Kasi Mlungu is breaking down racial barriers across South Africa
Born Anita Ronge, Kasi - known as Thandeka to her friends - was born in Newcastle, where she lived in Signal Hill before her parents decided to relocate to Kempton Park to be closer to their family.
Kasi Mlungu – some call her a pariah, others call her a patriot. She calls herself a South African.
Born Anita Ronge, Kasi – known as Thandeka to her friends – was born in Newcastle, where she lived in Signal Hill before her parents decided to relocate to Kempton Park to be closer to their family.
Google her name, and a barrage of opinions will bombard your screen, as many do not know what to think about the white woman who chooses to live as a black woman.
The Newcastle Advertiser interviewed Kasi, and she opened up about her lifestyle, her critics, and her career.
” ‘Mlungu’ is an IsiZulu term to describe white people, but when Anita was first given the moniker as a budding DJ, she embraced the term, not as an insult, but rather as an identity. She claimed identifying with another race was not caused by any single event, “it’s just been a part of [her] since [she] could remember.”
Her earliest memories of being shunned for having black friends in school, ignited her passion to unify races. Her personification as a black woman is in no way an identity crisis, but rather a decision to live as an African, on her own terms.
She was also largely influenced by “a high love and appreciation of African culture”. Although her family did not initially support the former ballerina and beauty pageant competitor’s decision, they have come to accept it.
Kasi simply feels she should not be denied the opportunity of embracing the beauty of cultural diversity because of the colour of her skin.
However, Kasi has been accused of behaving in an offensive manner and stereotyping black woman, due to her provocative images on Twitter, where she wears traditional African attire, as well as her recent article published in national media.
Her biggest critics argue that eating pap, tripe, skopo, and morogo, and frequenting Tembisa at every opportunity, do not make her black. She has been attacked on Twitter by various people, being accused of not being ‘black enough’ by some, and not being ‘white enough’ by others.
To this she responded: “I do not live like a black woman, nor do I live like a white woman. I live like a proudly South African individual who has chosen to break the expectations society has about Afrikaans girls.”
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