Expo celebrates Youth Month

THE GAUTENG government is hosting its fourth Youth, Jobs, Careers and Entrepreneurship Opportunities Expo, which runs until Sunday at Nasrec Expo Centre.

On Monday, veteran actor Jerry Mofokeng wa Makhetha and Dr Wally Mongane Serote staged their theatre production of Shades of Change.

Featuring actresses Lerato Mvelase and Puleng Molebatsi, the play is set in a prison against the backdrop of the June 16, 1976 Soweto uprisings.

It was first performed in Botswana in 1977, and then in Amsterdam in 1982.

Serote penned a theatrical journey that places a mirror before today’s youth, whose dreams can be realised in the enabling democratic era.

He said the play was dedicated to Struggle icon Steve Biko, with whom he had a close relationship.

“At that time, I was in exile in Botswana, and I was in a taxi. I heard that the system had killed Steve Biko in prison. I had to investigate everything about what happened,” he said.

“I knew Steve Biko personally, very well, I worked with him.

“I had already been in detention and I was afraid for him. The story is dedicated to him.”

Serote said the play was appropriate and relevant in this Youth Month and was meant to inspire and educate young people.

“We must find a way to bring the history of this country to the youth. To say this is where things started, how they developed and where we are now. We also need to find a way to inspire them and look to the future.

“It perhaps opens their eyes to the price that was paid by ordinary learners for freedom,” he said.

Mofokeng wa Makhetha, known for his roles in the films Cry,

the Beloved Country, Tsotsi and Mama Jack, said that as a director he did not want to explain the play, but hoped that many young people would go and watch it.

The week-long expo celebrates the youth with multi-event exhibitions, dialogues, workshops, cinema and sports activities.

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