Opera House pays homage to nurse with passion for writing
Accolades such as the new Women in Writing award introduced by the Port Elizabeth Opera House in line with its annual Women in Arts Manyano will hopefully inspire more writers to plough into the local arts industry.
These were the words of the first recipient of the award, Nompumezo Buzani, 58, who was honoured at the opening of the Women’s Month festival on Monday evening.
Buzani said she hoped the honour would also inspire other stakeholders to invest in the arts in the Bay.
“I’m very honoured to receive this award, but it also breaks my heart to know that PE artists are still among the most neglected while they have so much talent.
“What sets us apart from Joburg artists is that we have no money and you will find us in taxi ranks while they at least drive their own cars.
“I am really hoping that other stakeholders who have the capacity to support us will follow suit when they see what the Opera House and the department of sport, recreation, arts and culture have done with this award,” Buzani said.
A nurse by profession and writer by passion, Buzani picked up her pen to script a dialogue for a school assignment at the age of 16 at Amabhele High School in the Eastern Cape village of Edikeni.
Apart from the years spent on her nursing studies before moving to Port Elizabeth, she has not put her pen down.
When she moved to the Bay, the infectious arts bug bit and saw her transition into poetry.
With the guidance of other Nelson Mandela Bay writers and poets including Mzi Mahola and Monde Ngonyama, Buzani earned her stripes and saw some of her poetry aired on the SABC show Voices of Africa in 2007.
She later snuck back into her first love of theatre through acting until she wrote her first stage play, Ifana Nkosi, which was staged at the Opera House in 2010. All the while, she was writing her first two isiXhosa books.
Hamba nam Ndipheleke was published in 2016 by Vivlia Publishers and later prescribed by the department of education as a setwork for grade 10 pupils, who started using it in 2018.
Imida is self-published. “I still continue writing plays and had a number of them staged at the PE Opera House over the years.
“I have no specific theme or topics that I cover in my plays – whatever topic triggers and sticks in my head long enough, I write about,” she said.
Two of her plays, Wild Lilies and Mamgcina, were staged at
‘It breaks my heart to know that PE artists are still among the most neglected’ Nompumezo Buzani WOMEN IN WRITING AWARD RECIPIENT
the Opera House as part of the Women in Arts Manyano.
Women in Writing is one of two new categories, with the second – Women in Craft – being launched on Wednesday.
“The Women in Writing category birthed from a collaboration between the PE Opera House and the department of sport, recreation, arts and culture district office driven by Dawn Madolo’s office.
“This award is for special women who have displayed excellence in prose,” Opera House marketing manager Cingiwe Skosana said.