Ka Le Bitso La Moya

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Ka Lebitso La Moya

At the Market Theatre for the opening of Ka Lebitso La Moya. Winner of five Naledi Theatre Awards including best production in a play and best director for Momo Matsunyane. 

We open in Ha Satane, a fictional township rife with with despair and hopelessness. Unemployment, crime, no service delivery, no electricity and no water. The residents take to the streets protesting, looting, demanding a change and the head of the current counselor. 

Inside the Evangelist Church of Christ is where we find hope. The church serves as a pillar for the community. We are in the church serving as congregates. There is singing and praise for our lord and savior. The mood is festive and in high spirits, jubilation reigns. Ka Lebitso La Moya serves as a greeting for the congregation, a form of endearment that connects and unites. The pastor is charismatic and has women congregates vying for his attention. He is almost lured with Chakakalaka by an admirer but the pastors wife intercepts and stops things from going far. The pastor plans to be a counselor for Ha Satane considering his good standing in the community. This is a facade, he is a man of dubious character, a false prophet lying to his congregation with impunity, grooming underaged girls at church. He uses his power to manipulate an underage girl to call him "daddy". A love interest of his son. After having his way with the underage girl (rape), he is cold and distant, instructing the girl that he is not his "daddy". The girl is in a mess, she's not the same, once a lead in the choir. She becomes a shell of who she was. She is troubled, broken and completely out of it. His son finds out about the relations between his father and love interest and decides to poison his father but he ends up poisoning his love interest instead. 


The play is a humorous, fast paced and relatable musical that depicts life in the township. Josias 'Dos' Moleele plays the pastor, he feels familiar, his mannerisms and conduct mimics a stereotypical pastor in the township. Ka Lebitso La Moya, he is a preacher, a shapeshifter, a deceiver, he loves women and he exhibits preditory behavior. He won the Naledi for best actor for a reason, his performance is captivating and supremely entertaining. He is your definition of a false prophet and he knows this and is unapologetic about it, profiting and showing no remorse. 

Siyasanga Papu plays two characters, one of the characters, the pastors wife. The most amazing singer in the program, she beats them all! 

The other actors are amazing too:
Sibusiso 'Black' Madondo
Khutjo Green
Zevangeli Mampofu
Chrisophocus Seboka 

The pianist Tshepo Dean is emphatic, he sets the mood, he is the pulse, he seamlessly moves from scene to scene, he feels, he has range, he is totally in the story. 

Ka Lebitso La Moya! This is an amazing play! We were in Church. We even stood on our feet to the choir girls demand and sang with her, she picked two people from the audience to come on stage and sing and dance with her. It was an experience, it was realistic. Conversations in Sesotho, Tswana, Xhosa, Venda and English because we are in the township. Conversations free-flowing and naturalistic. The characters had character and personality. 

Ka Lebitso La Moya! I loved everything about this play. 


Congratulations Momo Matsunyane and the whole team for a great show and a deserved standing ovation.


https://youtu.be/YMO0u46NJ2g?si=tuCSWjhi6ufAzgiX

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