Taking anti-mining activism to the big screen
The Isolesizwe Film Festival will become an annual event
FIERCE campaigning against Ibutho Coal’s proposed Fuleni anthracite mine by local community members has brought their plight to the world, resulting in numerous anti-mining campaigns, not least the recent Isolesizwe Film Festival.
The festival was held at the AmaWeliseli Church in Ocilwane, in an area overlooking both the existing Somkhele anthracite mine and the iMfolozi Wilderness of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park.
Activist Lebo Ngobeni (Masuku) pushed for the name Isolesizwe, meaning ‘eye of the nation’, and wants the nation to see what the Somkhele and Fuleni communities are experiencing.
‘I want the world to know and see what is happening here. Living next to a mine is not a life anyone should be made to live.’
The festival was attended mainly by residents of surrounding villages affected by the proposed Fuleni mine.
Local anti-mining activists, including Sabelo Dladla, son of the late activist Gednezar Dladla, spoke at the event, as well as others from further afield.
Robby Mokgalaka, who heads groundWork’s Coal Campaign, and works extensively in the coal fields of Mpumalanga, spoke about the devastating impacts of coal mining on people’s quality of life, health, access to clean water, and security.
Of the films aired, several served to remind the audience of their culture’s close ties to traditional seeds and indigenous livestock, while others showed examples of mining’s devastating impact on the residents’ quality of life.
UnderMining Life: Activists threatened in South Africa, is the work of Sphiwe Mazibuko of Duzi Productions and was premiered at the festival. Mazibuko wanted his film’s first public screening to take place in Fuleni, home to several of the activists featured in his film.
Planning to take the Isolesizwe Film Festival to the schools, Lebo Ngobeni (Masuku) said, ‘We owe it to the next generation to educate them about the future. They will live with a polluting coal mine and must see what will happen and be included in the decision and the struggle.’
