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South African anarchist hip-hop collective Soundz of the South (SoS) has released its debut music video, Zabalaza, capturing the disjunction and stark inequality in the City of Cape Town.
SoS describes itself as an “anarchist collective working to build an international working class counterculture that is anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, anti-racist, and anti-sexist”. The collective is known for its political commentary on gross inequality and injustice in South Africa. One of its first breakthrough compositions is a spoken word poem, Bloodshed of the Innocent, released in the aftermath of the 2012 Marikana massacre.
More recently, the collective has participated in the #FeesMustFall student protests and is known for activism that extends beyond music and filters into on-the-ground action in communities. Hip-hop is only one medium SoS employs to speak to power and embolden the voice of the working class.
And the group’s recently released debut music video is a solid addition to their mandate, with its juxtapositions between the lives of people living in Khayelitsha Site C, Newlands and the Cape Town CBD.
Zabalaza centres on a simple part of Cape Town life: the daily commute to work. It’s something many of us have the privilege not to worry about, other than gripes about
sitting in traffic while in our air-conditioned, almost-luxury cars. This is in
stark contrast with the experience of the people of Khayelitsha, who are far removed from their
places of work in suburbs like Newlands and the Cape Town
CBD after decades of race-based spatial planning. Using simple footage of
Khayelitsha residents trying to make their way to work, Zabalaza captures how
truly gruelling the daily commute can be for Cape Town’s
working class – and just how out of touch their places of work are when compared
with their own homes.
Working class people are seen standing in seemingly endless queues for buses or taxis in the early morning light, intercut with footage of a man apparently running to reach his transport. Others are captured clambering on to the back of a bakkie, 10 people at a time. But most jarring was footage of Metrorail train cars filled way over capacity, leaving people to stand between carriages or even precariously perched on the edge of the windows. All that kept them from falling on to the tracks was a firm fingerhold on the frame and the absence of a small bump en route to their place of work.
This is juxtaposed with aerial footage of the leafy green suburb of Newlands, where every house has a suspiciously green back yard and blue, glistening pool (some properties even have a full tennis court, too).
This is repeatedly intercut by similar footage of the ash greys and rusty browns of Khayelitsha, making for a stark and obvious contrast between Cape Town’s middle to upper class residents and its working class.
In their hip-hop narration, SoS calls on its audience to “break these chains”, “liberate our minds”, say “hell to the system” and organise and mobilise against the continued colonisation of black working class South Africans’ lives.
The music video is directed by award-winning film maker and director Jenna Bass. Bass has been recognised for her work both locally and internationally.
