Celebrating African women

Thandiswa Mazwai is hosting a unique event to celebrate her birthday at the end of the month – a female-only concert for a female-only audience to the people selling amagwinya.

Mazwai told TshisaLIVE that she “won’t be policing” people at the Newtown Music Factory to make sure no dudes sneak in‚ but she has made the request for women to come celebrate the day.

“It is not about the guys. It is about celebrating my birthday with women. I want to celebrate our beauty and our power. Women come in different shapes and styles. From queens to hoes‚ that is who we are.

“Those are the people who are going to be there. If you are not a woman‚ or identify as a woman or non-binary human being then you mustn’t come because you are not following instructions.”

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Mazwai’s idea may seem like feminism in action but she says feminism is different for every woman.

“It is not the same for every woman on this earth. My grandmother was a feminist but she did not call it that. She called it by something else. It is how a woman defines their own identity‚ power and worth.

“We don’t have one homogenous idea of what it is. It is any woman who believes she is worth more and everyone has the right to be equal.”

Mazwai says she tried to preach the gospel of female African beauty to the world when she started off as a member of Bongo Maffin.

“I felt the idea that Africa could not be beautiful had gone on for far too long. I wanted to own the fact that I was African and beautiful.

“I don’t fit into any of those stereotypes about what beauty is. I am owning the beauty that is mine.”