(Pic courtesy of
Facebook)
There is a studio on the ground level of the Market Theatre Square building in Johannesburg that is called the Sarafina. The studio honours the iconic award-winning production that catapulted the career of theatre, television, film and music personality, Mbongeni Ngema.
The studio is a vibrant hub at The Market Theatre complex for rehearsals and drama classes. It re-opens in January after the annual recess. The vibrant studio will stand as a testament of Ngema’s own utterance that his legacy will outlive him.
In 2018, speaking at Actors Spaces, Ngema said, “My work will outlive me, 100 years from now people will still be performing Sarafina. It’s fantastic to know that you’ve written a work that will never die. That people can give it life beyond yourself”.
Ngema’s thoughts are prophetic indeed. Sarafina was no ordinary theatre production. It will always remain alive as a pivotal part of South African cultural and political history; and it will continue to inspire the many youth who study and perform extracts from his production.
Mbongeni Ngema died in a motorcar accident yesterday (27 December 2023). As soon as the tragic news of his passing was announced social media was abuzz with personal reflections from many of his fans about how his Sarafina shaped a path for greatness for South African protest theatre and inspired them with hope and / or influenced their artistic careers.
Conceptualised in 1984 and premiered in 1987 at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, the production was born against the tide of South Africa’s most repressive State of Emergency that prevailed in 1985 and in 1986. Soon after its premiere, Sarafina became a phenomenal hit that carved its identity as South Africa’s most politically profound contemporary African musical theatre production which was inspired by the student uprising of 1976.
Sarafina told a powerful story about student courage in the liberation struggle and the power to hold on to hope that Nelson Mandela would be released. The production’s famous song with its lyrics, Freedom is coming immediately became an anthem for Black youth.
African youth across the country performed the song & dance routine at school concerts, youth rallies and other cultural events. Its defiance even withstood not getting banned by the repressive Nationalist government.
Sarafina went on to tour to the US. It won glowing accolades internationally but more than its artistic impact the work became an emissary that honoured and celebrated the resilience and contributions of African high school students in the liberation struggle.
In 1992, the film Sarafina produced by Anant Singh premiered at the internationally renowned Cannes Film Festival. Darryl Roodt, the film’s director speaking about the film said, “Though our project is still confrontational and angry, it is filled with hope and a spirit of reconciliation”. The film was shot at the Morris Isaacson School in Soweto — a significant site of conscience in the 76 Student Uprising.
Soon after South Africa’s inaugural democratic elections in 1994, Mbongeni Ngema was commissioned by the then Minister of Health Nkosazana Zuma to produce a R14 million production of Sarafina II as an educational touring production to combat HIV /AIDS at the height of the epidemic. Both the production and the tendering process were mired in scandals of irregular tender processes, corruption and poor services delivery. Despite huge public outrage and extensive exposes by the media, the ANC in government adopted an arrogant attitude of denial and a condoning of the Minister’s failures — a problem that became one of the many seeds that spawned the ANC government’s legacy of corruption.
Mbongeni Ngema, however, survived the negative reporting. He continued to be a prolific writer, producer and musician outside of Sarafina and Sarafina II. He was still the darling of the same media that tried to crucify him for Sarafina II.
Sarafina II wasn’t the only time that Ngema was going to court controversy in a post-apartheid South Africa. In 2002, his controversial song AmaNdiya was referred to the South African High Court. Speaking on behalf of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of SA about the song being banned from broadcast, Professor Kobus can Rooyen said, ”The song as broadcast demeaned the Indian section of the population by accusing the Indians in sweeping generalisations of the oppression of Zulus, of dispossession of Zulus.”
The song although banned from broadcasting was permitted to still be distributed in CD and other formats. It was a significant test case on the limits of Freedom of Expression as enshrined in Section 16 of the South African Constitution and the boundaries of hate speech as defined in South Africa’s reformed laws. According to Ngema, the song was not intended to incite hate but rather to open up a discussion about economic disparities — a discussion that is too often not held and swept swiftly under post-apartheid’s carpet whenever it tries to rear its head.
In 2020, theatre impresario and CEO of the Joburg Theatres, Xoliswa Ndudeni-Ngema, released her biographical book, Heart of a Strong Woman : A Memoir, authored by Fred Khumalo in which she narrates her meeting with Ngema, their marriage, the stormy abusive relationship and physical and psychological violence that she endured set against the backdrop of the very successful company that birthed Sarafina.
At the time of the book being released, gossip in some theatre quarters was rife that with South Africa’s vocal and vibrant feminist movement a death knell would be sounded for Mbongeni’s public engagements. The book gained glowing reviews but the expose made no real dent to Mbongeni Ngema’s public status as an iconic theatre, film and music impresario.
Ngema’s passing yesterday in a tragic motorcar accident is a moment for pausing and reflecting on the man and his legacy. For now, while the family — and the nation mourns —- it must be a moment of respect for them that Ngema’s flaws should not overshadow his remarkable contribution to South African cultural history and to how his very original production of Sarafina was a triumphant moment that envisioned Nelson Mandela’s long walk out of Robben Island and Polsmoor Prison long before it happened.
His Sarafina must be a reminder that the work with its famed lyrics, Freedom is Coming, is the hope that millions of South Africans still cling to because real freedom from poverty, unemployment and indignity has not been brought about by a post-apartheid government.
The trail of government corruption that surrounded Mbongeni’s Sarafina II must also remain etched in history of how the seeds of State Capture and corruption were planted and irrigated by the ANC government so soon after it took office.
Mbongeni Ngema was indeed spot-on when he said that his legacy will live on even when he is gone. Gratitude to him for offering hope in the eighties with Sarafina and for his gift that many who await a real uhuru must still cling to - Freedom is Coming … tomorrow! May Mbongeni Ngema’s soul Rest In Peace.
Dr. Ismail Mahomed
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