While some might view it as a haphazard effort, many will remember it as a great opportunity to empower local talent. In a way, Motsoeneng helped to open up the SA entertainment industry in a way very few people have been able to accomplish.
Meritocracy rarely rears its head in the SA entertainment industry with many opportunities given to those who party at the right hotspots or happen to know the right socialites, influencers or creatives. As closed as the SA industry may be, it is equally tight knit, a difficult system of cliques and connections.
Eradicating the need to hire actors that pass the bill for accurate representation jeopardises the vision and integral mission of a production. The director needs the right kind of actor who can take instruction on how to perform a scene. The costume department would hang themselves on the most callous metre of canvas should the lighting department fail to capture their styling choice correctly.
In closing herself off to the opportunity to create spaces for miscast queer characters, Petela becomes part of the problem rather than a righteous solution. There is a lack of queer and female voices in the entertainment industry – heck, there is a lack in every other work space. Petela’s stance closes the industry many are trying to open and protects those who are carefully curated to appease this kind of thinking.
ThangoSays Misdemeanours? Tell the 619 retrenched workers that they are a result of mere misdemeanours that caused the degredation of the entity....