The filmmaker and digital content creator uses short-form storytelling to explore South Africa’s history, identity, language and culture, helping audiences understand where complex issues come from and where the country may be heading.
By Mapaballo Borotho
Leaving a career you studied for to pursue your passion can be one of the most difficult decisions to make. But for South African filmmaker and digital content creator Romantha Botha, storytelling has remained a constant throughout her career, even as the platforms she uses have changed.
Botha uses short-form storytelling to explore South Africa’s history, identity, language and culture, helping audiences understand complex issues, where they come from and how they continue to shape society.
After leaving her journalism job to venture into filmmaking, she continued doing what she has always known: explaining complex issues.
Her work includes the Showmax docu-series Sex & Pleasure and kykNET’s Jou Mase Taal.
“I think the digital space is probably the first time I took control of what I would like to say and do. The digital space found me, and I am exactly where I need to be. Everything that I did before now equipped me with everything that I have now,” she said.
Finding her voice through digital storytelling
Growing up in a small township in George, Botha says she was not exposed to a wide variety of career options. As a child, her initial dream was to become a tourist.
Recalling an encounter with her uncle, who had travelled to Sweden with missionaries, she explained how the experience shaped her childhood aspirations.
“I remember him showing me pictures of himself on snow when he came back, big skyscrapers, and I was interested in doing whatever my uncle was doing at that time. He was just a tourist,” she recalled, giggling.
“Lack of exposure for kids in townships is crazy. If you don’t have your lucky moment where someone exposes you to things, you just don’t know.”
Botha says survival played a significant role in bringing her to where she is today. She believes that many of the opportunities she encountered along the way helped shape her career, and that, for the first time, she now has the freedom to choose what she wants to do.
Unpacking South Africa’s complex identity
Botha says her digital storytelling journey gained momentum when international conversations around Grammy-winning South African musician Tyla sparked debate about her identity and how she is perceived globally.
The discussions prompted her to reflect on how South Africans understand race, particularly the Coloured identity, and how these conversations differ between South Africa and the United States.
“That made me realise that both Coloured and Black people in South Africa could not fully understand or explain this group of people. There’s no indictment to anyone who can’t, because I think even Coloured people struggle,” she said.
“I just realised that someone has to break it down so that we can understand before we defend. That’s how my digital journey started, with basic concepts such as race versus ethnicity and nationality.”
Through her work, Botha seeks to provide context to conversations that can otherwise become divisive, encouraging audiences to understand the historical background of issues before forming opinions.
Navigating the challenges of the digital space
Asked about the challenges she has encountered in the digital space, Botha said she has become increasingly aware of the divisions that shape who gets to speak on certain issues and how their views are received.
She explained that discussing complex South African issues online can be difficult because people approach conversations from different social and economic positions. While some speak from a place of privilege, others draw on their lived experiences.
According to Botha, these differences can contribute to cancellation culture, particularly when conversations take place without sufficient historical context.
Rather than focusing solely on the issues people expect her to address, she says she tries to explore the underlying factors that shape them.
“Now I do not spotlight the very thing that people expect me to, I go around it and speak about things that people should know about how these things come about, from their history and how history is repeating itself. This is conditioning people to understand better,” she said.
‘I worry about literacy’
One of Botha’s biggest concerns is literacy in its different forms, including reading, comprehension and media literacy.
She believes that people need the skills to interpret information, distinguish between sources and opinions, and navigate the internet critically.
Botha also raised concerns about what she sees as a lack of urgency in addressing declining literacy and the broader challenges facing education.
“I think our government thinks that education is just a nice thing to do to get a pass rate, but it is critical for our future,” she said.
“Saying that you are going to put tablets in schools because you want to advance some revolution that you never prepared for, does not make sense. Our literacy levels are very low, and you are putting an iPad in someone’s hand that cannot distinguish between sources, opinions and don’t know how to navigate the internet.”
Botha believes South Africa needs to do more to equip people with the skills required to participate meaningfully in an increasingly digital world.
She says the country’s preparedness for developments in the technology space remains a concern, particularly when access to devices is not matched by the literacy and critical thinking skills needed to use them effectively.
Listen to the podcast for the full conversation. Kaya 959 podcasts are available to download.
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