Beating around the Bosch

with

Dear Reader,

South Africa’s history is dramatic, convoluted and painful. We think about it like we would a distant cousin that we never met – somehow related to us, accompanied by the feeling that we should see it as part of ourselves, but finding it too strange and unfamiliar.

Last week, we visited the Stellenbosch University Museum to see the Paul Weinberg photography exhibition, and were given a tour by none other than Paul Weinberg himself. He is famous for his visual coverage of the 1994 elections. (That famous photograph of Mandela dropping his vote in the ballot box? Weinberg took that).

Against a bright red wall, the black-and-white film photographs appeared particularly historic. Curated to capture the emotion of the time, the photographs confronted us with that distant cousin of the past, and it all seemed even more strange and unfamiliar.

Weinberg posed a question to us that would stick with us for a long time after he voiced it. Gesturing over his shoulder at the neatly lined photographs behind him, he said, “We all knew what The Struggle was back then. […] What is our Struggle now?”

What is our Struggle now? In our history, it was crystal clear. There was the oppressor, and the oppressed, and those who fought for each side. It was clear who the enemy was. But when that fiery enemy turned to dust and we were left with the glowing coals, our purpose turned to smoke, dissipating into different directions, casting a grey haze over our surroundings. It is unclear now what exactly we are fighting for.

Thirty years after the dawn of democracy, with an election looming that may change the course of South Africa’s history once again, many of us may fail to recognise that we form part of that history.

One of our classmates, Nkulu, asked Weinberg whether he thought it would be valuable for us to cover these elections in the same manner as those photographers thirty years ago, treating it as a pivotal point in history. I wondered why this had become a question for us at all. By constantly looking back at our past and defining ourselves by it, we have taken the present for granted. It feels as though we have been walking backwards into our future – the direction of our movement may be forward, but our orientation is off, and we trip up because we are not looking ahead.

Nicola Amon

Newsletter Editor

Visual of the Week

📸Some BTS from SMF News’ Bayanda Gumede:

This was my second time attending the Palesa Theatre Festival competition, but it was my first time covering an event like this. Not to mention, I was filming for a broadcasting video as opposed to writing an article. Throughout the first half of the performances I really focused on filming as many shots as I could for the video, and then remembered that I also needed a cover photo. This photo was taken while I was shooting video, and it was just divine timing that the lighting changed in this scene. I think it also encapsulates the creative aspect of the event. The actress was doing a hilarious monologue, adding some flair with her movements, and ended up pointing directly at my camera. So, I really got lucky with everything working together for me to get such a good shot.

Watch the story here

📚Good reads from SMF News this week📚

• Servest workers protest for high wages 

  

  Servest landscaping and cleaning workers based in Stellenbosch University held a protest with ICHAWU to demand higher wages from Servest management. Alison Hermanus reports that workers urged students to boycott Servest on 13 May, the day of the protest. 

• SU and SFC found first professional women’s football team in Stellenbosch

  

  Stellenbosch Football Club (SFC) and Stellenbosch University hope that the town will become a hub for female footballers in the country. Mandisa Maphisa spoke to Nathan Peskin, SFC head coach, on taking the franchise to the next level.

• Uber drivers getting driven out of Stellenbosch

  

  E-hailing vehicles are impounded in Stellenbosch because there are no e-hailing licences in place under the municipality’s jurisdiction. Shérie Vollenhoven investigated why there has been a spike in impoundings and how it has affected e-hailing drivers.

What the Frog?

With Maliza Adendorff

🎶What we’re listening to:

Word of the Week

Peripatetic (per-ih-pa-TET-ik)

~Wandering from career to career, place to place, seemingly without a goal or definiteness of purpose.

“This thirtieth year of democracy may jolt some South Africans out of their peripatetic lives, and fuel them once again with purpose.”

We are taking a break from Beating around the Bosch for the next two weeks for exams (horrors!), but keep an eye on your inboxes in mid-June! We’ll have some interesting stories to tell about our media tour to Johannesburg.