They are waiting to have their virginity tested and to check that they are free from Aids. To have Aids is a disgrace, and most blacks, especially men, don’t believe the disease really exists. ‘Cures’ for Aids include having sex with a virgin, leading to 1 in 3 children in South Africa being abused. Until attitudes change, the pandemic will continue to grow.

Duration : 0:10:9

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Dec 1998
Child prostitution is rife in South Africa. It’s a means of survival for impoverished township kids.

Standing at the side of the road two young girls pass time playing like children, until their pimp tells them to shut-up. Their friend 14 year-old Lindy, lifts her top to let a potential client inspect her wares. “They like to suck them because I’m young” she says. Following a girl on a job we confront her white client. His flies undone, he denies he knew how old she was and demands his money back. A passer-by comes to help him out. “He was just following a call of nature,” he says. Nobody knows how many children are working the streets. They stay here because of poverty, because there is no home to go back to and prostitution is all they can do to survive. Local police have given-up chasing the clients; “If you catch these people they won’t give evidence [against clients] because tomorrow they will be back on the street.” Instead social workers try to take the children into homes. The numbers they can help though is small, and most turn back to prostitution.

Duration : 0:23:22

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June 2006
Since the end of apartheid, thousands of white South Africans have been forced into poverty. They blame the government’s positive discrimination policies, which favour black employees.

Twelve years ago, Afrikaners like Betsie Dreyer lived a privileged and cocooned life. Now, many are dependent on charity handouts. “We are fighting all the time to survive.” The government is determined to see the workforce appropriately reflect the population. It gives black people priority in employment, sets ‘black quotas’ for businesses and favours companies owned by black people. But critics accuse the government of neglecting its responsibility to white citizens. As union rep Kallie Kriel states: “It’s ironic that a government that fought racial laws is now doing exactly the same thing.”

Produced by ABC Australia
Distributed by Journeyman Pictures

Duration : 0:15:33

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