Help: Aim is to help create awareness for both adults and children

By Victor Mecoamere

“Being among the five percent of people in the world who have survived stage four ovarian cancer and still being alive and living with the disease has made me realise that there is a reason why I am still alive.”

This is the poignant declaration by veteran actress, choreographer and dance tutor Nomsa Manaka in an interview with Weekly SA Mirror.

 ‘’It was for that reason that I find myself contributing and working tirelessly in helping to create an awareness for both adult and childhood cancer.”

Manaka was diagnosed with late stage ovarian cancer in 2016 while she was living with legendary saxophonist and flugelhorn player Hugh Masekela, who was coincidentally diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008 and passed on ten years later.

Manaka was happy to discover in 2018, following several sessions of chemotherapy, that she was in remission.This spurred the choice and decision to stage events aimed at creating an awareness for adult and childhood cancer.

“I am staging two cancer awareness campaigns this year, namely a multidisciplinary performance called Dancing Out Of Cancer, which was first staged at the Soweto Theatre in Jabulani, Soweto last year and will be staged at the same venue in October this year.There will also be the inaugural Community Childhood Cancer Awareness Walk, which will be staged in association with the Soweto Theatre, on September 16.”

The Community Childhood Cancer Awareness Walk was sparked by the multidisciplinary Dancing Out Of Cancer concert after a 19 year- old  man who spoke after performing at the show that his mother had died and he was left with his grandmother, who had refused to accept that he had cancer. Instead, his grandmother had told him that he was bewitched.  That was until someone in the family had insisted on taking the youngster to a nearby hospital for chemotherapy, and that was how his life was saved. ‘’ After that talk, I was inspired to create awareness among our people about both adult and childhood cancer,” Manaka said.

The Dancing Out of Cancer , subtitled Celebrating Life, seeks to celebrate stoic cancer survivors like herself – as she is known to tell anyone who cares to listen that her never say die attitude had helped to conquer the disease and to give hope to those suffering from cancer. The event  also celebrates the selfless caregivers who work in hospital and hospices and stage vital house visits to cancer sufferers at their homes. Manaka said that through the staging of both these events she would continue to realise her dream of highlighting that children also contract cancer and spreading the message of early diagnosis or detection, treatment and an appropriate dietary regime.

“I have learnt that between 800 to 1 000 children in South Africa are diagnosed with cancer annually, but if you go to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital on Fridays in the section where children undergo chemo therapy, you will cry at the sight of the long queues of those children who would be waiting. I find it very difficult to give advice to those that have children who are suffering from cancer, but the only thing I can do is to be there for them, spare the time to listen to them and to send them to relevant people I think are best qualified and endowed to help them.”

For both these events she has partnered with Soweto Theatre to help spread the awareness on both adult and childhood cancer. The proceeds of the cancer walk will be donated to the Childhood Cancer Foundation (CHOC). Many people did not know about the foundation, but since they  started with the Dancing Out Of Cancer show, many people have become very much aware of it, and that makes her happy.

“This year the Soweto theatre has come on board to produce the concert in October. For the Community Childhood Cancer Awareness Walk, several friends are lending a hand. Another partner is the Deutshe Knochenmarkspenderdatel, a German – based international non-profit organisation that fights cancer blood cancer by seeking and supplying sufferers with bone marrow donors. And with the foundation’s help I hope that we will also educate our people about the importance of bone marrow donations’’.

Manaka said there were no celebrities who would be lending a hand for these two events, but she hopes that as this movement grows, they will come on board, as everything has its own time.

‘’ The message I would like to send out to other personalities is a plea of giving back. I am saying, ‘if you have been fortunate to receive, please pay it forward, as the people need you out there. Use your name to better someone else’s life’.”

THE TOL A$$ MO STORY: TO HELL AND BACK

FORGIVENESS:  “I lost my mind, wanted to commit suicide multiple times” – the comedian on rape claim that put his career on tailspin…

By Lehlohonolo Lehana

This is probably one of the most anticipated episodes of Unfollowed, definitely worth a watch. Comedian and reality TV star Tol A$$ Mo discusses the rape allegation that derailed two years of his life.

In June 2020, actress and model Lerato Moloi claimed on Twitter (X) that Mongezi “Tol A$$ Mo” Ngcobondwane had raped her in 2014. The case was dismissed without trial in August 2022.

In this emotional episode of Unfollowed, Tol A$$ Mo opens up to Thembekile Mrototo about the impact that the accusation had on his mental health, his family and his career, as he confronted trial by social media.

My whole world changed in less than 72 hours. In Unfollowed, Mo reveals what it was like to have people believe the allegations against him.

“When this tweet happened, my whole world changed in less than 72 hours… My whole life was in front of the camera…They know me for who I am. Never have I been in the tabloids like, ‘Mo’s cheating on his wife.’ Never! But now the first thing that compromises my integrity, I’m that! I’m a rapist!…That’s the example that I’ve been living but it’s not good enough. What do you guys want? Do you want a divorce special?”

I lost my mind.

Thembekile’s questions reveal Mo’s struggle to forgive the allegations that endangered his life, and had a lasting effect on both his mental health and his perception of women.

“I was admitted into a mental asylum in Glenwood. I lost my mind. I was given shots of morphine and strapped with a body strap to calm me down, because I had my world ended. I didn’t know what the hell was going on…”

“I was attacked by feminists left, right and centre. Feminists who still can’t apologise to me today…I’ve got post-traumatic stress from being in a room with too many women. I get nervous. I sweat. I feel like I’m gonna be attacked…”

Mo also says the accusation cost him “millions” and that he “wanted to commit suicide multiple times.”I’ve forgiven Lerato. I can never be inyanga or a prophet with a hardened heart.” As Thembekile probes Mo on his anger, he admits that forgiveness is not simple.

“Do you know what I pray to God for? To make me understand what the true notion of forgiveness really is.” How do you stand up? How do you fight for your life? How do you prove your innocence? And how do you stay sane?

In Unfollowed, Mo highlights his new partnership with private investigator Mike Bolhuis, in an NGO that’s championing men who claim to have been falsely accused of rape. And he speaks up about what he sees as the unfairness of rape statistics.

“I’m here to teach the next man who was falsely accused of such a thing: how do you stand up? How do you fight for your life? How do you prove your innocence? And how do you stay sane?” Along with addressing the fallout from being cancelled, Tol A$$ Mo reveals how he started his career. He talks about how he and his wife Mome Ngcobondwane fell in love, how she has supported him over the past three years, and why he sees the accusation as part of a concerted attack on their marriage. He mentions losing his own virginity to rape by an older woman. And he discusses his new calling as a sangoma, along with his career comeback

Nomsa Philiso, CEO of MultiChoice’s general entertainment division, describes Unfollowed as an opportunity to reflect on cancel culture and its place in pop culture – a chance to interrogate whether it’s the best way to deal with people who have been deemed problematic. The show interviews public figures who were cancelled on social media and lets the viewer decide if the treatment in each case was deserved. www.fullview.co.za