Gender Issues - MAMA MARIKANA

Yesterday I was joined in studio by the amazing Aliki. Aliki Saragas completed her undergraduate Bachelor of Arts Dramatic Arts degree cum laude, at the University of the Witwatersrand, majoring in screenwriting and film studies. At Wits she was chosen as one of two students to be a part of the North South South Exchange Programme with students from South African film institutions, NAFTI (Ghana) and Arcada (Finland), to produce two documentaries, one in South Africa, Jozi: No Brakes and one in Finland, Tyttärelleni Taika Kukalle (To My Daughter Taika Kuka), where she lived on exchange for three months. It was here that she realised her passion for telling real stories.

About Mama Marikana her current project:

Mama Marikana is a documentary film that gives voice to the Women of Marikana: the widows, mothers, sisters and community members who were left behind and forgotten by society and the media after the massacre and their struggle to move from a space of oppression to a space of empowerment.

Mama Marikana takes a look behind the miners’ narrative and follows the stories of five Marikana women: Primrose Nokulunga Sonti and Thumeka Magwangqana, leaders in Sikhala Sonke the Marikana Women’s group, Evelyn Seipati Mmeka a God-fearing mother of the community and Zameka Nungu, widow of the slain Jackson “Ace” Lehopa on the mountain.

The documentary tracks how these strong women try to move from a space of deep oppression to empowerment. They provide a powerful voice to the women of the community through strength, agency and protest, as they continue to struggle with the pain the massacre left behind, through a never-ending commission and debilitating mineworker strike. It tracks their struggle and fight from the 16th August 2012, the day of the Marikana massacre, to the 16th August 2014 and shows the growth of the Marikana Women’s Group, Sikhala Sonke, and a rise into parliament, personal sacrifices for the community and the empowerment of a victim. But will things change? After two years of being mothers to Marikana, is there hope for a better future? Or will the space be forever stained with blood, forever forgotten.

The Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Arts (GIPCA) in association with UCT’s Centre for Film and Media Studies will present Mama Marikana by documentary filmmaker Aliki Saragas on Wednesday, 20 May at 18:00. This free screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker.


Director/Producer: Aliki Saragas
Director of Photography: Andreas Georghiou
Sound Recordist: Ying-Poi De Lacy
Co-Producer: Tessa Scott
Co-Producer: Leonie Erasmus


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