“I’m going to places that we intentionally didn’t go, because they were just places where Black people were not welcome.”
Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse is set to explore racism in South Africa in a new documentary airing tonight on BBC.
The programme, which is titled Oti Mabuse: My South Africa, sees the dancer visit “whites-only” towns, while exploring how her own family were affected by Apartheid.
Apartheid was a system in South Africa under the all-white government of 1948 to 1994 in which non-white South Africans were forced to live in segregated areas and use different public facilities. In Mabuse’s documentary, she notes how the system is effectively still happening in parts of the country.
As she travels closer to one area in particular, Oti recalls how on her family’s travels, they wouldn’t leave their car as they drove through that place.
She says: “On our Dad’s travels, we often didn’t even get out of the car in this part of the country.
“I’m going to places that we intentionally didn’t go, because they were just places where Black people were not welcome.”
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She then explains that her parents wanted to protect her from racist abuse.
“I don’t think my parents wanted us to be subjected to looks, to people calling us names,” she says. “And I think my dad really just wanted to protect us.”
As she arrives in Orania, which is a “whites-only town”, she reflects on how in some parts of South Africa, nothing has changed.
“Many things have changed since we drove this road 20 years ago, but not everything,” she says. “This for me, takes me back. I feel like apartheid is still happening.”
Oti continues: “It’s not just South Africa that’s trying to move forward. It’s the whole world. And I just feel like this is 10 massive steps backwards. I just feel a long way from a township home.”
After sharing a trailer for the documentary on Instagram, Oti’s sister Motsi wrote that it was sad for her to see their parents be so vulnerable.
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