JABULANI MFEKA MEMORIAL SERVICE

The memorial service for Jabulani Mfeka will take place at Siwela Sonke Studios in Albany Grove at 13h00 today (October 4).

The following is a tribute from Professor Deborah Lutge of the Drama Studies Department of the Durban University of Technology (DUT):

“Jabulani Mfeka was a student of the Drama Studies Department from 2001-2003. In 2003, he was awarded a Creative Achievement Award for Scriptwriting for his script Tear Drop. The following year, he won a choreography award for his work Lalela and, after graduating, he won an acting award for his characterization of Fafi in Sophiatown in 2006.

Jabulani Mfeka extended his portfolio to film when he appeared in Madoda Ncayiyane’s Izulu Lami in 2008. This year, he was one of two Drama Studies graduates selected by The Twist project as part of a Dutch-South African exchange initiative to participate in an international production.

His continually expanding portfolio evidenced his determination to engage as a performer on a multitude of levels: as both performer and creator. The Drama Studies Department was very sad to hear of his tragic passing and offers condolences to the Mfeka family. Jabulani Mfeka will be sorely missed.”

This is a poem written by Genbia Hyla on October 3, 2011, in his memory:

Jabulani Mfeka (d. Tuesday 27 September 2011)

Cramming his mouth, / Like a million assessments to be delivered,
He smiles a mouth of teeth and twinkling eyes, / And with his diminutive frame, he dances the stars inside his eyes -
Collapsing the darkness with pieces of light, diffused upon a stage in fragmented laughter
That ripples from the belly up, / In shared enjoyment of capturing the moment.
Sharing his skills with myriad reflections that capture community in mid-air,
He listens as his sculpted protégés,
Members of the youth confronting frozen images and transcending frames into a sequence,
Of musically transitioned footwork,
Capture his instruction in rhythm, / Turn to watch his passing,
And to miss him, / As he flies through the spaces left behind -
In our memories.
- Genbia Hyla