Robert Whitehead

The Man Who Drove with Mandela

During the time of apartheid Nelson Mandela drove around South Africa in a limousine disguised as a chauffeur while organizing the armed struggle against the apartheid regime. But who was the distinguished looking white man sitting in the back seat? Meet Cecil Williams, an acclaimed gay white theatre director and communist.

Legacy

Legacy is a South African telenovela which follows the wealthy Price household, a family at war with itself after the patriarch announces he is stepping down, creating a power vacuum.

Shaka Zulu

South Africa, 1823. The Zulu Empire, headed by King Shaka, a brilliant but ruthless military strategist, begin to encroach on the British colony of Cape Town. A volunteer cadre of explorers, mercenaries and professional soldiers are sent to Zululand to try to make contact with Shaka and assess the real threat of his army.

Hostage

The leader of a South African Nation is imprisoned. His followers, led by Zabo, hijack a plane with the intent to use the passengers as hostages to trade for his release. They select a plane carrying a religious leader to use as their main hostage. They soon learn that they have an added bonus of the daughter and grandson of Colonel Shaw, a bigwig in the country. The grandson all the while has to cope with the dual problems of being hijacked and held hostage while needing a kidney transplant. The hijackers have everything in their favor, except that the colonel's daughter is the sweetheart of Major Sam Striker. Striker puts together a band of mercenaries and sets about freeing the hostages.

Cry, the Beloved Country

A South-African preacher goes to search for his wayward son who has committed a crime in the big city.

Jewel

While visiting a massacre memorial, a photographer finds herself drawn to a local woman. But their romance stirs up painful memories of a shared past.

King Solomon's Mines

Renowned safari hunter Allan Quatermain is lured back into the unknown recesses of the African jungles to find a man who disappeared while searching for the fabled King Solomon's Mines--a destination of legendary riches from which no soul has ever returned alive.

Sarafina!

The plot centers on students involved in the Soweto Riots, in opposition to the implementation of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in schools. The stage version presents a school uprising similar to the Soweto uprising on June 16, 1976. A narrator introduces several characters among them the school girl activist Sarafina. Things get out of control when a policeman shoots several pupils in a classroom. Nevertheless, the musical ends with a cheerful farewell show of pupils leaving school, which takes most of act two. In the movie version Sarafina feels shame at her mother's (played by Miriam Makeba in the film) acceptance of her role as domestic servant in a white household in apartheid South Africa, and inspires her peers to rise up in protest, especially after her inspirational teacher, Mary Masombuka (played by Whoopi Goldberg in the film version) is imprisoned.

Mr. Bones

A medicine man is sent looking for the son of his tribal king, and brings back an American golfer and a host of goons intent on keeping him in the golf tournament.

Bridge of Time