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Pabalelo Tlou Sunday Leisure Reporter
SOUTH AFRICA based Zimbabwean arts group, Shilolo Entertainment in collaboration with Plum Media, an arts group from the neighbouring country will soon release a comedy, Madlela Skhobokhobo Power, which seeks to mirror the difficulties faced by Zimbabweans living across the Limpopo River.
The 90-minute long production was written and directed by Gwanda born Mothusi Bashimane Ndlovu, a singer-cum-poet based in South Africa.
The production was done by Busani Ally Ndlovu of Plum Media.
Ndlovu, who is also the co-founder of Shilolo Entertainment, told Sunday Leisure that the production was shot last year but was not officially launched.
He said the production would be released at the end of the month and would be sold to one of South Africa’s leading film channels – Mzansi Magic.
“The production will be out in few weeks and we are hoping that before the end of the year it will be screened in one of South Africa’s big channels, Mzansi Magic,” said Ndlovu.
The comedy revolves around Madlela, a man who goes to Johannesburg from Nkayi in Zimbabwe through the aid of omalayitsha to look for greener pastures.
“On arrival in the foreign land he squats at his nephew’s place and finds it hard to cope with the demands of living abroad and being unemployed. He then resorts to crime. Madlela causes commotion and chaos everywhere he goes through his criminal life. He is always at loggerheads with the landlady, a lady suspected to be Zimbabwean but hiding her identity,” he said.
Ndlovu said the film was educative and informative to both Zimbabweans and South Africans, as it sought to promote identity.
“Though the production is a comedy it also brings a lot of life lessons to our people, it touches on the importance of identity and how we should at all times try to preserve who we are,” he said.
Ndlovu revealed that his dream was to resuscitate the arts industry in Matabeleland that will see it reclaim its position as the hub at which the arts industry in the country converges.
“We just want to revive comedy and expose the hardships faced by Zimbabweans in South Africa, particularly in Johannesburg townships. People are forced to share rooms, do whatever work they may find no matter how educated they are, and some end up engaging in armed robbery and other criminal activities,” said Ndlovu.
derick.khumalo