Samanthole Arts Foundation

The Market Theatre stages a modern classic play entitled ‘Sizwe Banzi is Dead’. The new-generational embodiment of Sizwe Banzi is Dead, starred by contemporary South African actors Athandwa Kani (John Kani’s son) as (Styles and Bantu) and Mncedisi   Baldwin Shabangu as (Sizwe Banzi and Robert Zwelinzima) hits the Market Theatre stage after almost four decades. The production which was pioneered through collaboration between the white South African playwright Athol Fugard and the black actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona in the 70s is one of the great South African classics in the theatre landscape locally and internationally. Sizwe Banzi is a chronicle of the dehumanizing treatment of South Africa’s black population under apartheid. The play starts in a small photography studio called Styles Photography studio and follows a comic story of a man who is willing to keep himself alive but his name dead in the manner of speaking. His quest to survive without his real passbook tells a

  “I AM AN AFRICAN - I owe my being to the hills and the valleys, the mountains, the rivers, the deserts, the trees the flowers, the seas and the ever changing seasons that define the face of our native land”. These words by former president Thabo Mbeki reverberates in the theatre play entitled KETEKANG – loosely translated from Sepedi/Setswana, which means celebration. The ‘I’m An African’   speech he delivered on the 8 th of May 1996 in Cape Town gives substance to the play and contrasts the dawn of democracy with the celebrations that happened almost two decades ago. The production features Aubrey Poo, Nokukhanya Dlamini and assortment of talented musicians, choreographers and poets that give the twenty years of democracy celebration a bang. Nokukhanya Dlamini, Aubrey Poo, Caroline Borole, Dionne Song, Lebo Toko, Lesedi Job, Sonia Radebe, Vuyelwa Maluleke and Zimkitha Kumbaca ©Ruphin Coudyzer A fusion of music and thea

Advocacy Journalism The US healthcare system is not really what you were doomed to believe The glorification of The United States of America being one of the wealthiest and most revered healthcare systems in the whole world is brought to question by the Advocacy Journalist by director-producer, Michael Moore’s Sicko film. His self-styled documentary film, Sicko is infused with opinion and ethical dilemmas that maneuver across socio-political, religious and economic spectrum.   The journey he takes, carefully observes the healthcare and insurance industry in America as a whole. Upon the completion of watching the movie, one is made to believe that business is more valuable to the affluence of this world more than humanity. His advocacy journalistic approach to this film reveals to the world that most big insurance companies are not willing to cover even the fully insured patients when they face problems between life and death. His production team exposes the most well pos

‘I felt emotional when I entered the booth, I knew my vote will bring a change’ says Levi Ratsoma In South African society democracy has brought the cult of naked power. To a politician in power, campaigning for votes, the readiness to deceive and manipulate voters and the emptiness of promises made by political parties are the marks of a political tiger. The sight of a political tiger incites a politician to a reckless aggressiveness, arrogance and ignorance once a vulnerable voter has cast  his vote. As the citizens of the country marched to the electionbooths to exercise their democratic and constitutional right by casting their votes during the fourth national elections, voters are spoilt for choice. It has become a norm that in developing countries such as South Africa, the mushrooming of small political parties should have a right of way. Within a short space of time the South African political landscape has once again been greeted by new kids on the block