Controversial poet Ntsiki Mazwai shocked the audience when she performed one of her poems topless on Friday night in Grahamstown.
At least this time she was not showing off her body for fun but she was making a serious statement about women abuse.
Mazwai was performing at Victoria Primary School in Grahamstown as part of the National Arts Festival.
She presented an emotional and powerful performance of her poetry play called Ntsiki Speaks.
The play reflects on the experiences of being a young woman in South Africa. It also highlighted social politics in the country.
It explores themes such as identity, gender issues, family dynamics and racism.
Mazwai kick started her performance with the national anthem and tackled the issue of violence in the country especially what she calls "a black on black hate."
She moved to cheating boyfriends, and sugar daddies, and how women allowed themselves sometimes to be victims of such circumstances.
When she spoke about the violence directed at women like rape, Mazwai took off her top and bra and continued reciting her poem. She then put her clothes back on.
She wore a man's jacket while performing a poem about fatherhood and the role of fathers.
This poem touched Mazwai deeply because she became emotional and at some point she looked like she wanted to cry.
One of the lines in the poem says, "some fathers are the ones who take an initiative to hurt their own kids".
Mazwai herself was allegedly disowned by her own father. She wraps the performance with the importance of knowing your culture and heritage.
The play was full of humour. All in all, Mazwai delivered a killer performance and the audience loved her too. She got a standing ovation.
Mazwai's initiative to Take a Girl Child to Theatre was a success because the audience was dominated by youth. She had asked people to buy tickets for her show and donate it to young girls.
The National Arts Festival ends today.
Source: sowetanlive
