Sello's landscape of change

Talking to the Mail & Guardian inside the Arena at the State Theatre in Pretoria, where he is performing the role of Baroka in Ngcobo's play, Ncube says that the lack of nuanced roles in the theatre and on television, as well as the shortage of black writers telling black stories is the very reason he left for England in 2001, but it is also the reason he is "back for good".

"Leaving for England was my saving grace, it was like divine intervention," he declares. "At that point I thought, this country's going to kill me.