34 year old chartered account Thabang Mabuza’s mother, Phila Portia Ndwandwe was only 23 years old when she was tortured and killed by apartheid security police in 1988 when he was just 5 months old. Today he calls her his Breastfeeding Warrior. Can he reconcile the trauma of her death as he goes in search for answers as to why his mother was killed? As past and present merge he will look at the question, was his mother’s sacrifice worth it or in vain? The Breastfeeding Warrior unfolds through the eyes of Thabang, Phila’s only child. Today he suffers from transgenerational trauma and is still coping with the loss and anguish. By using moving archival footage from the actual exhumation of Phila’s grave and pivotal TRC archive the documentary explores issues of trauma, reconciliation and forgiveness in South Africa. In a sense, Phila is given a voice as her bones start to ‘speak’ back to us and start to invoke her spirit. The documentary makes us realize that the impact of apartheid-era gross human rights violations extends beyond a single ‘criminal incident’ itself and continues to affect South Africans today. Hailing from Umlazi in KwaZulu Natal, Phila’s role in the liberation struggle will also be highlighted.

Jazz musician Mandla Mlangeni 35, is slowly coming to terms with the death of his father who was killed when he was 5 years old. He uses music and by extension his trumpet to heal. In his debut album Bhekisizwe which he dedicated to a father he never knew, the loss echoes powerfully through his music. The documentary criss-crosses from the present to the past as Mandla examines who his father really was and at the same time honors him by keeping his memory alive through his music. Issues of transgenerational trauma are explored. Bheki Mlangeni was a young human rights lawyer who was killed in his Soweto home by a booby-trapped Walkman. It was sent by Apartheid Security Policeman Eugene de Kock aka Prime Evil, it exploded on the 15th February, 1991 as he began to listen to it. 5 year old Mandla was a witness to this horrific scene. When addressing the man that was instrumental in his fathers’ killing Mandla said…“They said he (Eugene de Kock) must consult all the families but he did not do that. I think he owes the family an explanation. Maybe he will come to face my mother. Then she can decide whether she is pardoning him. At least he must come and see the damage he did to this family”. Trapped in a place of darkness Mandla goes on a journey to explore his Pathways to Light.

Ntombi was an anti-apartheid activist and member of the armed wing of the banned African National Congress (ANC), Umkhonto weSizwe (MK). She worked as an operative for the organization and was responsible for coordinating activities between the internal unit and the external unit of the ANC, as well as for coordinating other underground activities. The Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP) regarded Kubheka as a senior ANC member and had classified her as being the leader of the KwaMashu ANC branch. In 1987 Ntombi was kidnapped by the Port Natal Security Branch and interrogated and tortured. Her body was dumped near her home north of Durban. It was only 10 years later during the TRC Amnesty application that the family were made aware where Ntombi’s bones were buried and finally were able to give her a funeral and a tombstone. At the time of her death Ntombi had a 3-year-old daughter, today 40-year-old Thuli grapples with the legacy of her mother and how difficult life has been for her without a mother figure. Currently living in KwaMashu in a one room backroom with her 10-year-old daughter Zizipho, Thuli ponders whether her mother died in vain. An inquest to her death was opened in 2022. During the filming of the documentary Thuli is confronted with a shocking event that restirs The Bones of Memory.

Topsy Madaka was a political activist from Port Elizabeth who was killed in April 1982 by one of the apartheid security police’s most notorious killers, Gideon Nieuwoudt. He was kidnapped, drugged and executed with a single shot to the head before his body was burnt. It was only in 1997 during the TRC Amnesty application of the security police responsible for his death that it was finally revealed what had happened to him and where his bones were buried over 300km from Port Elizabeth. We will see through the eyes of his son Amandla whether he can reconcile the trauma of his father’s death as he goes in search for answers as to why he was killed? As past and present merge Amandla expresses how he shielded himself in a Cocoon of Pain to deal with the trauma of his father’s death. Topsy’s role in the liberation struggle will be highlighted and more importantly those who were left of trans-generational trauma, justice and reconciliation and the process of healing. A chance meeting with the son of his father’s killer makes for compelling watching

“Brother Lasch, inform mom and my other brothers that the police are going to push me from the 10th floor, and I am bidding you goodbye forever”. These were the words written on the white lining of Matthews dark green and bloodied Lee branded trousers. Fearing for his life he wrote this message for his family while he was in detention at the notorious John Vorster Square police station in 1977 during the height of apartheid. The suspicious circumstances surrounding what happened to Matthews have always lingered and now the family want closure and answers as to who is responsible for their son, uncle and brother’s unexplained death. When Matthews brother Lasch Mabelane, heard that the NPA had agreed to reopen an inquest into the death of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol, he thought finally this would also open doors for the Mabelane family. Unfortunately, Lasch and his 96-year-old father have passed away never getting the closure they so desperately wanted. Another brother Steve picks up the story for the documentary and despite this tragic event happening four decades ago, the trauma of it ‘sits visibly’ on his shoulders as he grapples with the mystery of what went on in Room 1008. An investigation into the death and detention of Matthews Mabelane is ongoing

Richard was a policeman based at the Hammanskraal Police Station. The Northern Transvaal Security Police compiled a file on him which suggested that he was an ANC agent giving sensitive information over to the ANC. During the TRC Amnesty hearings it came out that there was an order to eliminate Richard as he was a threat to the Security Branch and the Government of the day. On the 1st of December 1987 a security police hit squad went to their home. Both Richard and Irene were executed. Five year old Tshidiso was in the home miraculously survived by hiding in a cupboard. Today, married with two children, Tshidiso tries his best to shield them from the trauma he experienced, but every now and then he feels like a prisoner in his own mind. Investigation by the Hawks is ongoing