I’m tired of seeing black people portrayed as power hungry, says Zolisa Xaluva

Former Generations actor Zolisa Xaluva has hit out at the local film industry for stereotyping black actors.

The popular actor, known for his role as Jason on Generations, has played numerous roles over the last decade but, speaking to Move recently, said he is gatvol of the way black people are always portrayed in films.

 

 "We can do without the clichés and get deeper into character development. I am tired of seeing black people being portrayed as power-hungry individuals. We can pose more depth and strength of character than that," he said.

Zolisa also lambasted the government for not doing enough to improve the quality of local film productions, accusing them of being "fast asleep".
"We can invest more in cinematography; we have enough talent to produce world class productions. It does not help that the government does not pay enough attention to our industry. America is a worldwide powerhouse because of Hollywood and our government is fast asleep," he said.
Zolisa's views are similar to those shared by award-winning local actor Aubrey Poo earlier this year.

In a lengthy social media post in May, Aubrey slammed the local advertising industry for failing to "see black people as beings with depth."
"The advertising industry's inability/failure to see black people as beings with depth, complex emotions and reduce upward mobility amongst black professionals to BEE, Affirmative Action quotas and Tenderpreneurship is not only disheartening but explains our anger at the status quo in our country," he wrote at the time.