As a boy, Luan Jacobs called Nelson Mandela “Oom” and now he has produced an engrossing short documentary about the relationship between his father and former presidents FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela.
In Verander (Change), Luan, 37, a film and television actor best known for his roles in Binnelanders and 7de Laan, tells the story of how his police officer father, Lourens, changed from being De Klerk’s head of security to playing the same role for Mandela.
It was a wild ride for the stoic cop who says in the film that he had to “adapt or disappear”.
While the documentary is a compelling glimpse into South Africa’s transition to a democratic government, it is also a deeply personal account of the Jacobs’ family history during that time.
Crates of newspaper cuttings and photographs meticulously stored by Luan’s mother, Charlotte, also a former police officer, enabled him to illustrate the documentary with captivating archival material.
The Daily Dispatch spoke to Luan in Cape Town after Verander, which has English subtitles, premiered at the Kyknet Silwerskermfees in August.
This film is a love letter to my parents
He says he made the film to honour his parents.
“There are a lot of stories that my mom and dad shared when having a braai.
“Growing up, I didn’t think it was special and I’ve never used it in my career to boost me.
“And it’s also not what I’m doing at this stage.
“This film is a love letter to my parents.
“My dad and I had a braai and he started telling the stories, having been to 100-plus different countries with presidents.
“My mom and dad have always been my heroes and I thought why not share that with the world?
“The crates [of newspaper cuttings and photos] have always been in the garage in my parents’ home in Pretoria.
“My mom really wants to capture memories and so she sneaks pictures.
“And she’s kept everything, even of my career.
“If I’m in a newspaper or magazine she cuts it out and keeps it. And that helped us with the personal archive material.”
Sourcing film footage of his father guarding the presidents was less budget-friendly.
“The other archive material we used was a beast because it is incredibly expensive — they charge you international rates and it starts with R60,000 for a 10-second clip.”
Luan says that with the help of a personal assistant, he watched Nelson Mandela footage “looking for dad”.
“Growing up we would see glimpses of my dad on the news when Madiba was in other countries.
“There is footage of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize jointly received by De Klerk and Madiba and you can see my dad sitting behind them.”
Knowing he would soon be serving his former adversary did not sit well with his father at the time.
“You can see the pain in his eyes and the trauma. You can see he knows what is coming.
“And you can see he knows he’s going to have to change. And there is something in him that makes him scared of the change that’s coming.”
The fact that both his parents were deployed to the 1976 Soweto Uprising early in their SAPS careers is also handled in the film.
“When we went to the Hector Pietersen Memorial — one of the locations where we shot — and we were walking past the plaques of the fallen, my dad said it felt surreal to be there and to see this side as well, where he could have been part of those names.
“They were 17 or 18 years old, just graduated from the police academy, and now they were in the field.
“The system was that they were sending out children to go and control children. There was going to be a mess. It was a broken system.
“We never asked mom and dad ‘have you ever killed someone as a police officer’.
“We never asked that because it’s not my place. It’s also not something that I want to know.
“It is a painful thing to ask because it’s a product of the system and you had to work in the system.
“And at that time there was a level of indoctrination. A level of ‘this is your country and this is what you do for your country’.
“And when that change happened, it was so beautiful.
And self-forgiveness as well. And Madiba led that. He knew these things and he forgave immediately
“From my family’s perspective, how quickly the forgiveness came.
“And self-forgiveness as well. And Madiba led that. He knew these things and he forgave immediately.”
As a child, Luan was too young to understand the magnitude of the change his father had to make by shifting his loyalty from one president to another.
“It was beautiful being a child during that because you don’t know what actually happened.
“You are just seeing a shift in energy around you and growing up with it I was a kid who didn’t see colour in people, I didn’t see class in people.
“To this day I don’t care how much money you make or how many awards you have won — are you a good person?
“I think I got that from the way I grew up with Madiba and with FW also. He was also an uncle.”
For a while, the Jacobs family lived in the house on the Mahlamba Ndlopfu (formerly Libertas) presidential estate in Pretoria.
“It was so that security was just across the street all the time.
“Madiba would walk in the mornings with my dad, just like in the film Invictus, in which someone played my dad.
I never thought it was special. Up until a point I thought everybody had him as an uncle
“There was a cricket field and gardens I would run around as a child.
“He was just an ‘oom’. Madiba would come into the garden and pick up the pine cones for us to braai.
“My sister and I would have conversations with him on his chair and we would pepper him with how good or bad our day had been.
“And it would be about grade 1 maths and he would say ‘you need to learn’.”
Luan remembers his mother, anxious that her children were bothering the president, would call them away.
“But he would say ‘no, it is fine’.
“I once tried to walk away from home in that estate after packing a bag full of toys, but my dad was head of security and by the time I got to the gate three guards and my dad were standing there saying ‘nah ah’.”
Luan says having a relationship with the global icon as a child did not strike him as extraordinary.
“I never thought it was special. Up until a point I thought everybody had him as an uncle.
“In my 20s, I realised this had been an impressive thing, a privilege.
“But I never want to ride on it, to coattail on it for my career. I wanted to earn my way through with merit.”
Watching the premier of Verander at the Silwerskermfees was an emotional experience for the Jacobs family.
“They loved the film. Afterwards I leant over and we had a family hug.
“I was crying right through and my dad was just stoic and my mom was also crying, so I think I have my mom’s genes.”
Luan is well aware that Verander may provoke strong reactions once it goes public.
“We’ve had flak and we are ready for it.
“I spoke to my parents about it and told them social media is real and things are going to come our way and they said they’ve always had flak in life with these decisions. So they are very ready for it.
“I just wanted to give perspective that this also happened in history and no matter how much flak you get, the fact is it happened.
“I can’t wipe it out. It’s my life. It’s what happened.
“We are ready for it and it’s going to be there.
“There was already someone from the far right who commented on an interview I did and said my father should have shot and killed Madiba when he had the chance.
“I just calmly deleted it.
“Even after Madiba, my dad went into war-torn countries in the private sector security, doing the same job for companies abroad.
“So we still had that lifestyle of him going overseas and then coming back.
“At one stage, he was security for Oprah, Will Smith, Sylvester Stallone, Shakira, Lady Gaga, and so there [could be] another whole movie. Part 2!”
• Verander will air on Kyknet on Sunday September 14 at 8pm, and then on DStv Catch Up.
Daily Dispatch
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