Anant Singh is best known around the world as South Africa’s pre-eminent film producer, the man whose 65 movies include the iconic Nelson Mandela biopic Long Walk To Freedom. But respect for Singh reaches far beyond the millions his work entertains. He is comfortable operating at the highest echelons – a winner of the World Economic Forum’s prestigious Crystal Award who is regularly afforded the opportunity to present his latest work to the world’s rich and powerful who gather in Davos every January. For decades, Singh has applied his art to share the story of his once tortured homeland – first in pain, then in joy. But in this deeply considered contribution, it’s clear that events of the past week have sent Singh back into pain once more, fearing his country is sliding into a valley of darkness. – Alec Hogg Â
By Anant Singh*
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 like 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 an immense hope and pride. What we thought, impossible, became possible. Our dreams were becoming realities, recognizing 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 has 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.
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Our new dispensation was built on the Freedom Charter and the Constitution. These documents codified the principles that were to guide our democratic order. Unfortunately the principles of these sacred documents have largely been put in the back burner by many, including some who helped create them. These documents should be the guiding lights for us as a nation, now and forever.
What happened to Ubuntu? We are One People, Different Cultures, but One Nation.
The ANC is, and will always be, an important organisation and I know that within the organisation there are thousands of good people. Many of whom are hard working and disciplined, but do not get the appropriate recognition in the organisation, and their voices have been drowned out.
In the past few days, the South African nation experienced one of the lowest points in our history. It is a low point that we never believed possible in our country.
On Saturday I was in Maputo and was asked by a Mozambican, “What is going on in your country? I am shocked this happened in South Africa!” For the first time I could not answer. It was a very sad and embarrassing day for me.
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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 look to John F. Kennedy’s quote for inspiration, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
In the late 80’s, I bought the film rights to Alan Paton’s extraordinary book, Cry, The Beloved Country, a film I wanted to make and did so after we achieved our freedom. Alan Paton’s closing words in the book are very profound:
“Yes, it is the dawn that has come. The titihoya wakes from sleep, and goes about its work of forlorn crying. The sun tips with light the mountains of Ingeli and East Griqualand. The great valley of uMzimkhulu is still in darkness, but the light will come there. For it is the dawn that has come, as it has come for a thousand centuries, never failing. But when that dawn will come, of our emancipation, from the fear of bondage and the bondage of fear, why, that is a secret.”
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 is a globally respected filmmaker and the CEO of Videovision.
