Mandela’s spirit fires up Messengers
At first contact, Prince Malatsi appears to be an introvert interested in minding his own business but beyond that calm façade is a vibrant, eloquent personality imbued with a passion to see peace and unity prevail in Africa on the wings of the arts.
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He is inspired by the late Nelson Mandela of South Africa’s philosophy of tolerance and forgiveness and those principles run through the performances he does with the Messengers of Messages, a group with a core membership of himself and three other young women.
Malatsi is a man of many parts. A former international acrobat, the man who lives in Ghana but hails from Pretoria in the Gauteng Province of South Africa is into areas such as drama, music, dance, documentary filmmaking and the visual arts. He is also a motivational speaker.
“I felt nauseated at the xenophobia attacks that broke out in South Africa in April this year. No African is a foreigner in any African country. We are one people and my believe is we can spread that message well through music, dance, drama and other art forms,” Malatsi said.
“If Mandela spent 27 years in prison under hard labour and came out smiling and forgave those who made him and his countrymen suffer, why can't we learn from him?”
That’s a question Malatsi has been asking himself regularly and is motivated by the virtues of his role model to teach and perform, all an effort to help Afrcans and black people in general, realise their God-given potentials.
The group has performed and propagated their message of peace around the country.
Currently engaged on a visual art project at Tadzevu in the Volta Region, Malatsi says it is only by reaching out to each other that we can all survive with dignity.
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“I have skills that I impart to young people. My concern is not about money but about how we can reason up and rise to tap all the beautiful and precious things we have been endowed with on this continent,” he stated.
Malatsi and his core group of Adjoba Nyaniba Yankson, Stella Sagnon and Jane Obro, are also working on a big music and dance project to premiere in Ghana before the end of the year.