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Our Land

Thirty years after democracy in South Africa, the land rights of rural communities are still under threat.  And the threat is growing. Despite recent Constitutional Court judgements affirming customary ownership of land as a right and that the consent of communities was needed before mining can take place, the future is not secure, especially for residents of the former Bantustans.

It is at its most dramatic in KwaZulu-Natal, where Indian mining giant, Jindal, has been seeking to remove between 200 and 300 families from their rural homesteads to make way for a new iron ore mine close to the towns of Melmoth and Eshowe. Several thousand more people could be affected and uprooted in favour of ugly open-cast mining that will not only scar the land but also pollute it. It will poison the water that provides irrigation for crops and drinking for communities and their animals.

The need to resist, to protest, to make land rights real has never been more urgent. This is the background to the existence of the Alliance for Rural Democracy, as it works with local communities and activists.

In November 2021, Ms Constance Mogale of the ARD approached Peter Goldsmid, asking him to document part of their work and to visit some of the affected areas. His brief was to convey not only the issues, but the passion of those who work for the ARD – and that of the communities they serve and capacitate.

A year in the making, Our Land, is the result. We were thrilled to have had the story reach a wider audience at the 2023 Encounters International Film Festival, where it was chosen by a Student Judging Panel as Runner-up for the Ster Kinekor Encounters Youth Experience (EYE) Award.

GEORGE BIZOS - South African Icon 

“A trial lawyer is a complicated being. There are elements of the showman, the professional boxer, the matador, the executioner, if you like. You become involved with people.”

George Bizos, 1989.

When an encounter with schoolteacher affords a young Greek refugee in South Africa during World War 2 an chance of going to school, he leaps at the opportunity and thereafter becomes a political trial lawyer, bravely standing up to tyranny in defending fighters for democracy and freedom in his adopted home – and then helping shape the democracy that was finally achieved.

George Bizos’s life and achievements provide inspiration to all who care about democracy and justice. With aggressive nationalism and intolerance on the rise many parts of the world, the need for human rights activists and advocates like George Bizos remains urgent, just as it was in the dark days of Apartheid. The film delves into a rich resource of family and other archives and interviews key figures in his extraordinary life. The film celebrates his life and achievements and provides an implicit argument for the values that drove him to embark on his “hero’s journey”. Directors and Co-producers Peter Goldsmid and Jane Lipman show how the values that inspired him come from in his Greek origins, as well as his experiences as a boy and young man coming of age in South Africa. The message is clear:

Justice triumphs when lawyers have the courage to risk all in fighting for it.

Difficult Love

In 2010 Peter Goldsmid and Zanele Muholi combined their talents to make a groundbreaking film on her life and art. Filmed over 12 days at various locations in South Africa, it captures the charismatic, driven “visual activist” at work and in conversation with her subjects. It exposes the abuse and discrimination that so many South African lesbians suffer today, the most extreme of which is so-called “corrective rape”. But it’s ultimately a film about love and the right to love, in a country where discrimination and persecution of LGBTQI people continues in flagrant disregard of this country’s much-admired liberal constitution. It raises a powerful voice against discrimination while retaining, where possible, a surprisingly lively sense of humour.

The film has been seen in scores of festivals all over the world, winning awards at 9 of them. It is still widely shown and debated. It played a significant role in Zanele Muholi’s meteoric rise to prominence as a pre-eminent chronicler of her community.

It can be seen at: https://www.imdb.com/video/vi3128728089