 Initially Nxumalo stays away from political articles , but eventually writes about more than entertainment after his wife and Mandela encourage him . When a young man goes missing at a Boer farm and is feared enslaved , Nxumalo decides to investigate undercover . He gets employment as a labourer at the farm , where he is treated like a slave and nearly killed . He becomes a celebrity when his story is published , further reinforced by getting himself in prison and reporting about its conditions . Nxumalo decides that his destiny is to be a <unk> and , with the help of the German photographer Jürgen Schadeberg ( Gabriel Mann ) , ventures on more risky investigations . 
