Jeremiah Ndjoze
Maverick local television and radio entertainment producer, Boli Mootseng, is still determined to push the boundaries of the country’s sluggish entertainment scene to its limits.
After mixing business with pleasure on the radio programme Soul Makhosa, and taking the masses to school grounds on a television show titled, School Grounds, the free-spirited producer is now taking a jibe at the country’s most popular social elites – politicians. On his Facebook page under the theme, Boli Goes to Parliament, BOLI has used various characters to unpack an array of issues from politics, to music and even medicine – all of which are delivered in a frank, sometimes humorous, yet digestible way. After all, laughter is the medicine for the soul they say.
The platform promotes humour, not to dilute the issue at hand, or clown the problems into oblivion, but to create an enabling environment for problem solving. “Being funny is what we all do when we want to be heard. For example, you measure the success of your first date based on how much you made the woman laugh,” Boli says.
The Facebook page, according to Boli was born out of his innate desire to tell a story that transcends the corridors of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) where he is seemingly employed as a jack of all trades. “I realised that I have a bigger story to tell, and that there are some narratives that just won’t make it past the machinery at my place of work, but thanks to Zuckerberg and Co, we are now out there and the people are talking,” excites he. Needless to say, the most topical issue on Boli Goes to Parliament is politics. And in Boli’s own words, ‘what is lost in politics, can be found in people.’
By and large, politics is understood as being that institution where rival political parties bad-mouth and undermine each other. But in his understanding, politics is primarily public administration. “It is imperative for the public to divorce party politics from the social administration element, which forms the integral part of what politics is. Because, as it stands, it is difficult for people to make contributions that promotes the welfare of the country while chanting political slogans,” says Boli.
Social media being a platform for social discourse, the idea is to have fun while politicking – not for the benefit of political party colours, but the people. The recently launched page already boast a following of over 2000 people. Some of the featured clips include interview by musicians such as Ras Sheehama, Big Ben and D-Naff, Radio Personality Che Ulenga, Dentist Dr. Kagiso Moloi, and more. The most famous clips feature Fritz Gowaseb as ‘His Excellency Fritz Gowaseb’ in which he perfectly impersonates president Hage Geingob. There is no criteria as to who is featured on the page, according to Boli, only a question that needs to be answered.
The producer is admant that with FaceBook set to launch Facebook TV, the sky will not even be the limit for Boli Goes to Parliament.