Edutainment for Political Reconciliation in South Africa: a Comparative Analysis of Mtwa's Bopha! And Fugard's Valley Song
Mustafa H. Taha

Introduction
This paper examines entertainment education with an emphasis on the role of theater in promoting political reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa. It provides a historical background of the apartheid regime and refers to its oppressive policies. The paper uses Paulo Freire's philosophy of "conscientization" as a theoretical framework and articulates it in the South African context. The paper foregrounds the role of theater in the struggle against apartheid. The paper focuses on its central theme, which is edutainment for political reconciliation in South Africa. It examines two plays written by two South African playwrights. These works are Percy Mtwa's Bopha! and Athol Fugard's Valley Song. The paper analyzes Bopha! which is written by a Black South African in 1984, and Valley Song which is written by a white South African in 1996. The paper treats these two plays as a continuum. Though the emergence of democracy in 1994 constitutes a watershed in the South African history, the problems of the past remain inseparable from those of the future. From this perspective, the paper attempts to analyze these two artistic works and to study their value as vehicles for promoting political reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa.

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