74 |1 AUGUST^2019 http://www.drum.co.za

T

HE words tumble out of

her mouth a mile a min-

ute. “Murena u a ri funa!

Murena o ri tonda! (God

loves us, God has blessed

us),” she raps in Ts h ivenda

by way of greeting.

Rendani Tshamiswe

doesn’t need a beat to start rapping –

she’s always ready to “spit a bar or two”

at any given time.

She’s a freestyler, just like rappers at a

cipher (battle).

But instead of a rap crew, she has a

congregation who hang on to her every

word at her church in a village outside

Vuwani in Venda.

Rendani’s following grew after a video

of her rapping in her mother tongue re-

cently went viral. And now the popular

pastor plans to make a CD of holy hits.

“I’ve been doing radio interviews and

as a result receiving calls requesting my

CD but I don’t have one,” she says.

“Now things are getting serious.”

She’s shocked by all the attention. “I

was just doing what I do best at a gradu-

ation ceremony where I was preaching

in Vuwani, Venda.”

She didn’t know someone was record-

ing her. “The video was recorded in 2018

so when it surfaced now, I was really

surprised that people loved it so much.”

But Rendani believes there’s a bigger

reason behind her sudden fame. “God is

never late. He’s always on time.”

The 45-year-old mother to Tondani

(23), Maanda (17) and Orifuna (9) start-

ed rapping a few years ago to spread

the word to young people.

“It’s a myth that people should love

church and God only when they are old.”

She’s seen many youths living their

lives aimlessly. They wake up to spend

the day on the street corner, asking

passers-by for R2 or a smoke.

And when Sundays rolls around

they’re either hungover or making plans

to get drunk. They’re not thinking about

church or God. “Young people are out

there drinking and wasting their lives,

being tempted by bad things of the

world,” she says.

S

HE grew up in church. Ren-

dani sang in a community

choir called Servants of God,

founded by her mother, be-

tween 1995 and 1998 in

Ha-Mutsha, Limpopo.

From 1998 to 2007 she was part of the

RAPPING

FOR THE LORD

This Venda pastor’s talent for rap has done just

what she’d hoped it would do – it’s brought

young people to church

BY BONOLO SEKUDU