Screening of the award-winning film Dear Mandela (short version) followed by a discussion led by S’bu Zikode, founder of the South African Shack Dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo.

Abahlali baseMjondolo is the largest social movement in South Africa today. S’bu Zikode was a key founder of the movement in KwaZulu-Natal, his home province, in 2005 and was the first President.  He founded it on a strong belief of equality for all and that governments and academics all too often speak about the poor, but not to the poor. As a leader and founder of the movement, he has faced on-going repression, including being tortured in police custody, being the target of two nights of attacks on the movement in 2009 and a number of death threats. These have forced him and his family to continue to live clandestinely ever since.  Read S’bu’s recent article in the Guardian here.

The film Dear Mandela traces the struggle of three South Africans whose shanty town is threatened with mass eviction. The film deals with the lost hope of Mandela’s promises for a better future for all South Africans, and the resistance being met by the modern South African state when targeting communities already at the periphery of South African society for commercial and financial gain.

WINNER – GRAND JURY PRIZE, Brooklyn Film Festival

WINNER – BEST DOCUMENTARY, Brooklyn Film Festival

WINNER – BEST SOUTH AFRICAN DOCUMENTARY, Durban Int. Film Festival

WINNER – GOLDEN BUTTERFLY, Movies That Matter Festival

WINNER – BEST DOCUMENTARY, Montreal International Black Film Festival

Please send an email to Sarah-Jane at S.J.Cooper-Knock@lse.ac.uk with the title Dear Mandela Reservation to register.

Film Showing and discussion with S’bu Zikode

14 November 12:00-14:00, St Clements Building, LSE