21ICONS - Pieter-Dirk Uys

Pieter-Dirk Uys: “We are the luckiest people in the world in this country. We could have been every horror story in the world.”

21 ICONS is a showcase for the South African spirit; a tribute to the men and women who have helped to shape our country and, indeed, our world. 21 ICONS features the eleventh icon of its second season: satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys who has been using comedy and caricatured to oppose the Apartheid government for the last 30 years.

In an intimate conversation with Steirn, Uys reveals that his alter ego Evita Bezuidenhout first started as a character in a newspaper column. The plays had been banned, he says, because they portrayed South Africans living in a situation which was reputed to be normal and Christian and civilized – but was not. His characters reflected the confusions and hypocrisies of this society, earning him the outrage of the Apartheid government who lashed out him for blasphemy, obscenity and setting racial groups against each other – “which was great, coming from the architects of Apartheid.”

Having performed over 20 plays and 30 revues and one-man shows both in South Africa and around the world, Uys is committed to helping his audiences share his courage. Although the era of Apartheid may be over, he still finds plenty of subjects – from the comic to the controversial – to tackle, including South Africa’s new political regime and HIV.

Birdwatching at The Loeries Episode 3: The Energy Episode

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12 Oct 2024 08:03

Birdwatching at The Loeries Episode 2: The Emotion Episode

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11 Oct 2024 10:16

Birdwatching at The Loeries Episode 1: That 5 percent difference and more

Birdwatching at The Loeries Episode 1 focuses on that five percent difference, with special guests Wayne Naidoo, CEO of the Duke Group, Marc Algranti from Algranti Music and Nkanyezi Masango, chief creative officer from Dentsu Creative.

10 Oct 2024 10:04

Chris Botha on The MediaShop’s office move

22 Mar 2017 12:25

21 ICONS - Sandra Prinsloo

Sandra Prinsloo: “I think acting is telling people stories, telling important stories and hoping to change people through stories.”.

5 Jan 2015 10:23

21 ICONS - Taddy Blecher

Taddy Blecher: “When people are more educated and feel that they have more sense of self-worth and more value in terms of what’s inside them, they just naturally treat each other better. I think that kind of self-worth does lead to happiness, I don’t think it’s the only thing that creates happiness, but it definitely is a factor in societal happiness, on all metrics.”.

15 Dec 2014 09:29

21 ICONS - Miriam Tlali

Miriam Tlali: “A good book by itself, if it has the right messages in it, can change a person; his outlook, his persona, it can change a human being into something he never thought he could be. It can reinvent a person. That’s what a good book can do and it doesn't come through the efforts of other people, it comes from inside you.”.

8 Dec 2014 09:49

21 ICONS - Zanele Situ

Zanele Situ: “I feel happy and proud of myself that if I want something I push myself to do it, if I fall, I stand up again, this is how life is, there will be many times when you fall and you have to get up again.”.

1 Dec 2014 10:15

21 ICONS - Peter Magubane

Peter Magubane - “I used my camera as a gun. I did not want to carry a gun, and kill people. I used my camera as a weapon, and I think I was very successful.”.

24 Nov 2014 09:18

21 ICONS - Jill Farrant

Jill Farrant - “My life has been a series of near death experiences and resuscitations. I’ve had three almost fatal incidents and I've been able to, like my plants, resurrect, dry down, resurrect, and dry out again. I think the analogy goes one step further for me in that when you add a drop of water to those plants and they resurrect as for me, you have to add a drop of (holy) Spirit.”...

17 Nov 2014 10:54

21 ICONS - Anant Singh

Anant Singh - “My view on what makes a good movie and what makes a successful movie is something that is fresh. Something that is interesting, that you can give audiences an experience that hopefully they can come out of it having enjoyed something, whether it’s commercial or artistic, either of those parameters, to give them something that is new.”.

10 Nov 2014 11:06

21 ICONS - Zubeida Jaffer

Zubeida Jaffer - “I believe that I am part of a common humanity. One South Africa, one world, one universe. I’m a child of God. I've got many identities but I am not prepared to accept that I’m one thing only. We have to get people away from this idea that they’re pink and blue and white and grey. In the end, we are very close, all of us, to one another. We have the same feelings and if we get hurt, we feel the same.”...

3 Nov 2014 08:34

21ICONS - Lucas Radebe

Lucas Radebe: “During the Africa Cup of Nations in 1996 I was honoured to wear the green and gold jersey of our country and to see the national team and to represent our country as Captain, it was an unbelievable experience and a great achievement. I think for any soccer player you want to represent your country, you want to play against the best in the world and I was fortunate that I did.”...

27 Oct 2014 11:42

21ICONS - Pregs Govender

Pregs Govender: “I think that the ability of each of us is enriched by one another and the best collective comes when you have strength in each person that belongs to that group. It’s the idea of human dignity and the belief that humanity is inherent.”.

22 Oct 2014 11:43

21ICONS - Pieter-Dirk Uys

Pieter-Dirk Uys: “We are the luckiest people in the world in this country. We could have been every horror story in the world.”.

13 Oct 2014 12:53

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