Zwakala Festival director Thami ka Mbongo puts on a smile as festival is to kick off this weekend

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

The atmosphere was tense as the artists were livid. They walked up and down the boardroom that they had turned into a multi-purpose space. A bedroom, a meeting room and a place to rest and sometimes, host visitors during the sit-in. It felt surreal as only a few weeks before this was a boardroom where executives met to discuss the business of the agency.

But right then it was deserted and suddenly had become the home of the protesting artists I had gone there for the first time, to see for myself how the artists were copying and hopefully, tell the story in a manner that would give the real picture of the frustration and the anger the artists felt. A sense of disappointment that the National Arts Council (NAC) at the time, was not living up to expectations. Having failed to disburse efficiently the special Covid-19 funds earmarked for the benefit of the creative and cultural industry.

The atmosphere understandably, was not that of welcoming visitors from outside warmly, particularly the media. But because I had made arrangements earlier, and made my intention about my purpose of wanting to spend a night there clear, I felt confident that I had made the right decision. After all the leadership of occupying artists, such as Sibongile Mngoma and others, had been briefed prior to my visit and they had not objected.

It is during this tense period in 2021 at the NAC in Newtown, Johannesburg, where the artists who had coined a name for themselves during the occupation – Abahlali Base NAC-that for the first time , I had met Thami ka Mbongo. It became clear to me immediately I entered their space that he and Mngoma were the ones calling the shots as leaders in this unprecedented occupation of a government grant making agency in post apartheid South Africa.

Ka Mbongo at the time, due to the tense atmosphere, did not smile. I do not remember him smiling anyway. He just like the rest of the occupying artists, wore a face of anger and disappointment. Ready to do battle with the authorities that had enraged them in the first place. One could have been mistaken to believe that ka Mbongo was an activist, and not a thespian, an actor. That is if one had not seen him in action as an actor and director before the occupation.

I was in that position. Of course among the occupying artists, I had met several of them before and knew about their work, such as Mngoma, Slovo Maphaga, Fortune Dlamini and Terry Mnaph among others, for example. Some of them I had even socialised with outside.

That gave me a sense of security among them. Irrespective of the seething anger that permeated the walls of the NAC building in Newtown during that time. Ka Mbongo at the time had become Mngoma’s de facto deputy. Right hand man. I had concluded. They were leading the artists’ revolt against an agency they believed had failed them, failed the creative sector, and ultimately, failed the government that had handed them R300 million to disburse to the artists fairly, justly and quickly as the situation

was desperate. In a way, it was understandable why an artist such as ka Mbongo had transformed into an activist instead of doing what he had done for quite some time by that time. That is acting on stage and directing plays and festivals. That also explained why I thought he was not smiling.

But these days, Mbongo is a different person. He is wearing a different hat. He is smiling again. And he has every reason to do so. Not only has the occupation long been abandoned, and some kind of truce reached between the NAC and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture on one hand, and the artists on the other, but ka Mbongo is busying himself with what he had always done before the occupation. He is creating again and directing theatre.

He is this year’s director of one of the most significant and longest running community theatre festivals in the country, the Zwakala Festival at the Market Theatre. The festival kicks off this Friday, February 23, 2024. In many ways, ka Mbongo’s appointment to direct this festival is a recognition of the playwright’s artistic merit and the potential to inject new energy into the mainly youth oriented festival. Last year, the reigns were in the capable hands of one of the most talented actresses and directors currently, MoMo Matsunyane.

She is this year’s recipient of Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Theatre. Therefore for the powers that be at the Market Theatre Foundation to have picked ka Mbongo for this year’s festival as director, in many ways, is an endorsement of his directorial potential the artist has.

Indeed Mbongo seems to have been cut out for this role, especially given his track record in community theatre.

“i was approached by the University of Cape Town where I graduated (in drama) in 2001 to direct the Zabalaza Festival (A festival under the auspices of the University of Cape Town). This was in recognition of the fact that I had experience working with community theatre groups in the townships of Cape Town. The Zabalaza festival, which i directed for seven years, we were inspired by Zwakala festival,” ka Mbongo told CITYLIFE/ARTS in an interview held in Newtown, ahead of the opening of the festival on Friday.

And indeed ka Mbongo is bringing new energy and new perspectives to the festival, which this year is celebrating a milestone of 30 years. However kaMbongo bemoans the fact that with the festival celebrating a milestone in a year in which the country is also celebrating 30 years of freedom and democracy, instead of having matured to become bigger, it has became smaller instead.

“This is because it needs proper funding from the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. After all, this is a festival which was once so big that community theatre groups from all over the country participated in the selection stage of the festival. It was so huge that some of us Came all the way from cape Town to participate in the festival,” he explained.

However, as festival director, ka Mbongo has come up with new innovative ways to compensate for having a smaller festival during its 30th anniversary due to the lack of adequate resources.

“Instead of as per tradition having only one group being selected as the winner, we have in addition introduced prices to award talent in the three productions that are part of this festival, such as best actor, best director etc. Talent is going to be rewarded financially, with the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts and Recreation having come on board and are sponsoring the award ceremony to the tune of R50 000,” he revealed.

Besides the opening ceremony in which guest speakers will take to the podium, retracing the glorious history of Zwakala Festival, there will also be panel discussions, Open Mike Sessions, where comedians and poets will take to the stage. These activities will take place for the weekend that Zwakala will take place.

“This year, we have also put emphasis on the scripts, assisting the writers to tighten their writing skills with the assistance of readers as this is important in the career of a playwright.

We have also invited relevant people to the opening of the festival such as casting directors who might get what they are looking for among the talent that is participating in the festival,” he explained.

And here the young director has a point as often casting directors look far for that talent they need for their projects and yet it may not be a bad idea to look for that next star among community theatre groups at such festivals as Zwakala Festival.

The thing is, the attitude has always been that community theatre is where there is no quality. That in fact is not so. I know because I have worked in community theatre for years, and indeed there is abundance of talent that just needs that little bit of assistance. When for example I was still at UCT (University of Cape Town, i made sure that after getting my notes from class, I would travel to community groups in the township to share with them what I had learned. I have always been passionate about community theatre. The trick is not to try and impose your style on them, but assist in developing their own style,” he explained.

Born in Mbekweni, a small township of Paarl, Western Cape, ka Mbongo and other young people who are today pursuing art professionally, were inspired by the late Asinamali actor Solomzi Bisholo, who hailed from the same township.

“We regarded him as someone who put Mbekweni on the map. As young people from that township however, we decided that we were going to pursue art education formally at institutions such as UCT where I learned quite a lot with regards to different theatre styles such as Greek theatre to Shakespeare.”

At the end of the interview I asked ka Mbongo to pose for pictures with two stage assistance I found in the room where the interview took place, Kyanyisa Mantwana and Phuti Chokwe.

I could not help but notice that the smile on ka Mbongo’s face seems to be back permanently these days indeed. Could this be a display of confidence about the quality of productions that are gracing this year’s Zwakala Festival: Polish, Prayers and an Error under the Sun?

.Zwakala Festival kicks off at the Market Theatre on Friday, February 23, 2024, running till Sunday, February 25. And this year’s festival co-ordinator is Ntambo Rapatla. The Zwakala Festival was started in 1992 by John Kani and the late co-founder of the Market Theatre, Barney Simon. It was initially funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. This was just after The Market Theatre Lab; the theatre’s educational arm was established in 1989. Now in its 30th year, the meaningful annual event is currently funded by the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture’s Incubator Programme.