IHOBE THE FREEDOM SONG has been performed in the
Main Theatre of the Soweto Theatre on 23 and 24 June 2015 to commemorate the
1976 student uprisings.
It was a powerful performance and actors dramatized
the 1976 student uprisings as they unfolded starting in Soweto and breading all
over the country.
On his own part, Fikile Qithi who was is the central
figure of the play delivered an address before the show. Casca Mokitlane, who
was in the same draft with Qithi in 1976 to Robben Island prison in 1976 from
Bloemfontein talked before the play started.
Mokitlane was a student teacher at
Tshia Teachers Training College in Qwaqwa.
Qithi and Mokitlane told the well attended show that
they were inspired by the students of Soweto in 1976. They were said they were
happy to reconnect with the spirit, people and place where it all started.
Qithi paid tribute to the Thembekile High School.
Also, he mentioned the role of Sehunelo High School, Lereko High School, St
Bernard High School and Marang Primary School. Student leaders from these were;
Pinkie Ditheko, the first youngerst student to be imprisoned at Robben Isalnd,
Mpho Diba, Morena Matseletsele, Modise Phekonyane and Thenge Moadira, who is
now a Major General in the South African National Defence Force.
Qithi also praised the father of the black
consciousness in South Africa Steve Biko.
The beautiful set designed to project a classroom of
1976. IHOBE The Freedom Song was inspired by events of Soweto 16 June 1976,
speeches of the Rev Jesse Jackson and activities of his organisation, PUSH, but
more particularly at Ihobe Secondary School on 20 August 1976 in Mangaung.
The play start with a dialogue between Mohale Kulli
who is acting as Fikile Qithi, a student at Ihobe Secondary School in the play
and Zandi Ndamoyi who is acting as Tshediso Makhele, a student of St Bernard
High School in Mangaung.
Kulli and Ndamoyi argue on how to organize students
in Mangaung to boycott the celebration of Transkei Independence in Welkom and
rejection of apartheid homelands and T.K Matanzima leader of the Transkei
Homeland.
The move on the stage is followed is followed by two
old women, Neo Motswagae and Magogo ( Nomakula Ludada) and old man Sam Lenko
and they discuss the 16 June of 2015.
The students,(Keitumetsi Poonyane, Mohale Kuili,
Yanga Kuse, Thabang Nkoko and Mpho Hlanyane) burst on to the stage with a
revolutionary song. Also, in their school uniforms they make political speeches
and plot to disrupt and burn the school in protest of Afrikaans as a medium of
instruction at school and anti-Independence of Transkei( a former homeland) now
part of the Eastern Cape Province. Neville Alexander, renown Western Cape
Intellectual has extensively wrote that the Anti-Transkei Independence campaign
help to spread the 1976 student uprisings.
The masterpiece is when a certain Prisnloo, a
special branch (Freddy Johnson, a veteran actor) interrogates two students
after 20 August 1976. Actor Zandi Ndamoyi(Van Rensburg, also special branch),
complements the police role in this scene.
Prinsloo is looking for promotion in the police and
he can achieve his aims if he stops the spreading of the Black Power from
Soweto to Mangaung. Lucy Molehe a spy in the ranks of the student brings her
role to life in the act.
The play also dramatizes the visit of the Rev Jesse
Jackson in Soweto on August 1977 a year after the 1976 student uprisings.
Sister of the legendary Umkhonto weSizwe guerrilla Barney Molokoane said after watching the play: "The play reminds me of police coming at home searching for my brother Barney. I would wake up a gun pointing at my face. It was not easy. The present generation does know those hard times."
Mrs Busi Maseko, a senior teacher at Mcube High
School in Mofolo, Soweto, who watched the play and her students said: "The
play was brilliant, inspirational, entertaining and educational. The actors
were very much into character and passionate. We thoroughly enjoyed it."
One member of the audience said: The play is so
great. True story and real reflection of what happened. I am grateful to the
producers, directors and cast members…giving us the true picture of the
events."
The theme of the play (Ihobe The Freedom Song) is to highlight the contributions of the
Mangaung and Ihobe Secondary School students to the event of 20 August 1976 in
solidarity with the students of Soweto on 16 June 1976.
Fikile Qithi, then an Ihobe Secondary School student
was sentence to five years imprisonment term on Robben Island for sabotage in
connection with the epic events of on 29 September 1976.
The play, Ihobe The Freedom Song has been praised on
radio and other media outlets.
It is going to play at the Bloemfontein Civic
Theatre 30 and 31 July 2015.
Cast
members:
Neo Motswage(Miloji ka Ntu chorister), Keitumetsi
Poonyane, Mpho Hlanyane, Lucy Molehe, Nomakula Ludada, Thabang Lenko, Freddy
Johnson, Zandi Ndamoyi, Mohale Kuili and Thabang Nkoko.
Stage Manager: Lefu Mokgatle
Director: Itumeleng Motsikoe
Story Teller: Fikile Qithi and Casca Mokitlane
Producer: Mpikeleni Duma
Sponsor: U.S Consulate Johannesburg.
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