Mbongeni Ngema and sanitising history
In a classic case of art imitating life, the sleaze associated with the Mbongeni Ngema-portrayed character, Constable Sabela, who eerily courts schoolgirl Sarafina in the iconic musical of the same name, is a sordid scene that followed the late playwright’s personal life.
As is the public’s wont after the death of a luminary of Ngema’s stature, competing arguments have been advanced as to what the late dramatist’s legacy should be following his fatal 27 December car crash in the Eastern Cape.
In the blue corner, to use boxing parlance, are those pointing to the dozens of superstars he and former wife Xoliswa Nduneni-Ngema created — including the lives they positively changed — with their production company, Committed Artists, which produced a string of internationally-celebrated theatre offerings, such as the award-winning Sarafina! (1988).
In the red corner, however, sits a slew of seedy sexual assault allegations, including accusations from Nduneni-Ngema that her former husband raped her shortly after their 1991 separation for what she said in her 2020 biography, Heart of A Strong Woman – From Daveyton to Sarafina: My Story of Triumph, was Ngema’s extramarital affair with renowned actress, Leleti Khumalo.
Khumalo starred as the lead character Sarafina in the musical, and was allegedly still a teenager and schoolgirl when her love affair with Ngema began in the late 1980s before marrying in 1992. Life imitates art.
No charges were ever filed against Ngema for the string of unsavoury accusations against him.
South Africa’s grotesque sexual violence statistics, with the latest figures showing 10 516 rapes between July and September last year, give credence to those who want to use the arts practitioner’s death and prominence to highlight the plight of mainly women and children in the country’s sex crimes.
Dictionaries describe the sanitisation of history as making parts of it less offensive by removing objectionable features conducted by a renowned person in the mould of Ngema.
It follows, then, that for all the great achievements Ngema attained during his illustrious career, a more accurate depiction of his life would involve relating the violence he was associated with in order to not sanitise his history.
That that depiction of violence taints him and his legacy and elicits accusations of “speaking ill of the dead” is a consequence of Ngema’s fame — or infamy, depending on who you speak to — which inevitably draws a myriad differing views on his person.
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