Legendary actress Connie Chiume laid to rest

By Doreen Mokgolo

Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie has called on South African artists to follow the example of the legendary actress Connie Chiume, who fought for better working conditions for those in the entertainment industry.

He was speaking at Chiume’s civic and provincial funeral service, which was held on Thursday at Oasis of Life in Daveyton, Ekurhuleni.

The internationally acclaimed actress died aged 72 on 6 August at the Garden City Hospital in Mayfair while recovering from surgery.

Chiume is remembered for her illustrious career, which spanned over 47 years. She excelled in stage, film and TV roles in productions like Gomora, Black Panther, and Ipi Ntombi.

Many in attendance described her as a mother both to her children and those in the entertainment industry – an activist who fought injustices against artists in the country and abroad.

McKenzie said it broke his heart knowing that artists in South Africa were not correctly recognised as workers. Many didn’t own anything of value and had no assets to leave behind for their children.

“Over the years, mistakes were made by government failing to empower artists as they would have wanted, but artists also need to own up for the part they played in this,” he said.

“When we give artists funding for projects, the first thing they do is buy fancy cars and compete with millionaires at Konka, failing to deliver on what they were funded for.

“We released R1-billion for the production of South African movies, but to date, not a single hit movie has come out, but the funds are gone,” he said.

McKenzie said the department will start exposing some artists who are squandering money, which is meant to empower them.

“We are changing our funding model; no person will receive funding if they don’t tell us how many people they are going to hire, how much you are going to pay them. We are tired of people buying Range Rovers,” he said.

Chiume’s eldest son, Tumi Chiume, said it broke his heart to see his pensioned mother working for 16 hours a day.

“In honour of my mother, please craft a way forward to improve the working conditions,” he said.

Pictured above: Moving scenes at Connie Chiume’s funeral.

Source: Doreen Mokgolo