Clifford Bestall

Rugby Union has long been viewed in South Africa as a game for the white population, and the country’s success in the sport has been a true source of Afrikaner pride. When the 50-year-old policies and entrenched injustices of apartheid were finally overthrown in 1994, Nelson Mandela’s new government began rebuilding a nation badly in need of racial unity. So the world was watching when South Africa played host to the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Though they had only one non-white player, the South African Springboks gained supporters of all colors as they made an improbable run into the final match where they beat the heavily favored New Zealand team. When Mandela himself marched to the center of the pitch cloaked in a Springbok jersey and shook hands with the captain of the South African team, two nations became one. Oscar winner Morgan Freeman and director Cliff Bestall will tell the emotional story of that cornerstone moment and what it meant to South Africa’s healing process.

For juvenile offenders, reformatory is the last stop when all else has failed. We enter the secret world of a South African reformatory, a place where inmates use violence and blackmail to jostle for power. On the recommendation of their arresting officer and the Commissioner of Child Welfare, the court sends heroin addicts Jurie (14) and Eric (17) to Ethokomala Reformatory. It is their very last chance to break free from the life that has imprisoned them. For the first time in their short lives the boys' days are strictly regimented and they are back in school for the first time in two years, their movements supervised round the clock. They have now been off heroin for more than 4 months but this does not mean they have been rehabilitated psychologically and emotionally. Will reformatory discipline may not be enough to help them once they are sent back to Pretoria? For Eric and Jurie it may be a very temporary respite from the unpredictable demands of the street.

Rugby Union has long been viewed in South Africa as a game for the white population, and the country’s success in the sport has been a true source of Afrikaner pride. When the 50-year-old policies and entrenched injustices of apartheid were finally overthrown in 1994, Nelson Mandela’s new government began rebuilding a nation badly in need of racial unity. So the world was watching when South Africa played host to the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Though they had only one non-white player, the South African Springboks gained supporters of all colors as they made an improbable run into the final match where they beat the heavily favored New Zealand team. When Mandela himself marched to the center of the pitch cloaked in a Springbok jersey and shook hands with the captain of the South African team, two nations became one. Oscar winner Morgan Freeman and director Cliff Bestall will tell the emotional story of that cornerstone moment and what it meant to South Africa’s healing process.

For juvenile offenders, reformatory is the last stop when all else has failed. We enter the secret world of a South African reformatory, a place where inmates use violence and blackmail to jostle for power. On the recommendation of their arresting officer and the Commissioner of Child Welfare, the court sends heroin addicts Jurie (14) and Eric (17) to Ethokomala Reformatory. It is their very last chance to break free from the life that has imprisoned them. For the first time in their short lives the boys' days are strictly regimented and they are back in school for the first time in two years, their movements supervised round the clock. They have now been off heroin for more than 4 months but this does not mean they have been rehabilitated psychologically and emotionally. Will reformatory discipline may not be enough to help them once they are sent back to Pretoria? For Eric and Jurie it may be a very temporary respite from the unpredictable demands of the street.