As fate would have it, when veteran journalist Phil Molefe and his mates headed to the Market Theatre, to attend its first ever production to be on stage in 1976, they were prevented from proceeding from Soweto to Newtown by a police road block. Undeterred, they however made a second attempt to go there, and were successful.
Today Molefe is the Chairman of the Market Theatre Foundation Council, a body that is responsible for the stewardship of the institution through mainly two main aspects of the Market Theatre Foundation–policy formulation and strategy development.
Speaking in an interview, Molefe who after leaving a successful career in the country’s leading newsrooms, including at the iconic anti-apartheid newspaper Weekly Mail (now Mail &Guardian) and the public broadcaster the SABC where he held senior management positions, Group Head of News and Acting Group- Chief Executive Officer, among others, is found in some of the country’s board rooms, mainly in the arts.
He is former Chairman of the National Film and Video Foundation, among other roles in boardrooms of the country’s corporate sector “My association with the Market Theatre dates back to its very beginning in 1976, when I and friends, excited that we were going to watch a play at the Market Theatre, right in the heart of the city, were almost prevented from doing so by the roadblock.
I was in my first year of teaching at a Soweto high school, and at the time we were excited to be going to watch a play in the city, as until then we were used to watching Gibson Kente’s plays at the D.O.C.C. We however managed to go to the theatre and had an opportunity to meet among other luminaries in the arts, the founders of the Market Theatre, Barney Simon and Mannie Manim. We also met other theatre people such as Mbongeni Ngema, John Kani and Malcolm Purkey for example,” Molefe said.
However now at the centre of making sure that the Market Theatre continues to be relevant by producing plays that speak to its founding principles of being fiercely independent and speaking truth to power, The Market Theatre Foundation Council that he chairs, has a critical role to play in spearheading the institution into the future in a free and democratic South Africa, in a new social and political context that no longer is defined by apartheid.
Circumstances surrounding its relationship with government, has also changed for the Market Theatre Foundation as it is now an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, receiving some of its funding from government, while the institution gets the rest from other sources through fundraising activities and strategic partnerships with other institutions that share the same vision and values with this Newtown based iconic institution.
However, irrespective of being an agency of a government department, the theatre in its programming remains independent and continues to put up plays that speak to its founding principles of being society’s watch dog by speaking truth to power, Molefe affirmed.
“I remember in 1994 when I interviewed Arch-Bishop Desmond Tutu, asking him what role he was going to play in society since apartheid that he fought hard against, was gone. In other words, was he going to go back onto the pulpit to preach the gospel? Bishop Tutu answered: hey, hey, politics cannot be left to the politicians alone. The Market Theatre therefore continues to play its historical role of being a watch dog and remains independent. The funding from government is for sustenance, with government being the shareholder and the role of Council being the stewardship role and that of management being to implement Council policy and strategy. We get the bulk of our funding from government, which understands the role of culture in a democracy being that of using its power as the voice of the voiceless,’ Molefe explained the relationship between its main funder and the institution.
Molefe revealed that one of the strategies that have been adopted by Council, personally driven by him is a strategy called Internationalisation, at the core of which is to recreate the historical relationships that the Market Theatre used to have with its international partners, as well as creating new relationships with other international organisations for mutual benefit.
“For example, I used my regular visit to Washington DC to Howard College of the Arts, at Howard University where I am a board member to create a relationship with the Kennedy Centre for example. In this partnership, which we look forward to signing soon, that will cement a relationship with Howard University, we would like see productions from the Kennedy Centre coming to The Market Theatre, while productions from the Market Theatre will also have a season at the Kennedy Centre. This will expose South African artists to international opportunities, while doing the same with artists from the Kennedy Centre. With Howard University, we would like to see a relationship whereby students from the Market Theatre Laboratory have access to further their studies at a University, Howard University being the case in point,” Molefe explained the strategy.
The Market Theatre Laboratory is one of the business units of the Market Theatre Foundation, the other ones being the Market Photo Workshop, Windybrow Arts Centre and the playhouse, the Market Theatre.
Molefe also revealed that the Market Theatre Foundation has a strong governance structure that is responsible for policy formulation and strategy through specialist committees that include the legal, artistic and risk committees.
Through this way, the Council is able to come up with policies that ensure that the Market Theatre Foundation comes up with relevant policies that speak to the vision of the institution going forward in the next 10 years. The council also comes up with the strategy that the Chief Executive officer and her management team implements.
‘This is to make sure that the Market Theatre remains relevant and is sustainable in the next 10 years and more. This is also to make sure that the Market Theatre lives up to its founders’ vision and founding principles that have served it well over the years,” Molefe concluded.