Musa ka Motha blazing the at Britain's Got Talent, showing the world that impossible is nothing

The first time I encountered the work of Musa ka Motha, a dancer from Sebokeng, South of Johannesburg, was when he was part of the internationally-renowned dance piece CION - Requiem of Ravel's Bolero by Gregory Maqoma at Joburg Theatre in February 2022. Motha was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in his left leg when he was about 10 years of age. This incident diminished his dream of playing soccer, but in the long run secured his space in the arts. The flare he added to CION was no doubt a showstopper. Whenever I think of this production, Motha always features in my mind because of his incredible talent. 

Musa ka Motha dancer at Britain's Got Talent auditions. 

On Saturday night of  the 27th May, Britain's Got Talent experienced a historic auditions show wherein Musa ka Motha (28) offered the most incredible, emotional, inspirational and brilliant audition the world has ever seen on Britain's stage, earning him the first ever Group Golden Buzzer for BGT 2023. Motha's talent is living proof that when you are talented and tenacious, the place you come from or that life's challenges cannot stop you from achieving global successes.

Musa ka Motha on CION - The Requiem of Ravel's Bolero 2022 at Joburg Theatre. 

When he recently moved to London, Motha's dream of, in his own words: 'reaching out and inspiring a lot of people' came true in the most unimaginable way. His performance filled the judges and audience with tears of joy. A sensational work of a genius! As I write this piece, only two nights ago, Musa ka Motha was announced as a first grand finalist alongside a pregnant fellow contestant, Amy Lou from Tipton, whose musical talent captured the hearts of the nation and wowed judges during the qualifiers.

📷 ITV

While the dreams of dozens of hopefuls lay buried in the hands of the judges, Motha danced to Naughty Boy and Beyoncé's track 'RUNNING', employing magical moves and excellent tricks on one crutch that saw the audience chanting “GOLDEN BUZZER, GOLDEN BUZZER”. Here we witness how Musa Ka Motha is naturally a DISTRUPTOR or 'the disruptor of the norm'. Rules were broken specifically for his performance, with both Simon Cowell and Bruno Tonioli hitting their BUZZERS twice; even after Bruno turned to tell the audience they 'had none left'. But, as Alesha Dixon tried to move things on by giving her comments to Musa, the chants continued, which then led to Simon telling all the judges to stand up and hit the Golden Buzzer together.

The journey that catapulted Motha into this global phenomenon did not occur overnight. After the prospects of becoming a soccer star diminished, he tried a few things such as being a street DJ, learning hip pop, pantsula and sbhujwa dance, which is a dance that requires every muscle in your body to work in order to master the moves. This led to the formation of a street dance group, which is common among many professional performing artists.

To appreciate Motha's greatness, one has to STOP everything one is doing and watch him do his dance on the BGT stage where he made history. The world is proud of Musa ka Motha, a son of the South African soil. I have no doubt in my mind that he is definitely bringing the Britain’s Got Talent prize back home.

The SA national department of Sports, Arts and Culture, after watching and following Musa ka Motha's success on the Britain's Got Talent stage, should be inspired to come up with more interventions that make art accessible to the youth in our communities. The corporate sector should also use this opportunity to invest in arts education in townships and rural communities.