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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.”
The exhibition’s title, Bôna, is a Sesotho word with a double meaning. As a verb, Bôna means to “see”. When used as a pronoun, the word translates to “them”. Sekgala’s photographs evoke this title through the responses they elicit from the subjects in the work and in turn us, the viewers.
As creatives driven by the spiritual essence of art, driven by an intangible pursuit, the call was probed by the cosmic mind and reminded us to rely less on our precision mind. The former, according to Prof. Kunene “synthesizes fragments of information to create a universally significant body of knowledge”.
With timeless soulful ballads including End of the Road, I’ll Make Love to You and Motownphilly, the trio hold the distinction of being the best-selling R&B group of all time, with an astounding 64 million albums sold worldwide. Their list of accolades includes 4 Grammy Awards, 9 American Music Awards, 9 Soul Train Awards, 3 Billboard Awards and a MOBO Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.
It is for this and other reasons that, I regard Vuka Machel as a rare and beautiful moment of Black resistance. A moment of resistance at a time when many of us Black people have chosen the posture of collaboration - as opposed to resistance against the multifaceted system of white supremacy/capitalism/neoliberalism/violence against Black women/ and anti-blackness in general.
Re kgobokanela Gauteng re tlo tjheka kgauta, / Re tela mobu wa baholo, re hlobohane le oona. / Baena le dikgaetsedi, basadi le bana ba setse morao. / Toro tsa bona re di jere mahetleng a rona / Lebaka ke bona re leng matlolaterata / Empa kgauta e re roka mahlwana a naketsana / E robatsa moutlwa, sepheo le morero wa yona ke ho re metsa.
When I say we Blacks are afraid of whites I don't necessarily mean an individual Black person is afraid to engage in a physical confrontation with a white person. Neither do I refer to our individual anxieties about colliding with a gang of drunk-young-white Batista-like rugby players, on a Saturday night, who might moer the last bit of Blackness out of you.
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