MBONGENI NGEMA: PLAYWRIGHT AND LYRICIST

Today would’ve been the 71st birthday of lauded playwright and lyricist, Mbongeni Ngema.

He was born in Verulam, a town north of Durban, Natal. He was the third born of seven children. The Group Areas Act forced black residents to leave and he and his siblings relocated to kwaHlabisa to live with their grandparents. They eked out a rural life, tending to the fields and animals on their homestead. Ngema credits his grandmother’s storytelling about his ancestors as one of the catalysts for his own success in storytelling. He attended Nhlwathi Primary School and later attended Vukuzakhe High School.

His education went up to standard ten (today Grade 12) but dropped out to pursue his musical aspirations. His father inspired him to be a self-taught guitarist. He left Durban for Johannesburg, and landed a job as a factory worker. He took part in the workers’ after work arts production often playing guitar. He then took things further by joining the renowned Gibson Kente’s theatre company; who is known as the Father of Black Theatre in South Africa. Throughout the 1970s, he appeared in a number of local productions. He also honed his skills and in the process became a playwright, screenwriter and librettist. 

His major breakthrough came with Woza Albert!, which he co-wrote with Barney Simon, and Percy Mtwa, in 1981. Woza Albert! is a satirical piece of protest theatre that imagines the second coming of Jesus Christ during apartheid as experience by a variety of black South Africans. They toured the USA jn 1984. His next venture came in the form of his own theatre company called Committed Artists. He wrote and directed another protest theatre production called Asinamali. It’s based on a rent strike in a Durban township, a common issue during the apartheid era. Its popularity earned him and his performers the scorn of the police and they were raided and arrested. It also toured the USA and earned a Tony Award nomination. It was turned into film adaptation in 2017, with Ngema starring in it as Comrade Washington.

He struck gold again when he co-wrote Sarafina! with the late Hugh Masekela in 1988. It depicts students involved in the famous 16 June 1976 Student Uprisings in Soweto which were in protest against the forced imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in African schools. The play evolved from a conversion he had with the late Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. In It had its first staging at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg in 1987, before premiering on Broadway in January 1988 and enjoying a run of 597 performances and 11 previews. It earned five Tony Awards nominations including one for lead actress Leleti Khumalo for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. It won 11 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Awards and also scored Grammy Awards nominations in the process. It was later adapted into a film in 1992, Starring Whoopi Goldberg, Leleti Khumalo, and the late Miriam Makeba.

In 1996, the democratic government of South Africa commissioned Ngema to produce a sequel to Sarafina! to raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic. What was meant to be a positive outcome turned into a scandalous government corruption investigation over the productions exorbitant and unauthorised expenditure. Ngema defended the price tag and claimed it was necessary to bring Broadway-quality shows to Black townships. In 2002, Ngema was in the news again this time for his song AmaNdiya (meaning Indians in Zulu) which accused South Africa’s Indian community of racism and exploitation. The Broadcating Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) banned the song and said it incited hatred. Former President Nelson Mandela urged Ngema to apologize, but he refused and defended his actions that no authority could direct what an artist can write about.

Ngema also released albums and one of his most popular releases was the 1985 album, Stimela Sase Zolax with its title track of the same name. His other releases include 1991’s Township Fever, Magic At 4Am released in 1994, and a greatest hits album released in 1995.

Ngema was married twice in his life: first to Xoliswa Nduneni-Ngema in February 1982. Their marriage lasted until 1991 and the couple divorced. Nduneni-Ngema later released a tell-all memoir in which she alleged abuse and sexual assault at the hands of Ngema. He then married his leading lady from Sarafina!, Leleti Khumalo. Their relationship began when Khumalo was still a teenager; she was 15 years younger than Ngema. Their marriage ended in 2005 and she described their time together as “disgusting” because she had no freedom. She also described she endured fourteen years of misery. 

Ngema lost his life on 27 December 2023 in a head-on collision. He was returning from a funeral in Lusikisiki, Eastern Cape. He was 68 and was married to Nompumelelo Gumede-Ngema at the time of his passing. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa paid tribute to Ngema, saying his creative narration of the liberation struggle honored the humanity of oppressed South Africans and exposed the inhumanity of an oppressive regime. The president granted Ngema a Category 2 Special Provincial Funeral. His funeral service took place at Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, and he was buried at Heroes' Acre Cemetry in Chesterville, Durban.

A documentary called Dr Mbongeni Ngema: This Is My Story by Lindani Mbense is set for release on 30 May 2026 at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg.

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