As I reflect on my life as a South African, I feel compelled to comment on the state of our country and where we find ourselves today.
During the apartheid era, I chose to remain in the country and contribute to the struggle against apartheid, using whatever resources were available to me. I turned to the medium of film to speak out against the regime, producing films such as A Place Of Weeping, Sarafina and The Stick, among others. These films have been spread across the South African and global landscape, providing insight into the dynamics of being South African in that era.
I have always been proud to be a black South African, and the watershed years of 1990 and 1994 were the most memorable. These years were filled with immense hope and pride. What we thought to be impossible, became possible. Our dreams were becoming realities – recognising the damage caused by apartheid and the high levels of poverty and inequality for the majority in our country.
Today this hope and pride in our rainbow nation have been eroded to a point of despair. How did we get here? Why do we find ourselves in this predicament, and where do we go to now?
I do not have the answers to these questions. But each of us, as South Africans, have to use our rights as enshrined in our Constitution, to take more control of our destiny. We have to do this as a united nation, and we have to do it now. We owe it to the young people of our country and future generations.
What happened to ubuntu? We are one people, different cultures, but one nation.
The time has come for all of us to take our collective responsibility seriously and exercise the rights afforded to us by our democratic order.
I fear that we may return to the valley of darkness, but there is hope that 2016 and beyond will be better than 2015.
* Anant Singh a renowned film producer who has been involved in the production of films like Long Walk to Freedom, Cry the Beloved Country and Sarafina and is the CEO of Videovision Entertainment.
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