By Tholakele Thabane
Itumeleng Mashilane is a performer and writer from Khutsong in the town of Carletonville, West Rand of Gauteng. He uses his art as a form of activism and resistance to the injustices mining companies subject host communities to.
Itumeleng is a recipient for a short course in Applied Performing Arts and Arts Management for Youth hosted by the University of Witwatersrand.
To be selected as part of the short course, Itumeleng and his team won the first position out of 50 competitors for the first round in a competition hosted by Wits and made it to the top 25, where they took the first position again.
They won the first position in the top 10 selection. “This has opened doors as we are able to engage with producers at the Joburg Theatre,” he says.
He credits Tholoana Tshose a friend who he met through a friend group for introducing him to acting where at this point, he was sceptical because he felt that it was not for him and Sechaba. Kitlane who was his Grade 12 classmate for introducing him to comedy and helping him overcome his shyness. He has since performed in various shows and competitions. Itumeleng initially explored rap but later returned to acting.
With the love they received from the community through performance comedy, he gained enough confidence to go back to Baker and they opened a group together with Sechaba and named it Calvas Theatre Productions (CPT) where he trained and performed.
The main reason Baker recruited them to acting was to get them off the streets and to not fall into drugs.
“Recalling my worst but inspiring moment in acting, I fumbled on stage where there was a huge crowd and Lesedi FM [presenters and hosts were also] present. Overall, the performance was great, and I told myself I will not let this stop me,” he mentions.
Impact of mining on his art and progress
As a young person from a mining affected community, Itumeleng faces all the injustices mines impose on communities from pollution, blasting, lack of engagement with the community when taking decisions and what Khutsong is famous for: sinkholes.
Being failed by the municipality in terms of skills development and youth opportunities, Itumeleng and his acting group resorted to engaging Harmony’s
Kusasalethu Mine which failed to show up for them too regarding skills development despite promising to do so in the Social Labour Plan (SLP).
Involvement with MACUA
Itumeleng joined MACUA after seeing a community cleaning campaign by MACUA members in his community in 202. He believes that MACUA is what mining communities need as it helps less informed people on mining activities, SLPs, consultations and beneficiation as mining host communities. And he has been mobilising youth to join the fight against the mines.
As a member of YAMUA, he uses art to express how mining affects communities and the youth. His ability to use poetry, words and acting to express how mining affects communities is out of this world. He can paint intricate nuances of irreparable devastation that the rest of the community suffer at the hands of the mining corporations . “I collect information by researching, interviewing people related to the theme I am performing on, I write my script and rehearse,” he says. His trick is to study the mood of the audience and then adjust his performance to either elevate or to be in sync with the spirit of the crowd.
