Gasebalwe Seretse
13 July 2007
Gaborone — Daniel Kazonda regards himself as a veteran actor. He says he began acting from his nursery school days. However, the 23-year-old says there is nothing much to show for his efforts.
One of his latest achievements is acting as an extra in the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency (Mma Ramotswe) movie that is currently being shot in Botswana. He was lead actor Maru in Snapshots, an adaptation of Bessie Head's 'Snapshots of a Wedding' and 'Maru'. Snapshots recently showed at the Little Theatre at the National Museum.
In the story, Maru's friend Kegoletile (played by Charles Tsiane) is a rich cattle baron who has a child with the beautiful, humble and well-mannered Mosarwa woman Margaret (Lebogang Keletso). Kegoletile decides to wed Neo (Mmaleyena Kealotswe) because she has a degree in the Sciences while he shuns Margaret who has a degree in the arts. Maru, who is secretly in love with Margaret, encourages Kegoletile to marry Neo. He later elopes with Margaret.
Kazonda has acted in a number of theatre plays that include Omen, Stolen Blankets, Final Analysis, Newsroom, Brother's Blanket, Requiem and currently Maru.
"I have performed in plays which deal with gender based violence, human rights, sexual abuse, pollution, crime prevention, water and waste management," he explains.
The Toromoja-born actor is bitter that government is not investing enough on visual and performing arts. He strongly believes that the reason why the arts are stagnant in Botswana is because government has opted to only invest in soccer.
"Look around, there are no reputable production houses, theatres and agencies in the country and this is all government's fault," he laments. The fact that the Botswana government has invested P30 million in the production of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency movie, which has the African-American songbird Jill Scott in the starring role, does not impress the actor. He believes that part of the money should have gone to local productions.
However, the young actor is happy that the movie is shot in Botswana and that he was given the opportunity to be part of it. "I saw a film being made for the first time in my life and being an extra gave me the opportunity of making contacts with some guys in the industry in both Botswana and South Africa," he says ecstatically. The young Kazonda is part of Enigma, the drama group which is headed by F.K. Omoregie. Recently, he completed his Bachelor of Arts in Archaeology and Environmental Science. The actor says that there are signs that things are changing for the performing arts in the country and that one day things will be better.
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