Time, Paper, Bonepublished at 01:00 British Summer Time 19 July
Nombulelo Booi last saw her father – anti-apartheid activist James Booi – in 1963. He was dragged into an armoured police vehicle in the early hours of the morning and never seen again. Decades later, Nombulelo works with South Africa’s Missing Persons Task Team to find the remains of her father.
Based on four years of fieldwork by collaborators Bongani Kona and Catherine Boulle, ‘Time, Paper, Bone’ is an intimate portrait of one woman’s lifelong quest for closure, and South Africa’s long reckoning with the injustices of the past.
This story was made possible with the support of The Whickers Radio and Audio Funding Award and The Whickers/Sheffield DocFest Podcast Pitch Award.
With special thanks to: Nombulelo and Zola Booi Madeleine Fullard and the Missing Persons Task Team Professor Nicky Rousseau Nolubabalo Tongo-Cetywayo and the Robben Island Museum Jane Ray Ibby Caputo Rhulani Maboko and the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa Erika le Roux and the Western Cape Archives and Records Service Sipho Rala and the National Library of South Africa's Cape Town campus Marcus Solomon and Moyisile Douglas Tyutyu Archival tape courtesy of: the SABC, the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa, Gallo Images, Journeyman Pictures and Villon Films.
Presented by Bongani Kona Written by Bongani Kona and Catherine Boulle Translated by Thenjiwe Kona Music by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder Produced by Catherine Boulle A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4