South African artist, DJ and cultural voice Nomsa Mazwai is entering one of her most vulnerable chapters.
She speaks candidly about her battle with alcoholism, her long road to recovery and the personal mission that inspired her to launch Sober Fest.
This clean lifestyle celebration takes place this Sunday at the Soweto Theatre.
Nomsa Mazwai on alcoholism
Mazwai explains that her addiction did not happen overnight. It developed over years of emotional stress, unemployment and a quiet hopelessness that many South Africans can relate to.
“I didn’t decide to go to rehab. My life was in chaos. I was of the view that I was depressed. I had been unemployed for years, and I just couldn’t see a better life for my children in the future, nor for me,” she shares. “I am well educated. I am experienced, and yet, I could not find a job in the public sector.”
The frustration of watching corruption thrive while opportunities slipped through her fingers became unbearable. “Every time I read a story about another corrupt, unqualified official in a position I am qualified and equipped to do well, I would fall into despair. Alcohol was how I was coping.”
Her turning point came not from within, but through the intervention of love. “My family came to fetch me to take me to rehab.”
What followed was a transformation she describes as life-changing. “Rehab was the best thing that ever happened to me. I went to an excellent rehab with different lectures about addiction. I also read the ‘Big Book‘ cover to cover and Oprah’s book ‘What Happened to You‘.
Through those pages, she found clarity and recognition. “I could see myself in the books I was reading, and I understood addiction from different perspectives. Everything just made sense, and when I experienced peace for the first time in decades, I knew that I wanted to live sober.”
Stigma around addiction
Mazwai is also challenging the stigma surrounding addiction, calling out a harmful national misunderstanding.
“Admitting addiction before recovery can feel like failure. Most people understand addiction as a choice. This national understanding is inaccurate. Addiction is not a choice, it’s an illness.”
That realisation, she says, brought relief rather than shame. “When I found out I was an addict, I was so relieved. It provided an answer that explained how I was feeling and how I was making the choices I was making.”
Now, through Sober Fest, she is building a community rooted in compassion and collective healing. “By being in community with them. By not alienating them. By understanding their sickness.”
She recalls a powerful family moment that redefined what support means. “On our first family holiday after I went to rehab, my whole family didn’t drink on our December holiday. We need to stop loving our families to death. Sober Fest is here to help us love our families to life.”
At its core, her sobriety is not a solo victory but a shared one. “My sobriety is a result of my family and me. My community enables my success.”
Grounded in faith and presence, Mazwai has embraced a new way of living. “My biggest learning is to live life one day at a time. In the Lord’s Prayer, it says, give us this day our daily bread.”
She reflects on how anxiety about the future once fueled her addiction. “I found myself in the throes of addiction because I was thinking about the future, about tomorrow’s bread, and I was paralysed by fear.”
Today, her focus is simple and profound. “Today I only think about today. I pray for anything that I am missing or needing today, and God provides everything that I need daily. One day at a time.”
With Sober Fest, Nomsa Mazwai is not just celebrating sobriety; she is offering a lifeline, a reimagining of joy, and a powerful reminder that healing is possible when we choose to face it together.
