A South African Censor's Tale

Kobus van Rooyen was the Chairman of the Publications Appeal Board from 1980-90. Under his leadership phenomenal steps were taken towards freeing South Africa from the clutches of apartheid censorship of books, films and public entertainment. Earlier banned books such as Magersfontein(Leroux), Looking on Darkness(André Brink), Lady Chatterley'¬"s Lover(DH Lawrence), Portnoy'¬"s Complaint(Roth) were all unbanned. The absolutist approach of cutting films to pieces was replaced by age-restricted films where adults were trusted to see the original product '¬ ; therefore, films such as Clockwork Orangeand Jesus Christ Superstarwere passed. The book also addresses why The Last Temptation of Christdid not pass in 1989 and was indeed permitted to be broadcast in 2008 '¬ ; both under his chairmanship. And what ultimately happened to Salman Rushdie'¬"s Satanic Verses. Ultimately the paradigm was shifted completely in films and publications regulation in the eighties: from no to yes, from distrust to trust, from fundamentalism to realism, from despotism to democracy. This book is autobiographical, sketching the delights of freedom of expression in the 1980s in an informal and often humoristic style; of course, also with the pains which it brought to the personal life of the author, when he and his family personally suffered at the hand of rightwing elements for the passing of the Attenborough film, Cry Freedom.

The author was chairman of the Publications Appeal Board from 1980 to 1990. After his term expired, he was elected chairman of the Press Council and shortly afterwards chairman of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, a position he still holds today. He also chaired the Ministerial Task Group which drafted the new Films and Publications Act from 1994 to 1996.