WILD COAST WARRIORS
Key Characters
Nonhle Mbuthuma
Main Character
Nonhle Mbuthuma (Associate Producer) is a famous human rights activist, the spokesperson for the Amadiba Crisis Committee, tenaciously fighting for her land and its environmental rights, resisting the exploitation of their territory. She helped found the Amadiba Crisis Committee to unite villages of the Amadiba Traditional Community in opposition to mining projects undertaken without consultation with those affected. After the assassination of her friend and fellow activist, she said: “I wake up each morning and thank God I am still alive,” after being told she was on a hit list. “I know I am a target. My husband, my family and my friends are worried. They tell me to go into hiding. But I can’t do that. It’s not me. I choose this road.”
Sinegugu Zukulu
Main Character
Sinegugu Zukulu (Associate Producer) is the Director of Sustaining the Wild Coast. He was the first applicant in the Shell case, is an inspiring champion of rural conservation, tirelessly promoting sustainable development that benefits rural people. His goal to protect Pondoland’s biodiversity and culture for future generations has been going for at least 21 years. He’s a trailblazer in conservation, ecotourism and environmental management, working in youth upskilling whilst guarding the unique biodiversity and ecosystems.
Siyabonga Ndovela
Main Character
Siyabonga Ndovela (Associate Producer) is a true amaMpondo living the authentic life of his ancestors, a friendly custodian of nature and the oceans, universally loved and respected. He is another leader within the Amadiba Crisis Committee. His grandparents brought him up well and taught him all about his culture and helping his community. He single-handedly chased away assassins with a spear at night after they’d sprayed bullets into his family homestead. He’s a farmer, fisherman, knowledgeable ecotourist guide & stalwart community leader.
Tembeka Ngcukaitobi
Senior Advocate for the amaMpondo
Minor characters: Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, a dynamic, brilliant South African senior advocate, conducts a withering attack on Shell. He’s a compelling and persuasive public speaker, an authority on land rights, an author, and a political activist. In representing the Wild Coast and expertly winning the second court case, he carries the hopes of the amaMpondo on his broad shoulders to safeguard their cultural heritage from Shell;
Other minor characters: Mashona Wetu Dlamini, a Xolobeni elder leader & fisherman; marine scientists Drs Judy & Bruce Mann; attorneys Cormac Cullinan, Ricky Stone (both from Cullinan & Associates); Wilmien Wicomb (Legal Resource Centre); Pooven Moodley (ex-director of Natural Justice); Katherine Robinson (Head of Strategic Planning and Communications); Thandile Chinyavanhu (Spokesperson for Greenpeace Africa) Marguerite Hofmeyer & Frank Solomon (Sentinel Ocean Alliance).
CONCEPTS AND THEMES: We are passionate about giving unheard indigenous people a voice as the true conservators of their natural world. While lawyers for Pondoland argue Shell didn’t consult these communities, or obtain proper environmental authorisation and would cause irreparable harm to marine life, we cut to the Wild Coast to invite global viewers to meet these people and judge for themselves. We see the amaMpondo's lived experience, maintaining responsible stewardship of ancestral lands and sacred seas, a symbiotic relationship that supports flourishing land and marine biodiversity, counterpointed with Shell’s capitalist arguments.
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OUR PARTNERS
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