Playwright and musician Mbongeni Ngema killed in crash

Playwright and musician Mbongeni Ngema, who wrote and directed the musical Sarafina, died in a car crash on Wednesday, his family said.

In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the family said Ngema, 68, had been killed in a head-on collision earlier in the evening while returning from attending a funeral in Eastern Cape. He was a passenger in the vehicle.

Ngema was best known for the award-winning Sarafina, which tells the story of the 1976 uprising led by black students opposed to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of learning in their schools. The 1987 musical was adapted into a film in 1992, starring Ngema, as well as Leleti Khumalo, Miriam Makeba, John Kani and Whoopi Goldberg.

In a statement, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Ngema’s creative narration of the country’s liberation struggle “honoured the humanity of oppressed South Africans and exposed the inhumanity of an oppressive regime”.

“The many productions he created or to which he contributed inspired resilience and pride among us as fellow South Africans and took South Africa and our continent into the theatres, homes and consciousness of millions of people around the world,” Ramaphosa added.

Ngema was however also dogged by controversy, including allegations of corruption as well as the physical and sexual abuse of women.

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