Cape Town – Comedian, commentator, and first-time filmmaker Joe Emilio has just released an investigative documentary, “Stolen Ground: The Tygerberg Raceway Story”.
Emilio is a South African-American stand-up comedian and host of the satirical news show Newsflash.
Known for his wit and bold commentary, Joe steps into documentary filmmaking for the first time with Stolen Ground, driven by a passion for justice, truth, and a deeply personal connection to South Africa’s unraveling democratic fabric.
Emilio’s debut documentary “Stolen Ground: The Tygerberg Raceway Story” received 60 000 views within the first 24 hours of being released.
The documentary takes viewers deep inside one of South Africa’s most shocking and unresolved land invasions and raises uncomfortable questions about government inaction, legal loopholes, and political opportunism.
The release comes on the back of tensions between United States President Donald Trump, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, over the issue of land expropriation in South Africa.
Filmed over several months on a shoestring budget, Stolen Ground is a gripping exposé that begins with the violent siege and illegal occupation of the Tygerberg Raceway in Cape Town during lockdown.
It spirals into a broader investigation of how land grabs were happening under the public radar.
The documentary unveils how land is stolen with the silent blessing of broken laws and absent enforcement.
The piece also features exclusive interviews with politicians, legal experts, civil society leaders, and residents on both sides of the fence.
“I lost about R60 million,” said the former owner of the Tygerberg Raceway, Chris Liebenberg, during an interview about the invasion that saw a mob of between 1 500 to 2 000 people demolish his property within a week.
Beyond the financial losses that were incurred, Liebenberg also recounts the shootings that occurred during clashes with the mob.
A striking revelation made by Liebenberg was about the inaction on the part of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and local law enforcement officers as the raceway was being flattened by vandals, amid gunfire.
“While South Africans feared expropriation without compensation, the real theft had already started. Quietly. Legally. And nobody even noticed,” said Emilio, Filmmaker, Host of Newsflash, and Director of Stolen Ground.
In unpacking the events that transpired at the Tygerberg Raceway, the documentary poses the question: Who is really behind South Africa’s land grabs?
While the African National Congress (ANC) often denies these invasions, the film suggests something far more nefarious.
A pattern of political manipulation, bureaucratic paralysis, and legal exploitation that leaves property owners defenceless.
Stolen Ground places the PIE Act (Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act) under the microscope, as legal experts argue that it is being used to entrench land invasions instead of protecting property rights.
The documentary also explores the growing trend of “shack farming”- an underground economy that profits from unlawfully settling people on stolen land.
In a high-profile diplomatic meeting in Washington D.C., President Ramaphosa met with President Trump in an effort to ease growing tensions over reports of land expropriation and attacks on property rights in South Africa, among other things.
During the meeting, Ramaphosa said there were “no land grabs” taking place in South Africa, a statement widely reported in international media.
But Stolen Ground tells a very different story.
From eyewitness accounts to on-the-ground footage, the documentary directly contradicts the President’s claim, offering evidence that land invasions are not only occurring, they are being enabled by policy failures, deliberate inaction, and legal manipulation.
“When the President of South Africa looks the world in the eye and says ‘there are no land grabs’, while racetracks, farms, and homes are literally being taken, you have to ask: who’s lying to whom?” asks Emilio.
Interviews Include:
- JP Smith, Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security
- Martin van Staden, Head of Policy, Free Market Foundation
- Mark Oppenheimer, Advocate
- Luyolo Mphithi, DA Spokesperson on Human Settlements
- Robert King, Referendum Party
- Daisy speaking anonymously on her experiences
- Chris Liebenberg, the former raceway owner whose business was destroyed
South Africa stands at a dangerous crossroads.
The documentary lands at a time when: President Ramaphosa defends controversial policies like BEE and EWC (Expropriation Without Compensation).
The US–South Africa relationship is under strain over concerns about state-sanctioned land seizures and economic decline.
Emilio surmises that “civil society voices in South Africa were being drowned out as state control over media and property rights intensifies”.
He says this is happening at a time when U.S. lawmakers and global investors are watching South Africa with growing concern.
In Emilio’s view, his documentary Stolen Ground, pulls back the curtain on what’s “really happening” on the ground.
“This documentary was never meant to be political. But the more I investigated, the more I saw how politics is being used to destroy ordinary people’s lives, both those who own land and those desperate enough to occupy it,” states Emilio.
