Crowds flock to Isandlwana lecture at Joburg Theatre

There was hardly room to swing a cat when award-winning musician and cultural activist Mbuso Khoza staged the Isandlwana Lecture at the Joburg Theatre in Braamfontein from Friday to Sunday.

The show was sold out on all three days.

The 255-seater theatre was stretched to the limit on Sunday and extra chairs were brought in to accommodate people standing outside. As a result, the start of the show had to be delayed.

When Khoza and the cast came on stage, they delivered a thrilling three-hour show.

The crowd was a mixture of young and old, with a number of university students among the audience.

Celebrities, including Vicky Vilakazi, Noxolo Dlamini, Tony Kgoroge, Sthandiwe Kgoroge and Thandi Ntuli, came to support Khoza.

The Isandlwana Lecture presentation includes narration, music and dance.

Khoza was accompanied by actors Sibonile Ngubane and Mondli Makhoba and the Afrikan Heritage Ensemble.

Speaking to Sowetan on Monday, Khoza said having sold out every day showed that people were thirsty for knowledge.

“The past three days have been amazing for us as the team. The three shows were sold out and that is very encouraging. What was more pleasing was to see young people staying for the whole three hours listening to the lecture attentively. This inspires me a lot when I see so much interest from different people.

“On Saturday, we had to chase away a group of tourists who wanted to see the show because it was full. They refused to leave and even suggested that we take the show outside the theatre, which was impossible. On the first day I found myself overwhelmed by emotions because of the support I am getting. If you look at the Isandlwana Walk last week to the lecture, which was a success, to me it means a lot.”

Khoza said the lecture is headed to the Playhouse Theatre in Durban in May.

The performance kicked off with praise singing, which was followed by the singing of the AU and SA national anthems.

Through the lecture, Khoza brings to life the true life events of the Anglo-Zulu War.  He presented the lecture with a lot of humour and delved deep into the pressures of a war that drove both sides to a terrifying and bloody confrontation.

While relating the story, he also gave the audience a taste of what Ihubo (African indigenous music) sounds like.

Khoza questioned some of the habits that were known as a culture and corrected some names that were misspelled – words like 'Maputo'.

He said the word was changed from 'Mabhudu', after a king of the Tembe clan, to 'Maputo' by colonisers.

In the last hour of the show, Khoza allowed the audience to join the cast in singing and dancing, which the crowd enjoyed.