A major project aimed at helping young people in South Africa has taken a big step forward. The movie What About The Boys 2 held its official premiere at the Ster-Kinekor cinema in Rosebank yesterday. The premiere marked the second phase of a national programme that has reportedly already reached over 60 000 high school boys.
This shift aims to create an allied fight against gender-based violence (GBV) and teenage pregnancy by teaching young men and women to work together,” according to Nkosinathi Moshoana, CEO of Primestars Youth Development, which runs the programme.
He said Primestars is an organisation that has worked with more than 1.8 million young people over the past 21 years. “We wanted to find an engaging way to start the journey of redefining what it means to be a man and get rid of negative and toxic personalities,” Moshoana said.
“Through film, we reflect characters and environments that look and sound like our young people. Whether we are talking about consent, GBV, or positive male role modelling, depicting it through story is a powerful way to connect,” he said.
Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Nomusa Dube-Ncube, attended the launch to show government support.She said the programme is an urgent response to the challenges facing South African communities. “Film is a uniquely powerful medium for shifting mindsets among our youth,” the Deputy Minister said.
She added that the project’s expanded scope empowers all genders to participate in building a safer South Africa.
Producer and director of the movie, Wandile Molebatsi, said making a film for what he described as “a social media generation” required a fast-paced story to keep young audiences interested.
“As a father, having a film I can show my son and daughter to say, ‘This is how we rebuild a nation,’ is a filmmaker’s dream,” he said. “Young people are on TikTok and Instagram, and their attention spans are short. We had to write the script to make sure the story is moving and there’s a lot of pace.”
Molebatsi highlighted that the movie is only the first step. After the film, students meet with mentors and guides to discuss what they saw and how it relates to their own lives. The lead actors also took the audience through the process of bringing these real-life issues to the screen.
Panch Gasela, who plays Thabo, explained that his character represents many young people who struggle to find a path after high school.“Thabo represents the black child that’s left behind — too poor to be rich and too rich or poor in a way that he falls through the cracks of the system,” he said. Gasela said his approach to the character came from his own experiences of not being able to afford tertiary education, adding that it was important to capture the essence of the young black man today.
Meanwhile, Thandolwethu Madikane plays Nomsa, a character who faces the reality of dating an older man and falling pregnant. “Playing the character Nomsa was revolutionary because it needed me to not make a mockery of what is existing in society, but actually look into the issues that they’re genuinely facing,” Madikane shared.
“Working with a male-dominated cast was also amazing,” she said.
The What About The Boys 2 programme will now move into communities across the country. Following the screenings, students will participate in workshops, counselling sessions, and school lessons aimed at turning the stories from the film into real-world change.
