How do you tell the story of a brand that helped shape a town, generations of livelihoods, and an entire industry? If you’re the team at Olamuk, you do it with humanity, a lot of care and six beautifully crafted documentary portraits.

Directed by Mzi Kumalo and Kamo Nche and produced by Olamuk, the six-part series titled uLuntu Lwethu (“Our Community” in isiXhosa) was created for Mercedes-Benz South Africa in collaboration with Lobengula Advertising. Through intimate day-in-the-life episodes with employees, suppliers, and students, the series honours the real people behind the iconic brand. 

For East London, Mercedes-Benz is one of its pillars. Generations have built their lives around its doors, with its presence shaping the economy, uplifting skills, and setting the rhythm of the town itself.

Directors Mzi and Kamo brought both scale and heart to the series, from the sweeping aerials of East London and its coastline to the grounded, intimate care they told each individual’s story. The docuseries was created to mark 30 years of South Africa’s democracy and is a tribute to the people who helped build Mercedes-Benz South Africa, literally and figuratively. Some of the employees featured in the series have been with the East London plant for decades, since long before the C-Class became a global export (yes, they make them in East London!). Their stories are deeply personal and they form a portrait of what pride, purpose, and commitment look like over a lifetime of work.

Shot over six days, the team at Olamuk worked closely with Lobengula to unearth and build stories from the ground up, identifying recurring motifs and personal moments that reveal Mercedes-Benz South Africa’s deeper community footprint.

There’s a story from the early ’90s that still lives in the walls of the plant and in the heart of this community. Just after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, the workers at the East London plant decided to build him a car. Not for PR. Not during office hours. They stayed after work and, over just four days, built a red Mercedes-Benz S500 as a gift to Madiba. It became known as the “Madiba Merc.” Today, that car lives at the Apartheid Museum, a symbol of solidarity, dignity, and just how special this factory and its people really are.

“There’s a sensitivity with this kind of film making. We worked towards distilling what could easily be deemed a brand exercise and embraced the idea that people don’t necessarily work for an organisation, they work with it. Empowerment or development has many interpretations, the exercise of unearthing that within our stories together with the client, agency and the chosen candidates was enlightening. This process allowed us to get a measure of the impact that the company has as a conduit to improving lives and providing access to opportunity on many levels.

There was no fabrication or embellishment. What we captured is the authentic lived experience,” says Mzi, whose work for SANRAL shares a similar ability to centre real people in corporate driven narratives.

uLuntu Lwethu draws out universal themes like opportunity, dignity, and transformation without losing the very South African heartbeat of the project.

Olamuk producer Puleng Khabutlane says, “Over six shoot days, we worked closely with each person to understand their journey and craft something true to them. It wasn’t just about telling individual stories though it was about capturing the spirit of East London too. The town became a character in itself. You feel it in the visuals, the rhythm of the place, the way people speak about their work and their home.”

uLuntu Lwethu shows what happens when a global brand grows local roots and trusts the right storytellers to do it justice. Because not everyone can tell these kinds of stories without slipping into brand-speak. It takes care. And that’s exactly what Olamuk and the team brought to the table.

Wanna (s)talk some more? OLAMUK on IDIDTHAT and company website.