Sibusisiwe Manqele, a Wits alumnus, walks us through her journey as a prominent creative in the entertainment industry.
A powerful voice, creative vision and a vibrant personality are the qualities that make Sibusisiwe Gugu Manqele an innovative storyteller.
From doing voice-overs for numerous brands and writing scripts for popular South African TV shows such as Gomora, House of Zwide and currently Skeem Saam, Sibusisiwe continues to establish her as a prominent force in the industry.
Sibusisiwe grew up in Ulundi, Kwazulu-Natal which is where her love for storytelling began. Her upbringing involved long commutes from home to school with private scholar transport and the other passengers were her first storytelling audience.
“These were spaces for creating stories because we’d have 30 (minutes) plus commute when I wasn’t in boarding school, and they’ll just be stories. As kids you just find things to pass time and part of that is storytelling,” she said.
This passion for storytelling drove her to want to study at The School of Arts at Wits University. She applied for a Bachelor of Arts in Dramatic Arts (now known as Theatre and Performance), a position she had to audition for despite having no prior experience in drama. “I decided to adapt a novel that I was doing and it’s only now when I think about, oh my gosh, that was the writer in (me)”. This adaptation impressed the markers and got her into the programme.
Against the recommendations made by her course coordinators, Sibusisiwe also did Television and Film, which would often clash with Dramatic Arts classes. “My friend and I had this thought that, ‘No man, we can’t be waiting for acting. When acting is not moving we need to be behind the scenes’”.
Manqele found her first time at Wits as a journey that allowed her to understand the arts and provide her with a network of other creatives, especially as a person who did not have the same artistic background as her colleagues.
After completing her majors in 2012, she spent seven years in the industry trying to get into different types of entertainment, such as lifestyle and reality shows. In 2019, she decided to pursue an Honours Degree in Creative Writing at Wits University which she felt helped her get into more linear, fiction storytelling.
Sibusisiwe Manqele is more than just a script writer but also a businesswoman and innovator at heart. She is the founder of CONTENTWOOD, a production company which tells stories “That give voice to narratives that you don’t always see”, and a part of these narratives involve the empowerment of women.
The company’s first and only short film, Questions, was an experimental film taken from poetry, looks at mental health and the experiences of black women. Manqele had the privilege of presenting the film in Paris at the Communicating Multi-Modally: Research & Expressive Culture in May 2022.
Manqele has had an illustrious career which has been topped off by her being listed as one of Mail & Guardian’s Top 200 Women in South Africa in 2023. When asked to share wisdom for Witsies and aspiring creatives she shared that knowing oneself is the secret and beginning of all wisdom. “And then knowing what you have to give to the world and leveraging that and making the world a better place through that service.”
In a time where the second semester is starting to get the ground running, Wits students can look to Manqele as a beacon of hope for what’s to come from hard work.
FEATURED IMAGE: Sibusisiwe Gugu Manqele. Photo: Skinnie’s Gallery.
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