Rebone Makgato

In the Name of the Father Rebone Makgato

When unemployed Zimbabwean Promise Murewa was apprehended at a roadblock outside Polokwane City one night, he did not have a drivers' licence. He also did not have legal papers to be in South Africa. The police found that the car he was driving belonged to a Catholic priest called Father Dorota. Promise was detained, and later information emerged that Father Dorota was murdered on the same night. So Promise became a suspect in the murder of the priest. Promise's story plays out in the courtroom as the events leading to the death of Father Dorota are revealed before Judge Mulder. While the state had been able to secure an attorney to defend Promise, a social group of Zimbabwean expatriates believes that there is more to the crime Promise is accused of committing than meet the eye. The group hires Solly ka Afrika, a private investigator, to find out what really took place. And thus the audience gets transported back to the 60s and the 70s where they encounter the sordid life of the dead priest. As the worms begin to crawl out of the woodwork, the audience, and the prosecution realise that Father Dorota was not a saint he was portrayed to be. For the fight for Promise's survival centres around the repugnant sexual abuses that he suffered at the hands of the man he is tried for killing. It is left to Judge Mulder to deliberate whether Promise is guilty of the crime or not. But did Promise kill the priest or not?