Itumeleng oa Mahabane
MeMBERS of the small community of Kagiso will no longer have to taxi-hop if they want some entertainment. They have just had Hollywood delivered to their doorstep, courtesy of Amos Zwane, and the Right Reverend Joseph Mabuela.
Zwane (48) and Mabuela (42) are the owners of a Maxi Movies franchise, in Kagiso Mall, some 10km from Roodepoort. They offer three shows a day. Aside from the small size, it is not too different from any Ster Kinekor or Nu Metro you might visit. There is a ticket office where you can also buy popcorn and where Coca- Cola products are, as usual, the only drinks available.
Mabuela and Zwane came across Maxi Movies’ Sven Northard and his concept at a Kagiso Arts and Culture Council meeting. The idea sounded appealing — and appropriate for the ever increasing community of
Mabuela moved to Kagiso to take over Frank Chikane’s parish. Since then he has taken on a number of other hats — chairperson of this board, secretary of that forum, marriage councillor, co-ordinator of the Kagiso Arts and Culture Council. He is also a script writer and has just submitted a script for the M-Net New Directions competition.
Zwane was born in Sophiatown. He moved to Kagiso in late 1982 and became involved in church activities. He believes movies help prevent delinquency by entertaining the youth.
Mabuela and Zwane get suggestions, and then they try to give the people what they want. Their most successful screening so far was Bad Boys, which they showed after a request from the teenagers in the community.
Zwane also wants to see the community using the facility for fundraising, especially by schools and the church. He says if schools organise trips to the movies for kids, they will give the school back R4 of the R7 admission fee.
The reluctance of the church to use mainstream entertaiment to raise funds is something else they want to tackle. Both laugh and say the audience is always made up of church-goers anyway. A minister, says Mabuela, will load his family into a car and drive off to Southgate to avoid being seen at the movies!
The Kagiso franchise has only been going for a month, so it is too early to tell how well it will do. But they are confident.
Criticism of Maxi Movies as not contributing to black empowerment because it does little to provide basic services misses the point. Despite their roles Mabuela and Zwane are fairly ordinary members of their community. They are well off but hardly millionaires. To kick off the project, Mabuela and Zwane had to come up with R45 000. The remaining R300 000 was arranged through NedEnterprises.