The Read Aunt Mzansi

  "My entire life had been struggle and survival. I'd been on my own since age seventeen. The fact that it was hard, shitty, was nothing new, but the biggest struggle was keeping hope and belief in myself. Then, finding an art community for support while fighting my ass off to stay alive." - Viola Davis in her book, 'Finding Me' My biggest beef with poverty is that it sets one a million steps back. Poverty and lack will have you questioning your worth even when you receive what you have tirelessly worked your ass off for. Your voice is in constant fear-mode on subjects you're well-versed on. Your confidence is almost non-existent in rooms you deem above you. Saying 'no' is not part of your vocabulary because you always consider others before you. Yet, you are capable and deserving. More than deserving. Because who, if not you? Getting out of this pit is one of the most difficult things one has to go through. Unfortunately, a majority of Bla...

SHOW: Sullied WHERE: The Market Theatre Laboratory WHEN: December 10, 2022 DIRECTOR: Matjamela Motloung How many of us? How many more of us? How many more of us have to die before something is done? How many more of us have to lose ourselves before justice becomes a reality? How many more screams, silences, exhaustion, reported cases, workshops, sermons, protests, hashtags, before enough becomes enough? How many more? The show opens with the perpetrator proclaiming they "did not do it,' and that, "they are lying about me." This happens in the corridor of the Theatre, a typical behaviour we often see where perpetrators claim not to be guilty, especially if they are adored by the public. This scene ushers us into an intimate and moving performance that is deliberate in showing us how society enables abusers and cushions them from accountability and punishment. The theatre in-the-round setting with the audience seated on the floor allowed for interaction with the perfor...

Roelf Matlala's writing and directing come alive in 'Man Alone' - a play that explores the theme of Gender Based Violence in a way that forces the audience to look society, and themselves in the eye. The main character - Sam, played by Sebone Lekatse - is a blatant representation of society - using 'jokes' that are seemingly harmless with violent undertones to address socioeconomic issues. We often hide behind banter and humour to shy away from issues that affect and need us to face them head-on. A trauma response at most. Set between two homes of neighbours that seemingly aborh each other's presence; Sam, the old man-cum-'Plant Parent', and the other of a learned couple comprising of a Dentist and School Principal - a combination, which, according to Sam is a recipe for disaster because, "no man in his right mind would marry a dentist," something we later learn why.  Charity Sehlapelo who played Kgadi - the Dentist - d...

I am a firm believer in that, what you seek, is seeking you. It’s been six years since ‘Nwelezelanga: The Star Child’ came out and in as much as I would have loved to have read it then, it wasn’t the right time. I didn’t know as much as I do now, and the answers to the questions I’m asking now, I wouldn’t have comprehended then. I wasn’t ready to receive all this light. "The wise ones usually say that there is knowing in the knowing that one doesn't know." Our protagonist – Nwelezelanga – is an albino child borne to Nokwakha, whom unfortunately, doesn’t get to raise this child that she wept for because her midwife is under the rule of an evil reign led by Lord Bubi. The midwife convinces Nokwakha that this child is a bad omen so she should be killed. After much persuasion, the exhausted and baffled mother gives up the only thing that she hoped would bring meaning to her life. And so the journey of being born again begins. The end becomes the beginning. ...

I always joke that if Motherhood doesn't kill me, nothing will. But truly, it is the ghetto over here with all its glory! 🚮🚮 I figure shit out as I go; it's like I'm constantly doing something new and it is taxing. I had to choose to mother my Child different to how I was mothered and raised. Conscious, black parenting. It is my favourite thing to witness and partake in but the emotional stretches and internal intellectual conflicts are neverending. I remember how my nephew liked saying, before I became a mother, that, "Mmane a ka se bethe bana ba ha'e" because of how I treated him and his siblings and I'd respond that I would because that's what's expected. You have to beat your child so they do as they're told. You have to shout at them so they listen. I had to unlearn that - still am, actually - I sometimes find myself shouting or almost cracking under pressure and wanting to beat my Child. I may feel better afterwards but my C...

 As a first time Mother, my breastfeeding journey started off on a slippery slope. I remember being taken to the Maternity Ward from Theatre with the drugs still wearing off my body - I couldn't feel my legs!😩😩 The [womxn] doctor who'd left the Theatre room with my baby came back  with her so beautYfully wrapped up (something I sucked at even after BoMma patiently showed me how to in 3 easy steps🤣🤣). She showed me how to hold baby against my body cum breast, and feed her. It sounded as easy as she showed me until I had to try it myself.🙆🏽‍♀️🙆🏽‍♀️ She put LESEDI besides me and left; I asked the nurse who came in to help me lie down probably and gurl did she not tell me how it wasn't her job.😩😩 I turned slowly until LESEDI seemed well positioned to start latching and feeding. I felt like a pro, but was I?? The next morning, the old nurses came  in shouting through corridors about how "Baby shouldn't be making sounds during a feed - You're doing  it wron...