Foul-mouth Fikile
It’s not okay to be silent – Nelisa Mchunu dishes bigot-busting tips that her character Fikile needs to understand…
At the salon there’s a lot of “mind your own business, Fikile” (Nelisa Mchunu) and “be quiet, Fikile”. If gossip drops, Fikile be the first fly buzzing round it, phone out and the voice-record button pressed. She is super annoying but harmless – “Fikile is part of the crew”. But on Wednesday 13 December, she horrifies salon mates Smangele (Sihle Ndaba) and Thobile (Nokuthula Mabika) when she opens her mouth to spew some truly nasty filth about people living with HIV. “Fikile goes off at Sma in front of everyone and says, ‘Ja, you’ve got HIV and just go away with your HIV. Don’t touch me, you’re going to infect me because who knows what you’ve been doing. You’ve been opening your legs for people, that’s why you’ve got HIV.’ For me that was one of the most dreadful things, especially considering that Fikile is Smangele’s friend. I was taken aback reading it,” reveals Nelisa. “This will spark a lot of controversy and a lot of conversation, which is not a bad thing. There are people out there like Fikile, who have the same mentality as her and they need to learn.” But how do you deal with a person who seems determined to spread bigoted views?
HURTING A FRIEND
Fikile doesn’t actually assume that she is preaching to the converted, but she doesn’t care either. “For her it’s ‘I am expressing what I feel, so deal with it. That’s just it and no one’s going to change my mind’. She doesn’t really care if people are going to agree with her. Usually people who are bigots are very forthcoming and aggressive, like ‘This is how this is and that’s just how it is.’ Fikile is like that more often than not.” But Fikile’s venom comes from a toxic mixture of ignorance and guilt rather that facts. “She is doing this because of her own insecurities. She feels guilty about how she had a relationship with Pastor Nkozi (played by Mondli Makhoba, their affair ran between June and September 2016), who had a relationship with other women and they didn’t use protection. She’s reacting to that. She’s ignorant. That’s why she’s speaking like this.”
DON’T SIT IN SILENCE
Smangele and Thobile can’t just sit back and shake their heads in polite silence. “Smangele thinks that Fikile is being small-minded. And because for her it is really personal – lately she’s been struggling to accept that her soul mate Khumbulani (Sihle Xaba) is living with HIV – she takes more offence to it. And Thobile is just thinking that Fikile is really stupid,” explains Nelisa. They’re both quick to put Fikile in her place. “They don’t ever let Fikile just think that it’s okay to say what she’s saying. Every time she says something, they are always going to challenge her and call her out. I think that’s good. It gets to a point where it defeats Fikile or it gets to her. Even if she won’t show it,” reveals Nelisa
RAISE YOUR VIEW
“I think it’s important that people shouldn’t sit in silence because then that person thinks they are right all the time. But at the same time, how you engage the conversation is very important,” Nelisa adds. “It’s good to challenge them so they have something to think about. They may not agree with you at that time, but at least they know that, ‘Okay maybe I might not be right’. When I hear something that I don’t agree with, that is prejudiced or bigoted, I always find a way to express my opinion. Obviously you can’t make someone think differently, but I think you can give them a different outlook on that specific topic. When it comes to elders I have to be more careful but I am very fortunate that my family is very welcoming and understanding of other people’s opinions. So it’s not that difficult for me to challenge them when it comes to certain ideas.”