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It’s hard to imagine being dedicated to something for 45 years. Chadwick Boseman once said, “Purpose crosses disciplines. Purpose is an essential element of you. It is the reason you are on the planet at this particular time in history.” For Connie Chiume, she found her purpose in the arts, and at 70 years of age, there’s no letting up.
The child of a Malawian father and a Zulu mother, purpose was central to the family’s beginnings. “My father came here looking for greener pastures, as usual, and when he arrived, I’m told they walked from Malawi. He came to Musina, and from there he had relatives in Durban. So he got a job in Durban and my mother was working as a domestic worker in Durban. My father says my mother used to go to this place where she would be sent to go and buy a newspaper, and every time he would see her until he approached her, and ultimately they got married.”
The family relocated to Welkom thereafter. “At home, my mum being Zulu, she used to teach us Zulu songs, traditional dances, and all that. My family was artistic and at home there was a stoep where we used to sing and perform. I remember as a young person, I used to tell my parents and people nje ukuthi ‘nna, one day I’m going to go to England.’” She continues, “I always told them that one day I’m going to go to England, but in my mind it wasn’t for acting, it was for singing, because I thought I was going to be a singer.”
Her career took a slight detour through nursing, and teaching, before she got to the professional stage. “I did nursing for a while, and the reason one was going there was because during those days we were so discouraged from being in the entertainment industry. And somehow, I don’t even blame our parents, or people, because the industry was not stable. And especially coming from Welkom, it was just quiet there. Things [in the arts] that we saw, we saw them afar, they were happening in Johannesburg.”
“I started by going to nursing, didn’t finish nursing. I went to Wilberforce, studied teaching in Wilberforce. I was fortunate to be promoted to the second year in my first year [of study.] Then I came to teach in Orlando ko Leratong. That’s when I saw this ad where they were looking for dancers, actors, and singers. When I saw this ad it was during 1976, when the country was so unstable because of the uprisings. So I decided to go and take a chance, to go to an audition. And when I got there, I trusted my voice, I trusted my dance. I was not sure about acting, but when they said dance, I did my best. When they said sing, I took a note from the beginning to the highest note.
“After that we were told ‘we have a shortlist, we are going to get in touch with you and tell you.’ Me, being a teacher, and not knowing a shortlist, [I said] what is that? I just went to the producer, and said ‘Excuse me Sir, I’m a teacher. So, I can’t be coming here in and out. I need to know now whether you’re taking me or you’re not taking me.’ So, by me being naïve, I was cast on the spot. That was my debut into show business. The show [was] called Sola Sola. It didn’t perform here. We went straight from rehearsal rooms to Israel, performed in Israel. And after Israel we went to perform in Rhodes Island in Greece. That’s how I started.
Her passion for the arts was palpable. “When I was [studying] nursing, I was that one who was always organising concerts at the nursing home. I was that one who was doing ballroom dance. In Wilberforce, I used to sing, I even used to compose my own songs. That’s how much I thought I was going to be a singer. But when I started in Sola Sola, it was a musical show. And after [that] musical show, I auditioned for other stage plays and they automatically steered me into acting. That’s how I ended up being stable in the acting space.”
She still has a love for theatre production, even though her career has been predominantly in TV and film. “If you speak to many actors who’ve done theatre, they will tell you that they actually prefer theatre because theatre is alive. You get a response there, you can do whatever you want with the audience, it keeps you alert. The only thing that makes us come to TV and film is because it has more exposure, and the money is better there. But theatre is more fulfilling.” She continues, “If I were to be asked to go to theatre now, I would gladly do that. I’m missing it. It polishes you; it peps you up again. You need to be there; the audience is looking at you. Akuna ‘cut!’ ukuthi ‘no, do it again.’ You do it once and that’s it. So, you learn to be alert and to improvise. It’s just fate that I find myself more in TV and film than theatre.”
Coming back to SA after having performed abroad meant a scarcity of opportunity in production work. “It wasn’t easy. Remember, it was also during the days of Apartheid, 1976-77. You go out there to those countries, you’re free, you go wherever you want, you eat where you want. You come back to South Africa, to this country where you can’t go into that shop, you can’t go to that restaurant, you can’t go into that bus. Career wise, it was a bit difficult because now you’re back to reality and there aren’t many jobs around.” She wasn’t deterred. “But I liked the spirit of the artists at the time. We never just sat at home and waited for a job. We were always somewhere rehearsing, helping each other, creating dance, creating stories.”
It was her family life that suffered as a result of her stage work, and something that she notes took a toll on her. “When you travel you have to rely on your family to look after your children. And sometimes you feel like I’m robbing myself of the pleasure of them growing in front of me or you’re also robbing them of you. So it’s those sacrifices that one has to go through when you’re in this industry.” She adds, “Two of them are in the industry that I’m in and they can see how things are. So I’m sure now- even if they didn’t understand then, but I know now they understand the kind of industry that their mother has been in. But I managed to raise them and give them a basic education, which they need.”
One of her more prominent roles was as part of the cast of Black Panther alongside Angela Basset, Lupita Nyong’o, and the late Chadwick Boseman. Asked about being cast in the role, she recalls how her agent called her to read for a role in a film called Motherland, and her subsequent confusion at seeing Treasure Shabalala, Joe Mafela and other male actors auditioning for the same role. “Later on I was told that I’ve been cast in Black Panther. Then I’m trying to think ‘when did I do an audition for Black Panther?’ Black Panther is an activist organisation of black people who are fighting for black people’s rights in America. I don’t remember auditioning for it. I’m thinking of uMama kaTupac, Stokely Carmichael, and all of those people. I’m thinking ‘why are they even auditioning for it here in South Africa? Do they want us to distort the history of our brothers and sisters over there or what?’”
Working on Gomora at the time, she told the cast about her new role during their lunch hour when the table erupted in excitement. When they showed her the Google search results of the movie, it was then that the magnitude of the production dawned on her. “The director chose me amongst many other people, so I deserve to be there. For the fact that he cast me, I’m going there to represent me, to represent South Africa, and to represent Africa. I’m not gonna go there feeling inferior or feeling small. I deserve to be there and I’m on the same platform with everybody that I’m gonna work with. I’m also bringing my expertise; the directors and producers have seen it and they have approved it. So that’s the spirit that I’m going there with.”
She still gets nervous on new productions, even with over 40 years of experience. “They say that if you don’t get those butterflies anymore then it means you think you have arrived. And if you think you have arrived, you might underplay things.”
I read a quote of hers back to her, saying, “We have come to plant seeds in whatever fields we are in so that tomorrow, we may reap the fruits of the seeds we are planting today or, if not, the generations that are going to come after us are going to reap the fruits that we are planting today.” Asking how different her experience has been in her field of acting at the beginning of her journey till today, she talks me through the transformation the industry has seen.
“Today, I see this picture that I’m seeing here of black people who are competent, black people who have learned from experience; learned at work or have had an opportunity to go to drama schools, which were not there back then. There was no film school, there was no drama school for black people. So today we have professional people who have been trained either at work or have gone to training ko dikolong, which was not there before. So those are some of the developments of things that have happened up to now. And we have several production houses that are owned by black people, which was a dream at the time.”
On taking a South African narrative to the global market, she says, “It’s very important that we tell our own stories.” She adds, “I think we’ve got so much talent here with people who are writers, people who can share our stories, by us. I’m just praying for the day where, not just government, but even corporate could wake up and see the gold that is in our stories and support us to be able to groom our own stars.”
The set is quiet as she passionately talks us through her life in the arts, our reverence for her multiplied in the moment. On hanging up her acting boots, she says, “I will not hang up my boots as long as I can breathe, as long as I can walk.” A recipient of a number of lifetime achievement awards, I asks what she wants her legacy in this life to be. She says, “In my life, I have met several people in different situations. I always say I have affected people in different ways. So whatever way that I have affected you, that’s the legacy I’ve left you. Each and every person who has worked with me, who has lived with me, who has shared space with me, they know how I have affected them, and I hope that it’s positive.”
