Durban — Playwright, lyricist, music composer and actor Mbongeni Ngema was a critic of corruption within the ANC and government, his fellow musician Chicco Twala told mourners during Ngema’s funeral service in Durban on Friday.

This, said the ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal deputy chairperson Nomagugu Simelane, was despite still being a member when he died in a car crash on December 27. Twala said Ngema’s stance on ANC corruption was revealed when they were composing an ANC election campaign song at the request of former minister Jeff Radebe.

“While we were busy creating the song, he said a lot of unpalatable things that were happening in our country. Corruption was really hurting Mbongeni (Ngema); we must unite in the fight against corruption,” said Twala.

Ngema’s funeral service took place at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre. He was buried in Redhill cemetery, even though some of his family members wanted him to be buried at his ancestral village of eNhlwathi in Hlabisa, Zululand.

Twala described Ngema as a torch bearer for the musicians of his ‘80s generation when it came to the fight against apartheid inside the country.

“When I started my musical career in the early ‘80s, the likes of Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Letta Mbulu, Jonas Gwangwa were exiled because of singing (anti)-apartheid songs, which was a criminal offence in this country.

“But two persons, Mbongeni Ngema and Mzwakhe Mbuli, kept the fire burning, he sang protest songs throughout (and) he said I am not going to exile and I will fight inside and he did exactly that,” he said.

Twala said Ngema inspired the likes of Brenda Fassie, Yvonne Chaka Chaka “and myself to start singing protest songs”.

“Without Mbongeni, definitely we would not have created songs such as Good Black Woman and Too Late for Mama by Brenda Fassie and I Miss You by Yvonne Chaka Chaka.

“All the protest songs they created were because of Mbongeni Ngema’s bravery and not fearing oppressors.

“We were scared of them, but he is the one who led us. Mama Winnie Mandela came into my house and said ‘Chicco, why are you outpaced by this boy from KZN here in Soweto?’,” said Twala.

He said Ngema was the man “who made some of us what we are today”.

Twala called on the state to honour the Sarafina music theatre producer by renaming the Playhouse in the Durban CBD after him.

Ngema performed most of his productions at the Playhouse.

Sbu Ndebele, South Africa’s High Commissioner to India, said Ngema used his talent to illustrate the historical Anglo-Zulu war of Isandlwana while he was also worried about the violence and crime in KZN.

“On the question of violence and crime, I and Mbongeni shared a verse from the Bible’s book of Galatians 5:15 which said, ‘If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other’.

“That was the message that Mbongeni left us with,” said Ndebele.

Describing Ngema as the Struggle icon associated with the ANC, Simelane said it was impossible to talk about the Struggle's history without mentioning Ngema.

“When you are going to talk about June 16 (1976), it would be impossible not to mention him.

“He was not merely a playwright, but a cultural icon, a courageous and visionary storyteller whose narrative captured and resonated with the work of the ANC and a kind of nation he was fighting for,” said Simelane-Zulu.

She said Ngema’s creativity was unmatched: “His storytelling became a major catalyst for change at a time when it was neither popular nor safe to do so. Mbongeni Ngema aligned his creative endeavour with the ANC goals, he used his platform to amplify the ANC’s quest for justice, equality and freedom.

“If Gibson Kente was the Martin Luther King jr of our liberation, Madlokovu was certainly the Malcolm X of our times,” said Simelane.

Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube also made a clarion call to Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa for the renaming of the Playhouse.

“As the government, we will work tirelessly to ensure that we preserve his memory and fulfil what he said in one of the interviews that ‘my work will outlive me’.

He said: ‘100 years from now, people will still be performing Sarafina’,” said Dube-Ncube.

Kodwa said through Ngema, the Playhouse played a role in the upliftment of the country’s theatre.

“It was him, Mbongeni Ngema, who took South African theatre to the global stage to amplify the conditions of the black majority and conditions of injustice.

“The question to be asked today is what needs to be done to celebrate his legacy? There is a need to establish a system or a programme of recognition as part of our vision,” said Kodwa.

Sunday Tribune

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Ngema - a fearless freedom icon