By Matṧeliso Phulane
Renowned South African stage and screen actor, Jerry Mofokeng wa Makhetha has appealed to Basotho to wake up and tell their stories instead having other people do it for them.
He said this during Gender Entrepreneurship Media (GEM) Institute commemoration of World Arts Day and Creative Economy Day in Maseru last Friday.
Mofokeng said there are always development workshops held in Lesotho but there are still no implementations.
He urged Basotho to be excited to celebrate their culture through having events like arts and culture expression, and invite embassies in the country to get a taste of local stories.
“When you create you, make something out of nothing; in other words, until you put your minds to what you are doing, it doesn’t exist. So, there is something God-like in us as artists.
“You take a piece of wood, a bark of a tree and out of it comes a picture of a face of a wounded man that nobody else could see until you made the creation. Just like an artist composing a song, people wonder how you came up with that. All these things that we do somehow are magical, we impact people in their minds, in their eyes, in their ears and in their feelings, in ways that we never thought possible.
“So, until such time that Lesotho makes up its mind to tell its story, and do so with dignity and with excellence other people will tell Basotho stories and we can’t blame them for doing so because when they tell our stories, they will tell them in their own perspective,” he said.
He made an example of the Americans who came to tell the story of Nelson Mandela and South Africans complained that there are actors in the country who could play the role of Nelson Mandela.
“Americans put their money where their mouth is and they also buy the face before the story; so when they finance the story they want their faces in it. Similarly, when South Africans tell our stories as Basotho, they want South African faces.
“So, I am posing a challenge right away to say, South Africa took the story of ‘Tsotsi’ and took it to America and won a prize.
“It’s about time we put our money where our mouth is, and tell our story with dignity and excellence. That will make people take Basotho seriously when they participate in arts and culture competitions,” Mofokeng observed.
He added that there are many dramas of Basotho such ‘Nna Sajene Kokobela and ‘Mopheme that could be used to tell Basotho’s stories. They could also be played on Lesotho Television and get Basothot excited.
He recalled the story by Lemohang Jeremia Mosese called ‘This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection, a film that tells the story of when a village is forcefully resettled to make way for construction of a reservoir.
An 80-year-old widow Mantoa (played by Mary Twala Mhlongo) finds a new will to live and ignites a spirit of resilience within her community.
Mofokeng asked what’s stopping Lesotho from commissioning him to write the next film portraying life in Lesotho. Also, if the whole scenario or story could be told by a Mosotho the image of what’s happening in the highlands of Lesotho could be possible and more meaningful.
“We can’t afford to always be having talent which is managed by people from outside country.
“As long as we don’t take our crafts seriously, we will get bosses who make millions out of our stories and our talents. That’s why I am 68 years old and still creating my own work instead of just waiting for auditions,” he noted.
Jerry Mofokeng wa Makhetha is a South African stage and screen actor who appeared in several critically acclaimed film including: Cry Beloved Country, Lord of War, Mandela and de Clerk and the 2005 Academy Award winning film Tsotsi and currently acting in SCANDAL! – a soapie broadcast from Monday to Friday on South African television station e.tv.
