Tzaneen: Local artist pays a powerful tribute to #Thoriso – ‘Kwenze njani muntu’omnyama!’
"When I learned of Thoriso's death, I couldn't hold back the tears and my hands started to dance on the paper..."
Pretty Ramahlako hails from Modjadji in Molelema Village.
Pretty wrote a poem for Thoriso entitled: ‘The Boy Who Longs For Summer’ on Facebook after he heard of his untimely death.
Read: Limpopo teen implicated in Thoriso Themane murder allegedly stabbed someone last year
“I was so sad. He had a bright future in front of him. When I learned of Thoriso’s death, I couldn’t hold back the tears and my hands started to dance on the paper,” Ramahlako said to Letaba Herald.
Read: Thorisa Themane murder case postponed due to sixth arrest
‘The Boy Who Longs For Summer’
O! Pity the innocent Messiah!
Tears wear eyes like silver silk garment
And eyes sweat
As the world laments.
Just on the eyes of night skyline
When the Alsatian canines bite
Screaming helplessly
Crawling and slithering
Till soul departed flesh
And they leave you
Lying without voice to scream “Help”
Nor hand to weigh,
Le zinja!
Lehu la gago ke lerumo
Le hlabile Afrika Borwa pelo.
What happened to the proverb
“Mmago ngwana o swara thipa ka bogaleng”
When these filthy generation
Carries gigantic Machetes
To terrorize and agonize one another?
Lie innocently and peacefully
In your new home
And the dogs shall pay the price.
Kwenze njani muntu’omnyama!
Go senyegile go etla kae?
We eat our own flesh
Juice our blood
Still we feign fine7
Set our stage, act like nothing happened
When a woman weeps death of a son
Whom she hoped to make her smile
Rest from slavery of salary
That never gets enough to sustainability.
Brother from another mother,
My pen doesn’t give a meaning
My heart writes
And my tears reads
This sad poem for you
My brother from another mother
What happened to black consciousness?
Who ate our bread of Ubuntu?
I pulling a stunt
I will walk my night freely for truth
If again the juveniles gang
Feels offended by these words
I wrote to a brother from another mother
I can also be a punching back
Till my soul leaves my flesh too
And I am not afraid
Yet the dogs shall pay the prize…
“Thoriso was one of my followers and fans and he was inspired because of my books I have written and published. I once personally signed a book for him at one of my book launches.”
Read: Number of arrests in Thoriso Themane murder case rises to nine
Ramahlako is a young South African playwright, poet, storyteller, actor, author and director, and his team at Fireside Theatre Productions came across the vibrant drama form termed ‘Gift Of Understanding’ – presumed to boom countrywide, an ingenious musical play from the villages and a musical form like no other.
“I was drawn into a creative collaboration with a local troupe with dreams of turning their passion into a profession,” he said.
Through this development project his initiative, Lentswe Media Projects, intend to encourage upward mobility in this troupe of village writers, musicians, actors and craft designers; and in the process develop documentaries and manuscripts which will raise awareness of the form and open doors for many others to follow in their footsteps.
“Creative writing and drama are a form of expression which allows individuals to transcend the harsh spaces they inhabit in their everyday lives and the only resource you need is your body – which costs nothing,” he explains.
Through various creative mediums (a theatrical show and documentary) they intend to showcase the powerful spirit of emotional survival which drives these actors from a poverty-ridden environment.
Creatively, they plan to use the workshop to build a narrative in a classic Romeo and Juliet or West Side Story format that showcases these unique and highly energetic play forms for international audiences who have never seen it before.
“What we have is a dedicated troop of writers, actors, poets, storytellers, musicians and dancers who will work very closely with the directors and writers to come up with an authentic books and stories that will, at a much later stage, be translated into a professional screenplay for a feature film,” explains Ramahlako
