From Soweto to the sea: SA's first Black freediver makes waves

IOL News

2 days ago

ZANDILE Ndhlovu is South Africa's pioneering Black freediver, widely known as the 'Black Mermaid.'
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ZANDILE Ndhlovu holds her breath. She's 25 metres underwater, without oxygen, and face-to-face with a bull shark off Sodwana Bay on KwaZulu-Natal's north coast.
Man and beast engage in a silent stare-off. Then the shark glides away.
It's not a movie scene, but a regular moment in the life of Ndhlovu - South Africa's pioneering Black freediver, widely known as the 'Black Mermaid.'
'You can't leave until the bull shark stops the stare-down,' she says, because you have to establish dominance. 'And then it eventually leaves, and you just break for the surface because you realise that if you hold yourself and you calm yourself, the animal is calm. So if you just pause in the moment and not freak out, you're already on the winning side.'
Ndhlovu, known for her blue braids and fearlessness in the ocean, is a research assistant for an award-winning team of scientists featured in Shark Week 2025, airing this week on Discovery Channel Africa (DStv 121).
Throughout the week, a series of documentaries will spotlight African scientists, conservationists, and filmmakers helping to reshape shark science and ocean storytelling. Last year, the series drew over 25 million global viewers.
ZANDILE Ndhlovu, known as the Black Mermaid, and her colleagues, marine biologist Ryan Johnson(left) and shark geneticist Gibbs Kuguru, appear in the documentary Great White Reign of Terror.
Image: Supplied
Ndhlovu and her colleagues; shark geneticist Gibbs Kuguru and marine biologist Ryan Johnson, appear in the documentary Great White Reign of Terror, which investigates a spate of shark encounters in the Eastern Cape.
Her job is to dive in and retrieve whatever the science team needs.
'Whether it's to dive in and retrieve a receiver or help with tagging or understand what the problem is; is there a shortage of food for the sharks? Why are they not there? My assistant work is a question of what do the scientists need and how can I get into the water and be able to do that in the most streamlined way that allows us to get closer to wildlife.'
The founder of the Black Mermaid Foundation, conservationist, and TEDx speaker, Ndhlovu believes sharks can 'read' your heartbeat.
'That's why you have to pause, make eye contact until it elects that you can go and then you go. The secret is not to act like prey because sharks will always chase,' she says.
'I often say our fear is often the danger. There's a possibility that we can do something to harm them. And so there's something in capturing and holding ourselves accountable to how we show up in wildlife spaces that allow the animals to also be calm.'
Sharks, she says, are essential to ocean health.
'They are ecosystem regulators. Without the big sharks, we have larger fish species that bloom and grow unchecked… They can eat up smaller species that are key to coral health.'
Ndhlovu can freedive to 35 metres and hold her breath for over five minutes.
'The thing that is most humbling about freediving is that not every day is going to be a strong breath hold day. Some days you wake up and your body's like, no, and then other days you wake up and it's like, okay, cool.'
Ironically, the writer and filmmaker who is South Africa's first Black female freediving instructor, grew up in Soweto, a landlocked township in Gauteng.
This week, she told the Independent on Saturday that it all started at the age of 28 in 2016 when she went snorkelling for the first time.
'It was so beautiful that I wanted to know what happens after snorkelling,' said Ndhlovu.
Scuba diving followed, then freediving, and finally the founding of the Black Mermaid Foundation.
'I said to myself, I think this is what I'm looking for. And from the first moment when I held my breath I knew that that's where I wanted to be.'
Before turning to the ocean, Ndhlovu worked in customer relations and ran her own agency. But the ocean tugged at her heart and she listened.
'The pull to this day is the ability to be with the water. And in the water, there's no one identifier — not the idea of being Black or a woman or anything in this world. She's a universal equalizer. To her, we're just all human. And there's something about not holding the burden off of identity. There's something about just being.'
Her mission now includes bringing marine access to township children. Through the Black Mermaid Foundation, she's already introduced over 1 000 youngsters from Langa and Gugulethu to snorkelling and conservation.
'Who I am is a conservationist, but at heart, a storyteller. My grandmother's table is where I learned about stories. I think about using stories as a powerful tool for change, for narrative expansion, for conservation.'
To this day Ndhlovu calls Sodwana Bay her underwater home because that's where she had her first open water dive. 'It's a very special place to me… It's the one place where you could come across anything; great white sharks, bull sharks, whale sharks, whales. It's such a magical part of the country.'
However, she warns that Sodwana Bay is already showing signs of climate change because recently she went diving there and noticed coral bleaching. She believes that local coastal communities who are often wrongly blamed for what's happening in our waters have a crucial role in conservation. 'Local communities may not be the hardest hitters of impact on the ocean, but when we're catching small fish, that kills reefs, which means less fish… There is a powerful place for ocean literacy, education that allows communities to see how we can do better together.'
As Shark Week hits local screens, and Ndhlovu starts a new six month course for children in Philippi, Cape Town she reflects on what her journey means.
'Just to see these shows come home is powerful because, again, it's just such a reminder that regardless of where you come from, you don't know where the world will take you. Even as a girl from Soweto, who only found the ocean at 28 years old, it's never too late. But also the world is open and what a time to be alive.'