THIS WORLD Black & White (And Read All Over) Tx Date: 17th October 2006 This script was made from audio tape – any inaccuracies are due to voices being unclear or inaudible 10.00.00 This World Theme Music 10.00.06 Music 10.00.15 Narrator This is a film about Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest selling daily. Most of its black readers had never picked up a newspaper before it launched four years ago. 10.00.24 Music 10.00.25 Newspaper seller Daily Sun. Daily Sun. Daily Sun. 10.00.27 Narrator Its mix of township violence and supernatural stories has won readers who under apartheid had no voice. 10.00.34 Lady in street MUM TRIES TO COOK BABY! You see; that’s a true story. 10.00.37 Music 10.00.38 Narrator But critics say it’s portraying a negative image of the black South African. And what’s more it’s the brainchild of a white man; part owner, Deon du Plessis. 10.00.51 Horn 10.00.55 Title Page BLACK & WHITE (AND READ ALL OVER) 10.01.00 Narrator The working class black man is the target reader for the Daily Sun. He’s known in the office as the man in blue overalls. 10.01.07 Telephonist Daily Sun, good morning … 10.01.09 Themba When a reporter walks in here in the morning this person stands here as a stark reminder that this is the person, this is the master, he’s my boss. 10.01.19 Narrator But in the newsroom it’s Themba who’s the boss. He’s the Daily Sun’s editor, but unusually he has to share his vision for the paper with the hands on proprietor, Deon. 10.01.30 Deon du Plessis I think people see themselves in it, they see their lives in it, they see a trumpet in it, a champion, somebody that will help, somebody that cares. 10.01.40 Narrator Deon and Themba are building up to a special occasion; the Daily Sun’s thousandth edition. 10.01.46 Horn 10.01.48 Narrator Every morning in their Johannesburg headquarters the Sun team meets to discuss possible stories for the newspaper. 10.01.56 Dennis Her heart was blazing hot with jealousy when she saw her boyfriend in bed with another woman, so, she set his house on fire. No-one dead, they all managed to escape. 10.02.06 Deon du Plessis Lovers flames of fury, exclamation. Like it. All right you guys, what else? 10.02.13 Dennis Then we’ve got; broken bodies lay all over the blood soaked road after a bus crash in which five people died, seventy-one others were seriously injured. Among the dead four women and an eight year old child. 10.02.25 Deon du Plessis Pictures; have we got pictures? 10.02.27 Narrator Today Deon wants to go big on a story about a boy who rescued survivors of a plane crash. 10.02.33 Deon du Plessis I like this kid. What are we going to do about him today? Let’s make a fuss of this kid. I think we should go to the school and do his day at school; the little hero. The little hero, yeah? 10.02.45 Kids shouting 10.02.53 Teacher The school is so happy, even now, it’s break now, it’s break time, everybody wants to see him. 10.03.02 Narrator The Sun reporter wants to know how Siyabonga saved two men trapped inside a plane immersed in water. 10.03.09 Journalist Subtitles Show me how you hit the windscreen. 10.03.13 Siyabonga Subtitle Like this. 10.03.17 Narrator The Sun team discovers Siyabonga has borrowed a school uniform because he can’t afford one. They decide to photograph him without a uniform so readers will be able to see his plight. 10.03.27 Journalist Subtitles How do your friends and schoolmates treat you? 10.03.32 Siyabonga Subtitles They used to ill treat me, in fact almost like an animal… …they used to call me names like “filthy, dirty boy”. 10.03.41 Journalist Subtitles When you grow up, what do you want to be? 10.03.44 Siyabonga Subtitle I want to be a doctor. Journalist Subtitle A doctor? Siyabonga Subtitle Yes 10.03.52 Themba Our little hero. Nine years old. Does not have a uniform, his parents are poor, he gets food from the school. 10.03.59 Deon du Plessis We should do something for him. So is he a kind of a barefoot kind of kid? Our barefoot hero. What do you think? I like it. Help our barefoot hero. Good, fine. 10.04.13 Aston DEON du PLESSIS Part Owner and Publisher Every single one of our readers knows kids like that so it’s real guy next door. This guy because of his quick deeds is a symbol, you know, doing better, trying harder, rising up on his way, that kind of stuff. I hope he gets some stuff, you know, we’ll see. 10.04.32 Music 10.04.36 Narrator The black African makes up three quarters of South Africa’s population and there are still high levels of unemployment and poverty. But the black middle class is growing by fifty percent every year and fuelling a consumer boom. 10.04.49 Music 10.04.51 Narrator The Daily Sun believes its reader is optimistic about life. And its editor, Themba Khumalo, has come to epitomise the philosophy of the newspaper. 10.05.01 Aston THEMBA KHUMALO Editor The Daily Sun is so alive, you know, the Daily Sun weeps, the Daily Sun gets angry, the Daily Sun laughs, you know, it does all those things. 10.05.10 Photographer That’s good! 10.05.12 Deon du Plessis Themba’s instincts are forged in the area that we are trying to get to. Without me there’d be trouble here, without him there’d be trouble here. 10.05.21 Photographer Look at me and smile! 10.05.22 Themba Two million dollar smile. 10.05.24 Deon du Plessis Ok guys, let’s call the troops and get on with it. 10.05.27 Horn 10.05.32 Themba In Soweto there’s an unidentified being who creeps in through the windows or under the door. She gets a new boyfriend, the boyfriend cannot stay because there’s this creature coming in. 10.05.46 Deon du Plessis A jealous creature. Ooooh, ok well, who are we to say, go and find it. Interview, interview. Interview the beast, picture. What else? 10.05.59 Dennis Two more security guards have been shot; bang bang and found lying dead and the strike continues. 10.06.05 Deon du Plessis The strike continues. What are they living on? The strikers, it’s now been three months. Three months is long. No income. Hmm! 10.06.18 Narrator The strike by thirty-four thousand security guards is big news in South Africa. Deon has dispatched a journalist to downtown Johannesburg to interview a typical striker. 10.06.29 Aston REGGY MOALUSI Reporter Since the strike has started I’ve been covering it, we’ve been getting the side of the employers, we’ve been getting the side of the strikers and then basically what we are doing now, you can, you can say we are putting a human face to the strike. 10.06.42 Reggy Subtitles Since the strike has started, how did you survive… …because you didn’t earn any money? 10.06.50 Striker Subtitles My wife tried to cover everything. It did affect me… …but less than it affected some of the others. 10.07.01 Narrator The strikers want a large wage increase to reflect South Africa’s burgeoning economy. They are awaiting an update from talks between their union and the employers. 10.07.11 Union representative Comrades. Comrades; here we are again standing here without eleven percent, standing here without an agreement. The strike continues. 10.07.31 Men cheering/music 10.07.42 Narrator The rally later turns violent. Strikers attack some security guards who have continued to work. 10.07.51 Injured man No, I wasn’t striking. They were beating me just because I wasn’t striking. Why I am not striking? Just because I have a family to look after so I don’t have anything to strike for. 10.08.05 Narrator So far the strike has claimed the lives of thirty security guards. 10.08.10 Deon du Plessis He’s dead. She’s dead. Bump me, dot, dot, dot, die, exclamation. What else? 10.08.17 Themba OK, Reggy’s on his way back with the story about security guard. 10.08.22 Deon du Plessis The page three lead is Reggy, I mean, is that right? Or do we put that on page one? Maybe we should put it on page one, you know, I mean as the thing drags on. Yes, we could even lead with it. 10.08.34 Narrator By the time the dispute is resolved a fortnight later, a total of fifty non-striking security guards have been killed. 10.08.41 Aston DENNIS SMITH Sub Editor We are talking to real people about the things that real people want to have. We are giving Sipho and everyone else the information that perhaps they didn’t have access to. 10.08.54 Men in blue overalls Demon sings me wedding songs and forces itself on my son. CURSED BY SEX-MAD TOKOLOSHE! 10.09.02 Girls THE GIRLS WHO PEE SPOONS! Amazing story and pictures page two. 10.09.06 Music 10.09.09 Woman Oooh! HORNY COPS WON’T PAY! They must wear condoms and pay maintenance, say sex workers’ mums. Wow! 10.09.19 Music 10.09.20 Dennis From three years we’ve grown from zero to five hundred thousand copies a day. It gives us four million readers like, grown like a mushroom and growing all the time. 10.09.33 Deon du Plessis That’s Conan the Barbarian. Find the enemy, crush him and hear the lamentations of his women. 10.09.40 Themba This is ekwa, it’s called ekwa because of the sound it makes as you get it, pull it out after you stabbed the person. It goes ekwa. This sits here as a reminder to anybody that gets into this office that making a newspaper is war. 10.09.59 Music 10.10.05 Sifiso Maminza Daily Sun. Daily Sun. Daily Sun. 10.10.08 Narrator Part of the Sun’s success rests on its aggressive marketing strategy in the townships. Three thousand street sellers like Sifiso Maminza, are out every morning targeting the commuters. 10.10.19 Music 10.10.21 Sifiso Maminza Before I got into this newspaper, hey, I was almost a thug. I was a criminal, yes, stealing and robbing. I’m no longer a threat to the community, yes. 10.10.33 Music 10.10.36 Woman 1 My friends they do read Daily Sun but they don’t buy Daily Sun, they always borrow it from me. 10.10.45 Sifiso Maminza My money, ohh! You want to see my money, eh! 10.10.49 Sifiso Maminza There are many things in life that I want, I still want to be educated, go to school and get a great career. 10.10.58 Woman 2 Maybe other people will find that it’s not good for South Africa but it does help us as blacks because we do get help through this paper. 10.11.07 Sifiso Maminza Let’s go! 10.11.10 Singing 10.11.17 Narrator In the few days since Siyabonga, the boy hero, appeared in the Sun, the public has responded to the appeal to help him. Journalists have come to collect gifts from an unexpected donor. 10.11.30 White woman I read it in the newspaper on Monday. Shame, I just thought the poor child doesn’t have any clothes to wear. So I thought well, let me just donate something that might fit him. A little wind breaker, something for summer, little safari suit and then there’s a little suit for school, ah, for church, I’m sorry. 10.11.59 Narrator The journalists are following Siyabonga to his shack in the East Rand where he lives with his mother and two siblings. The government's already built one point six million homes, but nearly three million families like this are still waiting for the government to deliver on its promise of housing for everyone. The Sun has decided to pay for Siyabonga's school fees. 10.12.21 Journalist Subtitles It is only for his school fees, so don’t use it for anything else. Smile Siyabonga, show the readers how happy you are. 10.12.38 Deon du Plessis The Sun is in many ways a more powerful agency than this government is. The government is at a critical crisis in delivering on the ground but the Sun delivers, it’s in people’s lives. 10.12.51 Narrator The journalists have taken Siyabonga and his mother to school to dress him in school clothes donated by readers. 10.12.58 Siyabonga’s mother Subtitles I was so embarrassed because everyone else had a school uniform. Today my son is wearing his own school uniform. He looks so beautiful. 10.13.08 Siyabonga Subtitles Thank you Daily Sun. Now I look like other children. 10.13.12 Journalist Good boy. 10.13.14 Reader Wow! Readers thank our young hero. You see, Daily Sun bring us money. 10.13.24 Narrator Every day crowds of people arrive at the Daily Sun’s reception wanting their stories to appear in the newspaper. 10.13.31 Man I need some help, you see I’ve got a small business, now I don’t get a job, now Daily Sun is my only hope. 10.13.39 Woman My brother went missing on the fifteenth of February and never returned again, so we are looking for him. 10.13.49 Narrator They all get to speak to a journalist about their problems. 10.13.52 Aston THEMBELA KHAMANGO Reporter Some of the people they come here and say; I’m looking for a job and I am HIV positive and we tell the person that’s not a story. 10.13.59 Boys We want the Daily Sun to write a story about us. We want a record contract. 10.14.06 Boys sing 10.14.14 Horn 10.14.17 Deon du Plessis This guy, these thugs go up to him and say; hey give us money. Takes out his wallet, they check it’s only got ten rand and say are you mad, why do you go around only carrying ten rand, they shoot him. 10.14.29 Deon du Plessis They shot him? Dead. Alright, make it, only ten bucks, question. Now die, exclamation. 10.14.40 Narrator Crime stories dominate the Daily Sun’s headlines. 10.14.46 Narrator The paper vividly catalogues the explicit reality of South Africa’s murder rate; one of the highest in the world. 10.14.56 Deon du Plessis We go hard on crime because crime is the single biggest scarer of the guy in the blue overalls because he’s the target, he gets caught in the crossfire. 10.15.08 Onlooker All over in South Africa it’s a big problem. If it’s not murder its hijack, if it’s not hijack its robbery, so, what can we do? 10.15.18 Aston DEON du PLESSIS Part Owner and Publisher If the Sun was to hide the bloodiness of the townships it would be presenting a picture which isn’t true. It’s part of the truth of the paper in your hands, yes this is my paper, it is where I am. 10.15.29 Narrator Chief Sub, Dennis Smith, from Paddington, surrounds his desk with images that have appeared in the Daily Sun. 10.15.36 Dennis Smith We have twenty-three thousand murders a year in South Africa. What’s that, about one every half hour, I suppose, so I don’t know this dead man’s name but he’s kind of symbolic, he’s just an anonymous, one of the twenty-three thousand that got zapped, he got the deep six and there he lies. Living in Africa, it’s like sliding down the razor blade of life. 10.16.02 Deon du Plessis We’ve actually found that the gory pictures sometimes have even boosted sales, it’s not the reason I do it though. We’ve been taken to the Press Council on a number of times about gory front pages and the ombudsman has each time found in our favour accepting our argument that the Sun moves in a different milieu. That’s township life. 10.16.22 Music 10.16.25 Narrator The Daily Sun outrages most white South Africans. They make up just one percent of its readership. 10.16.30 Music 10.16.32 Man 1 It’s sensational, a lot of it, you know. 10.16.35 Woman 1 As Adam says it’s sensationalist, middle, it’s just middle, it’s, it’s just, it’s just yuk. 10.16.42 Man 1 I don’t think it educates people, I don’t really think it’s really investigative, I think it’s scandalous in what it covers. 10.16.49 Woman 2 We bought it once; it’s full of horror stories, bad grammar, bad journalism. 10.16.54 Man 2 Sellers of muck and rubbish and lower class vibrations. 10.17.01 Woman 2 You’re just perpetuating bad sides of things or bad parts of a culture. 10.17.06 Man 2 Well let them read it, you know, but I don’t have to. I’m not going to buy it, definitely, ever. 10.17.14 Narrator It’s the weekend and Themba is on his way to a party. As in the days of apartheid, in some ways his life is still a world apart from Deon’s. 10.17.26 Deon du Plessis Apartheid meant apartheid, that things were separated. Black people, for instance, were not allowed to live here. So I grew up with an acre of ground and large lawns and a swimming pool and a tennis court. Themba wouldn’t have had that. 10.17.45 Narrator With annual profits steadily rising, the Daily Sun has made Deon and Themba wealthy men. But Themba still stays connected to his township roots. 10.17.56 Aston THEMBA KHUMALO Editor This is one of the many townships of Soweto, Diepkloof, this is, at one point when I was a little boy I ran up and down the street. 10.18.06 Children playing 10.18.09 Themba Grew up, threw stones, taunted police, got chased, got buggered by the police. 10.18.15 Children playing 10.18.17 Narrator Under apartheid Deon gained a reputation as an uncompromising journalist. When the regime fell, he spotted a business opportunity. 10.18.27 Deon du Plessis After the change of ninety-four, it was clear that there was new people abroad, new people around and that there should be a new kind of paper, you know, the country was changing and would, irrevocably had changed. 10.18.41 Music 10.18.51 Themba This is Sunland, we call it Sunland because the skilled working man, the man in the blue overalls and their partner, they live here. People are beginning to access money now. People own those properties, something that, that never happened before. You see things are changing, things are happening. 10.19.12 Music 10.19.13 Narrator Deon’s home life seems unchanged from his privileged childhood. 10.19.17 Deon du Plessis Look, he’s got noble features. Noble features. 10.19.23 Music 10.19.24 Narrator But both he and Themba are convinced that the gap between township life and the white suburbs is closing. 10.19.30 Music 10.19.39 Narrator Three hundred miles from Johannesburg in Botshabelo township, Sun journalist Matseko is starting her day. Just a year ago she was a domestic servant. Now she’s able to fund her teenage daughter through private school. 10.19.56 Matseko Subtitles She’s very proud because whenever she sees the Daily Sun… …she just looks for my name and only reads my stories. 10.20.06 Matseko Ok guys, I’ll see you next week. 10.20.12 Music 10.20.17 Narrator Matseko’s visiting a fourteen year old girl who says she’s been raped by a middle aged business man still living in the township. The girl’s mother has fallen ill with the news that her daughter is now three months pregnant. 10.20.29 Music 10.20.36 Matseko Subtitles She says she wants to see the guy arrested… …and put in jail for a long time… …because of her 14 year old daughter being raped by a 40 year old man… …is really killing her. 10.20.55 Matseko Subtitles The young girl says she is afraid to go outside. It’s not safe, they are vultures out there… …waiting to destroy the lives of young girls... …so it really is painful. 10.21.16 Matseko Subtitle A cup of water please. 10.21.33 Matseko Subtitles When I was 14, I was raped by my stepfather. You saw my daughter today? So young… I was lucky because my mother was still alive… …she was a teacher and was able to support me. As you can see, her mother is unemployed. How can she raise the child? Her mother tells me she wants to be a teacher. She has never planned to be a mother. 10.22.07 Aston MATSEKO RAMOTEKOA Reporter If I can see that man now I will kill him with my bare hands. I don’t even know how to explain this but I hate him, I don’t even know him but I hate him and I don’t think I’ll never trust a man around my daughter, never. 10.22.30 Deon du Plessis Hate to say it but the rape of children in this country is horrifyingly common. It’s not that it’s not a news story but it happens every day; it’s one of the great horrors again of the country. 10.22.46 Music 10.22.50 Narrator In South Africa fifty-five thousand rapes are reported every year. The rape of the fourteen year old girl does not make the paper. 10.22.59 Music 10.23.04 Boys CURSED! By an evil worm! 10.23.09 Girls Tokoloshes keep us awake! They sing and dance at night. 10.23.13 Music 10.23.16 Man in street HAUNTED BY EVIL! Demon is so scary even cops run away. 10.23.23 Music 10.23.25 Narrator The Daily Sun is the first newspaper in South Africa to headline supernatural stories. Two thirds of black South Africans are Christians, but they also retain strong traditional beliefs. 10.23.37 Singing 10.23.38 Ntebatse These Evil spirits, yes, they do exist. 10.23.42 Jan Some do believe in this witchcraft thing so that is why they like reading Daily Sun about these kinds of stories. 10.23.49 Narrator The journalists are looking for evidence to establish if an evil spirit is still terrorising a woman in Munsieville, a township in the West Rand. 10.23.58 Aston NTEBATSE MASIPA Reporter The chair burnt. They say it was burnt by this evil spirit. 10.24.04 Ntebatse Subtitles How is the situation since we last published your story? 10.24.07 Woman Subtitles It got worse! Last Saturday after the curtains got burnt, I took my child home to my mother… …unfortunately she was out, so I had to return with the child… …then this evil spirit burnt off her underwear. I go to church but nothing has changed. I’ve even been to see the witch doctor. 10.24.28 Jan Subtitles What are the witch doctors saying? 10.24.30 Woman Subtitles They say it’s a tokoloshe and they can’t get rid of it. 10.24.33 Aston JAN RIGHT Photographer Here’s a mark where there’s a new burning. She says, this evil spirit, you can have a look at this one here. 10.24.43 Jan Subtitle Do you feel its presence now? Woman Subtitles Yes! I feel it! If I sit as I am sitting now, it will start piercing my back… 10.24.53 Jan Subtitle Let me know when it starts. Woman Subtitles Yes. It’s staring! I can’t sit on the bed anymore. It hurts! 10.25.05 Ntebatse We relate the suffering people go through. I’m going to do a follow up on, to, to say nothing’s changed. The evil spirit is still terrorising her. 10.25.19 Music 10.25.22 Deon du Plessis Well, this woman has this astonishing story, what the, that’s her truth of it, our policy in these matters is not to question people’s truths really, unless they are politicians. That’s the story she tells, that’s the story we write. 10.25.36 Reader PRAYERS ANGER TOKOLOSHE! Family in fear as attacks get worse. 10.25.40 Deon du Plessis I don’t think any Daily Sun reader would say; look, life is only what we immediately can see and touch. I think there’s a very strong spiritual element in this continent and I think it’s foolish to try and ignore it. 10.25.58 Horn 10.26.01 Themba I think the great story for us is going to be our, our little boy, the Sun hero he’s been kicked out from the room they were staying in with the mother because the owner wants a share of the donations. 10.26.12 Deon du Plessis Dear God. 10.26.18 Narrator When the Sun Team arrives, Siyabonga, the boy hero, and his mother are busy packing. The landlady has thrown them out because she wants some of the money rewarded by the Sun. She is claiming that her child helped Siyabonga rescue the plane crash victims. 10.26.35 Journalist Subtitles You claimed that your son was also there. 10.26.38 Landlady Subtitles I would like some shares from Siyabonga. 10.26.43 Siyabonga’s mother Subtitle Your child was not there. 10.26.47 Journalist Subtitle Siyabonga hit the windscreen! 10.26.50 Narrator The Daily Sun journalist suspects the landlady is making a false claim because she wants some of Siyabonga’s money. 10.26.58 Landlady Subtitles I’m not jealous... We don’t need your money. We don’t need to eat flies. I say out! Get out! 10.27.11 Siyabonga’s mother You know what, I was happy but now I’m not happy because now I don’t know where to hide myself. 10.27.20 Narrator She and Siyabonga have no choice but to load up their belongings and hope that a relative will put them up. 10.27.29 Aston SIHLE HLATSHWAYO Reporter They are calling me about the deadline so we have to go now quick and just hope they won’t fight her as soon as we leave so it’s very bad, very sad. 10.27.44 Reader SunHero kicked out! Row with landlady puts Siyabonga’s family in the street. 10.27.51 Narrator Back in the office Deon has ordered a sheep’s head to celebrate Themba’s birthday. 10.28.01 Deon du Plessis Thank you. Well this is a great township delicacy. Both Themba and I are very keen on this. We do this maybe once every five months, every five weeks, we have a smiley. 10.28.13 Sihle Very few white people can behave like Deon, be like Deon, you know, Deon is like he’s black. 10.28.21 Themba I think one of the most fantastic things we’ve come to understand the rainbow, rainbowism. Different as we are we have one common goal. 10.28.31 Deon du Plessis The Daily Sun. 10.28.32 Themba Is the Daily Sun, make it work. 10.28.35 Deon du Plessis We’ll be leading our celebrations shortly, jointly; our fourth birthday, thousandth edition. We must set that up, the details of it. 10.28.47 Themba I’ve eaten the tongue, this is the eye. 10.28.54 Deon du Plessis Look. Smile for the camera! 10.29.01 Narrator Word has come through that in downtown Johannesburg there’s trouble following a supermarket hold up. There are three hundred and forty-five armed robberies in South Africa every day. The Sun has dispatched its star reporter. 10.29.15 Aston NAHIMA AHMED Crime Reporter First on the scene because that’s when you get the story when it’s still fresh. If you pitch up after two hours then there’s nothing, the scene has been cleared. Yeah, we must speed up; ticket later, the story first. Hey Muntu? 10.29.30 Muntu Yes ma’am. 10.29.34 Narrator Hundreds of police have been deployed. They immediately come under fire and several are shot. Bullets are flying from a residential home. 10.29.47 Gunfire 10.29.48 Nahima Come, lets get the action! 10.29.50 Narrator Nahima as usual is the first journalist on the scene. 10.29.54 Nahima Where’s my bullet proof? 10.29.55 Muntu I don’t know, I also don’t have mine. 10.29.57 Nahima We are going to die here today. 10.29.59 Narrator As the shooting continues, Nahima grabs a police official to find out what’s happening. 10.30.05 Police official We’re looking at about close to twenty suspects inside the building. Heavily armed. 10.30.09 Nahima Twenty suspects, heavily armed. Yeah. 10.30.11 Police official Yeah, and there are others still inside. You can hear, it’s them who are shooting. 10.30.16 Nahima It’s them who are shooting. 10.30.21 Narrator Nahima briefs the office about the gang. 10.30.26 Nahima They are armed with AK47s, they are shooting at the police, it’s a war between police and robbers. Some are dead, others are being held hostage inside the flat. 10.30.38 Nahima Today here it’s going to be a bloodbath, I’m telling you. 10.30.41 Gunfire 10.30.45 Ntebatse Daily Sun, hello. 10.30.46 Narrator In the office there’s been good news for the homeless boy hero, Siyabonga. 10.30.51 Sihle I got a call from this call from this guy from Pretoria. He wants to give Siyabonga and his mother this two bedroom house, just for free, as a gift. It’s the first time that I hear something big like giving someone a house. I am so happy for them. I’m so happy. 10.31.11 Narrator Back at the scene of the shootout, the task force has arrived. 10.31.16 Nahima There is that unit. Now they are dead meat; I am sure they will take those guys out. 10.31.23 Nahima The taskforce is here and they’re surrounding the building so if I send a call back it means all the robbers are dead but this is just the story of the century. 10.31.33 Music 10.31.35 Narrator The taskforce are aiming to flush out the twenty armed robbers. Some police have already been shot dead making the attempt but nobody knows how many. It’s an anxious wait to see if there will be more bloodshed. 10.31.46 Music 10.31.51 Nahima The guys freaked out, they ran out of bullets so they had to surrender. 10.31.56 Interviewer So are you going to write the story? 10.31.57 Nahima Yes. 10.31.59 Nahima I don’t get scared, I am a very brave person, you can ask people in the office they will tell you. I do the most gruesome stuff and still manage to go to bed at night. 10.32.11 Deon du Plessis Talk to me. 10.32.13 Nahima No. I was told to leave the scene and come to the office. The only thing is… 10.32.17 Deon du Plessis It’s over? 10.32.18 Nahima It’s over. 10.32.19 Music 10.32.26 News reader Bloody standoff in Johannesburg. Four policemen and eight robbers dead. 10.32.31 Music 10.32.34 Sifiso Maminza Daily Sun. Daily Sun. Daily Sun. 10.32.38 Deon du Plessis This is a great story here, you know, we’ve long held the view that organised crime here is completely out of control. 10.32.44 Deon du Plessis Early reports that they are Zimbabweans or many of them Zimbabweans, evil doers there can come in here almost unstopped. 10.32.52 Narrator South Africa is still experiencing a huge annual growth in legal and illegal immigration; a trend strongly opposed by the Daily Sun. 10.33.02 Aston DEON du PLESSIS Part Owner and Publisher We reflect the emotion of the guy, our reader, that he’s not entirely enamoured with refugees from the north. 10.33.10 Horn 10.33.13 Narrator Tomorrow will be the Daily Sun’s thousandth edition. Deon wants another strong front page. 10.33.19 Deon du Plessis Let’s see if we can get into that house today, get Nahima to see what’s up in that house. Is it like a cave, an Aladdin’s cave, are there stolen DVDs piled high against the wall? Let’s see what we can get. 10.33.38 Nahima What do you think? That’s the house, they won’t let us in. You see it’s barricaded, so they won’t. 10.33.46 Narrator Just as Nahima’s about to leave, there’s a lucky break. 10.33.50 Nahima You don’t know where she might have gone? But she was a Sangoma? 10.33.54 Narrator A resident is tipping her off that the house where the shoot out took place was the home of a witchdoctor, known locally as a Sangoma. 10.34.02 Aston NAHIMA AHMED Crime Reporter She was their witch doctor and she used to supply them with muti for them to go and commit their crime, to be safe and make sure they got out in one piece after doing their stuff. 10.34.14 Narrator Nahima’s sure the Sangoma story will make a splash in tomorrow’s important edition. She and the photographer sneak past the police lines. 10.34.23 Nahima I am sure the house still has blood but it’s a risk. 10.34.27 Narrator She’s prepared to risk the law to discover more about the witch doctor and her magic potion, muti. 10.34.32 Nahima Look, be careful. I’ll watch. 10.34.34 Music 10.34.41 Nahima Let me ask Muntu to watch the cops. Stay there. Because this is not allowed. Muntu; the house is empty, we are stealing shots inside, just watch the cops. Yeah. Maybe those people will call the cops. Those women are looking at us, can you see? Oh, she’s phoned, tell them to come out. Out guys, the cops are here. 10.35.07 Music 10.35.14 Nahima Apparently the reason they went there after the robbery was to give her money, to say thank you and to split up the cash. 10.35.23 Deon du Plessis Mmm and give the Sangoma her share, yeah. All of that makes you a happy bunny is that, is that cool? 10.35.35 Nahima Yeah. 10.35.37 Deon du Plessis Well done, good story. That’s the lead. 10.35.40 Nahima BLOODBATH: COPS HUNT SANGOMA! By yours truly. 10.35.48 Daily Sun worker We are one thousandth edition old today and then; BLOODBATH: COPS HUNT SANGOMA! 10.36.00 Aston THEMBA KHUMALO Editor Our nation is on its way big time and so is the nation’s favourite newspaper. So a thousand cheers to you today to all the Sun people and tomorrow our journey together continues. 10.36.21 Deon du Plessis Our reader is truly in rapid motion. In fact it would be unfair now to call him the man in the blue overalls. He’s probably now the guy in the expensive slacks. That process of improving his life is probably the greatest sociological revolution on the African continent. 10.36.42 Singing 10.37.01 Narrator Guest of honour at the party is the Daily Sun’s mascot, Zinkle …, like the Daily Sun, she is four years old today. 10.37.10 Aston NANCY AUSTIN Marketing & Promotions When Daily Sun was born we looked for the baby that was born on that day. So, she was the lucky fish. We pay the school fees and we make her feel great. 10.37.21 Themba What monkey, yeah. What monkey, yeah. What monkey, yeah. What monkey, yeah. What monkey, yeah. 10.37.31 Music/applause 10.37.33 Deon du Plessis Bring Zinkle here. Baby Zinkle; very beautiful little girl and I hope Zinkle grows into a very beautiful, which she’s going to be, very big woman and we’re going to keep growing with her. 10.37.49 Deon du Plessis Thank you, I feel very white. Very suburban. But you know, actually it doesn’t matter on a thing like the Daily Sun. 10.38.01 Applause 10.38.05 Deon du Plessis There’s an awful lot of very different people here yet they’re all joined together to make a success out of this paper. Never would have encountered each other in the old South Africa. In microcosm maybe a little picture for the greater country, you know. 10.38.25 Themba Ekwa… 10.38.35 Deon du Plessis So she’s saying my boyfriend ate my grandson. 10.38.39 Themba That’s what she’s saying. 10.38.42 Deon du Plessis OK; boyfriend ate my grandson, exclamation. What would the Dorset Echo make of that? My boyfriend ate my grandson. I think that’s the lead. Isn’t that the lead? 10.38.59 Music Credits 10.39.01 Narrator MELISSA BERRY Dubbing Mixer CLIFF JONES Colourist GERRY GEDGE Online Editor RICHARD LEGG Production Team JULIA DANNENBERG EMMA HILL JENNY JARVIS SUNNY DIMITRIADOU Production Manager JANE WILLEY Unit Manager SUSAN CRIGHTON Film Research BARRY PURKIS Assistant Producer NHANHLA MTHETHWA Picture Editor STUART BRIGGS Director HELEN SAGE Series Producer LOUISE NORMAN Directed and Produced by KATE TOWNSEND 10.39.06 Narrator For more information on tonight’s programme or to view it again, you can visit our website on bbc.co.uk forward slash This World. If you’d like to be reminded about upcoming This World programmes, text ‘This World’ to 81010 to receive our free text alert service. 10.39.10 bbc.co.uk/thisworld Text THISWORLD to 81010 Your initial text to us costs no more than 15p 10.39.27 thisworld 10.39.27 Editor KAREN O’CONNOR BBC © BBC MMVI 10.39.29 End BBC This World: Black & White (And Read All Over) 1 18