Documentary of small town in SA
Palesa Mofokeng (26) has directed a documentary, The story of a small town - Mokopane, in search of the authenticity of her heritage.
KwaThema’s very own Palesa Mofokeng (26) has directed a documentary, The story of a small town – Mokopane, in search of the authenticity of her heritage.
“My mother is Ndebele and she comes from Mokopane.
“So it was an easy decision to make when the opportunity came for us to do this project,” says Palesa.
Uhuru Productions, where she is an assistant editor, with the Centre of Diversity Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, was commissioned to document the change in small towns since the dawn of democracy.
“We had to find out if there has been any major change in the way people live and compare it to their pre-1994 conditions.
“What we found was nothing I expected.”
Palesa says they quickly discovered that even the name of the place was an issue of contention among the people.
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“The Ndebele’s claim that it was supposed to be named after their Chief Mugombane, but the Pedi people, with the support of the Voortrekker boere, used their influence to have it as Mokopane.
“This is a reflection of the tensions between the Ndebeles and Pedis since the 1850s.”
She says that most of the area has no running water.
“The issues about the water are alleged to be linked to the mines in the area.
“Now the mines bring out tanks about twice a week for the community.”
In 1991, Anglo Mines started mining in Mokopane, before the area boasted many farms.
“To us, it seemed like there is a lot of corruption between the mine, the municipality and the chief.
“As a result, it is hard to farm the land because there just isn’t enough water,” she adds.
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Palesa says to their dismay, they also discovered that the community have deeply entrenched racial divisions.
“They don’t live far from each other, but there are clear divisions.
“The lines between the races are not crossed.
“At the end of the day, we could not conclude that the lives of the people in this town have changed for the better.
“Unfortunately, this is the narrative of many other little towns in South Africa.”
For more information about the documentary and where to see it, follow Uhuru Digital on Facebook and Youtube.
See more of Palesa’s work on Blaq Cinderella Productions.
