The bits of molded cane and metal on the Cape Town factory floor are destined to be stars: majestic horses that flick their tails, rear up and gallop with astonishing life-like ease.

The parts -- hollow legs, heads and chesty frames -- are future giant puppets created for the hit British play "War Horse", which has taken both the West End and Broadway by storm.

South Africa's sport minister said Tuesday he still wants the country to bid for the 2020 Olympic Games despite a cabinet decision last month to instead spend money on services for the poor.

Fikile Mbalula said he hopes to convince his colleagues in President Jacob Zuma's cabinet to revisit plans for an Olympic bid, which the government vetoed after estimating it would cost $50 million.

The blue-green tinged portrait is a lurid splash of color outside the South African National Gallery, in a nod to painter Vladimir Tretchikoff who was blackballed by the art world in his lifetime.

The poster of his most famous work -- the mass-printed "Chinese Girl" -- is for the first major retrospective of the eye-popping works that earned him the labels "king of kitsch" and a "painterly Barbara Cartland".