‘Poppie Nongena’ is back

South Africans across the country will soon get to witness a lifelong dream of actress Clementine Mosimane when the biopic, Poppie Nongena, hits cinemas later this month. Mosimane was first exposed to the story as a young girl when it was a stage play, and she says it has always been her dream to play the titular role.

“For me, Poppie Nongena is a story that cannot be forgotten, a past that cannot be forgotten, because it was not a story of a mob or a united political struggle, it was an individual struggle. It was about a woman who was working in a kitchen who was a bona fide citizen of South Africa but felt like a stranger in her own country,” said Mosimane.

Published over 40 years ago, Die Swerfjare van Poppie Nongena, written by Elsa Joubert, now 96, is a true story of how the pass laws and the Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act of 1970 affected black families in the late 1970s and early 80s. “It was also a women’s issue, irrespective of colour,” added Mosimane.

Joubert was inspired to write the book after witnessing the turmoil experienced by her own helper, whose real name was Ntombizodumo Eunice Ntsaka, a fact that was concealed until Ntsaka’s death in 1992. However, Ntsaka received royalties from the book until the day she died. She was an Afrikaans-speaking Xhosa woman who was born in Upington and lived in Cape Town where she worked.

The new laws and her husband’s inability to work due to a serious illness resulted in her children being forcibly relocated to the Transkei, which was declared independent from South Africa along with a number of other homelands under the aforementioned act. Ntsaka and her children effectively became immigrants in SA as a result of this and she was unable to renew her pass. Her employer only became aware of this when Ntsaka told her she could not work for her anymore.

“There’s a part where the white woman, Mevrou Swanepoel, breaks down. “For me it was not ‘who is going to help me [around the house’, it was like ‘I feel so helpless, I cannot help a fellow sister’. For me that colour barrier is not there,” said Mosimane.

Joubert’s touching retelling of “Poppie’s” story caused outrage among Afrikaaners at the time who had previously not known the extent to which black South Africans were being mistreated. The book became a bestseller that was translated into 13 languages and adapted into a critically acclaimed stage play that was performed in theatres across the world starring actress Nomsa Nene as Poppie. Nene now stars in the film as Poppie’s mother.

Poppie Nongena

In 2002, the book was selected by a panel of 16 academics and writers from around the world as one of the 100 best African novels of the 20th century. Under the guidance of acclaimed filmmaker Helena Spring, Poppie Nongena was filmed in Oranjezicht in the same street Ntsaka had lived in. It tries to tell the story to a modern audience while staying true to the female perspective that made the book so popular.

“My hope is for people to go there with an open mind and heart and embrace Poppie Nongena and understand the journey that we have travelled as a country and grown from. Let it not take us back.

“My question today, as we are now going to see the film and the story of Poppie Nongena, is ‘how many Poppie Nongenas exist in South Africa today’?” Mosimane added that this question did not just refer to domestic helpers but to women in general.

“And if you have a helper at your home and she’s a Poppie Nongena, do you take time to sit down with her and find out how she is?” she asked.

While Mosimane has yet to meet Joubert, she hopes she will one day get the chance to thank her for being such a catalyst in giving Ntsaka a voice, and thus giving a voice to the many other women in a position similar to hers.

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