Molefi reminisces about days of Lesilo Rula
Chippa Legodimo | Saturday November 9, 2013 15:44
Sinah Molefi, featured in this popular television drama whose scary episodes kept viewers glued to their screens and later conjured nightmares in their sleep. The 90s show was a big hit, especially with the superstitious folks. Its repeat, not all episodes though, recently returned on SABC 2. Before playing a supporting role in the superstitious drama series the Ramotswa woman had another supporting role in another Setswana drama, Tlhakantshuke featuring as Shirly, a friend of a greedy character Manana.
Shirly and Manana’s friendship was always on the skids because the former disapproved of the latter’s devious attitude and lavish lifestyle.
Manana loved fancy clothes and luxurious accessories.
She did not have money, but had to date various men to finance her taste and fantasies as she tried to keep up appearances.
Although most of the time Shirly’s condemnation of her friend’s bitchy attitude was genuine and in good faith, at times she envyingly criticised Manana.
This resulted in their stormy relationship though they remained inseparable.
“Shirly would often get jealous of Manana, but then claimed she was looking out for her. It was a very interesting part for me,” Molefi told Arts & Culture.
Perhaps her biggest break came with a role in the famous Lesilo Rula, a drama about greed, petty jealousy and the urge of one man to conquer and own ‘everything’. His insatiable appetite for all things led to him using extreme means to eliminate his opponents.
The drama centred around the character Raitlhoane who used a scary creature (Lesilo) thought to be a dead man raised from his grave using muti to make life a living hell for those he (Raitlhoane) despised or envied. The same creature would help its master elude the police after committing crimes.
Although she could only land a supporting role in Lesilo, Molefi was still happy to make the cut ahead of many hopefuls. “It was not a small part as someone might look at it. It was not everybody who could get an extra role at that time, so playing a supporting role was really gratifying,” she said.
Molefi’s life in showbiz was an interesting one. After starting as a stage actress at Medu in Gaborone she moved to South Africa a few years later to take up a diploma in Dramatic Arts at the Federated Union of Black Arts (FUBA) in Johannesburg.
Medu was an organisation formed by exiled freedom fighters from South Africa, mostly members of the African National Congress. It focused on performing arts and music. “I was recruited to Medu in 1982 by my friend Ruth Mapogo and Wali Serote who was a script writer, poet and book writer. At the time Medu was headed by Baleka Mbethe-Kgosietsile (former South African deputy president). Ruth had recommended me after seeing me perform at church,” she said.
She recalled how she used to mix and mingle with the likes of Hugh Masekela who at the time was also an exile in Botswana and part of Medu.
“By mixing with these people we appreciated what they were going through. Most of our plays were focused on the Apartheid regime and its oppressive policies, which forced people to flee their motherland. We learnt a lot in terms of history and the performing arts,” she said.
The groups from Medu used to perform at the National Museum according to Molefi. The experiences, she said, she still cherishes to this day.
Molefi and other Batswana who were involved with Medu knew they were at a greater risk of being targets of the oppressive South African regime at the time but were not deterred.
“People used to warn us against mixing with ‘those refuges’ but we were connected by so many things, music, drama and solidarity. Wali Serote stayed with us at home and we could not just throw him out like that for fear of being attacked,” she said.
Then one evening in 1984, just a few hours after rehearsal at Medu office in Extension 4, South African agents launched deadly bomb attacks in Bontleng targeting some of Molefi’s colleagues. “Thami Mnyele who was one of us at Medu and ANC activist died just moments after we parted. You can imagine how scary it was to hear of his fate,” she said.
After completing a Diploma in Dramatic Arts, Molefi had wanted to go further for a degree programme, but due to shortage of funds she instead searched for a job. In the hunt she landed roles in Lesilo, Tlhakantshuke and later educational programmes On The Right Track and Road To Health, both HIV/AIDS focus dramas. Because television was never her passion, Molefi decided to venture into theatre and landed roles in famous plays such as Wolly Sonyika’s The Lion And The Jewel and Julius Caesar. “It was all fun for me. Finally I was doing what I really love.
We spent three years touring schools in Soweto and the Vaal because students had raised concerns that they did not understand Julius Caesar.
Then there was that performance of The Lion And The Jewel at the University of Transkei during the Festival of Arts, which lasted seven days. “I really enjoyed myself during those times,” she said.
She says she is proud to have performed at the famous Market Theatre in central Johannesburg. Molefi has confessed to being easily bored and that one of the reasons she has not made it big in the industry is that she could not stay put. Because of that she has been in and out of the country. She wants to stage her own production, The Mine Girl.
“I am return to South Africa soon to start working on a production. I believe it is a story to be shared because that is the major challenge facing us now. Women need to be empowered,” she said.
The Mine Girl, she explained, was a theatre production about a woman whose once loving husband turns into a monster who drives his wife into prostitution.
Although she initially thought choosing that path would cushion her financial and emotional burden, this woman discovers that life in the streets is no child’s play. Molefi believes in local talent, but has raised concerns at the casual manner in which the arts industry is treated by all sectors. “There is not that much change taking place.
I remember how I was turned down by the then Ministry of Education in 1982 when I applied for sponsorship. They blatantly told me they did not recognise the arts. Imagine how far we could have gone if at that time they had sponsored people in that sector. Still the same attitude persists. There is so little we are doing as a country to address the problem,” she said.