The cherished Angel writes me a poem.

The following poem was written by Josefin Najem. it was entirely dedicated to me, Xolani I. Mthimkhulu. And I thought I should share the strength of our friendship with the world. The friendship is twelve years old now and is going strong.

This is also something I want to share with you that I wrote for two days back, I hardly write anymore but I think there is a treasure in writing....
For you to enjoy dearest Xolani:

The ocean waves breathe, my guitar is tightened and waiting impatiently to live out its rhythm
Give me, you bottom of oceans that have made mountains to sand
Give me your patience and let me shine as your surface with my face towards the light of the sky and soar in your rhythm, calm and beautiful in all drama, in all storms.
My Lord let me rest safely in your boat and let me put my head on your pillow in your closeness
You calm my storm in all weathers
Let me faithfully believe in faith forever,
That you soothe me, I don not need to worry anymore, I can reach land and get off safe and secure in all journeys of life, for you are here with me.

Love
Josephine


Thank you so much Josefin.

A writer writes, period!

 I’ve been having this blogspot for over six months now and I only write occasionally for the fear of… well… myself. I almost always seem to have a really good excuse for not sitting down and typing, whether off or online. This is where Tata’s words come in: ‘Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.’  I had a friend who told me I’m afraid of success, and I thought she was just saying. 

A writer writes, Xolani. Period! She delivers these words with an agitated tone that’s accompanied by a beseeching pretty face.  ‘I know, I know’ I respond.  Her beautiful hazel eyes stared at me with the unspoken follow up question (then what are you waiting for?). To avoid her pretty (pun intended) upset face, I looked away and claimed I’ll make a plan about my writing… soon. Looking back at that day right now I can tell that I gave her a wrong answer. She just left the door. ‘Leave me with my thoughts’ she says. Indeed she left me with my thoughts for well over five years now. Saying I wonder what happened to her would be an understatement. I’m scared to even try and get hold of her. But I digress. I should dedicate a blog to the story of a girl who ran away…

Run away girl or not, her words ring my mind at this hour for I’m realising the repeat of history. I am, once again, the writer that’s not writing. It has been three months since I took a peek at my romantic comedy (Lerato Lerato) that’s been under construction for close to two years. Hey, don’t you judge me! It took Tarantino ten years to write his latest success: Inglorious Basterds…  Ok, that’s not a good excuse, since he was already successful in those ten years. Anyway, the last time I even typed words on that ‘amazing story’ of mine was early January. I remember the ideas were boiling in my mind at the time.  I couldn’t go a day without looking and adding something to the progression of the story. Now all I do is open it and listen to my mind giving me yet another reason to procrastinate. And I’m quite gullible when it comes to those. They always make sense.  I guess what I’m really looking for is a straight mind that can tell me I can finish this romantic comedy. If that mind comes from a pretty hazel-eyed girlfriend I think I’ll listen this time. 

My sweat equity sitcom, Amagwinya, is happening at a much slower pace. When we were ‘investing our sweat’ there was more people, ideas, motivation, and hope for riches. At this hour I have no idea who’s where and how is it going, except for a handful. But then again that’s the life of the creatives. You only see us when you really need us. Amagwinya comes with an interesting background that has a lot to do with DogTail Inc (checkout dogtail.co.za). DogTail is a great idea by the creatives trying to break into the business world, but eish truth be told, it’s just not happening. I’m a man of faith and abundant optimist, but even I am beginning to worry about this sweat equity journey. If anything it’s helping me to continue practising the craft of writing, though not as frequent as I’d like it to be. 

I think what DogTail really need is a business mind that can shape things up and show us the direction. I say this because DogTail feels like a house filled with creativity and inspiration, just missing the business mind. But hey, I’m just a scriptwriter, man. I shouldn’t be making this noise. I should be writing, man… Yes, about that. Amagwinya has two complete episodes, one of which is a pilot for show. We are currently writing the third episode and it’s coming quite alright and pretty slow.  We have complete loglines for the rest of the season (13 episodes). We could be finished with half of the season by now, but we all seem to have other hustles to take our time and put the “sweat equity” on the less important lists. This is one of the reasons I believe I’m not practising my wordsmith craft as much as I should. I’m a writer that needs to do more writing.

She used to remind me that practice makes perfect. I remember her. At one point, to my surprise, she even used Sean Carter’s (Jay-Z) words  just to prick my brain and see her point of view. She was right. I should just write, even if it’s a stupid blog about how stressful it is to be a scriptwriter in South Africa. At least I’m writing. Right?

Oskido® awards in Kasiwood

Americans discovered the art of film and named a place after this art – Hollywood. Then the Indians redefined this art to suit their flair for music, dance, and a crazy length for a love story. They called their industry Bollywood. Barely a decade ago, the Africans in the North West also redefined this art to suit their constant need to have something new. And they called their industry Nollywood, after Nigeria. Before you know it, every country that finds a way to define their visual language has a ‘wood’ attached to their film language. Makes you wonder why the Chinese and Japanese never bought into this. Anyway, at this stage South Africa is on the brink of finding its own film language. Hopefully we’ll be creative about this home for our ‘wood’. Guguwood, Mamelodywood, Benoniwood, Kasiwood, or Bloemwood. From these few words and the consideration of eleven official languages, there’s a lot to go through before we can agree on one name. But that’s the trouble for another day.


I’m a film graduate of six years. I have an optimistic mind that says a film career in Cape Town can work. Experience has proven otherwise, but the mind is a tricky thing to change. I still believe, and the hustle goes on. This is the point of view I held (still do) when I met the creation of DogTail. With years of trying the likes of NFVF with no luck, and years of learning that scriptwriting jobs are as rare as a red rose in a Kasi garden, DogTail is a prayer answered.

DogTail is an independent film company designed to, among other things, define the South African film language (find a home for ‘wood’), and expand the film industry to borders we couldn’t reach before. DogTail was discovered by two scriptwriters: Tess Fairweather and Vicki Bawcombe. These two ngamla ladies came together with the idea of creating the world of film for the people by the people. They are willing to tap into an unknown territory because they believe in the vision DogTail has to offer to South Africa. They believe that if we were smart enough we would be having our film language by now. But it’s never too late.

Although the idea behind DogTail was part-motivated by Nollywood, the films we produce are inspired by scriptwriting. This guarantees the story quality and control. This fact alone is sufficient reason I have my ‘sweat equity’ invested in the work like “Amagwinya”. The reason I like the company as a whole is one interesting idea that we, the creatives, keep our intellectual property. That is, instead of producing and selling off our products, we licence the broadcasters when need be. That way they can never change our products without our consent. That is fascinating news.

Though ‘wood’ hasn’t found a home yet, the South African film industry is gaining momentum. We are learning to do something beyond being a shooting destination for other countries’ films. We are harnessing the skills that this country can provide in revolutionising the film industry of South Africa. I look at films like “Izulu lami” and identify that we are indeed gaining a platform for our own storylines, subject matters, editing styles, etc. This is why I believe that South Africa is about to learn a great deal from DogTail. I will not deny the film industry is a brutal battle field. But what’s the point of giving up before trying? Instead of complaining to deaf ears about NFVF’s lack of response, which I find terribly rude, I found a way to tell my stories through the formulas provided by DogTail. DogTail is a place that offers the platform for us, the locals, to tell the stories that will help define our own film language. I think one of these days we’ll have our own Oscar® awards. We will probably call them Oskido® awards. I imagine by the time we get there ‘wood’ would have safely found a home (hint: Kasiwood, Guguwood).

The Hustle continues

Take Care