Rethabile Zilila is a multidisciplinary scholar and artist – a performance poet,
specialist wellness counsellor, and an emerging social scientist. She began her
professional life in the engineering sector working as a design project engineer after
graduating with a National Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the Central
University of Technology – Free State (CUT-FS). She has since undertaken three
postgraduate qualifications; including two BA honours degrees in Psychology and
Drama Therapy, and completed coursework for a MA in Health Sociology, all from
the University of the Witwatersrand. Her transition from STEM to the social sciences
is a testament of her passion for education, justice, and healing.

Rethabile believes in servant leadership and is intentional about community and
creating deliberate histories centred on the betterment of humanity for happier,
healthier, purpose-driven (individual and collective) lives and thriving wellbeing. Her
drive toward the restoration of the Black family fuels her desire to transform the lives
of women and children in post-apartheid South Africa – particularly those families
from the structurally violent communities. She uses art facilitation, writing, research,
speaking and providing psychosocial support as mediums through which she
expresses her faith and activism.

Rethabile is TEDx speaker and performer with a
talk titled: giving myself grace and changing the trajectory of my life. She was
accepted for Business and Entrepreneurship Leadership training with the Young
African Leaders Initiative (YALI) for the Regional Learning Centre of Sothern Africa.

In academia Rethabile, worked as tutor and writing fellow, then trained as mentor for
first-year students after volunteering her time as gender justice advocate through the
Wits Gender Equity Office’s student chapter. A member of the Methodist Student
Society (MethSSoc), she also took part in the Solidarity for Free Decolonised
Education (SFDE) which organised the first #FeesMustFall solidarity march that was
parent-led. She further served as a mental health advocate in the university, faith
community and greater South Africa – volunteering as a counsellor with the South
African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), the Methodist Church of Southern
Africa (MCSA), and #EndAusterity – a collective psychosocial support group which
provided additional (and/or alternative) trauma counselling services to students, staff
and community members post the fatal shooting of Mthokozisi Ntumba during the
2021 fees must fall (#FMF). Currently she is registered with the Association for
Supportive Counsellors and Holistic Practitioners (ASCHP) and works as a licensed
Specialist Wellness Counsellor.

Rethabile is an experienced theatre-maker and performance poet. During her
Engineering student days, Rethabile advanced her leadership, performance and
theatre-making skills through certified coursework and professional training. She
sourced funding and led 12-people team which was the first from CUT-FS to debut at
the National Arts Festival (NAF) with a poetry, song and dance production called Lies
and Times in a Smile (LATIAS). This was followed by participation in the NAF
WordFest for three consecutive years while serving as the chairperson of the Poetry
Association. As a professional engineer and part-time social sciences student, she
worked flexible hours to make room for the creation of Open Bags and Running
Shoes (OBARS) – a theatre production which was workshopped at the Joburg
Theatre under the Sibongile Bax Dale incubation and professional guidance of
Pamela Nomvete.

Rethabile then ventured into Slam Poetry, winning a few competitions and even top
three in the Gauteng provincial CSP slam. She went on to study theatre
professionally albeit with an exploration of play with a healing and health focus
through drama therapy. Her postgraduate research and performance outcome
examined by Lireko Qhobela and Makhaola Ndebele respectively, both passed with
distinctions. She received a whopping 85% for her Drama Therapy performance
research exam titled “Performance Autoethnography as Drama Therapy: A Black
Woman’s Quest to Reclaim Personal Power through an Exploration of Body, Voice,
Trust in Response to Symbolic Violence and Trauma”, and achieved 80% for its
performance outcome with the working title “Black Woman with a Mouth” – an
exploration of how one becomes a problem by naming a problem – a phenomena
best explained by Sara Ahmed’s Killjoy. 

Currently, Rethabile is a radio drama author
for the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) Lesedi Fm, where she is
one of the writers for Monyaka – an edutainment drama airing weekdays at 13h45
with repeats at 20h00 daily. She will also be part of this year’s Pan African Creative
Exchange (PACE) taking place at the University of the Free State and as part of the
2025 VryFees.

Having started leading the CUT-FS Poetry
Association, Rethabile went on to create and host events through Mingled Arts
Productions, and now she heads Poeta Grace Consulting; a creative and wellness
company aimed at intersecting art, research, and facilitation to achieve her life’s
purpose and serve marginalised communities. Previously Rethabile had been work-
focused and functioning under the Matthew 6:3 instruction to a fault. Now she
endeavours to be more intentional about archiving her journey, establish an online
footprint, publishing and traveling to grace global stages and audiences in service of
God, humanity, and her faith – thereby making disciples. Her ultimate goal is to build
a multidisciplinary creative and wellness centre to serve the marginalised individuals
and structurally violent communities.

C. S. Lewis