Mfundi Vundla, Visionary for All Generations!

At the recent seventh edition of the Joburg Film Festival (JFF) in partnership with the MultiChoice Group, South African based movie mogul Mfundi Vundla was awarded the Joburg Film Festival’s Special Recipient Award for his outstanding contributions to the country’s film and television landscape. This year’s film festival had the theme, “The Golden Thread – Connected Through Stories,” with the tagline ‘Our Stories. Our Gold’.

On this recognition, Vundla comments, “It is wonderful receiving recognition from one’s peers. It makes you feel you’ve made a significant contribution to the industry. A lot of the television talent in South Africa are alumni of ‘Generations University.’ I feel proud of myself.”

Speaking about his origins, Vundla describes the early days of his career nostalgically while enunciating what inspired “Generations.”

“1993 was the dawn of democracy and majority rule in South Africa. “Generations” must be viewed as the offspring of the changing order from Apartheid to a society with human rights as its foundation.

“What inspired me on a macro-level to create “Generations” was the need to recognize African business pioneers during Apartheid rule. Men and women, had it not been for Apartheid, would have been part of the commanding heights of the economy.”

Vundla goes further to point out the unique nature of a South African TV series, where one places African people in the center of the country’s television universe.   “In this way, the TV series were a pushback to Apartheid television’s mission of erasure of African culture.”

“As well as this, the TV series have always had great production values with the sound, writing rooms, look and feel, wardrobe and acting quality being extremely professional. Over the years, they have commanded extraordinary numbers, that any American production company would envy,” he opines.

On a personal level, Vundla’s brother, Peter, and his ad executive colleagues – in line with the changes in society – decided to establish the first Black ad agency in South Africa.

Vundla notes the significance of this development. “The act of establishing the agency, called Herdbuoys, was to reclaim the battle for African business excellence. However, through “Generations” we were entertaining African people, telling them Black is Beautiful and that the time had arrived for them to be masters of our own destiny.”

Vundla had the fortunate wellspring of growing up in a loving family, with his father being a strong African leader who was loved by his people, and his mother who he refers to as a highly moral and intelligent being. He grew up with 10 siblings. He remarks how much he loves all of his siblings, all of whom are high achievers.

As a young boy, one striking formative memory for Vundla was discovering that he could read at the age of six. Having this aptitude at such a young age opened doors to countless achievements and all these years later, Vundla continues to thrive.

With regard to the role that television plays in shaping South African culture and society, Vundla is of the viewpoint that Television’s primary aim is to foster national cohesion through all genres: sports, news, current affairs and entertainment.

He articulates that since 1994 we are reaping the fruits of national building. “For instance, we’ve seen our national rugby team (captained by an African man) attain the world championship three times in a row. Our cricket team is world class. So is our woman’s soccer team and Olympic swimming teams. Television has done a lot to break down barriers.”

Vundla’s wealth of experience means that he is that person who has used the test of time to find himself exactly where he wants to be. When asked if the Vundla of 2025 met his younger self, what advice would he give him, his response is:  “Stay the way you are. The world is your oyster.”

In a previous interview, Vundla mentions that at one time he had visions of becoming the first Black President of South Africa. Inquiring that if he were the President of South Africa in 2025, how would he tackle it, he is quick to respond that he is so content that he is a writer and goes on to say:  “Politics is a quagmire of deceit and corruption.”

Asked whether he has a preference between producing series or films, Vundla responds that he prefers television, especially long form television. Elaborating, Vundla says, “Long form television gives one leg room to develop a dramatic narrative to the full.” He adds that he also likes cinema, but that the problem is that it takes too long to make a good film.

Probing into Vundla’s seemingly boundless creativity, he reveals that he had an idea for a fiction TV series on the AMA-YORUBA (a South African Xhosa tribe of Yoruba ancestry), which he envisaged as a South Africa-Nigeria co-production. However, a prominent streaming company based in Amsterdam was not taken with the concept. He feels that this was unfortunate because, in his view, a combination of Xhosa and Yoruba culture would have made for exhilarating television.

As well as this, Vundla refers to a conversation with the Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck, whose powerful documentary “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found” opened the Joburg Film Festival and won the Best Documentary award at the 2025 Joburg Film Festival. Peck had expressed the urgency to tell the important stories given that those who can tell them well will not be with us forever.  This led Vundla to reflect on the great Wole Soyinka and the late Chinua Achebe. An interrogation for Vundla is “When are Nigerian film and TV producers going to wake up and realize that they are sitting on a gold mine of stories to be told?”

Remarking on the current and future climate for film-making in South Africa, Vundla says,  “We are in a tough spot right now. Government funding is in the doldrums.”

Describing himself in three words, he refers to himself as “Determined, Loving and Visionary.”

Combining the wealth of Vundla’s experience, insights, concerns together with these values, one can feel certain that audiences can look forward to Vundla’s tenacious capacity to create at least some of the stories that so badly need to be produced and told.