Truth Be Told: Ntombikayise Kubheka – The Bones of Memory

Ntombi was an anti-apartheid activist and member of the armed wing of the banned African National Congress (ANC), Umkhonto weSizwe (MK). She worked as an operative for the organisation and was responsible for coordinating activities between the internal unit and the external unit of the ANC, as well as for coordinating other underground activities. The Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP) regarded Kubheka as a senior ANC member and had classified her as being the leader of the KwaMashu ANC branch. In 1987 Ntombi was kidnapped by the Port Natal Security Branch and interrogated and tortured. Her body was dumped near her home north of Durban. It was only 10 years later during the TRC Amnesty application that the family were made aware where Ntombi’s bones were buried and finally were able to give her a funeral and a tombstone. At the time of her death Ntombi had a 3-year-old daughter, today 40-year-old Thuli grapples with the legacy of her mother and how difficult life has been for her without a mother figure. Currently living in KwaMashu in a one room backroom with her 10-year-old daughter Zizipho, Thuli ponders whether her mother died in vain. An inquest to her death was opened in 2022.

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Enver Samuel

Enver was born in South Africa and grew up in England, Ghana and Zambia. He has studied both practical and theoretical aspects of Film and Television both locally and abroad, in England, Germany and culminating in him receiving a scholarship to study in Australia where he obtained a BA degree in Film & Media.

During a 3 decade long career in the television industry that started in 1994 Enver has worked on numerous television productions and for various high-profile corporate and government clients, amongst others… the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Kaiser Family Foundation, the South African Forestry Company Ltd, Human Science Research Council AIDS Report, Global Campaign for Education, National Lotteries Board, Rio Tinto, National Department of Housing, National Department of Defence, National Department of Water Affairs and African Union (AU). Enver has also lectured in Television Journalism/Production at the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ), University of Johannesburg, National Film and Video Foundation, Far North Film & Television Academy, the Academy of Television and Screen Arts and Ignite Botswana. He has also trained television producers in Zambia and Uganda. Enver has conducted masterclasses in documentary filmmaking and archive use for the Rustenburg Film Festival, Mpumalanga International Film Festival and the National Film & Video Foundation.

In addition to being a founding member of the Film and Publication Board (FPB) 1998 – 2014 from 2015 to 2018, Enver advised SVOD channel Showmax on their film content ratings. Enver served on The National Film & Video Foundation’s (NFVF) training and bursary committee for three terms and also on the documentary panel. From 2012 to present Enver has been a South African Film & Television Award Judge (SAFTA), including being the co-chair of the documentary panel. Enver was a board member for the Documentary Filmmakers Association (DFA) for 6 terms. He also acted as a mentor producer for the KwaZulu Natal Film Commission (KZNFC) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). In 2020 Enver was invited to be on the South African jury panel that selects the South African feature film for the Oscars. He also has been a jury member for Documentary at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), Bangkok International Film Festival and Simon Sabela – KZN Film & Television Awards. Enver was also on the panel that adjudicated documentary entries for MNet’s Silwerskermfees in 2022 and 2024 and is also a Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP)panel member.

Enver has travelled extensively overseas and has a wealth of experience working in Africa, having worked as a producer / director in over 30 countries on the continent. He has worked on hundreds of hours of content for TV, mainly in reality, magazine, sport, music, talk shows and documentaries.

For the past 10 years Enver has been concentrating on producing and directing documentaries with a strong social impact. This journey began with Indians Can’t Fly for SABC3, 2015, which was an official selection for the Durban International Film Festival 2016, The Toronto South African Film Festival 2016 and Festival Cinemas d’Afrique Lausanne, Switzerland 2018. Indians Can’t Fly was nominated for three South African Film & Television Awards (SAFTA’s) for best director, best documentary, best editor in the documentary short category, winning the Golden Horn for Best Achievement in Directing and Best Documentary 2016. Enver won another SAFTA for the follow up documentary to Indians Can’t Fly, Someone To Blame – The Ahmed Timol Inquest – for best documentary short, 2019. It also won best documentary at the Zanzibar International Film Festival 2019 and Jozi Film Festival 2019 and Coalition of South Asian Film Festival (COSAFF) 2022. The documentary was also screened at the Vancouver South Africa Film Festival 2019, Encounters South Africa International Film Festival 2019 and was the South African selection for INPUT Bangkok 2019. It was also flighted on VOD Channels Showmax and AfriDocs.

In its conceptualisation stage Murder in Paris, Enver’s first full length feature documentary won the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) ScreenCubator / Encounters Impact Springboard in 2018 and was selected for the Durban FilmMart 2019 at the Durban International Film Festival. The documentary was broadcast on SABC3 on Human Rights Day 2021. Filmmaker Samuel’s critically acclaimed Murder in Paris, exploring the assassination of anti-apartheid activist Dulcie September, has been selected at over 50 festivals, winning 15 awards, including the Durban International Film Festival Best Documentary Award in 2021 which is an Oscar qualifying award, he was also awarded the festival’s Amnesty International Human Rights Award for “documenting the lives of South African human rights legends and unearthing the need for a thorough investigation into the deaths of assassinated political leaders”. It was nominated for 4 SAFTA awards, 2022, winning one. Murder in Paris was also flighted on MNet and VOD Channel Showmax. Murder in Paris was invited to screen at the prestigious Bertha Doc House in London, September 2021.

Enver has recently produced and directed a 6 part series of I hr documentaries for SABC 3 on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called Truth Be Told. The project was selected for the Movies That Matter Impact Campaign in The Hague 2023. Various episodes of the series have been in demand: The Breastfeeding Warrior was screened at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, selected for the Human Rights film festival at Constitutional Hill, was South Africa’s selection for Input 2024, Charleston, South Carolina, the Rustenburg Film Festival and recently won the Simon Sabela Award for best documentary short, 2024. The Bones of Memory was selected for Artfluence, UKZN, Kotka Human Rights Film Festival Finland, screened at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation and was a nominee for a Simon Sabela Award for best documentary short, 2024. Pathways to Light has been selected for the Rustenburg Film Festival and was screened at the South African Association for Jazz Education at Wits University. Cocoon of Pain has been selected for the Africa Human Rights Film Festival and screened at Rhodes University – School of Journalism & Media Studies. Prisoner in my Mind was screened at Norton Rose Fulbright and Ignite Botswana and won best feature doc at the Atlanta Movie Awards. Room 1008 was screened at a June 16th celebration in Soweto.

Enver is currently working on a true crime doccie series for SABC 3 and has been appointed by the National Film & Video Foundation as a mentor for the Chris Hani documentary.