OPENING REMARKS: PHOTOJOURNALIST NTATE VUSI TUKAKHOMO (1945-2019), BY VUYISILE MSHUDULU KA-SHWEME – 29 JANUARY 2026 AT THE DUGGAN CRONIN GALLERY IN GA-KGOSI GALESHEWE

This address was delivered at the opening of Eagle’s Eye, a memorial exhibition honouring the late Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo, a distinguished documentary photographer whose work spans nearly four decades of South African social and political life. The exhibition was well attended by members of the local community, with an audience that cut across generations, affirming the continued relevance of Tukakhomo’s work to both lived memory and contemporary consciousness. 

The speech by Vuyisile Mshudulu ka-Shweme, reflects on his contribution to history and humanity, situating his photographic practice within broader questions of memory, erasure, dignity, and the ethical responsibilities of image-making. Anchored in Ga-Kgosi Galeshewe as both place and historical archive, the address foregrounds photography as a powerful instrument of humanisation, resistance, and historical consciousness, while also interrogating its contradictions in contemporary visual culture.

ADDRESS ON THE OPENING OF A MEMORIAL EXHIBITION TITLED ‘EAGLE’S EYE’ IN HONOUR OF ACCLAIMED 

Programme Director, Hara Tshenolo Imhotep Matheatau;

Our Mother, Mme Sylvia Tukakhomo and the rest of the family present here today;

Mr. Allen Mukansi, National Department of Sport, Arts and Culture;

Curator of the Exhibition, Ms Frellet Koope;

Dignitaries;

Ladies and Gentlemen:

In the interest of time, allow me to say Greetings to you and all protocol observed. 

I have stood on many podiums in my life but none compares to the honour bestowed on me to talk about Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo. The only comparable to this moment was when I spoke about the artistic contribution of Ntate Gaoganwe Rocky Mafafo. I am going to frame my talk on the following subjects. 

 

Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo – A distinguished Contributor to History and Humanity

The Value of Photography 

Erasure and Obscurity 

Contradictions and Lessons about the use of Photography

Firstly, today we are gathered to observe history and how it has been kind to us to bequeath to us a life that not only enriched but also shaped the course of history. We observe this moment through an exhibition titled “Eagle’s Eye” honouring the late Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo and reflect on his almost four decades of epoch shaping photography. 

It is also worth mentioning that the venue that is hosting us today serves as an importance reference point for our understanding of the genesis and evolution of South African capitalism and British imperialism in Southern Africa.

This exhibition is important in a number of respects, including its value as an affirming of black young people and their agency. The over 100 years South Africa’s history and existence as a polity cannot be fully understood without a reference to the place where are in- Ga-Kgosi Galeshewe. 

It is for this reason that I commend Frellet Koope, a passionate photographer herself, Tshenolo Matheatau, a historian and cultural activist and Nkululeko Gqozo a cultural activist in his own right for ensuring that we don't forget the sacrifices of a man who dedicated his life to documenting our history with care and precision. 

As stated, the history of British imperialism especially its genesis in Southern Africa, cannot be told without reference to Ga-Kgosi Galeshewe- the oldest township in this country coming into being in 1870s as an enclave for migrant labourers. 

However, those of us who take a keen interest in decolonial history know that this was a sanctuary of Batlhaping ba Manyeding and they fought fearlessly under the leadership of Kgosi Luka Mpolokeng Jantjie (1835-1897) to defend this land against the colonial invasion of the very people the institutions we sit in are named after.

This exhibition opening reaffirms the notion that the wealth of our cultural and historical capital should not be exclusionary of the events and people in places lumped in obscurity just as much as it should not be exclusive to those we see as meccas of history. 

Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo – A distinguished Contributor to History and Humanity

Secondly, Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo was born on the 21 March 1945 in Ga-Kgosi Galeshewe. He completed his schooling at Tshireleco Senior Secondary known then as Barkly Road High. He then dedicated the better part of his life to learning and practicing the craft of documentary photography. 

Ntate Tukakhomo ascribed his choice to be a journalist to his love for reading and writing. Before the flash of every shot, Ntate Tukakhomo was sure to flash his signature child-like smile. Ntate Tukakhomo was as time conscious as he was precise with his timing in taking photographs.

There is a disregarded rebellion in using your lens to humanize a people that have been condemned to indignity by a global system of imperialism, oppression, and colonial dispossession. It is this elegant and dignified rebellion in the work of Ntate Tukakhomo that I hope this exhibition will highlight. 

If truth be told, the life of Ntate Tukakhomo is also symbolic of our collective failure to recognise our own brilliance and excellence. With a foot that seemed slightly injured, limping through the streets of Ga-Kgosi Galeshewe with sheer determination, and visibly carrying cameras on his person, Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo documented history through a lens that seeks to humanize a people colonialism sought to render invisible.

Armed with a camera and the conviction to protect and elevate the dignity of the people and the place that birthed him, Ntate Tukakhomo made an incalculable contribution in archiving not only the colonial idiosyncrasies of Ga-Kgosi Galeshewe but also the lived realities of the people in the Northern Cape province. 

His legacy challenges us to question whether we apply our gifts in the advancement of our race or if we subdue or divert our gifts and assume conduct and practices that normalise our dehumanisation as Afrikans.  

Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo elected to work largely in Black and White photography because he understood that it has a particular resonance with authenticity. It forces the eye to look beyond the beauty and engage with the reality of what the image represents. This reminds of the words of Ntate Santu Mofokeng when he said, “I find beauty without truth unimpressive”. 

The work of Ntate Tukakhomo teaches us that Black life is not a visual spectacle that should be used to titillate the sensibilities of Europeans, providing aesthetic allure and exhilaration with images that objectified our Ancestors. 

The Value of Photography 

Thirdly, one of the most effective instruments of capturing history has and continues to be the medium of photography. Photography, like all other forms of art, has the incredible power to leave traces and clues to the essence of our being. 

Photography is a medium that tells stories, capturing time, capturing moments, spaces and the lived experiences of people. Photography also carries the power of truth, authentically told to reveal the harmony and contradictions of times. Photography is an instrument that represents the intersectionality between memory, existence and creation. We know that memory can be weaponized for or against an ideal. 

For Ntate Tukakhomo, his authentic approach to documentary photography stands as a collection of memories that humanize. Many of us grew up not understanding the value let alone the power of photography. However, we did have a relationship with photography. 

With hindsight, I now realise that as a child, I used photography to construct a world that I and many other Black children were deprived. We would cut images from old magazines and newspapers that represented a life we thought we deserved but knew was denied to us. 

It is people like Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo who made us realize through visual storytelling that our lived reality and the imaginative power to curate our dreams. Whilst to many the vision for a utopian future can be described theoretically, for many who are deprived of the vocabulary to express their vision, photographs provide a visual narrative that may eloquently depict their aspirations.

To characterise the depth of Ntate Vusi Tukhakhomo’s contribution is to realize that today there are historical references and moments that he captured through his lens that are exclusively attributable to him. 

For Ntate Tukhakhomo, approaching subjects from an Afrocentric lens, framing them in line with an Afrocentric value system was more practical exercise than it was metaphoric. For many the measure of the civilization in society is by visually depicting the quality of their architecture, the glitter of their material possessions, the objectification of the colonized natives. 

Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo’s photography affirms what Veli Mbele kaSompisi theorized that “our civilizational progress is measured through the resilience of the human spirit and the depth of our humanity”. 

There are many texts within which one can locate the work of Ntate Tukakhomo and I will reference some. 

In writing about the work of Bra Andrew Tshabangu, Prof. Thembinkosi Goniwe eloquently makes the point about the value of photography which applies as much to Ntate Tukakhomo when he said “Conscious of these problematic representations, Tshabangu has resolved to work with what Prof. Njabulo Ndebele theorises as the ‘rediscovery of the ordinary’ which ‘is sobering rationality’ and the ‘forcing of attention on necessary detail’ paying attention to the ordinary and its methods will result in a significant growth in consciousness.”

Writing about the globally acclaimed SA photographer, Ntate Santu Mofokeng, Bra Sam Raditlhabo writes …. “the responsibility of the photographers in the continuing, contentious struggle over the representation of South African history”. Is thus the crucial predicate in his work. For him the search is about looking for that evanescent, hidden aspects of Black lives routinely marginalized, denigrated and forgotten

In an essay titled “Lamposts that in my view perfectly paints the relationship between us as people and the generation of photographers like Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo, Ntate Santu Mofokeng frankly writes “they suffer abuse mostly quietly, except maybe give a dull wooden thud or metallic twang when struck. They provide illumination. They are viewed with suspicion by some; they are ignored by most. They are taken for granted, they are there to lean on or to piss on”  

Erasure and Obscurity 

The Fourth area I wish to reflect on is Erasure and Obscurity, photography can be both an enabler of historical erasure and obscurity and an instrument with which to resist it. In itself, the craft can be used selectively to tell a narrative that is distorted and intended to obscure history. Where this practice has been used as an instrument of truth, there have been efforts to ban, destroy, intimidate and police photographic material that challenged the establishment. 

Photographers in many instances were hounded by the security establishment more than key figures in political movements to a point that some were mercilessly killed, exiled and/or tortured. We see this today with terrorizing of journalists by the state of the Zionist state of Israel.

For instance, Dr Peter Magubane had to place his camera in a half load of bread to conceal it from the authorities. Ntate Ernest Kole went to great lengths to capture history in the face of possible death and was exiled to produce the House of Bondage. 

Similarly, Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo traversed the length and breadth of the land of Ga-Kgosi Galeshewe, most of the time on foot, and at great risk to his life to bequeath to us the gift of this legacy. 

Ntate Tukakhomo like many of his peers was treated with suspicion by his own people and sometimes prevented from carrying out his ancestral mission because photographers were also used as spies by the apartheid government. Either out of genuine fear or paranoia, political activists had a contentious relationship with photographers. 

There was a time in this country where the frame one chooses with their lens could lead to capital punishment whether through a highly complicit and compromised criminal justice system (that was more criminal than just) or through the whims of agents of a repressive regime. 

If one looks at the images captured by Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo and the galaxy of photographers of his generation, one must wonder when those amongst utter such hogwash as to say “things were better under apartheid” it is these images that in their sanity counter-ask us, better for who? 

Contradictions and Lessons about the use of Photography 

Fifthly, there is a disquiet that is embedded in how photography is used these days. It is this disquiet that must once again reminds is that photography can in much venture into the dark and in much the same way, exist in the light. 

At the height of anti-colonial resistance, photography was a tool for socio-political consciousness and intended for revolutionary change. An instrument of historical memory, building an archive that captures the resilient spirit of the Black race and a record of the moment of resistance and the triumphs of the human spirit of the oppressed. 

Photography was never a tool for self-aggrandization and frivolity in the way that it is used today in the era of digital media. The metaphor of the lens and framing subjects to shape the course of history is one that carries a deeper meaning than simply an image that is a subject of a meaningless aesthetic that is alien to an African value system.

It encourages a critical reflection on our contribution to discourse by ensuring that we are attentive to how it is framed, the lens through which we view things and the foundational values that inform our discourse. 

The work of Ntate Tukakhomo refines our understanding of the power of photography as it resides in duality of humanizing and dehumanizing of Black life. To illustrate this more clearly one must look at how we the generations armed with the cellphone camera are prepared to do in the face of tragedy, death, and suffering of Black people. 

As you may be aware, recently 14 black children perished in a horrific and totally avoidable accident in the Vaal. There was a rush to witness this by a crowd of people. Granted some of these people were parents filled with hope to confirm or avert the demise of their children.

However, we also know that among them, there were agents of dehumanization who were ready to photograph and be the first to publish the tragedy. We have witnessed this feelingless photography and reckless exhibition of Black bodies far too many times. 

How for example, it is weaponized to prey on the vulnerabilities of young Black girls and lure them into pornographic content that dehumanizes them yet continues to benefit the architects of our oppression

In contrast, not so long ago it is reported that the owner of a leading chicken retail outlet here died allegedly after turning the gun on himself. There are two interesting things I observed in that moment, one being that no one used their phone to share those images and secondly, I saw the forensic pathology van reversing almost into the store to ensure that the white body is not seen in that state. 

Similarly, in KZN, there was a collapse of a building housing non-Blacks, and everyone was prevented from accessing that space so that the bodies of those who perished should never be seen in the inhuman way that Black bodies are constantly portrayed.

How is it that we don’t afford the Black body the same dignity? Why is it difficult to embody the values that drove Ntate Tukakhomo to depict Black people with utmost respect and dignity despite the fact that they existed under dehumanizing conditions? Who have we become? 

Our ability to find solutions to the problems that we face is intrinsically linked to the extent to which we benefit from the chaos resulting from our complicity in creating and sustaining the dehumanization of Black people. 

In conclusion, the life and legacy of Ntate Tukakhomo teaches us that History defies geographic boundaries. There is a tendency to think that history only occurs in big cities or famous places. History cannot be confined to any geographic area because it is traversal and universal. 

As the history of documentary photography is told, there are many names that are celebrated, rightly so. It reminds us of people like Alf Khumalo, Ernest Kole (otherwise known as Ernest Cole), Santu Mofokeng, Peter Magubane, Ralph Ndawo, Bob Gosani, Andrew Tshabangu and closer to home, Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo. 

Of course, there are countless other voices in the world of photography that were steeped in the purpose of conscientizing and building an authentic and humanizing historical archive for Black people.  

Today, we are here to observe a moment that locates Ntate Vusi Tukakhomo at the centre of that world. Again, we are grateful to the young people that have made this moment possible. It is now my honour and privilege to formally declare the exhibition titled “Eagle’s Eye officially opened”. 

CAMAGU