Sizwe Banzi Is Dead Essay | Critical Essay #2

Sizwe Banzi Is Dead Critical Essay #2

In the following essay, Brink explores the difficulties encountered by a playwright addressing social, political, and ideological problems in an artistic, moral, and existential arena.

In the play Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, which was "devised by" Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona, Sizwe Bansi is stranded without a work permit in Port Elizabeth. The only solution to his dilemma is summarized in Kafkaesque terms by his benefactor Buntu:

You talk to the white man, you see, and ask him to write a letter saying he's got a job for you. You take that letter from the white man and go back to King William's Town, where you show it to the Native Commissioner there. The Native Commissioner in King William's Town reads that letter from the white man in Port Elizabeth who is ready to give you the job. He then writes a letter back to the...
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