Epilogue: Chérif Keïta in South Africa: A Conversation with Albie Sachs

Abstract

Epilogue:Chérif Keïta in South Africa: A Conversation with Albie Sachs Dianna Bell On a cool morning I sit on Albie Sachs's patio with coffee and a freshly baked croissant. I look out on the ocean and realize that this is a setting I am beginning to take for granted. I have spent most of my summer holiday mornings with Albie—we have had many meaningful conversations about history and the legal profession at this table. Aside from Albie's generosity with his time, I am aware that I am only here because of my sababu, or link, to Albie Sachs—Chérif Keïta. We had other plans for the work we might do this morning, but I had left the materials I needed in the car. So, instead, we begin to talk about Chérif. I was curious about how Chérif had even made it into Sachs's purview. Sachs is a legendary figure in South African history, whose time is stretched by endless invitations to cultural events such as film screenings. Albie thought for a moment before saying, "Actually, I don't remember. One day he was just there." I smile as I write down the quote, because I can relate to the feeling. The first time I met Chérif, it did not feel as if I were meeting him, but rather that I was reconnecting with a close friend. Chérif has impacted so many people by teaching them French and showing them a Francophone world that extends far beyond France. But he has a side hustle too; he has made three notably rich documentaries about John Dube, the first president of the African National Congress (ANC). Albie reflects on the importance of John Dube as a patriot who dedicated his life to the struggle. Why then, I ask, had no one in South Africa made a documentary about him? He replies that his generation had a general respect for early ANC leaders, but that even he grew up in Cape Town knowing very little about Dube, who hailed from what is now known as KwaZulu. He remarks, "This is what Chérif has achieved. He has given a strong visual face, a personality and place, and a humanity to the Dube family." We sit together with that thought for a moment. Then Albie adds that now, when he closes his eyes, he sees Nokutela's, not John Dube's face. Chérif's [End Page 211] third documentary, Remembering Nokutela, focuses on the first wife of John Dube, Nokutela Mdima Dube. Albie offers that Remembering Nokutela shows the way that women shouldered so much pain from colonialism while still managing the planning and care it takes to run a household. He continues by saying that there is a sadness to the story of John and Nokutela Dube. Their marriage did not survive, and that demonstrates the way that sharing religious beliefs and a strong ideological system, such as what the ANC espouses, does not necessarily guarantee a happy relationship. In Remembering Nokutela, Chérif finds both Nokutela's unmarked grave and also her story. "He has rescued her from erasure," says Albie, and continues to explain that the effect of Remembering Nokutela is that John Dube becomes the husband who emerges as a figure in the shadow of his wife. Nokutela was remarkably organized and put together; she exhibited a natural elegance. Chérif has an energizing effect on people. Even the conversation about him enlivens me for the day. He is an historical conjurer. He brings ideas and people to life while forging current connections. I mention that I once heard Chérif remark at a film screening that black South Africans have been demoralized in a way that other Africans cannot quite grasp. Albie agrees in part, saying that he noticed while traveling in West Africa that people walk in the street with proud dress and posture, while the majority of pedestrians in South Africa, after centuries of conquest and forced involvement in an industrial economy, have a far more diffident and respectful pavement presence. I myself have noticed that people in West Africa who sell items or...