Anene Booysen, Kayde Williams, Elda Jaftha, Sulnita Manho and Jodine Pieters are all young girls from Bredasdorp whose brutal rapes and murders made headlines, their heinous deaths causing a public outcry.
The documentary film Dorpie, produced by German-born freelance journalist and filmmaker Julia Jaki, who now lives in Cape Town, takes a deeper look at the brutal murders and what has been done to address socio-economic factors contributing to these atrocious crimes in a community plagued by drug and alcohol abuse, poverty and low levels of education.
The film that premiered to a sold-out audience at the Encounters International Film Festival at the Labia Theatre in Cape Town at the end of June, focuses on the work of Lana O’Neill of Heavenly Promise Safe House in Bredasdorp and how she supports not only the victims’ loved ones but also victims of domestic and gender-based violence who reside at the safe house.
The case of Anene Booysen’s brutal murder that made international headlines, said Jaki, piqued her interest.
“Politicians made promises that they would do something for the youth in the town. Exactly one year after Anene’s death I went to Bredasdorp to research a follow-up story on what had happened in the town since her murder.” ‘Senzenina’
A chance encounter with Dean O’Neill, who was the Cape Agulhas Municipal Manager at that stage, at the building site of the Anene Booysen Skills Centre set the ball in motion and led to her first meeting with his wife, Lana.
“A few months later, I met with Lana and was immediately struck by her drive and passion,” Jaki said. “I knew right away I would like to follow her and make a film about her, because a short TV report wouldn’t do her or her work justice.
“I asked her how she felt about me, a foreigner, making a film about her and she said: I think it’s important that people see what’s happening on the ground.”
Although she knew that filming would take time, Jaki never expected it to take seven years.
Her aim with the documentary, said Jaki, was to place the spotlight on the work of “incredible women such as Lana” who work tirelessly to protect and uplift their communities and highlight their need for assistance.
The film was screened at various international film festivals, which Jaki described as a huge honour. But the highlight for her was the screening at the Encounters Film Festival in Cape Town.
It was attended by people from different walks, including staff and residents of a number of shelters, who started singing “Senzenina”, an old struggle song that means “What have we done?”
“The reaction from women in shelters who attended the screening was that Hanover Park, Manenberg and all other towns are ‘Dorpies’,” Lana O’Neill stated. “It was a very emotional moment.”
Jaki’s greatest wish is that politicians, all stakeholders in the fight against GBV as well as men and women from all walks of life in South Africa should see the documentary.
“GBV and femicide affects all women, but women in disadvantaged areas are especially vulnerable,” she said. “We mustn’t close our eyes just because it doesn’t happen in our backyard.”
Hard-hitting truth
Nothing was set up, said O’Neill. “Julia followed me and documented events as they happened, showing what we experience on a daily basis.”
One of the most perturbing scenes in the 75-minute-long documentary does exactly this, showing the pain and distress of a woman suffering a psychotic episode and O’Neill’s tireless efforts to get the woman the necessary help.
“There is always something in life that causes people to turn to drugs to help them forget and escape the pain,” she explained. “We do our best to ensure they get the necessary help to deal with these issues and to kick their addiction.”
But O’Neill and HP48’s work doesn’t stop there. The cameras follow her as she visits crime hot spots to admonish children of the dangers lurking there, looks in on a family hard hit by poverty, leads marches to hand over memorandums to authorities and attends countless meetings to find solutions to the ongoing challenges especially women in the community face.
It documents promises made and forgotten by politicians but also shows the success of a specialised Sexual Offences Court in Bredasdorp.
At the end, the cameras zoom in on an emotional Lana saying: “I’m fighting a losing battle but I also know I cannot fight a losing battle because every person I help is one less person getting abused.”
Dorpie will be screened on 30 August at 18:00 at Bertha House in Mowbray, Cape Town and in September at the Saartjie Baartman Centre in Cape Town. More screenings in communities across the province are being planned.
