Onndwela on a mission

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A brave and ambitious young woman, Onndwela Tshivhase (21), is on a mission to re-define the typically male-dominated film industry.

A resident of Thengwe village in the Mutale area, Onndwela discovered her passion for photography around 2016, when she was studying television production at Boston Media House. “I fell in love with photography after spending some time with a friend who is a photographer,” she said. “I was intrigued by my friend's work.”

Onndwela started her primary education at Makwarela Primary School and matriculated at Mphaphuli High School in 2014. She's a professional videographer and photographer, currently based in Pretoria for study purposes.

“I had observed people’s love for pictures and videos and that made me chose photography as a career, so that I can offer professional services through my company,” she explained.

She stated that she had learnt from the mistakes some Tshivenda film makers had made in their movies and videos and did not wish to repeat them in her projects. “Most of the videos I watched lack quality and always use the same ideas and concepts,” she said. “Another challenge is disorganised people. They always need to be pushed to work, even when they know that they are going to be paid.”

Onndwela's initial career plan was to become a scriptwriter, but she switched to photography. “What people don’t know is that the quality of a picture does not depend on the camera, but the person behind the device,” Onndwela said.

At this stage, she is a trainee cameraman gaining hands-on experience at Vhadino Entertainment, an audio and visual production company owned by Tshidino Ndou.

She just finished shooting a short film entitled Fhasi Ha Murunzi Wa Duvha. "I chose Tshidino because of his experience in filmmaking and I call him the father of Vendawood," she said. 

Ndou said Onndwela was such a great aspiring photographer to mentor. He said she easily followed instructions.

“Onndwela is focused,” Ndou said. “Once she grabs the camera, she has an amazing eye for the objects.”

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.