The Unthinkable

The Unthinkable is a documentary film directed by Comfort Ndzinisa, which provides a view of the civil strive in The Kingdom of Eswatini through a blend of in-person interviews with victims and survivors of the state crack-down on pro-democracy 2021 Eswatini protests and footage. The unrest follows the death of a Law student, Thabani Nkomonye allegedly in the hands of the police. Synopsis The documentary provides an insight into those fateful days through eyes of those who have been most severely been affected by the 2021 Eswatini protest and unrest. The film begins with the event that sparked the civil strife in Ewatini, the untimely demise of university student, Thabani Nkomonye, allegedly at the hands of the Royal Eswatini Police in the middle of May 2021. Through a series of videos shared on various media platforms and news agencies, the film carefully frames a sequence of events leading up to the June 29, 2021 massacre before opening the door into its main chapter, the stories of the victims and survivors of the brutality of the armed forces, narrated in their own voices. Production The idea for the documentary came at the height of the unrest, as claims circulated that armed forces were using excessive force on unarmed civilians. It was directed by Comfort Ndzinisa, which he also executively produced with Manqoba Nxumalo in Association with Eswatini Solidarity Fund, a relief organisation formed during the peak of the unrest. The filming of the documentary was done during field work of Eswatini Solidarity Fund, when they visited the survivors of the massacre to provide help and donations. Every part of the film production was done completely on a cellphone. As government continued to deny claims of abuse of power, Comfort Ndzinisa took it upon himself to document the events so history would never be forgotten. Release and reception The Unthinkable documentary was released on October 3, 2021 via Swaziland News and YouTube. has also been aired on one of the biggest investigative programmes in Africa, the ‘Cutting Edge’ on SABC 1 on a two part series. It was broadcast on October 5, 2021 and its second part on October 12, 2021. On YouTube, it recorded over thirty one thousand viewers in two days of upload. There was an outrage over the accounts of the survivors in the documentary which intensified the second wave of the unrest since the government was denying the use of live ammunition on unarmed civilians.