first theatre building in Jabulani, Soweto
10 February 2009
Your Worship, Mayor Amos Masondo
Executive Mayor of Johannesburg
Ms Barbara Creecy, MEC of Sports, Arts and Culture in the Gauteng
Province
City councillors and aldermen here present
Distinguished citizens of Soweto
Ladies and gentlemen
Comrades and friends
This theatre building in Soweto is long, long overdue. It is indeed
unfortunate that many people in the performing arts are unaware of the
existence of a rich theatre history and tradition in Soweto. The absence a
physical building, housing a theatre does not mean that there was no theatre
among Sowetans.
Given the not too recent history of our country, colonialism, white
domination, apartheid, conflict and national oppression, typically the
resilience of African creative artists have been ignored, as has been the
determination of African creative intellectuals who gave their all to establish
a theatrical tradition in Soweto.
Throughout the latter part of the 19th century and all of the 20th, artists
in the black communities have sought to employ especially the theatre as a
creative platform to reflect on Africa and Asiaâs encounter with modernity and
with Europe as expressed in the fusion of cultures that is so expressive of the
South African experience.
We have gathered here today in the shadow of that history and denial of such
developments to turn the sod as a first step towards building a state of the
art theatre complex in Soweto. This might be a very small step in the
governmentâs efforts to create facilities in previously disadvantaged
neighbourhoods, but this could become a giant leap forward in promoting and
nurturing an indigenous theatre tradition that has struggled for decades for
recognition.
The construction of this facility is an extremely important statement in the
political, social and economic life of Soweto. The erection of a theatre
complex is a vindication of generations of theatre practitioners who, against
all odds, persevered and brought theatre to townships like Soweto.
The systematic marginalisation of the African, coloured and other black
communities within South Africaâs urban landscape accelerated during the 20th
century. In terms of the Urban Areas Act of the 1920âs Africans were defined as
intrinsically external to the urban areas, into which they were to be permitted
to live and work on sufferance to administer to the needs of the white
community and once he or she ceased to minister, so did their right of access
to the urban area lapse.
The defunct National Party of Malan, Strijdom, Verwoerd and Vorster carried
these exclusions to the fanatic extreme of âBantu Homelandsâ whose object was
to excise the African people from the population of South Africa! The urban
African, having been designated a temporary sojourner in the urban areas, was
to be declared a foreigner outside clearly defined impoverished tribal
enclaves.
Apart from the glaring inhumanity of these measures was their socio-economic
illiteracy! Any attempt to unscramble the 20th century South African omelette
was self evidently unsustainable in a growing economy that was increasingly
dependent on the international community for its growth. Yet the racist
fanatics persisted! Consequently the country we inherited in 1994 was in a
shambles.
There is an Obama joke of recent vintage: two hillbillies sitting out on the
porch whittling bits of wood, the one says to the other âtime was in these
United States when the only job a black man could get was cleaning up the mess
white folks made!â
To which the second Hillbilly responds âwell, I figure things didnât changed
much, have they?â
We could say the same. In the old racist South Africa the only job a
coloured man could get was cleaning up the mess of white folks had made. And a
coloured man has most diligently cleaned up the mess we found on assuming
office! It is thanks to his skilful handling of the economic fundamentals that
we might yet ride out the storm that is engulfing international markets.
In the urban areas, every form of economic activity by Africans was subject
to strict government monitoring. Permits to trade, like those to be in the
urban area, had to be renewed annually. Thus, in addition to the uncertainties
of the market, African business also had to contend with state caprice, up to
and including that of a petty clerk in the Bantu Administration Department! In
a market economy like ours the cultural industries are subject to market force
like any other sector. The low level of investment by the black business
community, specifically the Africans, in this sector is a function of this
history. The unavailability of performance venues in the urban townships is the
result of deliberate policy.
Despite the constraints imposed by passed policies, theatre in the urban
African communities thrived. For more than four decades, Gibson Kente, dubbed
by many âthe father of township theatreâ, staged plays and musicals with no
assistance from government or other state institutions. He did this in dusty
town halls and community centres. There was no formal theatre, yet the quality
of the productions defied the paucity of theatre props, stages and lighting
systems.
With a repertoire of township-based melodramas and musicals, Gibson Kenteâs
dramatic productions were one of the few consistently staged theatrical pieces
from the urban African community. Companies like the Serpent Players of Port
Elizabeth consciously exploited the scarcity of props to develop a minimalist
style of theatre that relied more on the story-telling skills of the players to
transform empty space into palpable forms and even persons.
The living South African theatre that took the world stages by storm during
the latter part of the 20th century ranged from works of Athol Fugard and
Barney Simon to the soul stirring works of the late 1980âs, âSarafinaâ and
âYouâve Struck a Rockâ!
In our day, South African theatre has once again taken the world theatre by
storm as sheer entertainment with breathtaking revues like âUmojaâ, âThe Lion
Kingâ and âKat and the Kingsâ The reception these productions have received in
the capitals of the world testifies to the high quality of indigenous South
African theatre.
It is our hope that what we are doing today is the commencement of a
comprehensive programme of renewal and initiatives that will see us create and
open up more and more spaces for cultural activity and creativity in the
townships. By so doing we are giving a home to the actual potential theatre
activists in and around Soweto. This project, we hope, will be an incubator not
only of a thriving theatre in this community but will also serve to seed
similar initiatives in other communities throughout the country.
This sod-turning is dedicated to the hundreds of courageous souls who
pioneered and kept alive the craft of theatre in the urban townships. We
dedicate it to Khabi Mngoma; to Eskia Mphahlele; to Zakes Mokae and Cocky
Tlhotlholemajoe; to Ken Gampu and Margaret Mcingana, and to producers and
playwrights who kept them at work, Gibson Kente, Barney Simon, Athol Fugard,
Phyllis Klotz, Mbongeni Ngema, John Kani and others.
But, even with all these great names at its christening, this theatreâs
success will depend on the community within which it is located. And that will
in large measure rely on the relevance of this theatre has to the lives of the
people of Soweto. As we turn the sod we celebrate the potential and the promise
that this theatre offers the people of Soweto, indeed the city of
Johannesburg.
Halala Soweto Theatre Complex, halala!
Issued by: Department of Arts and Culture
10 February 2009
