Jika was first performed at the Workshop Theatre at the University of Leeds, UK, in 1986 by Mthuthuzeli Sozwe and Ndizimisele Bedesho from Uitenhage and then at the New Federal Theatre in New York in 1988 featuring Jerry Mathibe Mofokeng and Fana Kekana.

In 1991 it was performed in South Africa by Makwela Lekalakala and Vusi Kunene of the School of Dramatic Art, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

All productions were directed by Maishe Maponya.

With much gratitude to the Workshop Theatre, Leeds, New Federal Theatre, New York and the School of Dramatic Art, Johannesburg.

SETTING: The performance is set against a background of 4 x 4 m scaffolding erected 1½ m from the cyclorama or back wall facing the audience. The reader must be very imaginative as the scaffolding will be used for various settings. It is not compulsory to use scaffolding, a flat 3 x 3 m will do. When used, the scaffolding in the first scene will be a school yard fence. In the hostel scenes, the area behind the scaffolding should be seen as a township and a road along which the characters will walk on their long journey from the village hideout. It also serves as a prison when the two comrades are finally arrested by the police during a dawn raid on the hostel where they have lived for months. Two rostra of the same dimensions covering an area 1 m in depth, 3 m in length and 12 cm in height should be placed alongside each other in the front and back of the scaffolding. On both wings of the stage there are flats which the actors will use from time to time for costume changes.

Scene One

The play opens in a school yard where hundreds of students have gathered. It is morning and as is traditional before any gathering, they sing, waving their fists in the air, and circle around the school yard. Outside the school yard, the police in ‘hippos’ and army trucks ‘observe’ the event, keen-eyed and probably in disgust. The students disregard them and sing:

STUDENTS: