The Man Dies

The Man Dies In All Who Keep Silent In The Face Of Tyranny

Filmmakers in this country have always had a response to xenophobia. 

I just want to take time to give a shout out.

The Foreigner directed by Zola Maseko

Conversations On A Sunday Afternoon directed by Khalo Matabane

The Burning Man directed by Adze Ugah from the

Filmakers Against Racism Series

A Small Town Called Descent directed by Jahmil XT Qubeka

Africa Shafted directed by Ingrid Martens

The Man With The Vacant Eyes

Carla Prinsloo, our researcher, conducted a series of interviews with displaced immigrants. The participants agreed to be interviewed provided that we never used their images or their real names.

Carla interviewed everyone from an 8 year old Somalian boy who aspired to be a policeman when he grew up to an ex military man who spoke about the inconsistencies between government policy and action. One man’s story stayed with me deeper than the others.  It was of a young man who had only been in South Africa for a month (coming to join his father in a spaza shop) when the riots broke out. When his father tried to sneak back to the looted shop to ascertain if there was anything to salvage, his father was shot in the head. He carried a very graphic autopsy photo in his breast pocket.

The picture Carla took of him was haunting. His eyes were bloodshot, but not with rage or resentment. His mouth slightly open. I kept his picture close to me. Carla had captured his bereavement in that one image. His grief was so strong, that from the look in his eyes I knew his father. During the writing process I often returned to this picture of this man: staring into the distance, staring at a future bleak and lonely. 

Setswetla - We Will Always Have A Choice

The first step was to let the information osmose. We did not know at the time what our story would be, but didn’t worry as we knew that The Research was going to inform the direction we would take.

The process was slow. Fabian and I would meet up anywhere; at his place or mine, the nearest mall and even a car park and toss ideas around. Skype allowed us to communicate with Hakeem from his base in L.A. Sometimes we would plot out a story, only to change it the following day. However, whichever draft of the story we came up with, the idea of a ‘search’ was always present.

The photographs Alon Skuy took of the riots were arresting. They spoke of a menace that lurked within the frame and outside the frame. I wanted the film to have this sense of peril. 

The first book I read was Go Home Or Die Here published by the Wits University Press. One of the chapters in the book by Noor Nieftagodien entitled “Xenophobia In Alexandra” shaped one of the themes for me. Noor writes:

“A key moment in the conflict, and perhaps a turning point, was when a group of attackers marched to Setswetla to launch a raid against the African foreigners living there. When they arrived at the squatter camp, the would-be attackers were met with resistance from local residents…Although this was the most resolute example of resistance against the xenophobic attacks, there were countless other instances of local organizations taking very public positions against the violence.”

This had not been widely reported. This got me thinking of the choices we make as human beings. One set of people can choose to set an innocent man alight and another set of people will defend the innocent to their last breath. These choices would be what the characters in Man On Ground would grapple with. 

Don't You Know If You Help Them, They Won't Go

The tragic events of May left people dazed. Desmond Tutu said “God, please, please forgive us.” As the nation struggled to come to terms with the violence that had been unleashed, shelters were set up, communities helped people that had been displaced, and the questions were flying back and forth: how could this have happened? It was a time for soul searching. The irony wasn’t lost on anyone that these attacks had happened in Africa Month. Fabian Adeoye Lojede and the cast and crew of MNET’s Jacob's Cross met at The Village Walk Mall to donate food and clothing to the victims of the attacks. A woman saw them and asked Fabian what they were doing with all the clothes and food. Fabian told her. Without skipping a beat she replied, “Don’t you know if you help them, they won’t go.” Then she got into her BMW and drove away.

I had met Fabian through his business partner, director Mickey Dube. Over the years we had discussed, at various occasions, our visions of African Cinema, the kinds of films we wanted to make and African politics. He was someone I wanted to work with. I also wanted to work with Hakeem kae-Kazim, our last collaboration was God Is African and we had been looking for something to work on. With the three of us committed to the film we agreed to commission someone to put together an extensive research package into the riots. Using our own funds we hired a lady that came highly recommended. She promptly got to work.

She returned months later with boxes of books, recordings, testimonials, comments and analysis. All of us received a pack and we started the process of going through the research. In the pages of those research documents lay the foundation of the film that would later be called Man On Ground. 

The Burning Man

London

May 2008

It started with this picture of Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave.

I was working on my new documentary about Wole Soyinka. The filming had taken us from South Africa to Nigeria and we had just landed in London. At my host’s house, I came down for breakfast and the morning paper was on the table. The unsightly image of a burning man greeted me. More grotesque were the people around the man, laughing. I picked up the paper to find out which part of the world this cruelty was being inflicted. I have never recovered from that picture.

Extracts From The Diary Of A Filmmaker

21 May 2008

I remember a moment with a Somali taxi driver in Toronto last year when I told him I was from South Africa. He asked, “Why are you killing my people?” I had no answer other than to apologize. There is no 'them' killing his people, it's 'us'. It affects us all and we need to do something and not ignore the warning signs. I’m not even looking for the rainbow sign because this is already the fire next time.