Sarafina's Mbongeni Ngema has died - but despite his flaws, his legacy will live on

Mbongeni Ngema, writer of the internationally acclaimed and award-winning musical Sarafina, performs 'Woza Albert' at The State Theatre in Pretoria. (Photo: SANDILE NDLOVU)

By Ismail Mahomed

28 Dec 2023

The death of the iconic theatre, film and music impresario is a moment for reflecting on the man and his legacy. For now, it must be a moment of respect that his flaws should not overshadow his remarkable contribution to South African cultural history.

There is a studio on the ground level of the Market Theatre Square building in Johannesburg that is called the Sarafina, which honours the iconic, award-winning production that catapulted the career of theatre, television, film and music personality Mbongeni Ngema. The studio is a vibrant hub in the Market Theatre complex for rehearsals and drama classes. It will reopen in January after the annual recess. The vibrant studio will stand as a testament to Ngema’s own utterance that his legacy will outlive him.

In 2018, speaking at Actor Spaces in Johannesburg, Ngema said: “My work will outlive me; 100 years from now people will still be performing Sarafina! It’s fantastic to know that you’ve written a work that will never die. That people can give it life beyond yourself.”

Ngema’s thoughts were prophetic indeed. Sarafina! was no ordinary theatre production. It will always remain alive as a pivotal part of South African cultural and political history; and it will continue to inspire the many young people who study and perform extracts from his production.

Playwright, choreographer, actor and musician Mbongeni Ngema. (Photo: Gallo Images)

Ngema died in a car accident on Wednesday, 23 December 2023. As soon as the tragic news of his passing was announced social media was abuzz with personal reflections from many of his fans about how his Sarafina! shaped a path for greatness for South African protest theatre and inspired them with hope and/or influenced their artistic careers.

Conceptualised in 1984 and premiered in 1987 at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, the production was born against the tide of South Africa’s most repressive state of emergency that prevailed in 1985 and 1986. Soon after its premiere Sarafina! became a phenomenal international hit. It carved its identity as South Africa’s most politically profound contemporary African musical theatre production which was inspired by the student uprising of 1976.

Sarafina! told a powerful story about student courage in the liberation struggle and the power to hold on to hope that Nelson Mandela would be released. The production’s famous song with the lyrics, “Freedom is coming”, immediately became an anthem for Black youth.

African youth across the country performed the song-and-dance routine at school concerts, youth rallies and other cultural events. Its defiance even meant not getting banned by the repressive Nationalist government.

Mbongeni Ngema at the Black Musical Extravaganza in Kempton Park on 15 September 2023. (Photo: Gallo Images / Oupa Bopape)

Sarafina! went on to tour the US. It won glowing accolades internationally but more than its artistic impact the work became an emissary that honoured and celebrated the resilience and contributions of African high school students in the liberation struggle. It became a conduit for international media and arts academics to once again put their gaze on the student uprising and the new student protests that had spread across the country in the Eighties.

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In 1992, two years after Mandela was released from prison, the Anant Singh-produced film Sarafina! premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Its director, Darryl Roodt, said: “Though our project is still confrontational and angry, it is filled with hope and a spirit of reconciliation.” The film was shot at the Morris Isaacson School in Soweto, a significant site of conscience in the June 1976 student uprising.

Soon after South Africa’s inaugural democratic elections in 1994, Ngema was commissioned by the then health minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to produce the R12-million production of Sarafina 2 as an educational touring production to raise awareness of HIV/Aids at the height of the epidemic. Both the production and the tendering process were mired in scandals of irregular tender processes, corruption and poor services delivery.

Despite huge public outrage and extensive exposés by the media, the ANC in government adopted an arrogant attitude of denial, condoning the minister’s failures – a problem that became one of the many seeds that spawned the party’s legacy of corruption and its lack of public accountability.

Ngema, however, survived the negative reporting. He continued to be a prolific writer, producer and musician outside of Sarafina! and Sarafina 2. He was still the darling of the same media that tried to crucify him for Sarafina 2.

‘Amandiya’ controversy

Sarafina 2 wasn’t the only time Ngema courted controversy in post-apartheid South Africa. In 2002, his controversial song Amandiya was referred to the high court. Speaking on behalf of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa about the song being banned from broadcast, Professor Kobus van Rooyen said: “The song as broadcast demeaned the Indian section of the population by accusing the Indians in sweeping generalisations of the oppression of Zulus, of dispossession of Zulus.”

Mbongeni Ngema at his surprise birthday party in Maponya Mall, Soweto, on 16 June 2023. (Photo: Gallo Images / Oupa Bopape)

The song was still permitted to be distributed in CD and other formats. It was a significant test case for the limits of freedom of expression as enshrined in section 16 of the Constitution, and the boundaries of hate speech as defined in South Africa’s reformed laws. According to Ngema, the song was not intended to incite hatred but rather to open a discussion about economic disparities – a discussion that is too often not held and swept swiftly under post-apartheid’s carpet whenever it tries to rear its head.

In 2020, theatre impresario and CEO of the Joburg Theatres, Xoliswa Nduneni-Ngema, released her biographical book, Heart of a Strong Woman: A Memoir, authored by Fred Khumalo, in which she narrates her meeting with Ngema, their marriage, the stormy, abusive relationship and physical and psychological violence she endured, against the backdrop of the very successful company that birthed Sarafina!

At the time of the book’s release, gossip in some theatre quarters was rife that with South Africa’s vocal and vibrant feminist movement a death knell would be sounded for Mbongeni’s public engagements. The book earned glowing reviews but the exposé made no real dent in his public status as an iconic theatre, film and music impresario.

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Ngema’s passing is a moment for pausing and reflecting on the man and his legacy. For now, while the family and the nation mourn, it must be a moment of respect that his flaws should not overshadow his remarkable contribution to South African cultural history, and how his very original production of Sarafina! was a triumphant moment that envisioned Mandela’s long walk out of Robben Island and Pollsmoor Prison long before it happened.

Ngema’s Sarafina! must be a reminder that the work with its famed lyrics, “Freedom is Coming”, is the hope that millions of South Africans still cling to because real freedom from poverty, unemployment and indignity has not been brought about by a post-apartheid government.

Mbongeni Ngema performs 'Woza Albert' at the State Theatre in Pretoria. (Photo: Sandile Ndlovu)

The trail of government corruption that surrounded Mbongeni’s Sarafina 2 must also remain etched in history of how the seeds of State Capture and corruption were planted and irrigated by the ANC government so soon after it took office.

Ngema was indeed spot-on when he said his legacy would live on even when he is gone. Gratitude to him for offering hope in the Eighties with Sarafina! and for his gift that many who await a real uhuru must still cling to – Freedom is Coming… tomorrow! May Mbongeni Ngema’s soul rest in peace.

Ismail Mahomed is director of the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. With more than 30 years’ experience in cultural leadership and multiple awards to his credits, his previous roles include artistic director of the National Arts Festival and CEO of the Market Theatre Foundation. At the latter he invoked the Protected Disclosures Act and won a case in which he exposed corruption and financial maladministration by the council appointed by former minister of sport, arts and culture Nathi Mthethwa, stopping members of the council from illegally siphoning Christmas bonuses for themselves in violation of the Public Finance Management Act.

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‘Amandiya’ controversy