Former Skeem Saam director takes filmmaking back to the ‘Bush’

More than two decades after leaving Bushbuckridge to make his mark in film and television, award-winning director and producer Lehlogonolo “King Shaft” Moropane is returning to where his own story started, armed with cameras, experience and a mission to produce the next generation of filmmakers.

Moropane has spent more than 20 years behind the camera, building a résumé across some of South Africa’s biggest television productions.

His directing credits include Skeem Saam, Uzalo, Isibaya, eHostela 2 and Isipho, while his work stretches across television drama, feature films, music videos and commercials. He also co-directed the historical feature 1960, which opened the 2022 Durban International Film Festival and walked away with the award for Best South African Feature Film.

Read: Durban International Film Festival to showcase 90 films

A 2003 AFDA graduate, Moropane has worked as a director, writer and producer, turning the youngster who once searched for inspiration in the streets into an accomplished filmmaker with national credits.

Going back to his roots

The Skeem Saam director is taking filmmaking back to Shatale township, his hometown, where more than 40 aspiring creatives will receive practical industry training before turning their cameras on an often overlooked story: the culture, heritage and language of Mapulana people.

There is an almost cinematic symmetry to where it will happen.

The Bushbuckridge Filming Training Workshop will be based at Shatale Library, formerly Shatale Resource Centre, the same place where Moropane says his imagination was awakened before he entered the industry.

Much of the centre was destroyed during community protests in the politically volatile late 1990s. What remained, however, included books and enough space for young minds to wander beyond Bushbuckridge.

“Shatale Library looks different from when we were growing up. You had 70% of the former resource centre wiped out by fire, but portions of it had books, and we came here and got baptised into the arts,” Moropane said.

“If a burnt library could produce a few names in media and the entertainment industry, imagine what a fully functional library can produce. I believe filmmakers whose names will soon be well-known can emerge from here.”

Cameras turn towards Mapulana

The programme, facilitated by the Moropane Foundation, is funded by the National Film and Video Foundation through the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme.

Read: Local film industry projected to rake in R5.2bn in 2025

Training is scheduled to begin in October and run for approximately four to eight weeks.

Participants will learn screenwriting, directing, cinematography, sound recording, production management, editing and storytelling.

But Moropane does not want students leaving with certificates and theoretical knowledge alone.

They will produce a short film and documentary, with the latter focusing on Mapulana culture and heritage and the promotion of Sepulana, a language that remains marginalised despite being spoken across parts of Mpumalanga.

“The camera must eventually belong to the people whose stories are being told,” Moropane said.

“For too long, young people from places such as Bushbuckridge have believed you must first leave home before your story becomes important. We want to reverse that thinking. Sometimes the story the world needs is sitting with your grandmother at home.”

The completed work will be screened during a graduation ceremony where participants will receive certificates.

Organisers expect the initiative to create more than 40 direct employment opportunities and approximately 10 indirect opportunities, while supporting local businesses during production.

Veterans pass on the baton

Moropane will not be returning home alone.

Veteran actor, playwright, director and storyteller Bheki Mkhwane, widely recognised for playing Samson Ndlovu in Isibaya, is among the experienced practitioners bringing decades of industry knowledge to the programme.

Mkhwane’s career stretches from KwaMashu township theatre to international stages and major South African television productions.

His involvement fits a philosophy he has carried throughout his career: artistic knowledge should never die with its owner.

“Life is a relay,” Mkhwane said. “Every generation needs to pass on the baton whilst there is still applause.”

For Mkhwane, mentorship is also about producing artists who understand where they come from rather than simply manufacturing celebrities.

“Being famous is not the destination. Skill, discipline and knowing why you are telling a story matter much more,” he said.

“We have travelled, performed and learnt. At some point, experience must travel in the opposite direction and return to communities. Otherwise we become successful individuals without building successful generations.”

For Moropane, that opposite direction leads all the way back to Shatale.

More than 20 years after the library helped open a window into another world for him, he is returning to open that window wider for others.

This time, the youngsters entering Shatale Library will not only find books.

They will find cameras waiting.

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