SA Rocks

On the 20th of May I was pleasantly surprised while watching Carte Blanch. Finally I saw some extremely poignant, relevant and well produced South African investigative journalism on the box.

Apparently the documentary that night was about train surfing. I was moved, intrigued and astounded at the documentary in general. The topic, the filming, the commentary and the general production were all astounding.

Fortunately for Musi Manyamalala, the producer of the documentary, I am not the only one who enjoyed the piece that he created. CNN picked up the story and filmed the entire thing on Saturday. The documentary showed on CNN apparently featured some edit out footage that Carte Blanch did not show.

I am blown away at the talent that keeps emerging from the South African up-and-commers. Musi, you are a talented individual who deserves all the success the world and our country have to offer. I am glad that you have received international acclaim so early in your career and look forward to the rest of your career as it unfolds.

Here is an extract from the documentary:

Their parents think they are at school, but these teenagers skip classes every day just to surf. And they smoke dagga and drink alcohol because it makes the surfing easier and seem less dangerous.

Train surfer 3: “Let’s smoke. Where is the dagga? My dagga’s finished. Do your thing my man. We’re together.”

Now they wait for a train, girls are always around to support them. They’ll scream and cheer them on as they surf and the boys love it because it keeps them going.

Calvin is a seventeen-year-old surfer who is known for stopping trains … this is how he spends
his school hours.

During the strike, the boys were able to surf freely without getting arrested. It also gave them a chance to try new stunts.

These trains are often travelling at 40km/h or more.

…Read More

Similar Posts:

• Surfing offline offshore off.the.hook!
• SABC to compete with CNN and BBC
• Ruda Leaves Carte Blanche
• Manu Padayachee – Veteran SA Journalist – Dies
• 2010 Soccer World Cup – No Problem

Popularity: 2% [?]