From left, Tsogo Kupa (Director), Dr Mnqobi Ngubane and Rehad Desai (Co-producer). (Co-producer Anita Khanna not pictured).
Hosted at the Gallagher Convention Centre from 13 to 14 March under the unifying theme, “One Story. One Industry. One Future,” the 19th annual edition of the premier national awards (SAFTAs19) recognises outstanding creative works from the past 18 months, spanning feature films, documentaries, TV dramas and soapies that have shaped the nation’s film and television landscape.
Mathonga Elizwe explores the lives of the last remaining Black communities living on white-owned land in South Africa today. These are generations of former labour tenants and farm workers who have lived and worked on this land for centuries, with legitimate claims to farmland.
“Their story needs to be told. They are forgotten people whose land claims are ignored by white landed elites and government officials alike,” explains Dr Ngubane, senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
“This documentary was borne out of years of researching labour tenant land claims. This research revealed blockages in the claims process, warranting a creative intervention – a film to lay bare the daily struggles of former labour tenants in reclaiming ancestral lands,” he adds.
Laden with visually striking imagery, the 39-minute documentary is narrated by Dr Ngubane and features aerial shots juxtaposed with historical and contemporary images of land in parts of rural KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.
It provides a platform for former labour tenants to voice their frustrations in reclaiming ancestral land, highlighting harassment by landowners and the intentional obstruction of the land redistribution process.
Their plight is emphasised by first-hand recollections of forced removals, the establishment of institutions on their land, and their struggles to maintain spiritual connections with their ancestors. One participant notes, “they have animals trampling on the graves of our forefathers,” referring to the former KwaNozekela, now converted into a game reserve.
Dr Ngubane, whose research focuses on land redistribution in South Africa and the global South, says incorporating film into his academic work was intentional.
“Documentary filmmaking enriches academic knowledge with humanity and empathetic understanding of social problems from the perspectives of marginalised people. Film visualises statistics in compelling ways, helping to inspire strategies to resolve social ills and advance social justice.”
The film was funded by the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences and the National Research Foundation. The production brought together Uhuru Productions, researchers, protagonists, land claimants and state officials involved in labour tenant land claims.
Mathonga Elizwe continues to be screened in universities, grassroots organisations and think tanks worldwide. Community screenings in the rural areas where the film was shot have had unexpected healing effects on participants.
“These screenings create space for real engagement with the administration of land claims. At each screening, a state official provides feedback,” says Dr Ngubane.
“They also allow us to descend from academic towers and engage communities on their own terms, in spaces of comfort – homes and community halls.”
For Dr Ngubane, the SAFTA award extends far beyond tokenism.
“It connects to the struggles of my parents and grandparents as working-class people on white-owned land across South Africa. The liberation I wish for the film’s protagonists is the deepening of democracy post-apartheid.”
His forthcoming film, Sechaba Sa Basotho – The Lesotho Land Question, follows a similar trajectory, highlighting the plight of Basotho migrant farm workers in South Africa.
“The film challenges their criminalisation and stigmatisation as livestock thieves and instead foregrounds their land claims on ancestral territory.”
Dr Ngubane expresses the hope that this recognition will encourage scholars to extend their work beyond conventional academic outputs by engaging the arts and humanities as critical tools for knowledge production.
He highlights the potential of such methods to deepen understandings of complex social challenges in transitional societies like South Africa, and to contribute towards more just and equitable outcomes for historically marginalised communities.
