The trial of the "Upington 25" in South Africa in 1986 saw twenty-five…
South Africa Belongs to Us
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
A film portraying the daily struggles in the lives of black women in South Africa. With observational portraits of five ordinary women, and with the insight of four women activists, the film depicts the battle of the black woman for human dignity in the face of apartheid: from the struggle for a roof over her head and food for her children, to black consciousness-raising and the total liberation of her people.
Working covertly, the filmmakers were able to gain access for the first time to places like the huge segregated barracks built for so-called migrant workers, where women are condemned to spend their lives separated from their families. A woman on one of the barren 'homelands' lives with her 13 children, forbidden to join her husband who has had to live alone in Johannesburg for 20 years.
The film looks at the life of a domestic servant in a white household who has little time to visit her own children, and at the life of a nurse at one of the few family planning clinics for blacks in Soweto. There are also scenes from Crossroads, an illegal shanty town outside Cape Town where the defiance of women has created a spirited community.
Interviewed in the film are also Winnie Mandela, the banned and banished women's leader who has become a symbol of resistance in South Africa; Fatimah Meer, an Indian sociologist who is forbidden to publish or be quoted; and Numisi Kjuzwayo, a young leader of the outlawed Black Consciousness Movement.
The power of this film comes from the women themselves, in their spirit of defiance in the face of enormous obstacles. The breadth of their experience provides a unique perspective on the system of apartheid, and on life in South Africa today.
'Highly recommended. One of the best indictments of the white South African regime.' - Time Out
'Startling in its matter-of-factness.This clandestine film presents a unique picture of everyday South Africa from five very individual, female viewpoints.'- Geoffrey Hobbs, The New Standard
'An especially hard-hitting look at the human cost of South Africa's unjust racial policies.' - Voice of Youth Advocates
'A damning tale told. Five brave black women, ranging from highly educated to the most illiterate of shantytowners, face the cameras illegally to talk of their fear and frustration under apartheid.' - Daily Mail
Citation
Main credits
Austin, Chris (filmmaker)
Austin, Chris (film director)
Austin, Chris (film producer)
Chappell, Peter (filmmaker)
Chappell, Peter (photographer)
Chappell, Peter (film editor)
Weiss, Ruth (filmmaker)
Phango, Peggy (narrator)
Other credits
Research and editorial consultant, Ruth Weiss; photographed and edited by Peter Chappell.
Distributor subjects
Africa; Human Rights; Sociology; South Africa; Women's StudiesKeywords
WEBVTT
00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:38.000
[sil.]
00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:18.000
[sil.]
00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:05.000
[sil.]
00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:18.000
[sil.]
00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:13.000
[sil.]
00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:38.000
[sil.]
00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.999
Martha Zwane who lives with
13 children (inaudible).
00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.999
Her husband lives and works in
Johannesburg, over 300 miles away.
00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.999
[sil.]
00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.999
Most families of black migrant workers
00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.999
are forced to leave in remote areas,
that the government calls homelands.
00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:24.999
It is illegal for whites to enter
these areas without permission,
00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:29.999
which is seldom granted.
00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.999
[sil.]
00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:39.999
The families rationed
to two buckets of water
00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.999
a day from a church mission.
00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:53.000
[sil.]
00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:25.000
[sil.]
00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:03.000
[sil.]
00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:23.000
[sil.]
00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:43.000
[sil.]
00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:00.000
[sil.]
00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:10.000
… and make the tea for the white people.
00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:19.999
[sil.]
00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.999
I\'ve got 20 years here, I\'m in this room.
00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.999
Last 20 years I work in this (inaudible).
They give me
00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
56 rand a month. I send
home 40 rand almost,
00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.999
I get 16 rand a month.
00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.999
Sometimes I…
00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
I eat half brown bread
00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.999
the whole day because this 16 rand,
00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.999
you can\'t eat whole month.
00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.999
(inaudible) this 40 rand a month,
00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.999
to whole month it is 40 rand. I can\'t… I
can\'t buy the clothes from my children too.
00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
If I got the Monday, got the holiday,
00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.999
I\'ll go home like go see my children,
00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
because my children, they can\'t come here.
My wife, they can\'t come here.
00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:29.999
If they come here, the policemen will
come here and catch them. They say, got,
00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.999
no allowed them to stay here. I\'m
alone, I must stay here in this room.
00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:43.000
[sil.]
00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:33.000
[sil.]
00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:33.000
[sil.]
00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:23.000
[sil.]
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
[sil.]
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
There\'s little chance of this happening.
00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.999
My face one of the dispossessed people,
on learn, discarded by the whites
00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:25.000
with no economic prospects.
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.999
Black women always uh…
00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
You look at them at any point in South
African history, they always tend to be
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
far more spontaneous. Uh…
00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
The little issues which are really the
issues which irritate, which frustrate
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
and which make the tragedy of apartheid
00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
uh… make it alive. Now
black women are always
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.999
far more conscious about these things than black
men are because their lives are far more confined
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
to the traumas and the
tragedies of apartheid.
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
There is hardly ever escape from it,
00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
their in the home uh…
they have got the problem
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
of raising the children without money.
On an average,
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
the black women at home gets
in cash about 16 rand a month
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
from the breadwinner. Now the
breadwinner may be getting the…
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.999
I think the average unskilled work in the towns
like, I\'m talking about a city like Durban
00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
would be about 80 rand, to
maybe 90 rand or maybe a 100,
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
but, you know, that would be about it.
And if he is sending home 16 rand,
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
then the meaning of apartheid for her
is converted into a sum of 16 rand
00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
which he now has to stretch
00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
to try and make it possible for
the entire family to live.
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
The average family size our
study shows of these 200 women,
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
the average family size
is six people, you see.
00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
So this is what I mean when I say
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
that the… the problems for apartheid
hit the black women the hardest.
00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
Fatima Meer was retained and banned with
other members of Black Women\'s Federation
00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
after the 1976 uprising. The
banning order for (inaudible).
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
She can not be with more then one person at a time
and she\'s constantly watched by the security police.
00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:45.000
[sil.]
00:17:55.000 --> 00:18:00.000
[sil.]
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
Winnie Serobe is a nursing sister,
00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
one of the few professional women of
the small middle class in Soweto.
00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
She has five children and she supports
the family. Every black woman
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
in Soweto must work if she can find a job.
00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:43.000
[sil.]
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
To be a mother of children in Soweto
really, it\'s very difficult like,
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
because of us leaving them very early in
the morning, coming back to them very late
00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
in the evening.
00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
We leave, some of us 6 o\'clock in the
morning and comeback at 7 pm or 8 pm,
00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
when they are just about to sleep. You don\'t
know what has happened to them during the day
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
and we haven\'t got anybody to look after our
children. We leave them to grow on their own.
00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:43.000
[sil.]
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:13.000
[sil.]
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
What really makes me sad is
the difference of salaries,
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
(inaudible) black and white. We
go through same examinations,
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
we go through same training for number
of years, we get same certificates,
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
we get same medals on our shoulders
but when it gets to salaries,
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
I don\'t earn half of what
the white nurse earns,
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
final is, not doing half of their salary.
This makes me very sad
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
and I feel it is really humiliating. By
doing sort of the same type of work,
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
if not more because we are always
social stuffed and work hard.
00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
It is a private clinic, it\'s a
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
(inaudible) Association and umm…
00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
the… It is served…
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
They even feel that\'s… because they pay.
They get genuine contraceptive,
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
unlike when they get the contraceptives
free. The government gives them free
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
and they are not happy about it. They
feel that government wants to kill
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
the black nation. Government
doesn\'t want the black people
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
to have children and once they don\'t get
children, they won\'t be future generation.
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
(inaudible)
00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
and… But we still have problem
with our teenagers. Uh…
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
We get more pregnancies
with teenagers than before,
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
(inaudible). They are young.
The… The young generation
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
uh… feels that they have got to replace
00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
the children who were
shot during the riots.
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
Here in Soweto during 1976,
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
the children decided to take their own initiative
and as such we are despised as mothers, as parents.
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
Children feel we are too lenient.
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
Children feel we are not fighting enough.
Children feel that we are not in the struggle.
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
You know, there is that barrier
between the parent and the child.
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
These are some of the things that
really frustrate a black woman,
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
but there is a great improvement
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
on the consciousness of people. As
black women we are more united.
00:22:55.000 --> 00:23:00.000
As black mothers we feel united and
we feel we can stand on our own.
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
The name of the group Ikahan.
Ikahan means build yourself.
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
Yes, build yourself. So that\'s why we
decided to form this group of women
00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
where we could look after our own affairs
00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
which is very important, that a person must be aware of
their self, and aware of the needs of the community.
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
We are welfare organization
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
but on risk. We depend
solely on our pockets.
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
Every month we contribute each a
rand to keep that in the bank
00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:10.000
and this is for the
welfare of the community.
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
There are some families which haven\'t
got anything to eat for supper
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
because of unemployment.
00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
Their husband and wife are
unemployed, children are at school
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
and the parents keep the little thing
that they ave to pay for the school fees.
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
So they are afraid to eat, you know,
this type of food because it will…
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
it is costly and they have got to keep
minding for their children at school.
00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
And the other thing I say,
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
there are some families who
live in a two roomed house.
00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
We find that there are family
16, 17 in a two roomed house.
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
So I can say
00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:10.000
a little bit better, not much.
00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
I feel very much so that we have
been worked into a situation
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
where we have had to look hard at ourselves
and hard at ourselves as people,
00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
hard at ourselves inside and try
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
and bring up this force that can
keep any community to going.
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
You got yourselves all hardships of all
frustrations of all deliberate manipulation
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
to sort of make your
efforts to be fruitless.
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
We… You… We\'ve just got to go
on even if we feel hopeless,
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
we are determined and maybe
this is, and that makes that
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
to be more determined to
go and doing those things
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
that we think are worth doing. I mean,
if it went according to legislation
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
or we\'re feeling that we don\'t
belong to South Africa,
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
we belong to some foreign. People begin
to say some of them as state less
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
and even this very frightening issues,
we are facing with determination
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
because we feel if we
give in we shall be lost
00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
and we keep on saying, we belong
here, we\'re people of this country,
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
we\'re South Africans by birth
and nobody can deny us this.
00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
Maybe if I had given up hope
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
would not be in this shamble of a home, you
know, may be this is a very minute thing
00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
that shows that, you know,
people say, I live here
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
and I make… I must make the place where
I live, homely and comfortable for me
00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
and my children to the best of my
ability and to the best of the…
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
the opportunities that I have. This
is one thing that can indicate that,
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
even if I feel hopeless but I have not given up hope
and I feel that I am not an exception to the rule,
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
I think this is how we live in Soweto,
00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
this is how we live in black communities
in the whole of South Africa.
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
We live not from day-to-day
but from minute to minute.
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
Ellen Khuzwayo is a social worker
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
and is known as the mother of Soweto.
She was the first women member
00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
of the Soweto leadership chosen by
the people during the uprising.
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:45.000
She was detained at the
time for six months.
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
[sil.]
00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
Alexander is a black ghetto
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
on the edge of white Johannesburg.
Half the house has been demolished
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
and the people forced to move.
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
The plan was to rebuild this
area as 24 single six barracks
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
to re-house elected workers,
forcing them to live separately
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
from their families.
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
[sil.]
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
4,000 women live here, four to a room.
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
There is a jail in only
one bud gate, guarded by
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
women police 24 hours a day. Hit and run
gates are electronically controlled.
00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
No one else is allowed in the building.
00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:58.000
[sil.]
00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
This is the apartheid
ideal where black workers
00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
are only labor units with
no other social needs.
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:23.000
[sil.]
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
I can tell you this, about how I\'m
living, especially in the hostel.
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
I\'m not feeling very well when
I\'m, just living in the hostel
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
because I\'m not living with my children. It maybe
very nice if I was staying with my children.
00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
So we\'re not allotted to
stay with our children here.
00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
We\'re not allotted out children that they come
and visit for us. If they come to visit for us,
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
they are supposed to stay outside the gate.
We go the gate and see them.
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
So it\'s very hard to me when I\'m a woman, when
your children come and staying outside the gate,
00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
but you got the place to stay.
00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
Carol Mokoena is a cleaner in a
white hospital. For 60 hour week,
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
she earns 10 pounds. She has lived
for four years in this room
00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
with three other women.
00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
I\'ve got six children. The older one is 21,
00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
the other one is 18, then other
one is 16 and another one is 10,
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
another one eight, and another
one is 10 months old.
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
What can I do because nobody can give
me something to eat with this children.
00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
So that\'s why I leave that… I have leave
this children with three months old.
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
So I comeback to the job, to come and work
for them and buy everything for them,
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:10.000
to pay school fees for the old one
and I do everything for them.
00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
If you come here and want a
room, they just come with you
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
to show which is your bed and which… which
one supposed to stay there. Like me,
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
I do come here. The police
asking me my permit and…
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
[sil.]
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
She just give me the permit and come with
me, to come and show me which bed is mine.
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
And yes, this is your
bed and this is locker
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
and after that she took to the kitchen and showed,
this is your stove, you can cook here with the stove
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
and she showed me, this is your
locker to put all your food there.
00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
If they show me… I can\'t
change the locker that…
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
I want this locker to my side, because each and
every locker, they goes numbers in (inaudible).
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:13.000
[sil.]
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
Tensions and frustrations lead to conflict
00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
between the women, but the architects
of the system anticipated this
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
and provided for it. I mean, when you
fight here, if they take you to the…
00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
to the prison here right and up in the
gate and… In the morning if they ask you,
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
why you fight with somebody? And they… they call the
police to come and fetch you to go to the prison.
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:53.000
[sil.]
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
So I\'m not allotted to find
the place, where can I stay
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
with my children because I haven\'t got
the husband to find the house for me.
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
If I haven\'t got the husband, I\'m going
to stay here forever of my life.
00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
[sil.]
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
This will be her fate
00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:30.000
unless the system is fundamentally changed.
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
This last detention was the most horrible
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
of all my detentions. I… I\'m amazed
that how I could have carried it.
00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
But when you know that you\'re fighting
for the truth and you know that
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
history is on your side and the truth is bound
to win. I think you get some extra strength.
00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
I remember at one time, one security police came
in to tell me that one of the babies had died,
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
one of my children is dead. It could
have thrown me of balance all together,
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
especially because when they detained me I was
with my first child and they just took me
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
like that and the child was crying, I
had to literally leave the child alone,
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
there was nobody to remain with the child.
But I knew that… Like people knew what
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
I was… I… I stood for. And I knew that my
neighbors wouldn\'t leave me in the lurch.
00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
And immediately the cop pulled their van, I
stopped thinking about the child altogether.
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
I just told myself, I have a duty now,
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
I am in the hands of the enemy. And
if I\'m going to think about my child
00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
and things like that, you know,
it is more important for people
00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
to survive than for one
person and it was my child.
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
And I think all women can obey with me
because it is a very difficult thing to do.
00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
I can not claim that my children
never suffered from this.
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
My first child is still have
psychological problems.
00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
The moment she sees a man, a
white man in safari suits,
00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
she just gets into a… You know,
she just goes hysterical.
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
But these are the things that
you\'ve got to live with.
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
You know, some women\'s children have actually died
in their absence, in detention. And to me it was…
00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
it was not even much of a sacrifice
for me to leave my children beyond.
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
It was painful. I can not
claim that it wasn\'t.
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
I still speak of it with a… with a lot of, you
know, but I know what it means to be involved
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
in this (inaudible). Those
are some of milder things
00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
that people really have to suffer.
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
It makes women very vulnerable.
In fact, when I came out of jail,
00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
the first things that my mother said was, \"if you want
to be a soldier, I don\'t think you should get children.\"
00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
And my response was
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
\"they must grow up, they
must experience this.\"
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
I\'m not saying I\'m brining up my children to hate
white people, but I\'m brining up my children
00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
to understand the situation, the way it is.
With a strong belief
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
that when they grow up, black people
in this country will be liberated.
00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
We won\'t talk in terms of black and white. We
won\'t talk in terms of majority and minority.
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
We would be talking in terms of people.
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
That people who share a country on equal
basis. Numsisi Khuzwayo is an educationist
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
and was a leader in the Black
Consciousness Movement.
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
She was detained for the
fifth time in 1978,
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:55.000
held for six months in a solitary
confinement, interrogated and tortured.
00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:13.000
[sil.]
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
Joyce Lesedi said she works in the Johannesburg
home of a young white couple with one child.
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
Their standard of living
is the average for whites.
00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
[sil.]
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
Domestic servants work long hours
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
and live alone in the backyards
of white households.
00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
They are isolated in their work.
They must face the employers alone
00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
in the difficult area of personal
relations between black and white.
00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
Joyce earns £33 a month,
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
which is above average. She alone
supports her four children,
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
who are not allowed to live with her and
are boarded out with relatives in Soweta.
00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:10.000
[sil.]
00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:58.000
[sil.]
00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:13.000
[sil.]
00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
Okay, eat little bit. What you want? One cake please.
Okay, eat little bit, you can have like… I want lunch.
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
Yes, you can have lunch now.
Eat little bit. One.
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
(inaudible). Are you sure?
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
What you want? I want this cake.
00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
(inaudible). Are you sure?
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:48.000
[sil.]
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:55.000
[sil.]
00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:13.000
[sil.]
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
It will be okay? It will be okay? No.
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
Why? Why? Come look.
00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
It\'s a nice car.
00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
No, mommy. No.
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
[sil.]
00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
The woman of then develops a close relationship
with the child in a care. But she finds that,
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
as the child grows older, instead
of treating her warmth and respect,
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
he turns on her to remind her that she is no
more than a piece of furniture about the house.
00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
[sil.]
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
You… You\'re ready? Okay.
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:38.000
[sil.]
00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:10.000
[sil.]
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
The white men has now reduced
the struggle virtually
00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
to black versus white. This is a
situation that has been created
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
for us to which we have no choice.
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
They have separated us completely from them
and have driven us into an inevitable corner
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
where you can only fight in
the context of blackness.
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
You can only hit back as a black
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
because you are virtually isolated. He tells
you, you\'ve got your own areas to live in.
00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
You are isolated in jobs. You are
isolated in almost everything.
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
So life has been reduced
to black versus white
00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
and that is the context of the
struggle as a whole. Up to 1969,
00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
uh… before I was umm…
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
Before then, up to that time I had
just been in and out of prisons.
00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
But when I was uh… in solitary confinement
00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
for 17 months, there\'s hardly anything to talk about.
People have lost their lives in solitary confinement.
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
It is then that
00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
I… I really felt lead.
00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
It is such a hard test of… of your ideals
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
and at the same time it
umm… teaches you so much
00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
of what you… you stand for,
your… your… your values.
00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
Perhaps up to that stage I had not realized
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
the gravity of our struggle
and up to that stage,
00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
as a mother and as a black
woman, I wouldn\'t have known
00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
what my reaction would be. If I found
myself in a violent situation,
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
whether I would actually take
a gun and shoot in defense
00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
of what I believed in? That is before
I went in for solitary confinement.
00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
But from that experience,
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
I can assure you, now I know
00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
what I can do in defense of my ideals.
00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
I know I can also shoot and kill
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
as they do in defense of my country.
In defense of what I believed
00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
to be a just a society
and that I believe in.
00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
Winnie Mandela has suffered
harassment all her adult life.
00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
Her husband is imprisoned ANC leader Nelson Mandela. She is
banished to a small town hundreds of miles from a Soweto home.
00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:10.000
She is banned and under
constant police surveillance.
00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
Crossroads is a squatter camp
00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
outside Cape Town. Homes have been
bulldozed and the people harassed
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
by the authorities who regard
them as illegal residents.
00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
But many were born in the area and most
have lived in it for over 10 years.
00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
It is government policy to separate
the families of black workers
00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
and force the women and children
into rural reserves. In this case,
00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
the Transkei 600 miles away.
00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
I went back to Transkei.
00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
Transkei is a place which is really dry.
00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
There\'s no work in Transkei.
Doctors are very far.
00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
Starving, people… people are starving over
there. There\'s no cattle to plough the lands.
00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
People are supposed to higher
tractors to… to plough the lands.
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
Now there\'s no money for that,
because theirs no work.
00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
So I stayed there about two
years and then I decide here,
00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:35.000
I\'m starving now again. I
must go back to Cape Town.
00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
So I struggled with three kids of mine.
00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
From there to three, from there to there.
From bush to bush, from bush to bush,
00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
from bush to bush, until
we get a (inaudible),
00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
that was the last bush to me. And
then they came. This inspector again,
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
they come and knock down our houses and
say to us, \"you better go to Crossroads.\"
00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:13.000
[sil.]
00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
Other squatter camps in
the area were demolished
00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
and the people had it together here.
00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
The authorities planned to force them out in one
operation. But the 24,000 people of Crossroads
00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
have refused to go. That defiance
00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
and solidarity have won them a
reprieve, but it is only temporary.
00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:48.000
[sil.]
00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:23.000
[sil.]
00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:14.999
Early 1979, in the phase of an
international outcry over Crossroads,
00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
the government tried new tactics.
00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
So they gave us this six months
permit, until January. After January,
00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
we\'ll hear something else, although we don\'t
know what will be. We are from South African.
00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
They can do what they like to do, we
are waiting for them, we know them,
00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
we\'re knowing them, what kind of a
person are they, we\'re knowing them.
00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
So we\'re waiting for them. We haven\'t
got guards, we haven\'t got nothing,
00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:49.999
they have got everything, so we\'re just going
to fight with our talk is the only thing.
00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:54.999
There\'s no idea what\'s going to
happen after this six months permit.
00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
And we don\'t care, whatever they are going to say
after this classification, one thing we know,
00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
we\'re going to stay here in Cape Town. This is our
choice. It\'s not that they are solving the problem,
00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:09.999
they are making it worse because we are
prepared to… to fly our very life,
00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:14.999
flies or like chickens, no, we\'re just
going to sit down. So it make you worse.
00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:19.999
We are going to be dumped here,
we\'re not going to move nothing.
00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:24.999
In October 79, the government announced
00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:29.999
that three quarters of the people of
Crossroads would be forced to leave.
00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:34.999
In January this year, their
six months reprieve ended.
00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:39.999
The authorities have not yet acted. The people
of Crossroads await the final confrontation.
00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:44.999
The problem now is a
fundamental problem of change.
00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:49.999
There is a feeling of urgency
that this change must come.
00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:54.999
It probably is inevitable,
that the final solution
00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:59.999
will come through the taking up
of arms between black and white.
00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.999
And, if that is the way
00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:09.999
that the solution will come, then
obviously black women will have to
00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:14.999
play their part fully in an armed struggle.
00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:19.999
No same person can see the
South African situation
00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.999
being altered by anything else now.
00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:29.999
My ultimate goal is the liberation of my people.
It is because I know we are going to win.
00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:34.999
It is because I also understand
what the white man is fighting for.
00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:40.000
When he loses it, he will lose it forever. And what I\'m
fighting for, when I get it, I will get it forever.
Distributor: Icarus Films
Length: 57 minutes
Date: 1980
Genre: Expository
Language: Not available
Grade: 10-12, college, adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
Existing customers, please log in to view this film.
New to Docuseek? Register to request a quote.
Related Films
A landmark film that was one of the first to reveal the full horrors of…
Shot secretly and smuggled out of South Africa at the height of the apartheid…