ARTISTIC WORKS I want to be like Chommie

By: Tebogo Molefe     

                                                                    

Life is really hectic for BUSISIWE NKOSI, an energetic, budding actress from Barcelona, in Etwatwa, Daveyton.  She has to fend for herself. She has to find her niche in life. And she has no anchor, in life, where she can lean on and find her strength. At one time, at the age of 13, she found herself walking at night to the station to sleep because her stepmother beat her up. So she had to find a place to spend the night. But now she is slowly finding her place in the sun.

Her ultimate dream, she says with a lot of shine on her face, is to be like Chommie, the esteemed queen of dance from Arthur Mafokate’s 999 music management.  She loves drama with all her being. But that is not all. She is also in drama, poetry, dance, and music, and is very good in all of them, but her first love is dancing. Incidentally, the whole dance thing started in 2011as a joke for her.  ‘’I was bored, so I decided to join a group to keep myself busy.” So she joined the Lekamoso Theatre, where acting took first place. “Acting was something that I did not love. But, when, she joined the group, she had to do all four.  “But now acting is part of all things she loves. And she loves playing the lonely, money-laden prostitute.” Her neighbours are prostitutes.  She sees them all the time in their fancy dresses and a lot of money they carry. If she were to land the part of a prostitute one day she thinks it would be easy to portray it. ‘’I have done a lot of research about prostitution because my neighbours are doing it.’’ And they say all these things in front of her.

Busisiwe, 19, wants to burn dance floors. ‘’I dream it all the time. I want to be a dancer, and do choreography. I want to be the next Chommie, and beat her at her own craft. She dances isibhujwa, kofifi, traditional Zulu dancing, contemporary dance and is’pantsula.’’

Away from the dance floors she would like to be a news reader, on radio though, because ‘’ I’m a jean and tekkie type of girl, and I don’t see myself wearing those formal clothes. So on radio no one can see what I’m wearing.  I just love to be comfortable, and I love to read and write. I used to be very good in writing at school.’’ 

One thing is a no-no, though. She would never dance nude no matter how much she gets paid because, she says, some of the things depend on where you come from, “So, no matter how much you pay me, I won’t do it.  “But” she giggles, “I will kiss on stage, if the man is attractive.’’   She thinks artists are not paid enough for the troubles they get themselves in.   “I do think we should get paid enormously because all of us come from different homes and backgrounds, and some of us need money more than others. It would be nice to come home with something sometimes.’’

Busisiwe was in grade 12 last year, and now she is working as a volunteer at Ke Moja where she receives training on how to council individuals and groups. She counsels youths on the use and abuse of drugs and alcohol and, after counselling them, refers them to the South African Narcotics and C Association (SANCA) which works hand in hand with Ke Moja. In the meantime, however, but she plans to go back to school soon to study tourism because she wants to travel the world.  She has also volunteered the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA).

She has entered a lot of dancing competitions, and has played on a lot of stages around Ekurhuleni. Last year she won a ZTE phone from the ZTE company in Braakpan, she also won an award for best female dancer at the Soweto Arts Festival just to name quiet a few of the prizes she has won so far.

Busisiswe never knew her father until she was in grade seven. ‘’My father stayed in Wattville, and after meeting him I used to go and visit him but my stepmother abused me.  “My step- mother beat me up one day so badly I could not take it anymore, so I ran away. It was in the dead of night, and I walked to the taxi station to spend the night because I had no where else to go. Luckily the taxi drivers did not see me and so I was safe.’’

She was raised by her unemployed aunt, Puleng, and life was tough. There was not only me but Mpumi and Nomsa who she had to take care of as well.  ‘’But my aunt made sure that we were taken care of, and I thank her for that. Her mother stayed in Barcelona at the time, and could not help her aunt because she was also unemployed, but she supported us with my grant money.”

Busisiwe went to Gugulesizwe Primary School, and later went to Lekamoso Secondary in 2008 when she moved in with her mother in Barcelona, where she completed grade 12. Her subjects were Tourism, Life Sciences, History, Maths Literacy, English and IsiZulu.

The only thing she is looking forward to is achieving her goals, and living her dreams. ‘’All I want is to have a better life, for me, and my family.’’


Busisiwe on satge, right and below and, bottom,  with a group certificate for performing at the SAAYC arts festival in Etwatwa, Benoni 

pics courtesy SAAYC