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Sauspoort Dam The Musical
Dikabo Tse Ntle Music and Art Promotions presents a four-day Saulspoort Dam The Musical at the Northern Cape Theatre. It captures the lives and tragedies of the hopeful passengers on the bus to the workers’ day rally celebrations on 1 May 2003.
The musical focuses on a bus tragedy that left 51 Cosatu-affiliated union members dead. This was after the bus the union members were travelling in plunged into the Saulspoort Dam, resulting in some workers drowning.
It’s produced by Charles Ikaneng, written and directed by Thabo Motlhabi.
Motlhabi says the musical also focuses on the plight of the families and children of the deceased workers and the survivors..
“Two days before the funeral, there were 2 million. Imagine how much 2 million was in 2003 compared to now. That was meant for victims and the survivors, but they claim they didn’t get it. So as you write the play, the narrative continued, Where is the money? Promises were made, but what resonated with the actors was that these people only got two therapy sessions. 15 minutes one-on-one and another 15 minutes as a group. That was all the help they got. We talk about resilience; these people went through a lot.”
Survivor, Tshepo Mogorosi, was on the bus travelling from Kimberley to Qwaqwa to attend the rally. He says the trip was crucial to ask for the intervention of Cosatu leadership after 13 workers were suspended.
Mogorosi survived the tragedy after climbing on top of the plunged bus at the dam. He says, despite it happening 22 years ago, it still haunts him.
“Since 2013 to today, I’m no longer having flashbacks of the accident. With my last interview with the crew that has been compiling this play today, I still have that subconscious fear and pain. I can’t explain how I feel, but I just saw myself breaking down when the guys interviewed me about the accident that happened 22 years ago.”
