TV & VIDEO - Nov. 17, 1988

Liberal and conservative South African opposition parties are demanding an inquiry into the financing of an anti-communist war film for which President P. W. Botha’s daughter Rozanne was production coordinator. The film “Back to Freedom”--reportedly made by a firm owned by a Botha associate and financed with more than $1 million from the government’s South African Broadcasting Corp.--opened last week and was panned by critics as an amateurish propaganda exercise. Botha’s daughter coordinated production of the film, but in the credits her last name is given as Both instead of Botha. The movie plot is based loosely on the civil war in Angola, where South African-backed rebels are fighting the Soviet- and Cuban-supported troops of Angola’s Marxist government. South African military equipment was used in the film and dozens of soldiers reportedly served as extras. The Sunday Times newspaper said it is believed the script was submitted to Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi for approval.