Missing is the story of Robert Khalipa, an ANC cadre living in exile,
who is very senior in the organisation but is left out of the
negotiations and almost forgotten in Sweden. Robert has a wealthy
Swedish wife, Anna, and they have a daughter who is a practising doctor
in a hospital in Stockholm. There is also Robert's protégé Peter
Tshabalala, junior in the organisation, yet he gets the call to return
to South African to join the democratic government. What follows is a
story of conspiracies, lies, back stabbing and disappointments. Robert
and his family are faced with the challenges of a South Africa that has
changed radically from the one he remembers from more than thirty years
ago. The government, in his opinion, does not seem to uphold the
principles enshrined in the Freedom Charter. There is also conflict
within his own family. Robert wants to stay in South Africa, while his
wife and daughter want to go back to Sweden. Their love is tested to
breaking point and difficult decisions have to be made by every
individual. As with Kani's very successful and often-performed previous
play, Nothing but the Truth, the ambiguities of freedom and of personal
commitment are explored in this play.
