Drum journalist and King Kong composer Todd Matshikiza finally comes back home — 56 years after his death

“He never really felt at home anywhere but South Africa and he really wanted his children to return to South Africa… So, it is very important for me, as his remaining child, that his remains be returned to South Africa for all of us. That is what he would have wanted.”

These were the words of Marian Matshikiza, the daughter of Todd Matshikiza, the South African jazz pianist, composer, activist and journalist who died in Lusaka, Zambia, in 1968. 

She said her father was a patriot whose love for South Africa and disdain for the apartheid government was evident in his music and writing. 

Matshikiza was among those who welcomed the remains of their loved ones on Wednesday at the Waterkloof Air Force Base, to where they had been repatriated from Zambia and Zimbabwe. The remains of 49 anti-apartheid activists were repatriated.

“He always hankered to return to his country. His choral music is deeply rooted in South African traditional music; he had a deep love for Africa,” said his daughter. 

“He always maintained his connections [to South Africa]. Even in the UK, he maintained his connections to members of the ANC whom we know very well and visited the family regularly. He wrote a book called Chocolates for My Wife, which was a comparison between life in England versus life in SA. The book was banned and that is why we could not return home.”  

Todd Matshikiza (right) talking to William ‘Bloke' Modisane in the Drum magazine office in 1954. (Photo: Jurgen Schadeberg / www.jurgenschadeberg.com)

King Kong

Todd Matshikiza composed the music for King Kong, the all-black musical that became a global hit. He was famed for composing jazz music and writing for Drum magazine at the height of apartheid. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7TsSSV0aSM

Like many artists and writers in the apartheid era, he used his platform to analyse social issues and criticise the government. He was one of the SA writers who were banned under the Suppression of Communism Act.

“He worked on social issues and he was the music editor [at Drum magazine], where he wrote about the development of music in SA. He was really rooted in his society and it showed in his work. He had a very unconventional use of language, he reshaped words and was very much against the apartheid system,” said his daughter.

Read more: Trauma, terror, uncertainty — the apartheid scars of a childhood in exile that never quite go away

Matshikiza the activist

Chocolates for My Wife refers to an incident in which Matshikiza was stopped by policemen on his way home from King Kong rehearsals in Johannesburg. The police wanted to see his pass but ended up teasing him after seeing a box of chocolates, a gift from the musical’s lyricist, Pat Williams, for Matshikiza’s wife, Esme Matshikiza.  

Matshikiza moved with his family to Lusaka in 1964, where he died four years later after a short illness and was buried.

His daughter recalled: “My mother, father, brother [John] and myself left for the UK in 1960 because of the prevailing political situation. We accompanied the musical King Kong, which after having a very successful run in South Africa went to run in London. After four years in England, after frustrations, my parents were recruited to work in Zambia. I was 12 at the time and we lived there for many years,” she said. 

“My mother had met Winnie Mandela at [the Jan H] Hofmeyr School of Social Work, so she was a social worker and I think Winnie was two years ahead of her. When King Kong was performed in 1959, on the opening night Nelson and Winnie Mandela were present in the audience.

“When we moved to London my mother used to fondly remember that on one of his trips, Nelson Mandela turned up at their flat just to pop in. It was a very close relationship and friendship. In Lusaka, there was quite a close friendship with people quite high up in the ANC. My parents were closely affiliated with the party,” she said. 

The family man  

Although her father had multiple interests, she said he was present and loving and she and her brother never felt a void. She also mentioned the close bond between her parents - where they referred to each other as "chommie" (friend).

“My mum was really there for us when [my father] was away. We never felt the absence. Dad was always dad, he was a humble man. He loved his family. On his return, he was always there for us, despite that he was always busy with work. That was, in short, his family life, despite the travel. 

“Dad was very fond of colour, so it was in all his conversations. He brought colour into everything he did. He was short, you know, but as soon as he walked into a room, the whole place lit up. 

“He had tremendous humour and was extremely sociable. He loved people and had a way of connecting with people across colour lines, across class lines and that was something he was able to transmit to his children as we were growing up.”  

A key lesson she learned from her father was to practise openness in order to co-exist with people from all walks of life.

ANC weighs in 

The deputy chair of the ANC subcommittee on international relations, Obed Bapela, said the repatriation of the remains of the Struggle stalwarts had been a priority for the governing party since the advent of democracy in SA. 

“It is very important because it is a process which has taken years — just after we received our freedom in 1994, when we were inundated with requests from families that their loved ones were not here; they wanted their remains to be repatriated to SA and since then we have been trying to develop a programme and it was very difficult.

“Through negotiations with the host countries, we were able to repatriate a few that did not come on a massive scale as it is happening today,” he said.

The Exile Repatriation Programme is guided by the National Policy of Repatriation and Restitution of Human Remains and Heritage Objects of 2021. 

Other key figures whose remains have been repatriated include liberation stalwarts Dumalisile Nokwe and Florence Maphosho, both from Zambia, and Basil February, from Zimbabwe.

The government will hold a homecoming ceremony on Friday to honour the 49 activists. DM