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Soweto, the African township to the south-west of Johannesburg, is perhaps best-known worldwide for the uprising of 1976. Today it is a very different community. Local residents, though still among South Africa's most disadvantaged people, are at last beginning to see a share of the "rainbow nation's" prosperity, denied them during the apartheid era. Living and working in the township is still very demanding, but once a year the inhabitants get to let their hair down at the annual Soweto Beach Party, on an artificial beach beside a disused power station.

The man behind the beach party is G G Alcock, a white man brought up in a Zulu village. This year he stuck his neck out and hired an Afrikaaner revival band, the Nagloopers, as a bold attempt to see how far the community has developed. Lloyd Ross' film catalogues the historic first apperance of Afrikaaners taking part in a Soweto pop festival. But it also examines whether black South Africans will be willing to embrace the music of their former oppressors.

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About Al Jazeera - Witness

Rageh Omaar presents Witness, a half-hour daily documentary series which features short, specially commissioned or acquired films gathered from independent filmmakers.
 
Each documentary reveals the unknown lives of ordinary people, following their lives, telling their stories and portraying the challenges that confront them. Our witnesses are people in a situation or those who have observed them first hand.
 
The films cover conflict, belief, the past and the future and as well as bringing new stories to light they showcase the talents of a new breed of multi-skilled, frontline journalist. In the studio, Rageh will further explore the issues raised in the films, with expert guests on the subject matter and the filmmakers themselves.