Actor Tony Bonani Miyambo on stage in stage play ‘Commission Continua’ on at the Baxter Theatre until June 13.
Image: Yazeed Kamaldien
Title: Commission Continua
Director: Tony Bonani Miyambo and Phala Ookeditse Phala
Starring: Tony Bonani Miyambo
Venue: Baxter Theatre until 13 June
Rating: ★★★★☆
Protest theatre has raised awareness among South Africans about apartheid injustices and remains relevant in what sometimes appears to be a paper democracy.
In this vein is ‘Commission Continua’ as a protest — or lament — about the state of South Africa’s obsession with paper trailing its injustices, but without much consequence or change. It debuted a few years ago.
The synopsis reads: “Paper doesn’t blush and mountains of paper seem to be an essential upshot of the numerous investigation commissions that have existed, and still exist, in South Africa. Thirty years after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: what has changed?
“South Africa has produced mountains of reports in its pursuit of justice. Affidavits. Submissions. Addendums. Final reports. Paper that records truth with meticulous care. Paper that does not blush. But does it move anything?”
In ‘Commission Continua’, the audience meets the awkward Bright Maluleke, a “records clerk tasked with copying and archiving the nation’s truth”.
“He tries to remain neutral, to do the job and not read too deeply. But the weight of what passes through his hands becomes impossible to ignore.” Maluleke serves as a reminder of the countless commissions in South Africa that have cost billions of Rands.
There have been commissions on mineworker killings in Marikana, state capture, the collapse of a mall, higher education challenges and the underlying consequences of murdering politicians — a few mentioned in this play.
Many South Africans know this story of government corruption and dysfunction too well. News media outlets send out daily updates.
The duo who put this stage play together creatively use a photocopy machine, loop station and photo projection as tools to tell the story. There is no major event or linear narrative in this play, but instead a moment in a bureaucratic process.
The actor uses a loop station to record sounds and phrases that at some point become noise. This effectively portrays the inaudibility of truth.The act of looping sound becomes a comment on the repetitive, deceptive veneer of justice launched through yet another costly commission.
South Africa is so good at archiving its atrocities and, according to this play, remains a “crisis that refuses resolution”.
We need a protest reminder of that truth.