Written by CHESTER MIGGELS
31st January 2026
I arrived at the theatre already exhausted from a long day, carrying an unspoken bias with me. I braced myself for what I assumed would be yet another heavy, didactic political retelling. That resistance did not last long. From the moment Ayanda ka Nobakabonwa stepped onto the stage, launching into a rhythmically charged and arresting opening sequence, the production seized my attention, dismantling my reluctance almost immediately. Currently showing at Theatre Arts for a limited season from 30 - 31 January 2026, Tiro’s Toughloop Testimony is a searing and deeply moving solo theatre work that resurrects the voice of anti-apartheid activist Onkgopotse Tiro and situates it urgently within the present.
Performed by ka Nobakabonwa, the play unfolds as a one-man testimony that resists conventional linear biography. Instead, it loops through fragments of Tiro’s life: his political awakening, his rejection of Bantu Education, his exile, and the forces that ultimately led to his assassination by a parcel bomb in 1974. This structure proves highly effective. It reflects the repetitive nature of systemic oppression and resistance, reminding the audience that Tiro’s struggle is not sealed in history but echoes uncomfortably in the present.
Ka Nobakabonwa’s performance is remarkable in its control and precision. With minimal set and props, he relies on voice, movement, and timing to construct the world of the play. His physicality is deliberate and grounded, shifting seamlessly between moments of introspection and explosive urgency. At times, he addresses the audience directly, as if delivering sworn testimony. He allows vulnerability and doubt to surface, offering a portrait of Tiro that is deeply human rather than heroically distant.
The script is tightly woven, blending historical detail with poetic language and rhythmic repetition. Education sits at the heart of the work. Not simply as an apartheid policy, but as a contested space where power, identity, and consciousness collide. Tiro’s critique of Bantu Education is framed less as a lesson from the past and more as a challenge to the present, to question what knowledge is prioritised, who benefits from it, and who is excluded.
The direction is confident and restrained. Silence is used as an intentional tool, allowing moments to breathe and giving the audience space to absorb the weight of the narrative. The pacing is sharp, never indulgent, and the rhythmic structure of the performance sustains momentum even during its most reflective passages. Importantly, the production avoids slipping into sentimentality or moral instruction. It trusts the audience to sit with discomfort and complexity.
One of the play’s most compelling achievements is its refusal to mythologise Onkgopotse Tiro. Rather than presenting him as an untouchable icon, Tiro’s Toughloop Testimony portrays a young man grappling with fear, conviction, and the consequences of speaking truth to power. His death is not sensationalised but framed as the brutal inevitability of a system that perceived critical thought as a threat.
Tiro’s Toughloop Testimony is more than a historical recounting, it is an act of remembrance, resistance, and reckoning.