This past week saw another installment of comedy at President hotel where the undisputed king of South African vernacular comedy, Mashabela “Papago” Galane returned to Gaborone for the launch of his new DVD ‘Indigenous Punchlines.’ The local lineup was impressive and included Odirile Brooks from Tsabong, Ribcracker of Mochudi, Moshi from Tonota, Maun based Ouza and Oefile ‘Mawee’ Mokgware from Gabane who was the star of the night.
Mawee is the rising star of comedy in Botswana, recently coming second in a national talent competition where he pocketed P50 000. He has opened for many top comedians and was at the Rail Park Comedy Night where he again did well.
“Even though comedy is not my full time job I work and rehearse hard to give my audience the best and I always get a good response. My other advantage is that I know what Batswana want and every time I am on stage I work my magic and the crowd reacts positively. I poke my fun from anywhere and anything, sometimes I just get on a combi from Gabane to Gaborone just to listen to what people talk about!” Mawee said.
As for Mashabela, he is a crowd pleaser and is emerging as one of the hottest comedians in the comedy scene today. He has a couple of DVDs and awards under his belt. Mashabela performs regularly at all of the main stream comedy clubs around SA and every Wednesday he headlines and hosts top comics at Morula Sun in Pretoria. He is nominated for 2014 South Africa comic choice awards.