Apartheid in South Africa may have, in law, said to have been abolished, but the infrastructure that was built up supporting it is still there. The poor and native population still live in mainly overcrowded shanty town dwellings while the white settlers live in the more prosperous areas. Those in the outskirts of Capetown have to make a long, tiring and some times hazardous journey to earn their daily bread. However could these crowded shanty towns with their forced living together, be the phoenix of anarchism that could spread the flames of freedom across the continent and further afield? As they say, hope springs eternal.
Zabalaza centres on a simple part of Cape Town life: the daily commute to work. It’s something many of us have the privilege not to worry about, other than gripes about sitting in traffic while in our air-conditioned, almost-luxury cars. This is in stark contrast with the experience of the people of Khayelitsha, who are far removed from their places of work in suburbs like Newlands and the Cape Town CBD after decades of race-based spatial planning. Using simple footage of Khayelitsha residents trying to make their way to work, Zabalaza captures how truly gruelling the daily commute can be for Cape Town’s working class – and just how out of touch their places of work are when compared with their own homes.
- Michelle Solomon, City Pres
Filmed, Edited and Directed by Jenna Bass w/Soundz of the South Anarchist Hiphop collective, SOUNDZ OF THE SOUTH announce music video, ZABALAZA, a politically-charged, visual testimony to stark inequality in the City of Cape Town. Soundz of the South (SoS) is an anarchist collective working to build an international working-class counter-culture that is anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, anti-racist, and anti-sexist. They seek to foster new social values and new forms of collective organising, which will become the socio-political infrastructure of the free society. Zabalaza’s lyrics call on workers and unemployed workers to free themselves from the bondage of capitalism, whilst also celebrating workers’ self-initiatives to resist oppression. The track features MC’s Karl Myx, Tsidi and Anela, and was produced by DJ Cingle. Shot in Khayelitsha Site C, Newlands and the Cape Town CBD, the video depicts the daily commute of workers between two worlds: from their extremely poor communities to their workplaces in the city centre or the wealthy suburbs before travelling back home again. The combination of aerial and slow-motion imagery captures the reality of township life, from endless queues for public transport or the local clinic to workers awaiting casual labour jobs on the highway, while over-loaded trains and morning traffic pass below. The cycle of poverty and wealth is both poetic and sad, a combination of structural violence and inertia. SoS’s tracks can be streamed via Band Camp: https://sos1.bandcamp.com/ For more information about SoS: https://www.facebook.com/soundzofthes... IG: soundzofthesouth Twitter: S_OS
