"Wrongly Accused"

Add a Scene from the Novel
A Dry White Season

The novel tells of a scenario in which some money got missing from one of the classrooms. Two Africana teachers immediately accuse Gordan the cleaner without sufficient evidence or an investigation. It took Ben investigating thoroughly, to find out that the culprits were actually two of the school boys who were also Africana’s. This episode from the novel should have been included in the film because it supports and gives validation to the injustices that occurred in South Africa during the Apartheid Movement. Blacks were not seen as equals, and were often accused of misdeeds without fair representation in the judicial system; instead they were often viewed as different and trouble makers; and therefore, blamed without sufficient evidence. Any troubles were associated with the blacks. Africana’s believed blacks were separate and un-civilized beings in society. In the film, Ben’s wife supports this by saying to her husband that the blacks are different and nothing but trouble, and he needed to choose between the Africana’s a civilized people, and the blacks.