Fred Khumalo | The phenomenon that is Skomota - What are you trying to tell us about ourselves?

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If, in this day and age, you still do not know who Skomota is, then you must live under a rock. Then again, if you only know “of” him, then you still do not know who he is. This is because Skomota is unknowable. He is a phenomenon and an enigma – one of those mysteries of life that stare you in the face, yet you cannot make sense of them.

Is he a dance sensation? No, he is not. Yet a dance named after him has gone so viral that people in countries as far away as China have posted videos of themselves doing the Skomota dance.

The remarkable thing about the dance is that it is so unremarkable – yet compulsively watchable. The reason it is watchable is that it is bound to evoke in the observer a feeling of joy, if not outright, uncontrollable laughter.

So, if he is not a dancing sensation, what should we make of Skomota? Is he a musician? Certainly not. Is he a fashion icon? Far from it. Is he the village idiot some people believe him to be? Probably not.

His real name is Thabang Sefala, and he is a 38-year-old from Limpopo. He is so well known that, at the click of a button on your phone or some other device, you will be confronted by videos of him dancing or people imitating his dance moves.

He is a star – of sorts. He is a chubby little chap who chuckles with disarming ease on videos when he is being interviewed. His journey to stardom has been equally intriguing.

Some have said he is not unlike Kim Kardashian in that he is famous for being famous. That is a wrong analysis, if you ask me.

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Kardashian comes from a highly influential family with a father who was a rich, top-drawer lawyer and a highly business-minded mother.

Her initial fame came from a sex video featuring her and her erstwhile lover.

Instead of recoiling from the embarrassment of having the video released to the media without her permission, she chose to ride the wave of infamy – and turn it into celebrity status.

Since she is a privileged middle-class woman who lives in a country that does not shy away from controversy, it was not difficult for her to sway the masses her way.

Suddenly she was getting deals to be the ambassador of fashion items. Suddenly she was the face of top-range cosmetics. Her business acumen, surely inherited from her parents, immediately took over. The rest, as they say, is history.

He made headlines on 25 August 25 this year after he won R3 million from Betway, a betting platform.

With his winnings, he began dressing in expensive clothes and hanging out with celebrities such as Team Delela and Moruti Gucci. He also bought himself a car and a house and spoilt his family and friends. At a party he was attending, he began dancing, immediately attracting the attention of the guests.

What intrigued or amused people were his unconventional dance moves, his striking hairstyle and his smile, which is as broad as the Indian Ocean.

The initial video attracted so many comments and so much mimicry that, at his next public appearance, those who recognised him from it took videos of themselves with him. Women showered him with kisses.

Over the next few months, his name became so big that he appeared at venues with artists as well known as Makhadzi, who also comes from Limpopo. He was also invited to appear at Propaganda, a popular nightclub in Pretoria.

The club’s stature is so entrenched that if a DJ or performer burns the dance floor there, other music promoters are likely to want to engage that person’s services. Which was exactly what happened after Skomota’s appearance there.

Suddenly, prominent entertainers such as Eugene Khoza were having their two cents’ worth of comment about the man. Khoza said he could not understand why this troubled nation had given its undivided attention to Skomota, who – in his opinion – was a minor distraction.

He argued that the country had more important things to focus on. Lord have mercy, social media then came down on Khoza like the red berets attacking the Speaker of Parliament.

Many said that Khoza, as an artist himself, was simply jealous of the success of a newcomer.

However, what worried me most about the social media attacks on Khoza (with singer Makhadzi leading the charge) were insinuations that he was belittling Skomota simply because he was from Limpopo. Sadly, those attacking Khoza for being “tribalistic” were themselves breathtakingly culturally chauvinistic. Nasty things were said about people from KwaZulu-Natal.

In fact, although Khoza’s surname is a common one in that province, he is not from there at all. He was born in Pretoria. Yet that is neither here nor there.

Skomota’s enviable December gig guide

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The intention of this piece is not to resuscitate the myopic and hurtful comments that did the rounds on social media. We need not swim in that gutter.

My aim is simply to ask, once again, why Skomota is such a success – if “success” is the right word to use.

As I write this, I have been looking at his Facebook page, on which is listed a number of upcoming “performances”. He will be very busy over the festive season.

Many “real” artists who normally battle for gigs over the festive season must be envious of the engagements he will have in the next few weeks.

The question remains:

Are the masses responding to him the way they do because, in him, they see someone they admire – a working-class hero who won a mini-lottery and continued to make good, buying himself a car and a house, as has been reported?

Or could their attraction to him be coming from a darker place?

We are a nation harassed by politicians, exploited by big capital and robbed blind by omashonisa and others. We need respite from the pressure.

Maybe Skomota is the outlet for these frustrations: we want somebody we can laugh at, somebody who will distract us from the hardships that threaten to suffocate us. We want somebody we can ridicule.

Because, yes, Skomota has been ridiculed by some people with low IQs and high opinions of themselves.

Others have laughed at the fact that, when he dines at top-notch restaurants, despite his new-found status, he still prefers to order pap and meat and eat it using his fingers.

This video was accompanied by a supposedly “funny” caption suggesting that he was washing in the river to pray to his “ancestors” for more luck in attracting women. The video was not only invasive, but was vicious and dehumanising.

Is Skomota just the short-term distraction that many say he is? Will we tire of him after a few months and a few more laughs and seek another object of ridicule?

Maybe he mirrors our failure in nurturing a solid pop culture that tells the world what we are truly about. Maybe, through him, we can begin to find our true essence: once we have laughed enough at him, once he has disappeared from the scene, our problems will still be staring us in the face.