Ntate

Ntate ('father' or a term of respect for a man in Sesotho) is inspired by a conversation with a former mine worker who spent his entire career working in South Africa’s gold mines (1968-1996). His journey started with his arrival at the mine district recruitment agency. After signing a contract, he and others were transported by truck to a nearby train station, where they were allocated to different mines. The recreation of the train trip relied heavily on Charles van Onselen’s book, The Night Trains, which outlines the experience of Mozambican workers on trains to the Witwatersrand.

We have kept the focus of the film on Ntate. It is one man’s journey. We chose a greyscale and yellow colour scheme to reflect the solemnity of the experience. Yellow represents the gold, but also provides a glimmer of hope. The regularity of sounds and the focus on machinery and infrastructure demonstrate the smooth running of recruitment and transportation of workers from far-flung regions and, ultimately, the labour extracted from them.

We are grateful to Ntate for sharing his bittersweet journey with us.

2024.

Story based on research by Dr Linda Mbeki
Drawings and animation by Ali Aschman
Storyboard and additional animation by Alex Widdowson

Commissioned by Cambridge Creative Encounters, a University of Cambridge Public Engagement project.
This project was made possible by UKRI Higher Education Innovation Funding.