'I've failed,' says Cont Mhlanga

CONTINUELOVING Mhlanga has come a long way. The playwright, affectionately known as Cont by his peers or Khulu by his students, has been in the arts industry for a while now.

Mhlanga, who built Amakhosi Cultural Centre which was opened in 1995, has written plays such as Stitsha, Sinjalo and Amakorokoza among many others.

Despite having seen the success of several productions, Mhlanga feels he has failed the arts by failing to achieve his goals.

Saturday Leisure caught up with the playwright, arts director and actor at Amakhosi Cultural Centre recently. Sitting under the shade of a Xhakuxhaku (African snort) tree with lush green lawn under our feet, Mhlanga explained why he was of the opinion that he had failed.

"My father told me to go back into history and find out what people where doing in the arts when I told him I wanted to be an artiste. I did that and was amazed with what I found out. There were six shows per day at MacDonald's Hall and at Stanley Square and Hall," he said.

Following encouragement from his father to venture into the arts industry, he was amazed to discover that Stanley Square and Hall at the time were contributing 1,8 million Rhodesian pounds annually to the Bulawayo City Council, which inspired him to be an artiste. "I wanted to achieve those numbers. In fact, I wanted to achieve and surpass those numbers. I've never said this but that's what drives me to do what I do every day," said Mhlanga.

Because he has not achieved this goal yet, Mhlanga regards his contribution to the arts as a failure.

"People think I've made it because I built Amakhosi but that's not the case. I wanted to bring back the model I saw when I was rummaging through history and found out about those figures. I've failed because there's hardly a show here per month," he said.

Mhlanga said he once told people attending a workshop two years ago that he had failed and everyone was stunned.

"I said to them, show by way of hands who knows Econet. The whole auditorium lifted their hands. And then I asked if anyone knew Amakhosi and the same happened. I then asked them who had used an Econet product on the day and almost everyone raised their hands. Then I asked how many had used an Amakhosi product that day and no one raised their hands. It is at this point that I told them I had failed," he said.

Mhlanga said he had achieved market penetration like Econet but Amakhosi products were not being consumed by people.

"Amakhosi is known all over, but people are not using the products. They're not coming to watch the plays or whatever productions we have. This, for me is a failure," he said.

Mhlanga attributes his achievements to his father who gave him a fresh perspective about the arts.

"My father would advise whenever we met for drinks. He would challenge my way of thinking and make me realise certain things. There are many instances that he made me think in other terms," he said.

Mhlanga, together with his brother and fellow playwright Stillloving "Styx" Mhlanga staged their first show at Stanley Hall in 1981 which only two people attended.

Dejected, Mhlanga went back home and told his father who said the low turnout was because no one knew them.

"My father asked who I expected to attend the performance since no one knew us. He said the 20 artistes in the group should invite two family members to watch the performances. I thought this old man is making sense because that would translate to 40 people," he said.

Mhlanga said when he met with his fellow artistes the following day; he set a rule that everyone should bring at least two family members to the next show, failure to which they would not be part of it.

"I had to be radical so that we get people to watch the production. With time, instead of two family members each there were five family members each and Stanley Hall would be packed," he said.

Mhlanga said he was excited after the show and when he went to his father to ask how it was; the old man simply asked how much the show had made.

"The old man had me in stiches; I couldn't make my relatives pay for shows. He said the 100 people who had paid to watch the show could pay the wages of the group members. I was stunned. This was another good idea," he said.

The playwright said the family network grew the audience and demand for shows started to overwhelm them. This is when they got their first pay slips as artistes with some leaving their regular jobs to become full time artistes.

"We set up a company system where we had pay slips and bank accounts during the late 80s right through to the late 90s. Many artistes left their jobs to be full time artistes," he said.

But they did not have facilities to rehearse.

"We did everything ourselves. We were the actors, directors and script writers. We had to do that because we didn't have structures that we have now," he said.

"I think we're the ones who destroyed the arts industry because we didn't change the way we did things. Those who came after us simply followed suit. We did everything ourselves and they thought that was how things should be done, but that's not. That doesn't grow the industry."

Mhlanga said he was now trying to change the way artistes operate and conduct their business.

"I've been teaching my students that they can't be a jack of all trades and a master of none. I hope this will help develop quality productions in the near future," he said.

Mhlanga said the only way in which artistes could start earning a decent living was by taking their work to the people.

"Instead of waiting for people to attend shows, artistes need to go into the community and perform there as this will make them popular and get recognition."