A teaching resource, looking at how the film can help.

"Zakes Mokae, the cabbie, tells Ben du Toit to help ´if it makes you feel good.´ Is white guilt the motivating factor behind du Toit's actions? Or is the cabbie being unfair?"

and "Zakes Mokae (cabbie) says ´Hope's a white word.´ If so, why do so many, like Nelson Mandela, struggle for so long?"

On the film, plus down the page, and worth looking for, details of Mokae. I have used some of the information from this on the site:

In a career that has spanned four decades, Mokae has courageously portrayed characters and presented theatrical productions internationally that have examined apartheid, including starring in the features A Dry White Season and Sir Richard Attenborough's Cry Freedom. His American stage appearances include the Broadway productions The Song of Jacob Zulu, which brought him a 1993 Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play, Master Harold... and the Boys for which he won the 1982 Tony Award, later recreating his work for the PBS production, and A Lesson From Aloes. His off-Broadway and regional productions include starring roles in An Attempt at Flying, The Cherry Orchard, Fingernails Blue as Flowers, Boesman and Lena, The Last Days of British Honduras and Trial of Vessey.

The most impressive performance though goes to Zakes Mokae. He has a truly awesome presence, one that convinces that he has no qualms about torturing political prisoners on a regular basis, and that he really could capture your soul and use it for his own bidding.

One of Craven's most experimental projects, a mainly successful attempt to fuse political realism with surrealistic horror. Certainly the best zombie movie in years for traditionalists who prefer the subtler non-flesh eating type. Harking back to the creepy atmosphere of early zombie classics like White Zombie and I Walked With A Zombie.

Richard Stanley's direction is intense and subtle, juggling the staples of a horror film with an examination of a country and people who have been scarred by racism, war and sexism. His female protagonist in fleeing from an abusive relationship is seeking liberation in the wasteland whereas the black policeman (a wonderful performance from Zakes Mokae) is a character already dead, destroyed by the destruction of his family in a pointless war. In any shortlist of the best South African films of the last decade Dust Devil deserves a place at the top.