Maake Ka-Ncube has always fought GBV from the front
Actor ’ s Mzansi Act Now work about toxic masculinity
Veteran actor Sello Maake Ka-Ncube believes that he has always led by example when it comes to combating genderbased violence (GBV).
So Maake Ka-Ncube holds that his involvement as spokesperson for anti-GBV movement Mzansi Act Now is not performative and reactionary to the surge of femicide cases during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The 60-year-old thespian takes me through the work he has done in-between filming scenes on the set of his new TV show Vula Vala.
In 1984 when he was in his 20s he started to try to understand his own behaviour and how negative masculine ideals can be harmful.
I was 24 and first discovered that I had the propensity to be abusive. I began at that time to reflect on it and in hindsight I practiced what is called ‘ time out ’,” he says. “I didn ’ t know what it was called in 1984 because it wasn ’ t fashionable to practice that.
So when I got into a situation where I was in conflict with my partner that would have possibly led to violence, I would give myself time out, go home and come back the following day to say this is what I wanted to say.”
While for more than 10 years Maake Ka-Ncube did all of that in solitary, it all changed in 1998. Maake Ka-Ncube began the real work with engaging men in reducing GBV after he started working with Agisanang Domestic Abuse Prevention and Training.
He wrote a successful play, Komeng (initiation school), that interrogated violent masculinity. Basically, the play Komeng became a metaphor for the psychological initiation, because Komeng is about the physical act – the cutting on the boy ’ s foreskin,” he says.
Maake Ka-Ncube revived the play 20 years later in 2018 and the issue of toxic masculinity was more relevant than ever. It relaunched under his AfriMan Rising campaign that held dialogues in GaRankuwa, Pretoria, challenging harmful masculinity.
Through his work with Mzansi Act Now, he hopes to encourage men to speak openly about such issues.
We have to look at how society has shaped masculinity. But also look at how in nature masculinity operates.”
Maake Ka-Ncube started acting at 15 as an aspirant actor in January 1976 in a play by his cousins at the Naledi Hall in Soweto. The year before that he had just seen his first play and mimicked everything.
Professionally, his breakout role was in Gibson Kente ’ s 1981 play TheHungry Spoon. “I went into acting all because I loved it. I guess there could be an element that I had a gift for it because I never went to school, even though later on I began reading to expand on what I had learnt.”
But it ’ s his role as DrMashoba-A-Dieta in local drama Bophelo Ke Semphekgo that got him noticed. His role as Archie Moroka next when Generations premiered in 1994 not only turned him into a household name but made him a sought-after leading man. He now portrays soccer coach Bra Rex in Vula Vala. He says the role references iconic club owner Jomo Sono.
‘‘ At 24 I found that I had the propensity to be abusive