Late Night Talk

With a formidable career and having played several roles on television, actress Florence Masebe now stars in Mzansi Magic's The Republic in a groundbreaking role as the leading lady - Madam President Lufuno Mulaudzi.

Masebe sat down with Azania Mosaka on how she has embodied the role, as well as the concept of leadership.

She says she has had to imagine what a South African female president would be like.

In South Africa it is something you have to imagine as an actor because when you play a role, you ideally want to have places to go and search for things to steal; here there is nothing to steal from anywhere, you must make it all up because we have never had a female president to look to.

— Florence Masebe, Actress

You bring it down to say if we had the one that ultimately found the seat out of the current crop of leadership. Who would it be? Then you must imagine for yourself...would it be Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula? Would it be Thandi Modise? Would it be Ayanda Dlodlo?

— Florence Masebe, Actress

You count all the women that you see in power in front of you and you take...create your own.

— Florence Masebe, Actress

Art scratches on a possibility and this is art scratching what if? Could we? Maybe. Maybe we're ready. Art leaves us with questions and art gives us an opportunity to imagine possibilities that are not put in front of us at the moment.

— Florence Masebe, Actress

Leadership starts with you leading the branch where you are, where leadership is always assumed to be male. So this role is a way of saying: 'Yes girl, lead, you can.'

— Florence Masebe, Actress

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