Re-release July 2025 – amidst National concern raised by allegations & reports of serious deep routed corruption in the leadership & ranks of the South African Police Service. South Africa 1996. Central to the transformation of the old-style South African Police Force to a new-approach Police “Service”- based on community policing – is the work of the National Anti-corruption Unit. Their mission is clear – to root out corruption within the ranks of the South African Police Service. At the same time, the ethos of the Police Service has changed from a “para-military” style reactive force reliant on convictions through confessions to a pro-active community policing approach based on human rights principles in line with South Africa’s New Constitution. “Heroes & Villains – Good Cop … Bad Cop” takes a look at Police corruption against a backdrop of tensions arising out of the changing ethos in the emerging new-style South African Police Service [SAPS].
“Thousands of empty shoes at Zoo Lake – a poignant testimony to victims of violent crime” – The Star, Monday July 21st 1997. “Rainbow Courage – A Tribute” written & directed by Kevin Harris in 1997 is a tribute to all South Africans affected by the violence & violent crime that wracked South African society post-1994. Grave new world – the dark side of the miracle of transformation from oppression to personal freedom; floating to the surface a tidal wave of organised & violent crime as syndicates & corrupt officials pull the triggers of street thugs with seeming impunity. Rainbow Courage – A Tribute is “a shattering depiction of the heroism of those South Africans, white & black, who have survived the crime wave engulfing the country. Allison, the woman raped and left for dead with her throat slit in Port Elizabeth; Rob, the Johannesburg businessman tortured with a hot iron by robbers; the family of a young Tembisa woman tortured & killed after being raped at a local school in the dead of night are just some. The fortitude & what can only be described as positiveness of such people, their determination to make their society a better place despite all that has happened to them, was truly moving and brought home the horror of the word “crime” as nothing else has.” The Sunday Independent – July, 26 1998.
“UNFINISHED BUSINESS” is the quest by anti-Apartheid struggle stalwart Joe Seramane to uncover the truth about the circumstances surrounding his younger brother Timothy’s execution by the ANC-in-exile at their Quattro Detention Camp in Angola; and in the process, to find Timothy’s remains and bring them back home for dignified burial alongside his parent’s graves at Bekkersdal. In 1990 when exiles began returning home to South Africa, their spirits high with anticipation, the Seramane family waited in vain. Timothy did not return & seemingly no one in the liberation movement had any insight into where he was or why he had not returned. It was only when Gordon Moshoeu arrived on the Seramane doorstep months later that the terrible truth was revealed. Gordon – a former inmate of Quattro Camp, the ANC detention centre in Angola – brought the devastating news that Timothy, together with Gordon’s brother Paki – was one of a group of twelve inmates that were executed by ANC firing-squad at Quattro Camp in 1981.
Judgement Day
“JUDGEMENT DAY” – [ South Africa yesterday, Israel / Palestine today ] “Indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself. It is a silent justification affording evil acceptability in society” – Abraham Joshua Heschel, Jewish philosopher. “But however long it takes, the evil truth will always be out there – waiting to be exposed.” Borne out by the South African Truth & Reconciliation Commission, this introductory reference point of the documentary establishes a principal tenet of “JUDGEMENT DAY” – a universal statement about war and the consequences of protracted violent conflict on a generation of youth – caught up on both sides of that conflict – sent out by the Generals to kill & maim for God & Country. Contextualised in the history of the violent struggle against apartheid in South Africa / Namibia-past and the current brutalising bloodshed taking place in Israel / Palestine daily, “JUDGEMENT DAY” is as much a film about the post-Apartheid search for healing in South African society as it is a prophetic reflection on the steady loss of humanity of those bathed in the ongoing bloodied conflict that is Israel / Palestine today. As such, “JUDGEMENT DAY” examines how ordinary people become brutalised in situations of conflict, and lose their essential humanity and moral compass.
Visions of Street-Writers – EP 1 & 2
“Visions of Street Writers” is a 2 x part documentary in which six Homeless Talk Newspaper writers workshop, develop and write a dramatised television narrative Produced & Directed by Kevin Harris. The six “street-writers” draw on their own personal experiences to reflect and communicate circumstances that lead to and are an integral part of the world of the homeless and destitute. The drama titled, “Noxolo – woman of Courage” tells the story of a young woman who comes to Johannesburg from the Transkei in search of her husband Nyaniso.
EPISODE 1
In the Shadows of Beau Bassin
Europe – 1940. As Adolf Hitler’s intent becomes clear, thousands of Jews – denied travel documents – frantically attempt to flee the continent and Nazi persecution. After months of fear, intimidation & uncertainty – on September 4th two ships – the Uranus and the Helios – edge their way down the River Danube – destination Palestine. Crammed on board – some three thousand Jewish refugees – possibly the last known group attempting to escape Hitler’s clutches & certain death. On board that September evening in 1940 were the Rapynski Family – Mordechai & Peshach with their two young children, Yitzac & Hella. This is their story – and that of 1581 of the refugees who left Bratislava by ship on that day.