WATCH: Khayelitsha's Buhle Sithelana uses solar power to host pop-up cinemas

04 October, 01:45 PM

When Buhle Sithelana quit university due to financial constraints in 2015, he turned to social entrepreneurship to make a living. Now, the innovative 22-year-old Khayelitsha resident uses the proceeds from his bin cleaning service to host pop-up movie nights for his community.

The former Cape Peninsula University of Technology events management student is the founder of two social enterprises: the Khayelitsha Bin Cleaning Project and Vukani Ma-Afrika (VUMA) – a mobile cinema.

"I realised that there are no cinemas in the townships so I wanted to bridge that gap by hosting pop-up cinemas.

"We started fundraising for the equipment because hiring would be expensive, so we started buying sound and then we got donations for the projector, screen and solar power panel," he said.

Sithelana financed most of the pop-up cinema from money he made from washing bins.

While he aspires to reach more communities with his pop-up cinemas, he says transport remains an issue.