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In April 2018, South Africans across the country and outside its borders mourned the loss of Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Affectionately known as the Mother of the Nation, Madikizela-Mandela has been immortalised through various literature, performance arts and other mediums, including a play titled Nomzamo that was staged in 2024.
Director Thabang Kwebu is back with a new version of the production where the Mother of the Nation speaks to her close friend Dali Tambo. This time, he takes the show to the Market Theatre, where it will be staged from 27 to 30 August.
How will this differ?
The original production introduced audiences to the motherly side of the late liberation struggle hero, single-handedly raising her young children while her husband Nelson Mandela languished behind bars on Robben Island.
Thabang won the respect of Madikizela-Mandela’s family members, who felt that their matriarch was not misrepresented and her story was told with a formidable level of sensitivity and authenticity.
Instead of the torture that Mama Winnie faced in prison during her own incarceration, which included being deprived of sanitary pads, this time Thabang explores the controversial relationship between the late icon and Dali Mpofu, her alleged younger lover.
How would the posthumous Winnie Madikizela interact with Dali Mpofu?
He probes how the conversation between the two would unfold if Dali visited Madikizela-Mandela’s grave in search of answers to what is being said about her. The reflection is powerful and leans into the director’s signature style of allowing her to speak beyond the grave.
“Nomzamo does not attempt to present Winnie Mandela simply as hero or villain.”
“Instead, it asks audiences to revisit the woman behind the political image and consider the complexities of her life, her struggles, her choices, her pain, her strength and the legacy she left behind,” the director says.
The story is told through an intimate theatrical encounter where Nomzamo (Mama Winnie) explores themes of memory, womanhood, struggle, political history, identity, sacrifice and legacy.
Thabang shares his strategy, saying the vision is not to repeat the previous work, but to go deeper into the questions around her life, relationships and legacy.
“This time, the research focused more on memory, relationships and unanswered questions. We wanted to understand what remains when someone is no longer here to answer for themselves. That became the foundation of this version,” he explains.
Previously, the director used physical theatre, music, movement and other art forms to tell Nomzamo’s story. The question now becomes: will he lean into the same elements in this version, and how does he maintain the standard set by the original play?
- What: Nomzamo
- When: 27 to 30 August
- Where: Market Theatre
- Cost: R100 per ticket on Webtickets
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