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“We fight Rhodes because he means so much for oppression, injustice, & moral degradation to South Africa - but if he passed away tomorrow there still remains the terrible fact that something in our society has formed the matrix which has fed, nourished and built up such a man.”
In the African culture it is believed that in the combination of a name and its bearer you find a conception of identity; when naming a child you bestow upon them a life of purpose, which will inevitably influence their behavior and circumstances. If you are not an adherent of this old age adage, the inspirational stance and influence of award-winning filmmaker, Mmabatho Montsho, could be the hand that ushers you to the alter of conversion.
More than half of the catalogue of TV shows and movies on Showmax, whether measured in hours or number of episodes, is now local content. This deliberate shift to local started more than a year ago with shows like The River and The Queen, and more recently with Lockdown and Kwa Mam’Mkhize. And now the latest Showmax Original, Somizi and Mohale: The Union, is breaking viewing records.
Sundays in Soweto are usually days of constraint. There’s a quiet yearning about them. A yearning for the past, both personal and political. Something captured wonderfully by the terms ukubluza and babalaas. The streets are calmer and are coated with those finishing off Saturday’s libations and others in their Sunday best, post-worship. For some, moshito o'tswela pele! After all, yurugu beckons on Monday morning at the plantation.
I decided to write this letter to you to share my thoughts with you about where I think we find ourselves as Afrikan people. We learn from the older generation of activists about your glorious deeds and the immeasurable sacrifices you and your peers made, in defence of our natural right as Afrikans to be human beings worthy of dignity and respect, in the land of our Ancestors.
Long before the National Party (NP) came to power or apartheid was made law, we the natives were already a conquered and subdued people. Some of the historical records suggest that there was invasive European presence (Portuguese) in the southern tip of Afrika, as early as the 1400s. This was followed by Dutch invasive presence in the 1600s, in what is today known as the Cape Peninsula.
The hand often credited with painting the rainbow nation is long gone. The colours of its work are faded. Yet, FW de Klerk, the man who held the palette of democracy alongside Mandela, is still alive. If it weren’t so heartbreaking, it would be laughable that some were stunned by his recent ‘apartheid wasn’t a crime against humanity’ comments. Even more bizarre was the apology from his foundation.
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