Law and Freedom
Director: Zackie Achmat
 Part 1: Who Was Mrs Komani? relates the dramatic cases that led to the abolition of the death penalty and the decriminalisation of sodomy, a ruling that acknowledged the equality of gay and lesbian people. These judgments stand in contrast to the legal execution, harassment and persecution of apartheid era law. However, even under apartheid, as human rights lawyer Geoff Budlender explains: "Law was a limit on power" and so spaces arose in which people could use the law to contest the abuse of power. One key example explored in the film is that of Mr and Mrs Komani whose 1980 case was a key cause of the collapse of the hated Pass Laws. Who Was Mrs. Komani? brings to light the people who made possible these cases which have dramatically affected the lives of our people and the history of our country.
Part 2: It’s a Nice Country! We meet courageous women and men who have used the Constitution to build democracy and a better life for all. First, we meet Irene Grootboom whose struggle for housing culminated in a landmark ruling of the Constitutional Court that is seen as crucial for the establishment of greater socio-economic rights. In the case of Ngxuza and others v the Eastern Cape Provincial Government, we meet the Meltafas, who even in the new democratic order, had to challenge abuse of power when their grants were unlawfully withdrawn. When labeled a troublemaker by officials, Mrs Meltafa responds, "You have been sleeping, I have woken you up!". It’s a Nice Country! also explores the case of the Treatment Action Campaign’s battle for the use of antiretrovirals to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. In this personal reading of the "Nevirapine case," Achmat pays tribute to TAC members who, through their work of education and community mobilisation, used the Constitution to achieve access to life saving treatment.
Media, Method, Message follows the story of Beat It! the worlds first HIV/AIDS magazine programme. Narrated by the shows co-creator and director Jack Lewis, we see how Beat It! worked towards removing the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and addressed the concerns of real people living with AIDS through documentary inserts and an in studio HIV+ support group.
The Treatment Action Campaign “in less than five years of existence moved a nation, shifted government policy and advanced the rights of people with HIV everywhere in the world… TAC’s struggle grows out of the best traditions of the anti-apartheid movement. TAC will be a shining light for citizen action for decades to come.” - Graca Machel, on presenting TAC with the Nelson Mandela, Health and Human Rights Award in 2002.
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