Famend South African playwright, producer and composer Mbongeni Ngema has died in a automotive crash on the age of 68, his household stated.
“Ngema was killed in a head-on automotive accident whereas getting back from a funeral he was attending in Lusikisiki within the Jap Cape this night,” his household stated in an announcement Wednesday. The celebrated playwright was a passenger within the car concerned within the crash.
He was finest recognized for creating the hit Sarafina! which first premiered on Broadway in 1988. It was tailored right into a musical drama starring Whoopi Goldberg in 1992, changing into an worldwide success, and was nominated for the Tony and Grammy Awards.
Sarafina! advised the story of a younger pupil and the way she impressed her friends to battle towards racial segregation in apartheid South Africa after her trainer was thrown in jail.
Apartheid was an institutionalized system that discriminated towards non-whites and ensured South Africa was dominated by the minority white inhabitants from 1948 until the early Nineties.
Ngema’s physique of labor included the lauded theatre manufacturing Woza Albert, which first confirmed in 1981 and went on to win greater than 20 awards internationally. The political satire explored the second coming of Jesus Christ as a black man, returning to South Africa as a black man.
Tributes to the famous playwright have been pouring in.
“We now have misplaced a trailblazing inventive expertise who fearlessly introduced consciousness of South Africa below apartheid to a world viewers utilizing the theatre as a platform,” well-known South African producer Anant Singh stated in an announcement. “Mbongeni was one in every of South Africa’s best multi-talented creatives – a author, lyricist, composer, director, choreographer and theater producer. He has left an indelible mark on South African theatre and the inventive industries as an entire.”
Added Singh: “That is clearly demonstrated by the timelessness of Sarafina! the movie, which is as related immediately because it was when it was first launched, and it holds the excellence of being invited twice by the Cannes Movie Competition to display in its Official Choice – first in 1992 after which in Could this 12 months within the Cannes Classics part.”
Concluded the producer: “Mbongeni was an inspiration and mentored many younger artists who at the moment are family names. His passing leaves a deep void however he leaves a wealthy legacy that can endure for posterity.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa additionally praised the late Ngema in an announcement. “The numerous productions he created or to which he contributed impressed resilience and delight amongst us as fellow South Africans and took South Africa and our continent into the theatres, properties and consciousness of tens of millions of individuals around the globe,” Ramaphosa stated Thursday.
South Africa’s ruling African Nationwide Congress get together and one in every of its largest rivals, the leftist Financial Freedom Fighters each conveyed their condolences.
The ANC stated in an announcement: “He was a globally acclaimed playwright, composer and producer. We now have misplaced a real legend, a doyen, and a real ambassador of theatre.”
The Leftist get together described him as “extra than simply an artist; he was a cultural icon, and a beacon of hope throughout a few of our darkest instances”.
Zizi Kodwa, South African minister of sports activities, arts and tradition Zizi Kodwa stated in a tweet Negma’s loss was important to the South African artwork scene including that his work “touched and moved audiences around the globe and made an vital contribution in telling the South African story.”
