‘Winnie’ director Lamche stands by her documentary

Director of the controversial Winnie documentary said she stood by her work, which ”told the truth” behind the tumultuous years of late anti-apartheid struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

Pascale Lamche’s comments follow criticism from former safety and security minister Sydney Mufamadi. He said the documentary was unbalanced and that Lamche did not afford him the right of reply.

He dropped a bombshell that it was not him, but former Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon, who approached the then police commissioner George Fivaz to reopen the Stompie Seipei murder investigation.

Mufamadi said he knew about the investigation, but had never issued instructions for the probe to be reopened.

Lamche said she agreed with Mufamadi that she could have interviewed him as well, and apologised. Mufamadi’s version, she said, confirmed details in the documentary.

”What he confirmed was that there was this huge investigation that he knew of that took place before mama Winnie appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Once she got to the TRC, she was faced with a number of allegations of a criminal nature that she could not respond to because the TRC was not a criminal court, and she was justifiably shocked by the allegations against her,” said Lamche.

She said she finished shooting the documentary in January 2017, and it was first screened in June 2017 in Newtown, Johannesburg.

”No one bought it to screen it. SABC was not interested. It is an incredibly complex story … I had to cut it to a minimum length as required by television networks, so it was a complex task.

“I chose to prioritise certain key elements of the story to understand the neutralisation of Winnie Mandela’s contribution to the struggle … and her being criminalised at a specific time … the documentary holds water.”

The June 2017 special screening was by invitation only. Madikizela-Mandela and her family, some ANC leaders and ministers invited watched it for the first time. Lamche said no one in the ANC had ever approached her to raise issues regarding the content in the documentary.

The award-winning documentary was sponsored by the department of arts and culture and the National Film and Video Foundation.

ALSO READ: Tony Leon was just doing his job, says his spokesperson

For more news your way, follow The Citizen on Facebook and Twitter.