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Family wants justice for actor Odwa Shweni

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The family of Odwa Shweni – the actor who slipped and fell off a cliff at the Sterkspruit Waterfall in the Drakensberg while filming a movie scene on April 12 – has appealed to the police and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to conclude their investigation and make a decision on whether the film makers will be charged and prosecuted.

“It has been four months since Odwa died. It is very hard for the family to heal without justice. We need closure,” said Shweni’s brother Sincedile this week.

In May City Press published an investigation aided by the SA Guild of Actors into what happened on the set of Outside, the debut feature of well-known political film-making couple Sipho Singiswa, the director, and Gillian Schutte, the producer.

According to eyewitness accounts of eight members of the cast and crew of Outside – supported by documents, photos and video footage – there were no safety measures on set and Singiswa had hurried the shooting of the fight scene late in the day that resulted in Shweni losing his balance, falling into the river and plunging over the edge of the waterfall near Monk’s Cowl in Winterton.

Singiswa strongly denied the eyewitness accounts, calling them “absurd and either grossly exaggerated or devoid of truth” and threatened to take legal action for defamation.

This week Sincedile said: “All we want is to know if there is going to be a state prosecution or not so that we can decide whether to pursue a private prosecution.”

The delayed docket

City Press has, in the past two months, made numerous enquiries into the progress of what seems to be a straightforward investigation.

Police interviewed several members of the crew the day after Shweni fell and his body was retrieved from the river.

Police spokespeople repeatedly told City Press the docket was incomplete and could not be handed over to the prosecutor for a decision because it was awaiting an autopsy report.

However, the Shweni family had a private autopsy conducted and Sincedile confirmed this had been speedily handed to the investigating officer.

This week sources close to the case confirmed that a completed docket was handed over by police several weeks ago. The docket was apparently sent back to police for further clarity.

Two sources told City Press that the docket was with the NPA but the prosecutor could not view the footage of Shweni’s death, filmed by the crew.

The technical problem, they said, should be resolved by next week.

The NPA did not respond to queries at the time of publication.

Accident or negligence?

“It had been raining for weeks and the river was flowing strongly. Three other members of the crew slipped and fell in the rock pools before Odwa [Shweni] lost his balance and went over the edge ... There were no safety measures in place. Nothing. No stunt professional, no safety officer, no nets, no cheat shots, just some mats ... It was a cowboy operation ...” one witness told City Press.

Outside, which has not been completed, is a violent political horror movie in which a fictional Singiswa, Schutte and their son go on a camping weekend to get away from the internet trolls hounding Schutte’s character after she outed a judge as racist.

In real life Schutte was behind the fall of Judge Mabel Jansen whose comments on black men and rape angered many.

At the campsite the family encounters a group of violent racists and their ringleader Okkie.

A woman with the men is raped by one of them and Okkie attacks and abducts Schutte’s character, Jean.

Her husband, Lunga, played by Shweni, goes after them and the showdown takes place at a waterfall, with Okkie falling to his death.

Tragically, it was Shweni who went over the falls instead, leaving the cast and crew traumatised and Shweni’s wife and two small daughters without a husband and father.

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