In the Holy Scripture the book of Proverbs 22:17 pronounces that, ‘A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones.’ This passage, as time went by, was decoded into modern language and put thus: laughter is the best medicine. There could be no honest and truthful statement as this one. In the midst of pain, despondency and hopelessness, uncontrollable anger and poverty, humour has always provided human beings with a corner to escape, in search of peace and happiness. This has been the case since time immemorial.
However like being an actor, a mathematician or a medical doctor, not every Mpho, Themba and Tsakane is blessed with the gift of humour. Few are born with the ability to make people laugh, and even so humour requires years of intensive honing to be perfected. Therefore as man evolved, discovering new things, inventing machines and creating new professions, humour has always been there, evolving to keep up with the human psyche. Finally too, humour would catch up in the economic ladder and become a profession that has gifted us American heavyweights such as Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle, and the late Bernie Mac and so on. Here at home in South Africa, we have been blessed with powerful names like David Kau, Tumi Morake, Kagiso Lediga, Celeste Ntuli, Trevor Noah and many others like that. Humour had now morphed into an industry called comedy. Please understand me, I am not insinuating that these folks invented the profession of comedy; I mention them because their arrival in comedy disrupted, changed and took the industry in a new, broader direction that accommodated every member of society, despite their racial, social or economic strata in society. One might even dare say, to quote one of Africa’s finest intellectuals and statesmen, they opened doors to our liberty.
Thus comedy has served the human race beyond just putting bread on the table. Comedy is a form of art that we use to express our emotions and ideas through laughter. It is a canvas on which we use to paint both our joy and anguish while wrapped tightly in a blanket of humour. Through comedy society is afforded an opportunity to interrogate its ideas and actions; the ability to reflect on the right and wrong, what is acceptable and not acceptable. Humour soothes our souls, it gently massages the human spirit. Comedy was never intended to hurt but to heal.
This form of art is meant to push boundaries, touch and explore subjects that you and I are shy if not scared to tackle. Yes, at times comedy tends to take it a little too far, but even this statement on its own is subject to a debate. What is taking it a little too far? But if that is the case then it falls upon us as the audience to interrogate the material and if necessary carefully remonstrate against which we find to be in stark contrast with our way of being as men and women, boys and girls, and above all human beings; lest we discourage differing views.
It is in this light that I find the brouhaha roused by the video posted by Skhumba Hlope, one of South Africa’s premier and talented comedians, petty and attention seeking. Perhaps I should first explain why the video elicited such an uproar before I dive into my reasons of finding the noise around it petty.
In the video Skhumba mocks the condition and state of the breasts bared by female students during the march at University of Witwatersrand, famously known as Wits, against the hiking of higher education fees. Firstly Skhumba makes it clear that he supports the students’ call for free quality education and then from there he goes for the kill, stating that if you are going to reveal your breasts as a woman then the twins should be perky, nicely rounded in the shape of a tennis ball and not sagging. Tongue-in-cheek, the comedian likened the young ladies to elderly women, asking whether Wits also admits SASSA members. In the absence of humour this is distasteful and offensive. But let us remember this was a joke, and I do not believe for a second that was done with the intent of shaming, insulting or hurting the students or women at large. A reasonable argument could be put forth to pinpoint the wrongs of what the Tembisa native said, and in the same breath a counter-argument could also be made that perhaps as South Africans we are taking ourselves too seriously.
Now to my own reasons why I find the arrows and spears thrown towards Skhumba as a petty, attention-seeking stunt by a group of bullies who if not checked will grow to transform us into a timid society, scared of expressing ourselves. Thanks largely to the evolution of technology, social media particularly, these digital bullies have found a palace where they have imposed themselves as guardians of speech. Twitter has seen some of this bunch of righteous individuals graduate to become columnists and trusted opinion makers around the country, granting them a lot of influence. Commonly referred to as ‘Woke Twitter’ this clique behaves like a tribe which should you fail to behave according to their standards and customs, then you will be subjected to a severe beating, in this case personal attacks dressed as intellectual arguments. Skhumba is a victim of this clique’s viciousness.
Subsequent to Skhumba posting the video on his personal account on Instagram, a company based in California, USA, a petition to have him removed from Kaya FM was soon making the rounds on social media. The petition accused the comic of ‘body-shaming’, ‘misogyny’ and all sorts of terms they could find. And this here is how this clique operates: disagree or say anything that doesn’t bode well with their culture your livelihood is immediately threatened. Clearly the old wisdom that if a people of a society always agree then there is something wrong does not apply to this lot. Theirs is a binary system: one or zero. Disagree with us and your fate is sealed. It is this sort of aggressive behaviour that South Africans need to quickly address.
It should also be noted that Skhumba has made numerous jokes about President Jacob Zuma, mocking everything from his head, relationships to his private parts. We have not seen any petition being initiated. And why is that? President Jacob Zuma, a statesman, is not exactly a favourite of this tribe, and therefore not deserving of their VIP protection. JZ himself, a man who is lampooned on a daily basis, has not threatened to sue or remove Skhumba from air. The president clearly understands something that these bullies don’t; this is comedy.
Earlier this year Skhumba poked fun at Motswako great HHP’s multiple attempts at taking own his life. I could have missed it but I have not heard that Jabba is petitioning Kaya FM to have Skhumba removed from air, or threatening his livelihood any other way. Skhumba makes fun of anyone from the ANC’s (African National Congress) General Secretary Gwede Mantashe to the Mother of the Nation Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. If you thought disabled people have escaped Skhumba’s raw comedic genius then you are mistaken. Oscar Pistorius, his sins aside, was Skhumba’s pap n vleis throughout his trial. The point I am making is that comedy is here to make us laugh, relieve us of our pain as a society. Here and there comedy will upset us but we need to take it with a pinch of salt and stop being too serious. If there are cases where we find the material unacceptable then it is our collective responsibility as members of society to deal with those cases in an orderly and appropriate fashion. Sitting in our little corners waiting to be offended cheapens the serious debates we are supposed to engage in, and certainly the debate around the rights of women has been hurt by this attention-seeking stunt.
The white noise in an attempt to cost Skhumba’s livelihood is nothing but an undrinkable brew of attention-seeking, petty people who have nothing better to do with their time but chastise anyone who dares to challenge convention. South Africa would do well to quickly rein in this bullies before they turn us all into miserable, lonely creatures.
Skhumba has since apologised, an act I would have personally advised against; and it is a pity that Kaya FM, typical of a company obsessed with its perfect brand, cowered to the pressure and unconsciously assured this attention-seeking, petty bunch of their own power. It was a sad day for Skhumba and comedy. Not only am I afraid that this hullabaloo will tame him as a gifted comic, it will also tame and dwarf comedy in South Africa.
Kgotsong!
Article By Seitiso Ntlothebe
