NZIKA (The Citizen), is a dramatic theatre production which will be staged next week at the Uitenhage Town Hall, telling the story about a foreign national in South Africa who loses his family owing to xenophobia.
The play touches on corruption, the survival mission for foreign nationals, especially impoverished ones who come to South Africa for greener pastures, law enforcers and when they meet it becomes a game of exchange. Money with permits or freedom to get away.
“The play is based on true events, things that I faced and my fellow countrymen face and of course eye witnesses of xenophobia and other sorts of situations in South Africa,”said play writer and actor, Shafiq Kalumo from Uitenhage.
“I wrote the play to express my concern and how I and other people feel about the life of Africans in Africa and some moments of my life as an outsider on my own continent.”
Kalumo has a diploma in speech and drama from Stageworld Theatre School and is a volunteer at Swift Response organisation in Uitenhage.
The play has been reworked and directed by MEC award winner Xabisolethu Zweni, who has written and directed many projects for the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown as well as for the PE Opera House.
The play has three characters, two are South African nationals of which roles are being played by Patrick Sbusiso and Khanyile Manjira and one, a foreigner who is representing other African nations, played by Shafiq Kalumo.
There will be an opening performance by young actors from Uitenhage High School.
The play will also be a fundraiser as the cast is planning to take Nzika (The Citizen) to next year’s National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.
Nzika (The Citizen) will be on stage at the Uitenhage Town Hall on Thursday, November 29th at 18:00. All interested are invited to attend.
- For more information call Shafiq Kalumo at 074 663 1195. -HEILIE COMBRINCK
