Is South Africa now sexist instead of racist?

For more than half of my life South Africa was a nation divided by segregation and racism. And I wish that that was the full extent of their flawed and divisive system, but the truth is that they were like this for well over 100 years. But now that apartheid is gone, South Africa seems to be moving forward to just discriminating against women.

At least this is what I get from the recent protest against Jennifer Hudson. It has been reveiled that Hudson has been picked to portray Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in an upcoming movie. And there are those in South Africa that oppose this.

The film is to be made in South Africa, with a director that is from there and made several other films about the nation and it's troubled (to say the least) past. In each of Darrell J. Roodt'd prior films (Sarafina and Cry, The Beloved Country) a mix of American and other actors too on prominent roles. That is what enabled these films to have a life outside of South Africa and to be seen across the world.

But that's not good enough anymore it seems

"This decision must be reversed, it must be stopped now," union secretary general Oupa Lebogo said in The Times. "If the matter doesn't come up for discussion, we will push for a moratorium to be placed on the film."

Now here are 2 very good questions I would ask Lebogo. First, if this film is not allowed to be made as is, who does he think will see the film and thus promote South Africa as a nation changed from the ways of discrimination and strife? Without a huge name as Jennifer Hudson, does anyone believe that this film might ever be seen in America - or likely any other nation? It may sound mean, but the fact is that I don't recall seeing a South African actor winning an award for a film made in South Africa.

The second question is a bit different but even more pertinant. Why was there no protest about Clint Eastwood's film Invictus?

It stars 2 Americans, Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman, playing prominent South Africans. It has an American director. It was filmed in South Africa, promoting that nation. But it's about men.

The film for Hudson is about women. That's the only difference. Well that and the fact the Jennifer Hudson film is even more connected to South Africa than Clint Eastwood's movie.

It seems to me that this protest in South Africa is just an admission of sexism which replaced the apartheid system in that nation. It's a repression of the people of that land. And it will ultimately hurt South African, not help it.

I guarantee that if Jennifer Hudson does not star in this film, it will be relatively unseen. The movie might be a hit by SA standards, but that's about it. A bad remake of a worse zombie film in America will outperform the SA film in numbers of movie-goers, international attention, and revenue. That's just a fact.

So before South Africa pisses of Jennifer Hudson, women, and Hollywood I think they should shut up. They need the revenue the film will bring their nation. They need the positive attention. They need the support of women as much as they needed it when Nelson Mandela was locked up and Apartheid was the rule of their land.