The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu
“I would like to believe that the Amakhosi we had back then grew and reached its climax and now something needs to be done,” says Fortune Ruzungude. It is a normal Wednesday and the man popularly known as Foromani, a moniker he has not been able to shake off since his stellar role in the Amakhosi sitcom Sinjalo, is at home watching TV.
Perched on a green sofa at his home in Makokoba’s Madlela Flats, the eloquent actor and arts administrator does not mince his words about the state of the arts institution his own sweat helped give birth to.
“Like any other project, it has grown, reached a climax and then it has crumbled. What it needs is someone to take it and revamp it. They’ve got to break in new ideas, new programmes so that it has a different outlook,” he says.
The dire plight of Amakhosi has been a worry for arts practitioners, especially since the retirement Cont Mhlanga, the man whose vision saw it evolve from a karate club to a prominent nursery for talent in the arts.
While the stage and screen excellence of Folomani and other pioneers saw Amakhosi hailed as the nerve centre of the city’s arts scene, Basch Extension and Old Falls Road is now synonymous with a bus terminus that is more often a crime scene, with petty theft and muggings the order of the day.
“Honestly speaking I can say that the arts centre is way below what it’s capable of. I think there are a lot of factors that have contributed towards that and I’m not going to go much into those factors but I still believe a lot can be done to bring it back to its glory days,” Foromani says.
When Amakhosi became a force in the 1980s and 1990s, it was the fresh faced baby on the theatre block, powered by some of the brightest brains in theatre. Foromani, who has served the centre in various capacities, believes that it may be time now for the old guard to pass the baton to youngsters of today.
“We need to give it to the next generation to take it forward or the guys who were running it before, if they still have the interest to take the institution further, should come up with new ideas and redo what they did during those days when it was vibrant.
“Definitely I can say its performing way below expectations. It really used to be a hub and hive of activity in the city. Nowadays I would say it’s operating at less than 20 percent of its functioning capacity.”
While Amakhosi’s fortunes have nosedived in the last few years, this was not always the case. At its height, the centre was the face of Bulawayo and the voice of many talented artistes in the city who would otherwise have been forever silenced if Cont Mhlanga had not convinced city fathers to give them a piece of land where they could perfect and practice their craft.
In fact, one of the most prominent productions before Amakhosi’s decline was Sinjalo, the small screen production that etched Foromani on the minds of Zimbabwean viewers and guaranteed him a place in the annals of Zimbabwean TV history.
As much as it was a marvel for viewers, the show was also one to remember for the man who, alongside the late Mackey Tickeys, starred in it. Over a decade and a half since it came on the screen, he still cherishes its memory.
“For me the show was a reflection of how we live in society. It was really nothing new to me. Being born in a township with multiple ethic groups was just reality because that’s exactly how we live in our society.
“Siphila njalo enkomponi, that’s our life hence the production was called Sinjalo. It was a really successful production because 16 years down the line people still talk about it. Even now people still recognise us on the street and say there’s that guy who was on Sinjalo”.
Born and bred in Makokoba, Foromani had always been seen as a role model in Makokoba, the high density suburb from whose womb many stars had been born. According to him, his efforts and that of others had transformed how acting was viewed in Makokoba.
With Amakhosi playing the leading role in dragging the craft from the darkness into the light, more parents did not discourage their children from taking part in the arts after witnessing the centre’s successes. However, the success of Sinjalo had earned him success beyond the closely packed houses of Makokoba.
“People already knew us because we were regarded as role models because we had been in films, theatre and TV. So it wasn’t a surprise for the people of Makokoba. But for people outside our community it was a big deal. Young kids would identify you and it was really more of a problem because young kids would recognise you and start shouting, Foromani, Sakhamuzi.
“I remember this one time we were going to perform in Mozambique and we were at the border in Mutare. People recognised us and the border shut down. People were shouting and they had to call police to escort us out of there.”
For all its excellence and current decline Folomani, with a smile, remembers Amakhosi’s accidental birth in the 1980s.
“Amakhosi got into drama by accident. We used to use Stanley Hall for our karate training and so anyone could also use the hall if they made the necessary arrangements. One day we unfortunately found that there was a theatre organisation hosting a workshop. They asked why we weren’t training and we said it was because the hall was occupied. That’s how Amakhosi’s drama group was born.”
