The story of Mofolo, and indeed Soweto, will not be complete if it does not include a long chapter on the Tshabalala family, led by Ephraim Batana Tshabalala and his wife Caroline Kinini Tshabalala (née Ngcobo). By all accounts, this couple were the retail giants of their times and made an indelible mark with the plethora of enterprises in the township and beyond.

Of all their enterprises, for right or wrong reasons, Eyethu Cinema, which opened in 1969, was to be the most iconic. As Sam Mathe wrote on these pages recently, “the very first films screened (at Eyethu) included The Stalking Moon (1968), The Green Berets (1968), Guns of Navarone (1961) and Where Eagles Dare (1968)”...