The Big Wide Talk Children's Project

General information

The starting points.
I came upon this story after meeting Mary Burton and Beva Runciman, past members of Black Sash, a prominent section of the South African struggle against apartheid. Beva told me of her involvement in a protest when she and Cornelia Bullen-Smith chained themselves to the railings of Parliament in Cape Town to protest about the death in custody of Johannes Spogter. They had planned their protest and were ready to move as soon as news of the next death in custody reached them.
Until we began working on this story Beva believed that Johannes had been 12 years old but she knew almost nothing else save that Johannes was from the town of Steytlervile in the Eastern Cape. Further discussion with Mary alerted me to the involvement of another past member of the Sash, Di Oliver. Di and her then husband Brian Bishop had attended Johannes' funeral.
From these starting points we now know much more about what happened in Steytlervile in early July 1985. That year had seen much violence across the Eastern Cape. Resistance to apartheid was strong despite fierce censorship of news. Johannes was a member of a Football Team, the Dangerous Killers. Football Teams were one of the mechanisms used by the United Democratic Front to get round the restrictions on movement, assembly and the dissemination of information. Mzwandile Miggels who was shot by police at the time Johannes was taken into custody was a prominent member of the team. He was a leader of STEYCO the Steytlervile Youth Congress, a UDF affiliate. Mzwandile was 19 when he was shot.
I travelled to Steytlervile in late June 2014 and again in mid December, meeting Oumies Johannes' sister and Vumile her cousin. In June I travelled with Di Oliver and Judy Chalmers both had been politicians. Judy was the sister of Molly Blackburn another high profile politician who opposed apartheid. Both Molly and Di's husband were killed in a car crash in late December 1985 when returning from one of their not infrequent visits to observe meetings and other events involving black and coloured South Africans. Judy and Di were also in the vehicle but survived.
1985 had seen the violent deaths of the Craddock Four and the mass shooting in Lange. Johannes and Mzwandile had taken part in a protest about the deaths of the Craddock Four just before they died.
At the heart of this story it is possible to see how part of the white community tried to reach out to the black and coloured communities in an effort to oppose apartheid and how these communities responded with warmth and fellowship. But the over riding history is that of two young people torn from their future and their families. It is a story we hope to tell.
How we intend to proceed
Led by an Enquiry Team of young people living in Steytlervile today, our aim is to make a documentary "Under Investigation" about the death of the young Johannes Spogter.
The Production Team has : past members of Black Sash, Di Oliver, (previously Bishop) and Judy Chalmers, (previously an MP and sister of the late Molly Blackburn); Vumile Spogter a surviving member of Johannes' family who lives in Steytlervile and was Mayor 1996-2000; Sam Keloe a young man living in Steytlervile; and myself, Ann Jamieson.
There are clearly many possible stories here. More than anything we want to begin to understand what these events mean to the present generation of youth in Steytlervile. There is a Heroes Monument but what part of Johannes' history shapes the lives of young people now? It is with this question that we intend to work with the Enquiry Team as they think through the information we have to hand and formulate further questions.
We intend to begin a funding campaign with a fundraiser on 7th Feb here in Newlands and crowdfunding via Thundafund. More details to follow. The project will have three parts ; 1, working with the young people to make the film, 2, working with the young people and others in the town to establish an archive of material relating to the history of the town during the struggle and 3, if fundraising goes well , establishing a capacity building unit with computers and internet access in the grounds of the little used Community Resource Centre.