Khwezi actor speaks out on abuse

Medupe says men need to change their mindset

As violence against women doesn’t seem to be decreasing any time soon‚ former Generations: The Legacy actor JT Medupe says it is up to every man to take the initiative to stop the scourge of abuse.

Medupe recently performed in the State Theatre adaption of Redi Thlabi’s book Khwezi‚ which told the story of Fezekile “Khwezi” Kuzwayo who accused former president Jacob Zuma of raping her in 2005. The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg dismissed the charges‚ concluding the sexual act was consensual.

Medupe told TshisaLIVE he went through a roller coaster of emotions during the theatre run but learnt more than anything about the need to stand against abuse. “We need to fight against the rape culture in our country‚ the abuse of women. I think as men‚ we need to do much better to protect women.

“We need to raise our boys to be better men. We need to make sure they don’t look at women as sexual objects they can do whatever they want to with.”

He said men need to change their mindset. “Some people will say they were raised a certain way or with a certain type of thinking but everyone of us can change. The amount of abuse happening is a worry. It should be a worry for all of us. It is a scourge on society we need to get rid of.”

He said playing the role of a person trying to prove they had not sexually abused a woman was difficult. “The hardest part [was] to get into a space where I convince people that I [as Zuma] did not assault Khwezi but that it was consensual. As JT Medupe‚ I am against women abuse so this was challenging and very emotional.”