The Public Servant is a reenactment of a eulogy rendered by Lincoln Mali at the memorial service of the late Bongani Gxilishe. They were childhood friends who joined the student liberation struggle fight against apartheid. Post 1994, Gxilishe went on to become the prominent administrator at various government departments until he passed away in 2021, as a Head of Department in the Gauteng Provincial government. Mali on the other hand, joined the corporate world, rising through the ranks of Standard Bank.

Anele Penny, accompanied live by a musical trio, traces Mali’s lament as he looked at the post-1994 government through Gxilishe. The performance is a scalpel through the body politic and a conscience of a Public Servant in South Africa today. In his rendition Penny is like a chef peeling an onion layer by layer – highlighting the duties and responsibilities of being a complete servant for the people, in a country stained by corruption architects, who pursue self-first in the jungle of selfishness.

Production Credits