1:00:03

OPENING CREDITS

1:00:15

TITLE

MAYIBUYE ARCHIVES

1:00:23

BRETT MURRAY

It’s a exhibition called Towards a People’s Culture. I can’t remember. I think it was in ‘eighty-six. And the day before the- the opening, uh, of the exhibition, which was banned by the state. I think I did this one. Or the collective that I was in did it. But it looks very familiar. I’m gonna have to ask my friends. (chuckles)

1:00:59

TITLE

South Africa’s first democratic election in

1994 was the official end to the system of

racial segregation known as apartheid.

1:01:09

TITLE

The African National Congress (ANC) won

the election and Nelson Mandela became

South Africa’s first black president.

1:01:17

TITLE

Jacob Zuma has been the president

since 2009, an era increasingly plagued

by corruption, violence and inequality.

1:01:25

TITLE

This is a portrait of artists

living and working in South Africa

twenty years after apartheid.

1:01:33

XANDER FERREIRA

My name is Diederich Stefanos Alexander Ferreira, AKA Gazelle. I’m the tenth generation born South African. In sixteen fifty-eight my Portuguese ancestor jumped ship on the southern tip of Africa. I grew up on a farm in the Limpopo province close to the border of Mozambique. In nineteen ninety-four, at the age of thirteen, I left an all-white grammar school and moved to a mixed high school in a new, democratic South Africa.

[AD-LIBS]

1:02:15

OPENING CREDITS CONTINUE

1:03:12

MAIN TITLE

shield

and

spear

1:03:23

TITLE

South Africa has one of the

most progressive constitutions

in the world.

1:03:30

TITLE

It’s Bill of Rights includes the rights

to human dignity, education, housing

and freedom of expression.

1:03:38

BRETT MURRAY (VO)

I believe in the freedom of absolute freedom of expression and the- the freedom to transgress.

1:03:45

TITLE

In 2012, President Zuma and the ANC

sued two different artists for work that

they deemed offensive.

1:03:51

LLOYD GEDYE (VO)

I find the debate around freedom of expression, people become very emotional about it. It’s a very emotional thing, and sometimes people forget that every right has a responsibility.

1:04:01

TITLE

LLOYD GEDYE

Arts & Business Reporter

Mail & Guardian

1:04:01

LLOYD GEDYE (CONT’D)

So just because you have a right to express yourself and say what you want doesn’t mean you should.

1:04:07

ZANELE MUHOLI

People in my scene dream of freedom of expression. People must live and express freely...

1:04:13

TITLE

ZANELE MUHOLI

Artist & Activist

1:04:14

ZANELE MUHOLI (CONT'D)

in every other way, and be respected as well. And be respected as well.

1:04:23

TITLE

CAPE TOWN

1:04:30

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Brett Murray)

At the moment there’s quite a fun project.

There’s a fundraiser for the National Sea Rescue Institute,

1:04:35

TITLE

BRETT MURRAY

1:04:39

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Brett Murray)

and this comes out of the last show which I’ve done.

The original said “Asiyi e Khayelitsha,”

Which is “get out of Khayelitsha,”

1:04:48

BRETT MURRAY

And we demand houses, security and comfort.

1:04:52

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Brett Murray)

I’ve just twisted the words around and I’ve said

“amandla,” which means “power,”

and it says, “we demand Chivas Regal, BMWs and bribes.”

Traditionally, my default setting is kinda political satire

and social commentary.

And I’ve been doing that pre 94.

You know, with the old regime.

To my last show, which was being quite aggressive

in attempting to satirically nail

the new powers that be, and

it got

a massive response from the state.

1:05:31

BRETT MURRAY

It was using kitsch Soviet iconography and combining that with images from the history of the struggle, sort of satirical vision of the greed and corruption of the new power, the ANC. And it was met with some animosity in Cape Town, and I had the same show up in Johannesburg, except I included a painting which I did of, uh, Zuma.

1:05:59

TITLE

president Jacob Zuma

1:05:59

BRETT MURRAY (VO) (CONT’D)

Everyone’s had a go at him because of his sexual mores. I have no issue that he’s kind of...

1:06:04

TITLE

Zuma with his four wives

1:06:04

BRETT MURRAY (CONT'D)

culturally in polygamous relationships. That’s neither here nor there, but he has sort of gone outside the bounds of those, um, cultural practices. You know, he’s fucked around basically, and like anyone, whether it’s Berlusconi, Clinton or Prince Charles, whoever is a public figure fucks around, you’re gonna get hammered. I took, uh, an old Lenin poster, transposed his face on it and put on an exposed dick.

1:06:36

TITLE

THE SPEAR

1:06:38

BRETT MURRAY

And then the shit hit the fan, I suppose.

1:06:46

JACOB ZUMA (VO)

We are here to defend the dignity of the ANC.

1:06:57

TITLE

SOWETO

1:07:05

TITLE

the smarteez

[WALLA]

1:07:10

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Sibu Sithole)

That’s us, and that’s us.

Summer/spring for SA Fashion Week.

That’s a picture of me a long, long time ago.

That’s the first thing I ever made

1:07:21

FLOYD AVENUE

Cool.

1:07:22

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Sibu Sithole)

when I became a designer.

I didn’t want to put shoulder pads on this thing.

But, I was feeling so frumpy. You know, it was like...

No, dude, you need shoulder pads.

I should have made the collar actually this pink.

1:07:34

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Floyd Avenue)

You do what can actually help you survive to the next day.

You might love doing the men’s stuff more, but

in terms of the clientele you get...

1:07:44

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Sibu Sithole)

I’m actually a male designer,

1:07:45

FLOYD AVENUE

Yeah.

1:07:45

TEEKAY MAKWALE

Yeah.

1:07:46

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Sibu Sithole)

But, we make more female clients.

Cause females are the ones who bring money.

1:07:52

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Sibu Sithole)

Smarteez is a clothing brand on its own.

In Smarteez each designer has their own line.

And Teekay is a stylist.

Obviously I’m the crazy one.

Floyd is the more, I don’t know,

Floyd is halfway formal and halfway a little crazy.

Thabo is the tailor in the group.

Teekay is the vintage one.

He’s vintage from his clothing,

to his shoes, to his bags, to his blankets.

1:08:13

SIBU SITHOLE

Just-- So, yeah.

1:08:15

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Sibu Sithole)

And then when we get together,

we create the brand Smarteez.

There was a lot of us people

who dressed up back in the day.

We were funky, and people thought we were crazy,

and people thought we were gay.

After a while

it became apparent that we need to

let’s do something.

Let’s not just look cool and go to parties,

That’s when we became a “movement.”

They call us a “movement.”

1:08:35

SIBU SITHOLE

(laughs)

1:08:58

TITLE

limpopo

1:09:04

XANDER FERREIRA

This is where we play rugby, and it’s a pretty nice (chuckles) nice place to be here.

1:09:10

TITLE

XANDER FERREIRA

1:09:10

XANDER FERREIRA (CONT’D)

So the thing is like when I was in primary school, yeah, it was not mixed. There was only white children. But now today, um, there’s actually more black children in this school than white children. It’s more a reflection of the- of what it really is, you know?

1:09:26

TITLE

Less than 10% of South Africa’s population

is white. On average, they make six times as

much money as the black population.

1:09:32

XANDER FERREIRA (VO) (CONT’D)

I’m a Afrikan speaking, Caucasian white guy born in Africa, on a farm close to a place called Ohrigstad. I would say I grew up in quite a complicated environment. I love it here. It’s beautiful, it’s my home, it’s where I was born, it’s where I grew up. And, on the other hand, I was completely against the- the way that people lived in this community, and I broke free from that, and I wanted to be different.

1:10:02

XANDER FERREIRA (CONT’D)

I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with this place because, you know, it’s super-conservative and religious and the whole vibe, and, you know, I live in a different world. So it makes it difficult to come back, but I realized the best thing for me to do is not to try and change people, but just rather accept people, you know? There’s a lot of great, great things about the place, but there’s a lot of things that I really don’t like. You know, like I don’t like racist people, and there’s a lot of racist people here. So people don’t get along here all the time, so I don’t like that old vibe here. You know, that pisses me off a lot.

1:11:04

XANDER FERREIRA (CONT’D) (VO)

When I grew up, it was a strange relationship, because most of my good friends was children of the farm workers; that is, black and that is extremely poor people, and you are the child of a farmer who’s the boss of their parents, so I remember simple things, like we’re in a swimming pool, like a really simple swimming pool that you pitch up, and the workers’ children, they were not allowed to swim in the swimming pool, but we were allowed to swim in the swimming pool. So I guess you just go with what you are told. The community, your parents, the church, people that influence you and tell you this is the way that it works. But, yeah. Yeah, you’re kind of, you know, you’re born into, um, really, really strong Protestant religion, you know, so um, and very conservative. And this is school, the Dutch Reformed Church that I grew up in-- the (unintelligible) Kerk.

1:11:59

XANDER FERREIRA (CONT’D)

The older I got, the more I questioned it, and uh, I met people from different backgrounds, from different races, that was all good people, so how can these people not have the same rights than me?

[AD-LIBS/LAUGHTER]

1:12:17

XANDER FERREIRA (CONT’D)

She’s seen me on TV, like dancing (chuckles) and--

1:12:26

TITLE

moroka dam, Soweto

1:12:28

FLOYD AVENUE

Now, what we gonna do...

1:12:31

TITLE

FLOYD AVENUE

The Smarteez

1:12:31

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Floyd Avenue)

We gonna have a flash mob fashion show.

Now, we’re trying to find models.

We found one already.

And yeah, we’re finding models on spot

and doing a fashion show on spot.

[OVERLAPPING AD-LIBS]

1:12:48

MILISUTHANDO BONGELA (VO)

They live in an area, it’s like it’s got a high density of, you know, what South Africa and what Africa is. It’s mostly black, only black people in town, actually. And then they- they- they went to schools like the University of Johannesburg and Wits, and they went to former Model C schools, which were reserved for whites’ children back in the day, So, for me, what they represent is- is the- is the middle of the commute between growing up in a township...

1:13:14

TITLE

MILISUTHANDO BONGELA

Writer

1:13:14

MILISUTHANDO BONGELA (CONT'D)

and- and going to the suburbs every day and interacting with whites, well, traditionally white spaces, like the malls and the schools and that culture. It’s brand new. It’s something that didn’t exist in South Africa before nineteen ninety-four. The attitude that comes with that is that, you know, nouveau African confidence that is just like finally we have the physical and psychological space to be the people that we were born to be.

[WALLA/AD-LIBS]

1:13:48

FLOYD AVENUE

I feel like South Africa, and Joburg specifically, it’s like the Mecca of creativity around the world now. It’s like the music that’s coming out of Joburg, the art, the fashion, it’s a great place to be. Unfortunately, when it comes to the financial side, yeah, that’s- that’s- that’s- that- that’s when it gets a bit tough, you know?

1:14:16

FLOYD AVENUE (CONT’D)

It’s just that...

1:14:17

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Floyd Avenue)

Now, I wanna get back into painting again.

But, it just cost so much you know.

It hurts my work. It helps my work.

You’re in a country where

everything needs to be fought for

before you can get it.

You kind of become an innate fighter.

Which for me, I love and appreciate and

think it’s an advantage,

more than just having everything handed to me

on a silver platter.

1:14:48

FLOYD AVENUE (CONT’D)

Africans don’t actually like these hats, because they have a colonization, uh, connotation attached to them. Because they’re called like pith helmets. Those heavy, heavier ones that were helmets, and when Africa was being colonized, this- this mi- military wore hats that are almost like that. And, yeah, so they always point at me like-- (clicks tongue) “What’s wrong with you? Why are you wearing a colonial hat?” Why not? You make it look cool.

1:15:26

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Floyd Avenue)

I’m trying to free myself, you know,

from community stigmas or

expectations of the community.

It’s like, if you’re a normal person,

this is how you dress.

You need to understand that

black culture is very conservative,

you know.

It’s like, this is the way things are done,

this is the way a man should look like.

There’s a lot of emphasis on that

when you are being raised, you know.

I’m this guy.

I’m straight.

I’m not even gay, and then

I’m wearing skirts, you know.

My mother didn’t understand, like,

why are you writing skirts?

1:16:07

FLOYD AVENUE (CONT’D)

You know? And...

1:16:09

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Floyd Avenue)

I got called a lot of names.

Got sworn at by a lot of people and...

But, for me it was just OK,

it’s those type of things that just build me.

Now, like I really have something to fight against.

So, it’s like, that keeps me going.

Maybe I don’t like being comfortable.

I don’t know.

1:16:37

XANDER FERREIRA

And if you were different and you came back here, you had to eat up so much shit, man. You know, like just to- to be different, just to be yourself, you know, like if you didn’t wear the clothes that they were wearing, people would attack you. If you didn’t say the things that they were saying, they would attack you. If you didn’t believe in what they believe, they would attack you. You know, therefore, I devised a character for myself to speak through, and that character became Gazelle.

1:17:15

XANDER FERREIRA (CONT’D)

I’ve almost used it as a mask or a shield to protect myself as a person, because I would say some things that would upset people from my own culture.

1:17:44

XANDER FERREIRA

One of the characters and one of the outfits that I put together was this leopard hat, and wow, this character is a little bit shocking because it’s so wrong, you know? (laughs) African dictator, like Mbutu say, it’s (unintelligible) the hat. A white guy who’s supposed to be a colonialist.

1:18:06

TITLE

NICK MATTHEWS

DJ Invizable

1:18:11

NICK MATTHEWS

Let’s- let’s do it, guys. Let’s go.

1:18:12

XANDER FERREIRA

You ready?

1:18:34

TITLE

Johannesburg

1:18:39

MPUMI MCATA (VO)

It’s all fucking political, right?

1:18:41

TITLE

mpumi mcata

1:18:44

MPUMI MCATA (CONT’D)

It’s all political. I mean, when we walk on stage, it’s political. People come up to us after the show. We didn’t play one political song. We didn’t do a song about politicians, do a song about love. We’re just singing about space and the universe and feeling vibes, and somebody will come up to us and be like, “Yeah, brother. You know, like that’s power, you know. Love what you’re doing, man.”

1:19:05

TITLE

THE BLK JKS

1:19:05

MPUMI MCATA (CONT’D)

I think in some- in some ways, we can call it political, uh, what The Blk Jks do. Because it does affect people in a- in quite a- in quite a strange way, you know? Like a call to- call to action of sorts. Like you can be, like you can do whatever you feel to do, and- and I believe- I believe that’s political.

1:19:40

ZANELE MUHOLI (VO)

Zanele Muholi. I (unintelligible), Johannesburg, South Africa. I work with human beings...

1:19:46

TITLE

ZANELE MUHOLI

1:19:47

ZANELE MUHOLI (CONT'D)

who happen to be gays and lesbians and bisexual and trans people. Some people might not like what I do, what I say, ‘cause it’s queer, basically.

[AD-LIBS]

1:20:00

ZANELE MUHOLI (VO) (CONT’D)

We have a lot of laws in place that are meant to protect us. We have won a lot of battles to ensure that the freedoms of LGBT individuals are fully respected. In my head space, I thought that you change the laws, you change the image as well. The way in which the mainstream media reports on LGBT individuals needs to be positive, because we come from a space of sensationalism. We come from a space in which people get shock when they read about gay or lesbian or trans people, which is why I do what I do to ensure that to preserve a visual history that speaks to us, and also to inform a lot of generations to come. Presently, I’m not doing this alone. I’m working with like a collective of creative thinkers. So we produce work to educate people, and especially those people who are on the margins of our society, so each person knows that she or he is not alone wherever she’s at.

1:20:58

ZANELE MUHOLI (CONT’D)

I don’t. All I know is that I have a dream, and that that dream is simple. We document our histories, we look back, we all do stories and that’s that.

1:21:07

ZANELE MUHOLI (VO) (CONT’D)

The name of the collective is called Inkanyiso. Uh, Inkanyiso, it’s...

1:21:11

TITLE

Inkanyiso collective

1:21:11

ZANELE MUHOLI (CONT'D)

uh, basically means illumination or the one who brings light, and it derives from my nephew’s name, who was fifteen years old, two thousand and six, and he committed suicide. Uh, his name was Inkanyiso. And I just thought to myself, if I could start a project, to create a platform in which people could tell their stories without being judged. Uh, my nephew died without having an opportunity to tell his story or even expressing what he was going through. So we buried him in two thousand and six, and I- and I don’t want other people not to have a space or a- a platform to express themselves.

1:21:54

TITLE

SIYABONGA MTHEMBU

1:21:58

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Siyabonga Mthembu)

I think I need to put you in light of what

the idea of being political in South Africa is.

Our youth are sitting

in an unemployment issue.

Our example, The Brother Moves On, is that,

we were unemployed individuals

you know, who got together and decided that,

you know what, we have some cultural capital.

But, the youth is thought to be apathetic,

and that we don’t care about what’s going on,

we don’t care about our history,

we’re not engaged in what

South Africa is, or was.

But what’s weird is,

as soon as you start engaging with that,

they want that engagement

to be along the bipartisan lines

which have been drawn for ages.

So, you’re either for the majority black party,

or you’re for the minority white party.

1:22:43

TITLE

The Brother Moves On

1:22:55

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Siyabonga Mthembu)

I’m not political for the sake of being

a supporter of the ANC or the DA.

1:22:59

SIYABONGA MTHEMBU

They don’t want to engage you in building. They want you to tag along for their ride.

1:23:12

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Brett Murray)

Some people might have thought

well that’s gonna be a problematic work.

I mean my wife and my mother

when I was painting it here,

I was gonna send it up to Joburg for the show,

both of them said:

“Brett, that painting is gonna get you into shit.”

And I said:

“Well, it won’t, it’s just a gallery.”

You know, I didn’t see it coming.

1:23:35

BRETT MURRAY

That’s, uh, a work based on a photograph of, um, the march on the gallery, where there was a practice march. So that’s one of the photographs now.

1:23:49

BRETT MURRAY

Well, it was coordinated by Blade Nzimande, which, uh, who is the Minister of Higher Education, and the head of the South African Communist Party. It was, uh, Gwede Mantashe, who’s the General Secretary of ANC, and then they enlisted five thousand people, which ostensibly the most cynical would say that they bused in unemployed people from the Limpopo in order to, you know, get the crowds. But it was pretty angry and pretty militant in them calling for the burning of the artworks, et cetera, which is a bit scary.

1:24:36

BRETT MURRAY

You know, it just reminds you of Nazi Germany. It reminds you of Pol Pot, Russia, China. You know, any kind of fascist country calls for the burning of art and culture, no matter how transgressive it might appear to be. Quite a scary thing to watch and I just felt compelled to make something about it.

[WALLA]

1:25:06

BRETT MURRAY

One of the immediate responses from the state was to fan the populist flames of racism, and being in a country which is kind of tinder dry, those kinds of populist now, you know, those- those will take. And, you know, ten to one, they might be right. You know, if they, the assumption was that, as a sort of a fifty-year-old, white artist, you’re gonna be doing anti-ANC stuff, you know, the- the- the masses were, “Well, he’s obviously is a racist. He’s kind of an apartheid apologist. But they were wrong.

1:25:45

NEIL DUNDAS (VO)

Brett has worked with our gallery for twenty odd years now.

1:25:49

TITLE

NEIL DUNDAS

Goodman Gallery

1:25:49

NEIL DUNDAS (CONT’D)

He has always been a- a voice of powerful protest, and a very irreverent voice at that. The fact that The Spear happened to have had a male genital member present in it made it, in an election year, quite frankly, suitable fodder for the political handlers to make hay with. But the exhibition had been up for nine days by the time the newspaper article in City Press, which was the first real occasioning of a major outcry, appeared.

1:26:22

FERIAL HAFFAJEE (VO)

City Press, a couple of years ago, really began to invest in our arts reporting, so we hired in good people, um, one of the best being a writer called Charl Blignaut. And when he came with Brett’s work...

1:26:34

TITLE

FERIAL HAFFAJEE

Editor in Chief

City Press

1:26:34

FERIAL HAFFAJEE (CONT'D)

we could see the obvious value in it. It was very trenchant messaging, um, highly satirical and completely in your face. And we went through big internal discussions about the, uh, presentation of- of genitals, how we should do it, whether we should use that work, et cetera. So I wasn’t entirely surprised, um, when the debate happened.

1:26:57

FERIAL HAFFAJEE (CONT’D)

The review came out on a Sunday. It was picked up a little bit by people who had noticed it. It only really grew legs the following week when other journalists took it to the ANC and showed it to them, because obviously, they hadn’t gotten to that part of the paper, um, and that’s when they, um, first demanded that we pull it down off our website, because by then the paper was sold, it was on the website. We said no, and day after, this- the s- the lawsuit came.

1:27:26

TITLE

The ANC filed a lawsuit against the

Goodman Gallery, Brett Murray and City Press,

demanding to have the painting removed.

1:27:47

ATIYYAH KHAN (VO)

Uh, Gazelle kind of got a crush of audience from the start, because it wasn’t just a white guy putting on music for white people.

1:27:55

TITLE

ATIYYAH KHAN

Journalist

1:27:55

ATIYYAH KHAN (CONT’D)

I mean, it is very rare for a contemporary musician to be drawing in influences and even listening or thinking about indigenous music. Especially if he’s white and he’s Afrikans.

1:28:12

XANDER FERREIRA

My dad always-- He called me, uh, a (speaks foreign language), which means someone that is sitting on the fence, you know, that is not choosing a side. I always say to him, “Yes, but I can’t choose a side, because the things I feel, anyone that chooses a side is against someone else, and I don’t want to be against somebody. There must be a way to be for everybody.

1:28:34

XANDER FERREIRA

We’re driving into Khayelitsha now. It’s the neighborhood of Yolanda and of Iwe, the dancers that have been working with us for the past couple of years, and they also turned into singers and producers and all kinds of talent, so they always said, “Like, why do we always have a party in Cape Town,” and this and that, so they said they wanted to organize a party in their neighborhood, which is Khayelitsha. And, I mean, people no- don’t normally come here because it’s a township with a ghetto, so they’re scared to come here. The only people that picked up was Europeans. (laughs) They up and join us for the party. But hey, man. At least we get to share, you know?

1:29:16

XANDER FERREIRA (VO) (CONT’D)

Fear is that tool that- that really, really divides us, and even just the fear of someone from Cape Town going to Khayelitsha, the only people...

1:29:27

TITLE

Khayelitsha

1:29:28

XANDER FERREIRA (CONT'D)

that came with- only white people that came with was, uh, a bunch of German and Dutch models, you know, because they were like, “Oh, yeah, let’s see the township.” Someone that is just a middle-class, simple white person that also knew about the party, they didn’t come, because they’re scared.

1:29:51

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Yolanda Fyrus)

The place that we’re going to do our thing

1:29:53

TITLE

YOLANDA FYRUS

Singer & Dancer

1:29:53

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Yolanda Fyrus)

it’s called Cheap Cheap Tavern.

Cheap Cheap means that

we’re going to get booze for less.

We’re going to party.

That’s what we’re going to do.

1:30:06

XANDER FERREIRA

But the first times that I went to Khayelitsha was really through Yolanda and (unintelligible). When we were preparing for shows, I would go to Khayelitsha, and we would rehearse there, that we were always shocked when they heard I’m from South Africa, and even more shocked to hear that I’m Afrikans, white Afrikaner (unintelligible) (chuckles) dude, you know? So the way that people in Khayelitsha, for instance, think about anyone that’s Afrikans and white South African is also not really the true perspective.

1:30:39

XANDER FERREIRA (CONT’D)

This area is Tygerberg. It’s a part of a area called Bellville, which is a neighborhood outside of Cape Town, and it’s a predominantly white neighborhood, predominantly Afrikan-speaking neighborhood. It became famous as place for Afrikans rock and roll, you know? It uh-- A lot of bands originated from here, like the guys we’re gonna meet now. In the- in the bigger scheme of things, I think it’s very segregated.

1:31:16

XANDER FERREIRA (VO) (CONT’D)

South Africa today is like kind of a Wild West scenario where people don’t trust each other in a sense. You know, they like just living in their own bubble, you know, and survival, so I don’t know. I think you need to know your history, man, you know? Because pretty much every nation in the whole world fucked somebody else some way.

1:31:40

XANDER FERREIRA (CONT’D)

From my culture, I’m the first generation that has not been at war. My great-grandfather, he was sitting in Sentilina as a- as a political prisoner, you know, because he didn’t want to kiss the seal of the Queen of England. What is the difference between my great-grandfather that was oppressed and- and your father that has been oppressed?

1:32:03

TITLE

The Afrikaner party, NP, governed the

country for half of the 20th century

and instated the apartheid system.

1:32:09

XANDER FERREIRA (CONT’D)

If we look at the past really, really carefully, we can see what would be the right moves to do in the future, you know? My family, if I look back over the generations, the first time that they...

1:32:22

TITLE

BELLVILLE

1:32:22

XANDER FERREIRA (VO) (CONT'D)

believed they were free was when they oppressed other people.

1:32:25

TITLE

FOKOFPOLISIEKAR

(fuckoffpolicecar)

[WALLA]

1:32:31

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Francois van Coke)

Yeah, this girl she kinda did her

master degree thesis on the lyrics of the band.

And then she asked us if we were interested

if she writes a biography.

1:32:41

MAN #1

(overlapping) Well, she- she uh, she did quite a bit of research and quite a mission, and did quite a good job, we think.

1:32:47

HUNTER KENNEDY

I’ve read a bit of that, um, thesis, and it’s extremely boring as you’re getting back to--

[OVERLAPPING AD-LIBS]

1:32:54

HUNTER KENNEDY (CONT’D)

Trying to justify us academically. You know, there’s, um, a bit of a academic Afrikans literary timeline. You know, that- that um, just wanted to latch onto that and sort of place us, as opposed...

1:33:06

MAN #1

(laughs)

1:33:07

HUNTER KENNEDY (CONT'D)

opposed to apartheid, socio political voice. Ah.

[WALLA]

1:33:14

HUNTER KENNEDY (VO)

I’m from Bellville, which is the northern suburbs of Cape Town. Middle class...

1:33:19

TITLE

hunter kennedy

Fokofpolisiekar

1:33:20

HUNTER KENNEDY (CONT'D)

ruled, by, um, Christianity and just, you know, kind of a general, happy mediocrity. Cars. You know, fi- fixing cars, racing cars, rugby. It’s very big. I think that’s about it.

1:33:39

XANDER FERREIRA

I remember meeting all these boys, and um, they played me the first recordings that they did for Fokofpolisiekar, and I was like, “What? Fokofpolisiekar? You like got that name as a band?” It’ll never work because, first of all, the Church is gonna shut you down. Secondly, as us Afrikans, Afrikaner people’s completely too conservative to deal with something like that.

1:33:59

TITLE

Afrikaner literally means “African.” The term

has been used for centuries by people born in

South Africa with European ancestry.

1:34:06

XANDER FERREIRA (VO)

The reaction from the Afrikans’ community was kind of overwhelming. In the beginning, it was um, was quite extreme.

1:34:13

TITLE

FRANCOIS VAN COKE

Fokofpolisiekar

1:34:13

FRANCOIS VAN COKE

Mostly, it was because of what we said about, uh, religion or- or Christianity or the (chuckles) traditional Christianity in this country. Me, personally, my dad’s a Dutch Reformed minister, and for- for my family, it was- it was quite a hectic-- Like, my mom cried for two days when she heard the band’s name for the first time.

1:34:33

TITLE

For you the knives still wait, in the bushes outside your house at night. We should be safe. We should be safe. We should be safe. We keep our conscience clear and lock our doors.

1:34:49

XANDER FERREIRA (VO)

Young Afrikans people breaking out and saying like, “I don’t have to be scared of what my parents think or what the church thinks. Like, I can actually say I’m angry.”

1:35:00

TITLE

JACO VAN SCHALKWYK

Artist

1:35:01

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Jaco van Schalkwyk)

I have memories of a stepfather who was a racist.

The kind of fear that was instilled in

people of my generation

by an older generation of thugs,

pretty extensive.

It was all over the place, church, state...

1:35:17

JAN-HENRI BOOYENS

I got lied to at such an early age,

1:35:19

TITLE

JAN-HENRI BOOYENS

Artist

1:35:19

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Jan-Henri Booyens)

Everything that you believed in,

that you thought was real,

just wasn’t. It was a massive lie, you know.

So, you start questioning these

authoritarian values and ideals.

1:35:31

FRANCOIS VAN COKE

Probably ninety-nine percent is a white- white audience here.

1:35:35

FRANCOIS VAN COKE (VO) (CONT’D)

Afrikans, the white people, I guess like are people that, um, feel the same as what we feel, kind of don’t really know their place in this country post-apartheid.

1:35:52

SUBTITLES

(sung by band)

Blood and iron, blood and land.

Blood and oil, blood and land.

Scared and lazy and desperate.

There nothing new under the sun.

And in the shadows, South Africa is burning.

1:36:07

FRANCOIS VAN COKE

A lot of people think we are very pro-Afrikaner and pro-Afrikans, which we are- are not at all. A massive percentage of them don’t have a clue what we mean. And most interpret it completely, um, to the point that it’s actually the opposite of what- what I think, uh, Monte imagined when he wrote those lyrics.

1:36:38

SUBTITLES

(sung by band)

Blood and iron, blood and land,

Blood and oil, blood and land.

Scared and lazy and desperate.

There nothing new under the sun.

And in the shadows, South Africa is burning.

1:36:57

SUBTITLES

(sung by band)

And us for you.

And us for you.

Land mines of guilt

in a one man concentration camp.

You complain about the state of the nation

well fucking do something about it.

Burn South Africa.

1:37:19

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Jaco van Schalkwyk)

If we do our work

in terms of redefining ourselves,

as we should,

then the bile that my generation

still deals with

gets removed.

1:37:38

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Yolanda Fyrus)

Khayelitsha is the best place for me.

1:37:39

TITLE

YOLANDA FYRUS

1:37:41

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Yolanda Fyrus)

Khayelitsha is the best place for me.

Yeah, there are some crime, but,

people here are so caring.

They are so united.

1:37:51

YOLANDA FYRUS

It’s like where you live, you don’t even know your neighbor where in towns like-- (chuckles) The only thing that you know is like you greet there someone, like, living next to you. But here in Khayelitsha, it’s- it’s more different because you know someone. If you run out of something, you can just speak to a neighbor and ask for it. And also, that greeting thing, it’s part of our culture, like you can greet ten houses without getting tired, like that I’ve greet them, I’ve greet them. But see, that’s how it is. So, Khayelitsha, I will still want to live here. Even I will get a house, I would want to buy a house here.

1:38:26

XANDER FERREIRA

Yolanda, I met just by pure coincidence on the street one day. I was walking down St. George’s Mall. Saw a bunch of young people doing traditional dance, and they were dancing, and we started to do a few shows together, and it kind of just naturally progressed that Yolanda was somebody that was really ambitious, that stayed in contact with me and, you know, just always coming forth as someone with ambition and- and a drive and a hunger to- to achieve and to do something.

1:38:56

YOLANDA FYRUS

So, this is Khayelitsha, the whole place. That’s Site C. On top there, it’s C Section, and that’s B Section. It’s E on this other side. And this site from here, it’s A Section. So this whole place that we see here is Khayelitsha.

1:39:27

YOLANDA FYRUS (CONT’D)

My father passed away when I was ten, and then my mom passed away when I was fifteen. My dad had a, uh, liver failure, and then my mom was (stammers) was diagnosed that she was having VH-- She was HIV-positive. So, yeah, that’s how they- they passed away.

[WALLA]

1:39:58

YOLANDA FYRUS (CONT’D)

This is my bed. This is my room. It’s where I sleep. That’s where I put my makeup things, yeah. My aunts build the house. My aunt just asked the guys around here, who lives here, because normally in shacks, that how- that’s how we normally live. It’s like we are the- living as a unity. Like, if you need someone, something, someone can help you as a neighbor. It’s a- it’s a problem. It’s a problem when- when there’s fire. It’s a problem because if one shack bur- get burned, (laughs) that means I’m not safe as well. That’s how- that’s the only disadvantage that we have here, because if one shack burns, I’m telling you, five or six can all burn with the shack that we, uh, we are having here. In summer, it’s very hot, and also at night, yeah, must be careful of mosquito. If you come, just come prepared. (laughs)

[WALLA]

1:41:01

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Yolanda Fyrus)

For I to be living in the shacks

and also to be performing

1:41:05

TITLE

cheap cheap tavern

1:41:07

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Yolanda Fyrus)

with Gazelle, Spoek Mathambo,

like Lindiwe Suttle,

I want the teenagers who are growing up

to understand that like,

they can also do what I have done.

I want to be a role model to them.

[WALLA]

1:42:40

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Yolanda Fyrus)

Do I feel free?

Sometimes I do.

Sometimes I don’t.

Yes, I’m free to mix with white people.

Yes, I’m free to go to town.

1:42:53

YOLANDA FYRUS

Yes, I’m free to not- to use my passport wherever when I’m in town, like as our old parents used to do. But am I completely free? I don’t know. I don’t understand the word “free.” What does it mean? Because you can go around. You can get robbed. You can go around. You can get raped. You can go around. You can be attacked. You can-- People can just take off your phone. If I was free, like as we were promised to get a free education, but we still do pay for our ed- education. I would still study now. So I don’t know if I’m free completely, yeah, but I can talk.

1:43:38

TITLE

South Africa has the

highest reported incidence

of rape in the world.

1:43:23

TITLE

According to statistics, 20 South African

women will be raped in the time it takes

you to watch this film.

1:43:51

TITLE

mural by members of Inkanyiso

1:43:57

ZANELE MUHOLI

I have a lot of challenges that I face from time to time. One major one is that I wish I could have the best equipment ever, without thinking that I might be robbed because I own that equipment. So I think the challenges that, uh, female bodies who are (unintelligible) that they’re facing in South Africa specifically is that it’s lonely out there. We still lack a lot of female bodies occupying the truth of power. ‘Cause this is a powerful truth. Sometimes it’s lonely to be a- a lesbian, a black lesbian photographer.

1:44:37

TITLE

Ex-minister of culture, Lulu Xingwana, refused to

open a show with Zanele’s work, calling it immoral,

offensive and going against nation-building.

1:44:46

CHARL BLIGNAUT (VO)

A simple act of two women holding one another without being fully clothed, that was her form of celebrating her freedom, and when the minister saw Zanele’s work...

1:44:57

TITLE

CHARL BLIGNAUT

City Press

1:44:47

CHARL BLIGNAUT (CONT'D)

her very core was offended...

1:45:01

TITLE

EX-minister LULU XINGWANA

1:45:01

CHARL BLIGNAUT (CONT'D)

that we should condone unnatural gay sex. So I saw her recoil and become an angry, fighting person.

1:45:13

ZANELE MUHOLI

So I have a lot of issues. I have a lot of issues, and I’d be lying to you if I’d say I’m just taking photographs for fun and I would say photography is a hobby. Photography is not a hobby to me. Photography is about politics. So whatever that I’m producing, is to ensure that I push the political agenda, and if I do push it, somebody get to listen. I’m paving the way for the next person who come after me to know it that it’s okay for you to be. It’s okay. It’s okay for you to love the same gender. It’s okay for you to love the same gender without thinking that you might lose your job. I want to express myself, my love for the same gender, just like how you do to your wife. I want to be me.

1:46:11

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Brett Murray)

Then we had to go to court.

Two hours into the court hearing

the advocate kinda broke down in tears

the ANC’s case was being shredded.

They had to agree that it wasn’t racist.

And they soon realized

that they weren’t gonna win it in court.

Then the ANC really took the fight to the streets

and then huge pressures were brought to bear on the

City Press.

1:46:36

FERIAL HAFFAJEE (VO)

Um, I mean, I’ve- I’ve been a journalist and an editor...

1:46:39

TITLE

FERIAL HAFFAJEE

Editor in Chief

City Press

1:46:39

FERIAL HAFFAJEE (CONT'D)

for twenty odd years now, having worked through apartheid times, post-apartheid period, and that I can safely say that wa- that was a period of totally unexpected and fairly severe political pressure. Um, there was a massive boycott announcement. My colleagues and I did feel ourselves endangered. It’s worth noting that the newspaper was burnt in marches. There were threats to- to our phones, and several of us I think needed protection at the time, or our company insisted that we get it.

1:47:12

NEIL DUNDAS (VO)

You know, you’ve put yourself in danger, or you, you know, you might lose your life over this.

1:47:16

TITLE

NEIL DUNDAS

Goodman Gallery

1:47:16

NEIL DUNDAS (CONT’D)

Or, “You carry on with this, and we’re going to kill you.” These kinds of words were used to our director, Liza Essers, to the former owner, Linda Givon, to myself, to one or two members of our staff in Cape Town and here in Johannesburg.

1:47:31

BRETT MURRAY

People used to get necklaced in the eighties, where a tie is put around your head and you’re burned. You’re burned to death. Uh, there were a lot of emails coming, saying that I should get necklaced, and there were people milling about outside my studio, which is just around the corner from where I live. Our house is just over there, just behind these houses. And our friends were being monitored and tapped. We’re to phone from safe phones, and that’s what we used to do in the eighties, you know, under the apartheid regime. So who knows if our friends are still tapped and monitored?

1:48:07

NEIL DUNDAS

As for telephones, yes, I do think people not only were monitoring, but using and people would be called on their personal mobile phones, whose numbers apparently aren’t public, but had obviously been handed out around the- the town.

1:48:21

BRETT MURRAY

And then the absolute turning point was when, um...

1:48:25

TITLE

enoch mthembu, shembe church

1:48:26

BRETT MURRAY (CONT'D)

the spokesperson for the Shembe Church, who represents six million religious South Africans, said that I should be publicly stoned to death. That’s when I left the house and went to stay in a place of safety.

1:48:38

TITLE

Brett and his family took

refuge at a friend’s house

in the country.

1:48:42

BRETT MURRAY (CONT’D)

The lawyers, I kept on every day, I’d phone them to say, you know, “What is the safety of my family?” You know? “What is the position?” And, you know, they’d say, “It should be okay.” But when you’re living in a country when fifteen thousand people are killed a year, you know, where you get shot for fifty cents and a cell phone, you know, you don’t- don’t mess with that. So, and there were public calls for me to be stoned to death, and not a word from the state. There was no voice of reason coming from the powers that be.

1:49:22

TITLE

Despite multiple requests, we

were not granted an interview with

representatives of the ANC.

1:49:27

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Floyd Avenue)

The racial divide that’s in this country,

even the ANC, is using that to stay in power.

If black people start voting for the DA or whatnot,

the white people is gonna get back into power,

and we might get back to apartheid.

That’s very impossible now.

1:49:48

FLOYD AVENUE (VO)

And for me...

1:49:49

TITLE

FLOYD AVENUE

The Smarteez

1:49:49

FLOYD AVENUE (CONT'D)

when I- when I look at people, like I- I don’t see the being white or being black. I care more about what you can deliver as a person. But the ANC needs to- needs to have that divide to actually still have the black peoples’ vote, and the black people are the majority of the country. So if you st- if you have that divide between white people and black people, the ANC will stay in power. And they can do everything they want, and their now president can spend two hundred and six million on, uh, on security upgrades for his house.

1:50:27

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Siyabonga Mthembu)

Believe in this revolution and not this party.

And there needs to be a separation of that idea,

and there isn’t in South African’s mind,

the revolution equals the ANC.

That’s wrong.

That’s not correct in relation to history.

1:50:44

TITLE

SIYABONGA MTHEMBU

The Brother Moves On

1:50:44

SIYABONGA MTHEMBU

They were those who were given the responsibility of ushering in the freedom, which they haven’t done the greater job doing, but the revolution cannot be equated with them. They aren’t the only ones, and it’s not to take it away from those people in the ANC who have fought and have pushed and have gotten us to this point. It’s not to say that the revolution is worth nothing and we’re apathetic youth.

1:51:07

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Siyabonga Mthembu)

It’s actually totally the different thing. It’s to say...

there needs to be an understanding

that the revolution has ideals

that we’re all supposed to be living towards,

and the party may have swayed away from them.

And for that revolution to belong to all of us,

we need to have ownership of it.

1:53:05

SIYABONGA MTHEMBU

We didn’t get here because someone was good to us. We got here because we fought for something. And that’s what Mandela kept trying to say to the populace, and as much as anyone is like, “Mandela is a sell-out, Mandela sold us out,” his whole thing that he kept stressing was you need to take ownership of this. ‘Cause if you don’t take ownership of it, then you’re gonna blame me. Which is one of the lessons that’s happened. The opportunists have taken ownership by becoming party members of the ANC and siphoning money out of the state. Bit by bit, we’re seeing our- our freedoms, which were fought for, being taken away by the very same grouping of people that apparently fought for it. There was a revolution, but we will go back to those times we were very afraid of, if we’re not careful.

1:53:51

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Teekay Makwale)

My name is Teekay.

I’m a fashion stylist for The Smarteez.

Social responsibility, it was my first love.

So, it started when I

looked at the curriculum of South Africa.

Then I realized that there are problems that are happening.

1:54:05

TITLE

The Smarteez run a free,

daily after-school program in

an internet café in Soweto.

1:54:10

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Teekay Makwale)

The saga that highlighted me

is when the Limpopo school children

they didn’t have books.

And it was the third term of the year,

but they never received books to write,

books to read.

Then I feel like we need to take that initiative

just to help kids from poor backgrounds.

1:54:29

TITLE

They run the program

without any outside funding

or help from the government.

1:54:33

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Teekay Makwale)

I wanted to set up the foundation

for the kids who are at primary level,

to understand the digital world,

to interact with technology.

With my spare time, if the Smarteez don’t work,

if I don’t go out and style,

so I dedicate that time for those kids

just to help them out.

We help the young kids with English,

mathematics,

and we help them with their assignments.

We help them with reading

and understanding the words.

1:55:06

BOY

“How it works. The motor car have engines working a similar way to the petrol engine…”

1:55:15

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Teekay Makwale)

Within my society,

computer literacy is not something

that people are familiar with.

They will have anxiety and fear to use these things.

Our kids, in a sense,

they can not progress, the will regress,

if someone doesn’t do anything.

I don’t receive funding from the school.

I’m just using this place that I have,

the internet café that I have

with a friend of mine, Reginald.

We are just doing it out of love.

1:55:52

SUBTITLES

(spoken by female voice on film)

Many people dislike lesbians, because...

they fear lesbians will take men’s girlfriends.

1:55:57

TITLE

EXCERPT FROM ZANELE MUHOLI’S “difficult LOVE”

1:56:01

SUBTITLES

(spoken by female voice on film)

Men don’t want anyone

to be a man experience themselves.

When you have male feelings they don’t like it.

1:56:11

FEMALE VOICE ON FILM (VO)

That’s why the end up killing them. They end up harassing them.

1:56:15

ZANELE MUHOLI

Dealing with survivors of hate crimes sometimes become the biggest challenge, ‘cause you don’t know what to do. You have listened to some of the story. People who are broken, people who are survivors of hate crime, and then sometimes we document funerals. When you come back from the funeral, you- you’re drained. There’s nothing luxurious about that. It’s not a party. You come from a funeral, a young lesbian has been killed, and you have to deal with that. We not speaking as outside as the speaker’s inside us. The fears then becomes part of my life, and I have to deal with me on daily basis, even if I go and seek for counseling, it won’t be the same, you know. So there are so many challenges. There are so many challenges.

1:56:59

CHARL BLIGNAUT (VO)

Every lesbian in South Africa knows Zanele. She’s active in the community. People know her name. People read her blog.

1:57:05

TITLE

CHARL BLIGNAUT

City Press

1:57:05

CHARL BLIGNAUT (CONT’D)

She’s the one they contact. She’s the-- She doesn’t haven’t a car. She’s the one who gets a taxi, hires a (unintelligible) takes people for medicals, takes people to the police and insists that their statements are taken. That’s her real job. That’s what she really does. At no point has she been anything but an activist artist.

[WALLA/AD-LIBS]

1:57:50

ZANELE MUHOLI

Lesbian men, trans men, which of the spirit’s in the citizen? Yeah.

[WALLA/AD-LIBS...]

1:57:45

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Woman #1)

Did you not get them back?

1:57:49

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Zanele Muholi)

How? Do you think when a person steals from you

they say I’m going to give it back?

1:57:50

WOMAN #1

(overlapping) (speaking in foreign language)

1:57:53

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Woman #2)

Well, I was just surprised when you gave me this.

But they only stole your work?

1:57:55

WOMAN #2

Is that offensive?

1:57:56

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Woman #1)

I just saw... what I thought I had given you...

1:57:59

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Zanele Muholi)

So, who says I’m stealing to give you back?

Has somebody ever said that?

1:58:03

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Woman #1)

No, I was wondering because

I saw that you had this thing from Cape Town,

when I was doing interviews with

Vicky and Whitney.

1:58:14

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Zanele Muholi)

No, those are the ones that survived

because they were in the gender dynamics

[OVERLAPPING AD-LIBS]

1:58:18

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Zanele Muholi)

external hard drive.

1:58:19

WOMAN #2

Yeah.

1:58:21

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Zanele Muholi)

It was also just there in the house.

1:58:23

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Woman #2)

Did they just take your work?

Nothing else was stolen from your flat?

1:58:28

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Zanele Muholi)

Not the most expensive camera I own.

[OVERLAPPING AD-LIBS]

1:58:31

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Woman #2)

Not television.

1:58:32

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Zanele Muholi)

Not television, not radio

not DVD, not printer.

1:58:36

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Woman #1)

Was it not the government?

1:58:37

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Woman #2)

Hayibo (What) government?

1:58:38

ZANELE MUHOLI

(laughs)

1:58:39

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Woman #2)

I can just see them trying to provoke Zanele.

1:58:42

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Zanele Muholi)

The government doesn’t care about gays.

[OVERLAPPING AD-LIBS]

1:58:45

ZANELE MUHOLI (VO)

I...

1:58:45

TITLE

In 2012, someone broke into Zanele’s home

and stole hard drives containing her work.

They stole nothing else.

1:58:46

ZANELE MUHOLI (CONT'D)

I’m trying to recover from the loss of twenty twelve, where I lost a lot of my work from the back lot in Cape Town, and one of them was poshest areas that I thought was safe. The whole point left me depressed. So I think I died that day, but I’m still alive. I’m just breathing. I just became a living zombie. Yeah, mm. So where’s the government? What is the government? Who is the government? When does he, she come to me to rescue me? I live here. Pay taxes here. I continue to do what other people are doing, the way I think I can.

1:59:30

ZANELE MUHOLI (CONT’D)

It’s always been sex, ‘cause the picture that is projected of lesbians is blood, yeah? So you want to know what I found.

1:59:43

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Woman #1)

It’s porn.

1:59:45

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Zanele Muholi)

It’s not porn. It’s lesbians making love.

What is porn?

[LAUGHTER]

1:59:49

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Woman #2)

So, are they going to screen it on SABC?

1:59:51

ZANELE MUHOLI

What is porn? What is-- I don’t know what porn is. All I know is that we make love as human beings just like straight people do.

1:59:56

MAN #2

(overlapping) Yeah.

1:59:58

WOMAN #2

Mm.

1:59:58

ZANELE MUHOLI

When does it become porn? Is it porn just because two lesbians are making love? What is porn? Tell me what is porn.

2:00:05

ZANELE MUHOLI (CONT’D)

My work doesn’t get funded by the government, unfortunately. And if there’s anything at all that is said that has some government funds and I’m participating in it, pshh, it become something else. The unnecessary drama that took place here at Con Hill in two thousand nine, when Lulu had to open the exhibition, and she decided not to open the exhibition, that was (stammers) a government official, the Minist- the former Minister of Arts and Culture. So you ask me about what’s the government say and how do they respond to my work? I don’t know!

2:00:39

ZANELE MUHOLI (VO)

It’s fine. What- what type to use, it’s up to you.

2:00:41

MAN #2

Uh--

2:00:41

ZANELE MUHOLI

But I’m saying, be careful of this bag, because it’s not (unintelligible).

2:00:45

MAN #2

Okay.

2:00:45

TITLE

Zanele was nominated for the Index Freedom

of Expression Award in 2013, along with the

Pussy Riot Collective.

2:00:46

ZANELE MUHOLI

Yeah.

2:00:57

TITLE

Zanele won the award.

2:01:02

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Zanele Muholi)

Today I’ve been receiving a lot of calls

because people heard that I won some award in London.

In London!

Were people waiting for London?

Just because some interview was written about in Guardian

that’s when people are feeling like they want to move.

It’s so unfortunate.

People need to show respect to their own artists.

People need to show respect to their own activists.

People need to show respect to their own

human rights defenders,

because everybody benefits from the arts.

So what I’m doing is to make sure that

I get the same respect

like any other

important South African in history.

2:01:41

ZANELE MUHOLI (CONT’D)

I want to be relevant. I want to go down in history as Zanele Muholi, black lesbian photographer who once existed in this lifetime, and I’m doing exactly that. With or without government resources.

2:01:59

TV NEWSCASTER (VO)

The controversial painting of, uh, President Jacob Zuma has, in fact, been defaced. We have exclusive visuals here on the E News Channel. Here it is, uh, first time that we are now seeing these two p- uh, these two people defacing, uh, the, uh, picture known as The Spear. You can see my colleague, Iman Rappetti in the background. She witnessed the event firsthand. That was the first…

2:02:32

TV NEWSCASTER (VO)

He’s using this uh, using black paint uh, to deface uh, the painting at the Goodman Gallery.

[OVERLAPPING WALLA/AD-LIBS...]

2:02:37

TV NEWSCASTER (VO) (CONT’D)

These are the first visuals we have from inside the gallery. You can see some security, uh, detaining him there as well. Iman Rappetti was there. You’re actually seeing one of the security guards, uh, now trying to detain, uh, this young man. Police, uh, South African Police Services are, in fact, uh, on their way. These are new visuals we actually received a second ago. Uh, the curator of the Goodman Gallery has now come out to say that it looks like it’s oil-based paint that has, in fact, been used, uh, and is impossible, according to the curator, to, uh, try and remove without damaging, uh, the original. Uh, rather heavy-handed there, action there, by the, uh, security at the Goodman Gallery to try and restrain, uh, this young man. He is just one of two, uh, that went on to, uh, deface, uh, the image by Brett Murray known as The Spear. It has been hanging in, uh, the uh, Goodman Gallery for the past few weeks, but has, uh, certainly been at the, uh, center of, uh, much controversy over the past few days.

2:03:33

IMAN RAPPETTI (VO)

Well, Louie Mabokela, we understand, was a- a young taxi driver from Limpopo...

2:03:37

TITLE

IMAN RAPPETTI

News Anchor

E News Channel

2:03:37

IMAN RAPPETTI (CONT'D)

who woke up this morning with the similar intention as Barend la Grange, uh, a white man from somewhere in the East Rand, who runs a website talking about dialogue in South Africa, and for Louie it was him wanting to protect the image of the president. For Barend la Grange, he felt like this picture had the potential to tear apart South African society, particularly along racial lines. Their intentions merging on this day, same place, same time, same plan of action. It was a lot, I think, for the public to swallow, and even for me to swallow, that this hadn’t been coordinated in some way.

2:04:14

NEIL DUNDAS

We have actually been told that both parties were carrying paint in a Gaviscon bottle. I think the odds of that being purely coincidental from a young man of twenty-six who drives a taxi in Limpopo and an Afrikans, a self-styled academic who calls himself Professor on the East Rand of Johannesburg, the- the odds are nil. That’s not to say that the two men planned it themselves, but I would argue that somebody had suggested that this was going to be, uh, a good way to strike back. Who that person would be or whether it came from anybody in power, we will never know. I don’t believe that’ll ever come out. What I do think is that it was a rather staged kind of event.

2:05:01

BRETT MURRAY

That did seem kind of eerily orchestrated, or coordinated, and I’ve, uh, I wouldn’t know, you know, who would have manufactured that. But it just seemed strangely choreographed. Sort of successful, I suppose. I’m surprised at, you know, the security at the gallery. I suppose they did their best, but personally, I was kind of-- I had a sense of relief when it happened.

2:05:32

BRETT MURRAY (CONT’D)

I sold a piece at the Miami Art Fair to P. Diddy. It was the piece that was when the Goodman Gallery and the ANC, the African National Congress, when they reached a sort of a legal settlement, we placed, uh, we placed a table in front of a work that says “Promises, Promises, Promises,” which lots of people thought were deeply ironic, kind of a fitting closure to the whole saga. So anyway, that piece we had at the Miami Art Fair, and P. Diddy bought it, and suddenly there was a rush, which was a-- It’s an in- an addition of, uh, three. So I’m busy cranking out these to quite a tight deadline.

2:06:16

BRETT MURRAY (VO) (VO)

When it was settled it was a sense of relief. The temperatures would drop, and I could get on with my life. But I think all of us, the gallery included, we would have, in hindsight, preferred to have pushed it to the end, and got a winner at the Constitution Court. But it would have been very uncomfortable for all of us.

2:06:39

NEIL DUNDAS

We issued a statement saying that we would welcome an engaging future with bigger dialogue and would hope to encourage social conversation around such subjects, um, and also that we would express regret for having caused any kind of offense, but equally that we believed the work had been misinterpreted.

2:07:01

BRETT MURRAY

What happened in the end was that the, uh, City Press independently to the rest of us, her editorial staff, um, who all supported her in not taking the work off her website, she independently decided to, um, withdraw the work.

2:07:20

FERIAL HAFFAJEE

I chose to take it down because I’m a South African of the Mandela era. Um, I believe in seeking solutions, and because the- the work of art became more than itself. It became much bigger than just this one work of art. It began to touch on the still injured, um, dignity of black South African men. It began to raise issues of how black mine workers had been paraded naked, um, as a means of subjugating them. Um, it became much, much more than one act of, um, satirical art, um, and I felt that we had made our point, that we needed to move on from it. What happened subsequently, um, made me regret that decision fundamentally, because I think that we were just used as political pawns in a much, much bigger game, and I’ve said many times since then that knowing what I do now, knowing what the ANC is today, I would never have taken that down.

2:08:18

TITLE

LLOYD GEDYE

Arts & Business Reporter

Mail & Guardian

2:08:19

LLOYD GEDYE

I think that the ANC is solely responsible for the fact that it became such a heated issue, uh, and caused so much division in South African society. I think if the ANC had left the- left the painting or the exhibition alone, not commented on it, a few hundred or a thousand people may have seen it, and it would have been taken down, and some works would have been bought, and that would have been the end of it.

2:08:46

FERIAL HAFFAJEE

I think the ANC is a wily political organization, and it felt like its president was under threat at the time because he was facing, in seven months’ time, what looked to be a very, very difficult, uh, elective party conference. And I think it saw the opportunity to present him as a victim, and I think we just became, both Brett Murray and City Press, became useful armory for his political campaign.

2:09:14

IMAN RAPPETTI

But the debates that it threw up are- are things that we as South Africans are still unpacking to this day. Issues around race, issues around trust, trust in our government, uh, you know, what’s to happen with our society. Those questions remain.

2:09:27

LLOYD GEDYE

It was on everybody’s lips. Everybody was talking about it. It was so easy to have conversations about it, and it really was enlightening to see where people fall in the spectrum of opinion, uh, over that thing. (stammers) It- it- it, like, they were- there were very few people in the country that didn’t have an opinion on The Spear. I felt that some of the art was incredibly hurtful, had racist connotations, and at least part of- parts of it were of in very poor taste.

2:09:57

FERIAL HAFFAJEE

I grew up with work like this on my t-shirts, so I loved it because I think it’s trenchant and correct critique of how power can corrupt.

2:10:07

NEIL DUNDAS

There are issues which this painting raised which were clearly due to be engaged with long ago. It depicts a politician caught with his pants down, a leader in society whose ideas and problems of a sexual nature have been the stuff of much press and media and social commentary for years. And that refers not only to the acquittal on rape charges, and rather ignorant ideas about the transmission of AIDS, but equally a man who presides as president over a country where gender politics are more complicated than perhaps almost anywhere else in the world...

2:10:46

TITLE

Zuma’s private compound

2:10:46

NEIL DUNDAS (CONT'D)

and where, within a certain number of seconds of every day, a woman or child is raped. But we really believed then, as we do today, that the issues raised are valid, and that the picture was deliberately misinterpreted by many people for their own political agenda.

2:11:04

FERIAL HAFFAJEE

I see the m- the months or six weeks when it unfolded as a massive infringement of the expression in general, and of the press specifically, and I hope that it’s never, ever a place that we go to again, um, but that as artists and as journalists stand firm against any such, um, intrusion the nek- should it happen again.

2:11:35

MPUMI MCATA (VO)

It’s all political. The politics are in you. You, by virtue of you’re being African, ourselves as artists, whenever we play music, whenever we tour the world being South African artists, the politics of South Africa are there by default.

2:11:51

TITLE

MPUMI MCATA

BLK JKS & Motèl Mari

2:11:54

MPUMI MCATA (VO) (CONT’D)

So whether we’re talking about it or not...

2:11:56

MPUMI MCATA

Hello, hello, hello.

2:11:57

MPUMI MCATA (VO) (CONT'D)

we are addressing it simply by being. But can you paint still life, or must all your paintings be like political, you know? What about just painting a rose, you know?

2:12:14

MPUMI MCATA (VO) (CONT’D)

And I think, on some level it’s like, if you’re an African artist and you are painting a rose, just a rose, that’s- that’s political, too.

2:12:21

TITLE

Motèl Mari

2:14:18

BRETT MURRAY

We’re going to the Mayibuye, um, Archives. They hold a lot of data on, um, posters and photographic records of the eighties. It’s about the struggle. We were a bunch of, kind of a ragtag bunch of art students, and we started servicing kind of trade unions, the graphic needs of Cosatu, of the various campaigns. We threw a hunger strike, we threw funerals. We threw protest marches. We’d do banners. I’m trying to find those originals for a book that I’m putting together.

2:14:52

TITLE

MAYIBUYE ARCHIVES

2:14:58

BRETT MURRAY (CONT’D)

It’s a exhibition of photographs that we organized at the Baxter Theatre at the same time as a film festival, an anti-war film festival.

2:15:11

TITLE

poster election 1984

2:15:14

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Archivist)

And then this was the mockup for the ballot paper.

This is PAC, ANC, IFP, National Party.

2:15:25

BRETT MURRAY

The celebration of the first election was incredibly profound. Yeah, yeah. (chuckles) It was unbelievable.

2:15:36

MPUMI MCATA

But I definitely remember it like it was yesterday. It was like Christmas everywhere. You know, like those- that Christmas vibe in the house, where it was like the fridge is packed and nobody really cares how much you eat or how much you drink.

2:15:49

YOLANDA FYRUS

At night, we used to, um, create some fire, and then we would sit and sing and have fun.

2:15:57

SUBTITLE

(spoken by Sibu Sithole)

Everyone was in a hype to register.

2:15:59

BRETT MURRAY

Most people voting for the first time. That kind of a-- That celebration, it’s, uh, phenomenal.

2:16:06

SIYABONGA MTHEMBU

Long, beautiful queues, and it felt like one elongated family went in. That was truthfully a happy time. I remember people brought out their TV’s out onto the streets, and, um, set them up so we were watching the whole inauguration anywhere you were.

2:16:21

NELSON MANDELA (VO)

We enter into a covenant that we shall build a society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity, a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.

2:16:51

MPUMI MCATA

I think it was like collectively the- the whole country. As far as I could see, it felt that way. I don’t know if, on the other side of the fence, it felt like the end of days, but for us, it felt like a great beginning, y’know.

2:17:04

SIYABONGA MTHEMBU

It was- it was, yeah, it was random times. Really, like we’ve hardened now in our ideas of what it is, what it is to be South African, but back then, it was malleable. There was something which we could change if the context required of us to do so. In the name of peace, we (unintelligible).

2:17:27

BRETT MURRAY

Magnus Malan, he was the head of the army.

2:17:28

WOMAN #3

(overlapping) And Magnus Malan, and wasn’t that um--

2:17:30

BRETT MURRAY

(overlapping) And then uh, that’s P.W. Botha.

2:17:32

WOMAN #4

Yeah. There was another one.

2:17:33

BRETT MURRAY

(overlapping) And there’s another one.

2:17:34

WOMAN #4

Yeah, this must be (unintelligible).

2:17:37

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Brett Murray)

I think it’s been a kind of a,

difficult word to use as a white South African,

but, a privilege to have seen effective social change

getting rid of the apartheid regime

and being actively part of that.

And the ideas an ideologies

which were born within me

I brought with me here.

It kind of defines,

in a sense, who I am.

2:18:01

BRETT MURRAY

I mean, I’ve been out here before when I was researching my show, Hail to the Thief. Um, and I came and looked at a whole bunch of posters. I suppose it kick started some of my anger, (chuckles) in terms of the kinds of ideals that we were motivated at the time, um, and were pursuing at the time. Um, and the kinds of sacrifices that people were making to achieve those ideals and the real richness of that history and where we find ourselves now, nineteen sort of years later, where it’s kind of-- It’s just utter disappointment, I suppose. And a kind of a celebration of the change, obviously, but, uh, just a disappointment that it doesn’t seem that the current powers that be within the ANC are effecting change for everybody.

2:19:13

TITLE

TEEKAY MAKWALE

The Smarteez

2:19:18

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Teekay Makwale)

Who we are as a nation?

Who we are as a country?

What direction are we heading?

I think it will be worse.

Because we don’t need to be led by

a government who is

who’s hiding under the smoke.

Without leadership, no integrity,

we can’t, we can’t succeed.

2:19:47

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Teekay Makwale)

Even our health department is...

it’s like education, you know,

[OVERLAPPING WALLA]

2:19:52

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Teekay Makwale)

it’s no priority.

Health and education is not a priority.

2:19:57

TEEKAY MAKWALE

‘Cause those are the two fundamental things within a country, a nation, or a society. Education and health, they are priorities.

[CROWD CHANTING]

2:20:17

ZANELE MUHOLI

I have this dream of, like, running this independent media, and people express themselves without any fear, without doubting themselves, whether they’ll be heard or not. I have a dream where one runs a production company with a lot of talented queer people who showcase themselves, their talents. To me, that would mean democracy. Yeah, it means that people are really free to express and articulate the issues openly.

2:20:54

XANDER FERREIRA (VO)

I don’t know where I fit in. I’m too white to be African, but, uh, I’m too long in Africa to be European, so I still stand in the same line as the guy from Nigeria to go to Europe. I have an African passport, so I guess that kind of pretty much makes me an African, except for the color of my skin. All- all I know is I’m from here. You know, like, I was born here in South Africa. For myself, I feel African, and people must think what they think, but I don’t think that people from different cultures have enough respect for each other. I think there’s still so many unsettled feelings and emotions that people don’t share with each other. Hopefully, there’s a much more relaxed scenario and environment. It looks so relaxed and it looks so beautiful and tranquil, but I think, under the surface, there’s a storm brewing.

2:21:51

BRETT MURRAY

Well, having two small children, I hope it’s gonna be blossoming. I hope there’s gonna be food for everyone, jobs, water. You know, I hope we’re gonna get through this- this patch, and we’re gonna live in a- in a more equal, more fair society.

2:22:25

MPUMI MCATA

I would hope that we are all educated and become the force that we are and have been, you know.

2:22:36

FRANCOIS VAN COKE

Um, yeah, fuck, it starts, so--

2:22:48

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Mpumi Mcata)

I do believe in the evolution of this space, I just...

I’ve not yet seen the fruits of such, but you know

seeds are under the ground, and

eventually they sprout out

if there’s enough sunshine and light.

And I for one and this band for one

is trying to be that kind of light.

We could’ve easily just been some kids from the hood

that could easily be thrown away by this political

and socioeconomic situation.

2:23:14

MPUMI MCATA

But, um, we’ve had support systems and good parenting and good schooling to get us to this point, and if that was made available for more people in this country, I think we have the capacity, the human capacity, the sense of humility to our culture that is amazing, to build something amazing out of this space. It’s just a rebuilding process needs to take place, and this country wants to act like, to the rest of the world, that we’re done rebuilding, when we’ve got holes in our ceilings. (scoffs)

[WALLA/AD-LIBS]

2:24:43

BRETT MURRAY

Hello, sausage. Bye-byes, hmm? (kiss) See you later.

2:24:55

ZANELE MUHOLI

That’s my policy.

2:25:21

YOLANDA FYRUS

Ah.

2:25:23

SUBTITLES

(spoken by Yolanda Fyrus)

But, I believe there’s a faith you know.

There’s something I call “your faith.”

If I believe, if you believe,

and also if we believe, as South Africans,

that we can do better,

that means we can achieve better.

2:25:41

TITLE

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”

Desmond Tutu

2:25:50

CLOSING CREDITS

2:29:01

END OF PICTURE