Dear Mandela

Credits

Name: Dear Mandela

Country: Südafrika

Year of publication: 2012

Format: Blu-ray

Color: color

Language : OF m. dt. UT

Duration: 93 Minuten

Direction: Kell, Dara; Nizza, Christopher

Camera: Peterson, Matthew

Abstract

When Nelson Mandela was elected President one ‘unbreakable promise’ was to ensure housing for all. Two decades later, as the number of families living in slums has doubled. A frightening tale of betrayal is unfolding: the government is trying to eradicate the slums by evicting shack dweller from their homes at gunpoint. These scenes remind eerily of apartheidera forced removals. The movement “Abahlali Base Mjondolo“ – Zulu for ‘people of the shacks’ – is made up of the nation’s poorest to resist the evictions on the streets and in the courts. Dear Mandela tells the remarkable story of the everyday life of three leaders of the movement Mazwi, Zama and Mnikelo. They met by candlelight to study and debate new housing legislations and finally challenged the highest court in the land. The price of their extraordinary achievements: menace, assassination at- tempts and lengthy prison detention without trial. The three leaders experience that great leadership is often accompanied by great sacrifice.

  Trailer