The African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu Natal (KZN) has written to the Presidency requesting that late musician and playwright Mbongeni Ngema be granted a special official funeral.
Ngema died in a car crash on his way back from a funeral in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday.
The party’s provincial chairperson Siboniso Duma said that the Sarafina creator should be honoured for contributing to the fight against apartheid.
“Already the letter has been written and it has been taken to the premier and the president… He is a giant; his name must be known, and the entire world must be able to tell that he is a person from KwaZulu-Natal,” Duma said.
Meanwhile, Sports, Arts, and Culture Minister, Zizi Kodwa added that Ngema played a pivotal role in championing the use of arts to fight the apartheid government.
Speaking outside Ngema’s home in KwaZulu Natal on Friday, Kodwa said the musician’s impact on activists during the liberation struggle should not be undermined.
“The former treasurer-general of the ANC, Matthews Phosa was telling me how people in exile were kept alive by watching his production. So he was an icon. So we are not just talking about a practitioner in terms of arts, we are talking about a veteran in the liberation struggle”.
-EWN
In other news – RIP: Actress Leleti Khumalo pays tribute to her ex-husband Mbongeni Ngema
Mzansi writer, lyricist, composer, director, choreographer, and theatre producer, Mbongeni Ngema’s ex-wife Leleti Khumalo has shared a tribute to the late veteran playwright.
Ngema died shortly after being attended by doctors at Adelaide and OR Tambo Memorial Hospital in Mbizana in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday after following a car crash involving a truck on the R61. Khumalo shared an official tribute statement on her social media platforms sending her condolences to the Ngema family. Read More
