IT WAS intended to be a showcase for a modern, mature Africa, but Anthony Minghella's No1 Ladies Detective Agency film, premiered on British TV last week, has become embroiled in a row over racism.

Black extras working on the film, set in Botswana, claim they were exploited by film-makers and racially abused by white South African production staff.

They claim they were paid £5.70 for working a 12-hour day - half the going rate for extras in South Africa.

Bullying caused most offence, said Gasebalwe Seretse, a journalist on the Botswana-based newspaper Mmegi, who took a job as an extra. “The white South Africans showed us their nasty side quickly. They started bossing us around,” he said. “I strongly suspected racism because most of the bossy people were white. Batswana are not used to this. Our country was never a colony. There was no segregation as in South Africa.”

Seretse said he tried to complain about the treatment but was ignored. “I called a black South African assistant aside and told her about the bad attitude of one of her fellow countrywomen. I demanded to see somebody who would listen to my grievances...but she just disappeared for good.”

Another of the extras, actor Dan Kazonda, said: “One of the casting crew showed racist tendencies. She was very nasty to the extras, especially the locals who did not talk back.”

Kazonda added that he also received £5.70 for a day's work. “We were paid peanuts,” he said.

The film, a pilot, was the last to be shot by Minghella before he died last week and was based on the best-selling series of novels by Scottish writer Alexander McCall Smith. Filming for a further 12 episodes is due to start in the summer.

The gentle, meandering storylines follow the exploits of Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's only female detective.

McCall Smith said: “I am very sorry if anybody involved in the film was unhappy about their experience of it. I am sure any issues raised will be carefully addressed.”

A spokesman for Mirage Enterprises, the London- based production company behind the film, rejected the allegations. He said extras were paid a minimum of £8-a-day while featured extras received £12.

A spokesman for actors' union Equity said extras can expect to earn about £90 for a day's work in Britain.

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