MARTIN JANSEN

Where is the better life for All that you promised us is the sequel to Worker’s World Media Production’s 2018 documentary, Freedom isn’t Free – the Freedom Charter Today.  It is being screened in communities as a critical review of over three decades after the victory of democracy and is a powerful and harrowing continuation of the story of the betrayals of the great struggles for democracy and equality in South Africa since the last decades of the 20^th century.  

The film highlights the voices of new activists in social movements currently confronting the growing inequalities in South Africa today. Formations such as the Khulumani Support Group, Housing Assembly, Abahlali base Mjondolo, Community Healthcare workers and the survivors of the 2012 Marikana massacre reflect on the contrast between the reality of their experiences of the abandonment of the working class and the privatisation and commercialization of public services, and the ANC Government’s posters and slogans, promising “A Better life for all”.

These voices are interspersed with interviews with leading politicians and commentators attempting to make sense of the contradictions. Amongst these are interviews with some of the original 1955 Kliptown Congress of the People participants and several apartheid victims and TRC reparations claimants, still struggling to persuade the government to deal with their cases and ensure justice. This serves as a conceptual and historical link with its prequel.

What emerges are narratives of neo-liberal policies, a growing democratic deficit in the new constitutional order and corruption as state functions are outsourced to private companies, consultants and NGOs. The film is designed to be used as an educational vehicle for workshops with activists. As such it is both a documentary and a resource in the traditions of popular education. In this regard the film uses devices such as illustrative charts, graphics and educational voice overs to complement its visual narrative.