Renowned artist Mbongeni Ngema’s body transported to KZN
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The body of renowned playwright, actor, choreographer, singer and composer Mbongeni Ngema, who died in a head-on collision, has been transported from the Eastern Cape to his native KwaZulu-Natal.
This was after his family completed the identification process at OR Tambo Memorial Hospital in Mbizana.
The artist tragically lost his life in a vehicle accident on the R61 in Mbizana towards Magusheni, whilst returning from attending a funeral in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape.
Provincial health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo has confirmed that the department had carried out an autopsy. The body has now been released to the family and is on its way to KwaZulu-Natal.
Sabela Ngema says his uncle was a perfectionist and a genius … genius.
“So he was really a provider, a breadwinner in the family. We all loved him. He was a leader in the family, and obviously in the world. A genius in his work, a perfectionist in his music, his plays, and his films. So he was a man who was a hard worker and a professional.”
Tributes
The late playwright and musician, Mbongeni Ngema has been applauded and acknowledged for the role he played in developing the music industry and promoting unity through arts.
South African Music Producer Gabriel Le Roux has described the late Ngema as a cultural giant who was also a humble and approachable person.
Self-taught artist
Leading figures in the entertainment industry say Ngema was largely a self-taught artist, having dropped out of school at the age of 12. Edmund Mhlongo, founder of Ekhaya Multi-Arts Centre says Ngema had a unique combination of talents.
“He was a unique director who could sing, dance, and write and who could choreograph. Ngema did not go to school to be educated as a theatre director and writer. He learnt a lot of things through hard work and through reading and he became the master of one of the greatest world theatre directors Jerzy Grotowski.”
Ngema worked with well-known theatre luminary, Gibson Kente, as a singer and trainee actor. In 1981, Ngema created Woza Albert to highlight the apartheid brutality against black people.
Acclaimed producer Anant Singh – who adapted Sarafina! the play for the silver screen – says Ngema combined music and theatre into a unique form of storytelling.
“Ngema was very special and creative and hugely talented and I think he was one of the creative people in our country during the period of the 80s where he did shows like Asinamali and Woza Albert. I think when he began as a musician, he could be embraced into the stage and how to put these forms together of music storytelling. And then the theatrical performance was really groundbreaking at the time. His inspiration were people like Gibson Kente, but really he took it to a new level.”
His works include Sarafina, Asinamali and songs such as Stimela Sase Zola.
Durban’s City Hall
In 2001, during the African Renaissance festival, Ngema’s name was set in the paving stones at the foot of Durban’s City Hall — the city of his birth. He shares this honour with the likes of Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and Miriam Makeba.
Gabi Le Roux, general secretary of the South African Musicians’ Union, has told SABC News that the film Sarafina – starring Whoopi Goldberg – helped raise international awareness of the South African struggle in the 1990s.
Le Roux says Ngema’s legacy should be that the South African struggle is not over yet.
“To regenerate the awareness and to make people understand that our freedom is not yet complete. Until such time people are much more equal than now, and the job is not done yet. Hopefully, one good thing to come from his passing – if there is such a thing – would be to revive some of that awareness around the world: that the job is not yet complete. Our people are still suffering through massive inequality.”
In his lifetime, Ngema was honoured with nominations for prestigious Tony and Grammy Awards, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award at Simon Mabhunu Sabela Film and Television Awards.
Renowned producer, Duma Ndlovu pays tribute:
The funeral arrangements have not been finalised yet.