11 August 2025
Dear Marlene,
It was a delight to be present at the launch of the annual Women’s Humanity Festival on Women’s Day at Artscape this year. Towards the end of the programme, when the two opera singers performed, I was transported into another realm. The voices of Ernestine Nur Stuurman and Danielle Speckman pierced through my heart, strengthening it to patiently persevere to end violence and exploitation in our troubled world.
The two, both from Westridge, Mitchells Plain work for Cape Town Opera, something unthinkable 30 years ago.
When you were a young woman, part of charting this course for a unified and equitable South Africa, could you have imagined you would find yourself at the helm of transforming a public facility built and used for whiteness? We were denied entry to that space, then called DF Malan because of the colour of our skins.
There are those in the world who want to take us back to separatist philosophies but on display on Saturday was how we want to be – together, part of every single other human being. As you urged us all to say: “I am because you are. You are, because I am.”
Those hundreds of women you and your team had brought together not only from the city but also from the rural enclaves of the West Coast spoke volumes of who should be at the center of attention.
Ernestine and Danielle performed the Flower Duet based on an ancient Hindu fable and Somewhere (a place for us) from Westside Story. The sounds that reverberated in Artscape’s cavernous halls bounced against the walls perhaps touching the souls of those gone by who wondered why they had spent so much energy in dividing, in separating, in wanting privilege for a few.
Your commitment to our common humanity was further enhanced with a decision to focus on Peace in Action this year. There is perhaps no more urgent matter than to work for an end to violence on every level. The physical violence that we see on the Cape Flats year after year after year and the immoral violence of those who take from us through usury (excessive profit), hoarding and corruption.
At the end of the launch programme, activists Vainola Makan and Wendy Pekeur ushered a group of women into a side hall to show a short film about the effects of gas and oil exploration in Doringbaai and other West Coast towns. The documentary featured the work of Ubuntu Rural Women and Youth Movement and Persons with Disability.
With an astounding firmness, women interviewed expressed their determination to protect their livelihoods. They were the part of the fisherfolk communities struggling to prevent companies from disturbing the sea and disrupting their access to its food.
I found it interesting that the Premier Alan Winde attended the entire three-hour-launch programme. He spoke out against the violence here, in Palestine, in the Ukraine and elsewhere. He acknowledged that something needs to be done about the physical divide of communities because of apartheid planning. He reached out to Thembi-Mtshali Jones who was recognized as one of the six icons of Peace of this year’s festival.
Thembi, seated on the stage with him, had explained that she had performed in the musical, Ipi Ntombi decades ago. He recalled his mother arranging for the cast to visit their farm for a meal when they were not allowed to go to restaurants in his hometown.
The other five icons of Peace you chose to acknowledge were Judge Albie Sachs, Prof Virginia Davids, Sue Williamson, Faruq Valley-Omar and the late Nomvula Mthethwa, all exemplify a life of service and dedication to inclusivity and fairness.
Perhaps there remains many who still do not work for inclusion but for exclusion. Many who believe white is right or black is better. Sadly, the answer lies in finding understanding and cooperation to fix what is hampering the barriers to a life of dignity as you so amply demonstrated at the launch.
I know that you and your team have carefully selected shows over the next month that showcase diversity in action, sure to entertain and enchant through dance, song, and drama. May Artscape continue to pursue what will delight our souls to strengthen us to face the challenges life throws and will throw at us. Thank you for the space that your team and your partners have created for us all to enjoy.
Yours,
Zubeida Jaffer
Journalist, author and activist.
P.S. For those who take the time to read this open letter, find the programme for the Women’s Humanity Festival at www.artscape.co.za
