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Zabalaza: Whose Politics Is It Anyway?

Written by tha - bang from the blog Movies and Things with Thabang on 03 Jun 2008
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To toyi - toyi or not to toyi-toyi? - that is the question and how relevant it is in our times of xeno - attacks, service delivery strikes and jz trial?

I worked on this documentary mid last year as part of series of doccies with different productions to comemmorate youth month. It's airing for the first time on SABC tonight (3 June).

At the heart of the matter in the doccie, was the idea of investigating the misconception or reality ,depending on who you are, that today's young people are not involved in politics. If compared to the generation of the youth of the 1970's,80's and even early 90's, the generations of post '94 have been seen as the toothless young lions.

But we then asked: why are young people seen to be apolitical, or not involved in politics? Could it be that the struggle has changed, or have the politicians lost touch with the zeitgeist of the youth or have young people found other ways to express their concerns outside formal politicking? These were some of the questions we were interested in getting answers to and the response was very interesting.

The other issue that the doccie tried to address was the issue of toyi-toying, is it really necessary? Since it always mostly turns out violent and degrades to thuggery.  Back in the bad old days, one could see why it was necessary but given that we live in a democratic South Africa cant things be sorted out in a more democratic and civil way? There were varying ideas on this one and the by asking the prior queston then it raised the issue of if people aren't going to toyi-toyi then what can they use?

But overall it was an interesting experience, getting views from fellow South Africans across the colour line . But it was more rewarding getting insight into the mind of some of young folks of the country and giving them a platform to share in a medium that talks to them in their own language both in form and content. Where one can see themselves being represented fairly and in a cool way.

Hope u guys watch the documentary tonight on Sabc 1 at 21h00. sweet.

34 Comments

tha - bang
03 Jun 2008 03:11

hey anyone with questions, today or tomorrow.im here to answer them.sweet

Fluffy Head
03 Jun 2008 03:28

thabang_ eish this is not an easy topic, lemme see the documentary and then comment tomorrow. ait?

Mathaz
03 Jun 2008 04:36

I think post 1994 we all thought that the struggle is over but there is so much to fight for now, unemployment, HIV/ AIDS, economic policies etc.  The struggle still continues but it has taken a different form.

The youth of today is very much apolotical mainly coz they are not educated about our history and where our democracy is taking us.  The youth is more concerned about status.  The ANCYL should come up with a marketing campign to lure the youth back to politics.

There is no need to toyi-toyi now, issues can be resloved in a diplomatic way.  I think the issue of debate and freedom of speech should be encouraged.

tha - bang
03 Jun 2008 04:44

i think we still have a long way to go on the two themes of freedom of speech and debate.theres a climate of them and us in the country were its very easy to be victimised for not holding onto the popular ideas, for example most people find it easy to crit' thibos but touch jz and people start calling u names and stuff.

but i honestly dont think the anc youth league is the answer, their an ancient relic as an organistion but i think the idea of working within communities and doing your bit.will encourage a more political awareness,but most of us cant be bothered as long as we are ok,who cares about the next door person.
the apartheid struggle was about food and mouth issues, right now food and mouth issues are not that popular but glanour and status are in .but it seems to be coming back but in a different and ugly way(ie xeno attacks).
but check out the doccie tonight and we'll discuss it some more tomorrow.sweet

lepogo
03 Jun 2008 04:44

Its not necessarily apathy-rather a change in the socio-political landscape.The new challenges are based on the global ambitions every young person harbours-and in our very own unique individual way its our very own personal struggle.

I will never throw another stone again,Im more so interested in building with the same stones.However,there will always be stone throwers and the burners,and my not getting involved in their thuggery doesnt make me apolitical.

My struggles are more about a better life,not for us all,thats very idealistic and dreamy.And after 14years of democracy it has become more and more obvious it had nothing to do with the struggle-Smuts Ngonyama summed it up succintly-"I did not join the struggle to be poor"

Other than that,our horribly distorted history and the "winners"have shown us that it will never and has never been about the people-its about looking out for the number one-ME

tha - bang
03 Jun 2008 04:59

unfortuneatly lepogo ur right it seems like thats the ethos of the new south africa looking after numuro uno. and stuff the rest,ts seen in how BEE is carried out, how justice is carried out, in the now disbanding of the scorpions.
but i think those of us who are in any position to make a difference, should do that, even if its a small thing as donating blood, food to the need, or even volunteering in NGO's . Unless we want the country to be engulfed by the love of money and materialism.

Msoe
03 Jun 2008 05:22

Yuh!I agree with you Fluffy this is a diffifult subject to comment on. But....I also think that the youth doesnt seem to be more involved in politics because they are too busy worriying about the things that dont matter, like clothes, cars and all those material things ezingathi shu. Also i think that the youth of today ine-mindset yokuthi they are owed something and they are entitled to everything without having to work for it which is wrong. As soon as that mindset is kicked out of the window than everything will fall into place. Just think ukuthi South Africa right now is faced with the crisis of xenophobic attacks, i can garantee to you that the youth who is doing that is uneducational, dont have skills and certainly dont have job. Im a youngster, i live in a township but dont see where i can get time ukuyoshaya ama-kwerekwere engabe ngiya emsebenzini and living my life.

tha - bang
03 Jun 2008 05:33

mmmh i hear your point msoe.people need to get to school and so that they can focs on more meaningful things

realist
03 Jun 2008 07:54

Problem with youth of today is that they do courses that would not find them employment at tertiary or university. Africa needs professional engineers. Lately there is this tendency to do B com, Law, journalist and to become a doctor, but hardly any engineering courses. Until Africa wakes up to the fact that politics will not built a country but engineers do, this continent will always be 100 years behind. As for toyi-toying, it has past it sell by date.

Secondly, the youth of today watch too much TV. If the amount of time was dedicated to studying their books, just maybe there will be less school leavers in the township.

Fluffy Head
03 Jun 2008 08:18

To toyi - toyi or not to toyi-toyi? - that is the question and how relevant it is in our times 
I personally believe that it is still very much relevant. To toyi-toyi as in holding marches spreadig the same voice across the country, not the chaos causing type. In the stebe biko times they were spreading black consciousness messages and freedom was the talk of the towm "amandla ngawethu"...you could come to a 5 year old in those days and they would know exactly what that meant.
In our times the message is obviously different (we've got the freedom and 'power') the message in now more on equality/peace/education/economic development etc....and in my honest opinion there reason why we all have different understanding of what is going on economically is because there is no one person/organisation that has dedicated their life to spreading the word and preaching the economic development. 
Now coming back to the youth of today and their responsibility in making sure that the right kind of word is understood by people....Simple speaking no one is doing anything, even the ANCYL which is supposedly the voice for the youth of SA is lost_they are doing nothing.
If we could teach the youngsters that actually killing foreign nationals has a very bad impact to the economy of the country, people would think twice about it. 
There is no easier way to educate people (black ppl, excuse the discrimination) except through marches....(like they say you write pamphlets_seriouslly speaking how many ppl will read those pamphlets?). But call the community to a town hall and walk to the Union buildings and when you get there preach to them about economic issues, you'll have 1million ppl educated in one day..

Eish this was too long, but I hope my point is clear enugh

tha - bang
03 Jun 2008 08:49

I believe marches are cool as symbols but improving the socio - economic condition aka lifestyle and conditions of living are key. the government is trying,its far from perfect but they are trying. but institutions such as anc youth league arent really playing a role in that.
Even there so called educated and those who have and benefiting from BEE deals. For example take the xeno attacks, where were the community leaders and institutions like anc youth league when the attacks started?
theres a need ,anyway in my opinion for a change of mindsets. i believe one of the reason apartheid was put down was that people were willing to sacrifice temselves to nourish the tree of freedom.
But what are we sacrifing now, our time? our resources? our knowledge?
marches alone cant solve that but interaction and bettering the livelyhood for all can.anyway thats my take

tha - bang
04 Jun 2008 02:08

so anyone watched the doccie last night,what did you guys think?

lepogo
04 Jun 2008 04:23

Hee monna we had a pseudo load shedding maabane.Ke sorry,but Motheo tells me it was a blast.

By now you know who the hell I am.

tha - bang
04 Jun 2008 05:11

hahaha its all good.i'll organise a dvd for you guys.

Fluffy Head
04 Jun 2008 05:42

I watched it..

Eish I was not impressed with the whole thing at all.
First the quality: The lady doing the narration, where did you get her from (Fire her for the next doccie)
Then the people interviewed: Eish mara e, where did you guys get those people from...You ask about politics the other lady said something about teenage pregnancy, and the other one said something about living in Kyalami....Eish I was really dissapointed with the people interviewed for real.
Except for the token white guy....He made a lot of intelligent and controvetial points. Especially about the whole BEE thing, it was interesting to hear what he thinks about the government in general. And for a moment there I felt bad for the white kids...I mean really they are being punished for the sins of their father. But I guess it is what it is!

But shame good effort all the way.
Were you in post production Thabang cause I did not see any Thabang being interview.

Mathaz
04 Jun 2008 06:32

The documentary was not bad, your documentary emphasised the point that they (youth) are more into material things than knowing who Julious Malema is.  I liked the part where you showed the youth's power i.e. the 1976 uprising, where the world got to know what is really happening here and how the youth was instrumental for post apartheid.

Jacob Zuma was voted president because of the youth, the youth is very powerful but tend not to realise it.

Thabang I understand that the Zabalaza doccie is a four part series, were you part of all four, if yes, what can we look forward to next week?

tha - bang
04 Jun 2008 06:59

well flufy mmh im...firstly the idea was to get into the mindsets of the young guys, for example what drives them, what divides them,what challenges them and then into the political issues. I really liked the different perspective and world views the guys had cause they were from different walks of life. what and how politics affected their lives, or interpreted was very different from each other.
the voice over lady , i thought she was ok. we struggle to get someone young who could also read Zulu properly and I thought she was not bad at all.hence we went with her,but you are entitled to your opinion

Mathaz we had originaly pitched for the whole series but SABC decided to split them up. So you have four doccies and four different companies. Our company Fuze Multimedia ended just doing the Youth and Politics one.which i directed and edited.
Then urban brew and two other companies did the other doccies.If i remember well, the theme for next week is youth and violence, then the week after youth and language then youth with disability. 
but we had no hands in the other doccies so when u c them next week,it will be the first time for me too.so i dont know what to expect in style ,look or content.

mazemnyama
04 Jun 2008 07:01

The whole doccie was an eye opener for me i mean i comment here and there about the politics of SA but exactly where i stand i dont know. also it got me thinking about how far me and my peers would go to stand up for a cause. To be honest my cause at the moment is my family i dont really dwell on how our political situation impacts my life and family. I didnt watch the whole thing but what i gathered from the ppl being interviewed (xcept kyalami gal) was that black ppl are worried about money issues and whites worried about crime and BEE.

Toxic
04 Jun 2008 07:07

damn, missed it! Is there going to be a repeat?

tha - bang
04 Jun 2008 07:12

mazemnyama people always say "the personal is the political", whats happening to you family happens to other families.so if families worked together the word could be  better place.each one teach one mentality,but thats a str for another day but im glad to hear that it was an eye opener for you.thats great news.

tha - bang
04 Jun 2008 07:14

ag u knowsac teyll probably repeat them later on in the year but theres still 3 other doccies by other guys.still to play through out june.so check them out

Dimago
04 Jun 2008 07:15

oh i only saw this article today. But with SABC 1 we are guaranteed a repeat FO SHO!

Weiss
04 Jun 2008 07:21

I actually saw the doc - excellent work. I hope your next project doesnt disappoint. Last year I watched the doc about "BOOBS" later it still has zero impact on me. 

Keep on focusing on issues that leave an impact. But anyways, this is good - mmm... but this needs a lot of camera editing (not dissing you) - I'm the next one will be excellent.

tha - bang
04 Jun 2008 07:35

weiss well check out the next one.ive send in a proposal for next year hope we get it.cause it'll be nice to build on what we did this year.
but m looking forward to seeing the other doccies,to see how the people approached their stuff.
but thanks for the compliment

Cnglemother
04 Jun 2008 07:36

I cannot get into Thabang's profile, its black not clickable. I will definitely watch the language issue doc as its very close to my heart.

Fluffy Head
04 Jun 2008 07:42

Ya Tha-bang, I understand broer. Maybe its because I do not uinderstand Zulu that well....that's why I was put off by the lady.

The content itself, for me personally it was too "youth". In lack of a better way to put it that won't offend anyone.
For instance I believe that the youth of SA was not well represented in general. But now if I try and relate to the people who were represented...I'll say it was good.

Tshd21
04 Jun 2008 07:51

Watched the doccie and loved it!!! Very interesting!!
Where did you guys find your interviewees?? They were very entertaining. Serious issues in a fun way I think.
Specifically liked those two guys in school uniforms LOL
When they tackled the Manto and RDP issues? couldn't help but LMAO!!
And then the other one said he could not comment any further because he was afraid those ANC tycoons would track him down? LOL

tha - bang
04 Jun 2008 07:51

mmh when you say the youth of sa was not well represented ,in what way do you mean this?
cause we tried to get a wide selection from the township boys, the surburban girls, the farm girls, the angry white girl, the hip head, to the kwaito kingpins,the cool white dude so forth ?
i dont think being too "youth" is a problem at all, cause we were trying to talk to the youth at their level and a language and style that they'll identfy with.
but u cant please everyone i guess,but im interested in your opinion though. on how we didnt represent the general sa youth

tha - bang
04 Jun 2008 08:00

tshd21 the school kids were from a school in braamfontein joburg, they were phenomenal.i was actually impressed by their insight. then some was just us travelling around with the camera and picking peole off the street but most of the people were tracked down by our hard working researcher zukiswa wanner who moonlights as an author. she did anexcellent excellent job.
the sabc actuallywanted to pull out the manto thing,but my executive producer fought to keep it in the doccie too. Same with the anc being the sinking titanic.
nah te guys made the doccie for me

Fluffy Head
04 Jun 2008 08:29

Tha-Bang....I guess it all goes back to a sort of discussion that bloggers had regarding YFM here. 
How old must one be to be considered "youth"? 
Steve Biko was in his 30's during his strugle and he was considered the youth.  And there is a level of wisdom and better understanding of things that comes with age.

Most of the people there representing the youth were either students or out of varsity with no jobs or poets and an artist...And there are young people who have real jobs right??? 

But anyway it was cool bro. The show was fine. And I watched the whole thing which should really prove it caught my attention.

Tshds1: You are right that kid was sooooo funny...He's like I can continue but you never know??? And he looked genuinely concerned.

Fluffy Head
04 Jun 2008 08:35

Same with the anc being the sinking titanic. 
OMG....I'm still in stiches cause of this...And she was like, ANC is the sinking titanic and the DA and PAC are like the small saving boats trying to save the day.
That was quite something.

tha - bang
04 Jun 2008 08:47

OMG....I'm still in stiches cause of this...And she was like, ANC is the sinking titanic and the DA and PAC are like the small saving boats trying to save the day.
That was quite something
ja it was.proof theres still freedom of speech in the country lol.
 ja the bulk of the guys were under 25 i think only miracle the poet , rusty the graphity artist were above 25.it was skwed towards that younger market. we should of gotten at least one person in the 'senior youth" category.im just joking.u made a valid point. will be mindful of it next time.
otherwise thanks for the input

realist
05 Jun 2008 02:19

I will definitely watch the language issue doc as its very close to my heart.
For this topic I will also make an exception and watch the documentary. BTW, on what date will it be shown?

tha - bang
05 Jun 2008 02:57

i think the language one is onthe 17th but checkyour tv guide for proper details

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