LEST THEY FORGET

the migration and over-flooding of ‘talent’ that is not ready, coming to the big cities. Trying to quell unemployment by creating half-baked productions results in very, very bad theatre.

“Where are the writers of the ’70s and ’80s? Oh yes, we became a democracy, dummy, that’s where it all went wrong,” he spews in monologue, arriving at the sorry state of our nation.

“I am an artist. Just a reflective surface. I can make noises but I am not a politician,” he shrugs.

Noises like Missing . It is a story about a struggle veteran exiled in Sweden, who is torn between returning to serve his country post 1994 and the successful life and marriage he has created overseas. The problems that plague his character have worsened in reality, Kani admits.

“People forget that the government is a massive human structure, fraught with the strengths and weaknesses of human beings. Industry cannot fill the deficit left by apartheid. We are always on the back foot, no matter what the budget is, we have a huge void to fill.” It keeps his soul restless. “When I fall asleep I’m running, I’m falling. These are the goggas that keep me awake even in my sleep. My children cannot believe the way things are messed up. They moan that such a thing as a society for unemployed graduates exists, and the state of our education.

“I feel like banging on the brains of these politicians and industrialists who I fought with. Did you forget? What are you doing to our people?” Kani is shaking, his voice strained to a cry.

It is all so dramatic. We were just having coffee and cake and talking about the stage.

He stops for a second to laugh again, about how his children cannot handle his hopefulness.

“I was 51 when I voted for the first time. That day gave me the first glimpse of light in my life and everything is filtered through those glasses. Everything. I will continue to compare my photo of the past, to today. Even though that photograph seems to fade, every day.” LS