Mazibuko Msimang’s latest piece honors SA’s first black film star

This year marks a milestone in the writing career of Dr. Nokuthula Mazibuko Msimang. In a few weeks, the distinguished scholar and award-winning author will submit her seminal biography of the iconic actress, singer, and songwriter Dolly Rathebe.

She is also celebrating the 20th anniversary of In the Fast Lane, her debut novella for young adults.

As part of her two-year scholarship at the University of Pretoria’s Future Africa Institute, Mazibuko Msimang, who turns fifty this year, has spent the last sixteen months studying and chronicling the life of South Africa’s first black film star, Rathebe. Xarra Books will publish the author’s book.

Rathebe, who was born in Randfontein, west of Johannesburg, was described as Africa’s first superstar and mega diva. Mazibuko Msimang asserts that her contributions to music, songwriting and composition, movies, and entertainment are undervalued, understudied, underdocumented, and underappreciated.

She claims that Rathebe, who died in 2004 at the age of 76 from a stroke, composed many of the songs that Hugh Masekela referred to as the “great South African songbook.”

She states, “Her artistry is so vast and spans multiple decades, from the late 1940s to the early 2000s.” She had a significant impact on the lives of her colleagues, including Mariam Makeba, Mara Louw, and the new generation of blues and jazz musicians, including Gloria Bosman.

She adds that she acted and performed up to the early 2000s. “I felt obligated to recognize her as a creative ancestor. She opened the path for musical divas such as Letta Mbulu, Makeba, and Dorothy Masuka.

“It is a writer’s dream to have the space, time, and resources to write,” she says of her two-year fellowship at Tukkies, which began last August and will end this year.

Mazibuko Msimang said she realized she had only scratched the surface of Rathebe’s contribution to changing the face of music, art, culture, and politics after reading Siphiwo Mahala’s biography of Can Themba and presenting a paper on The Mega Divas of Sophiatown at a symposium held by the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study to commemorate 70 years of Drum Magazine.

She calls it a labor of love and says she will be relieved when she gives it over to the publishers for evaluation at the end of January. She says it is the first of many projects she intends to complete to place Rathebe in her proper historical position.

She also intends to produce a biopic and a documentary.

As the daughter of freedom fighter and Morris Isaacson High School teacher Fanyana Mazibuko, she was also exposed to the history, music, and personalities that have created South Africa. She also has her own recollections of her parents’ friends, such as Makeba and Mbulu.

“The daughter of Mam’ Dolly, Ntsiki [Duru], and her grandson, Tshepo [Duru], have been very helpful. Through conversing with Ntsiki, I perceive a small portion of her character. “Tshepo has the same affinity for clothing as his grandmother; he used to select many of her outfits for her performances,” she recalls.

Mazibuko Msimang, who holds a doctorate in African literature from Wits University, is also marking the 20th anniversary of the publication of her first novella for adolescents, In the Fast Lane, by New Africa Books.

She has authored five further works for young adults: A Mozambican Summer (2005), Spring Offensive (2006), Love Songs for Nheti (2006), Freedom Song (2008), and Qhawe! (2021).

Her debut novel, Daughters of Nandi, a 200-year-long historical fiction published in 2021 and inspired by the Zulu queen Nandi, entered the list of 100 Notable African Books of 2022 published by Brittle Papers at the end of November.

She shared the Chairperson’s Award at the 2022 South African Literature Awards with poet Lebo Mashile in appreciation of her body of work over the previous 30 years. The award was presented on November 7, 2022.

Last year on June 16, Mazibuko Msimang published her autobiographical children’s book, Soweto Tea Party, which is based on her personal experiences during the 1970s and 1980s, when her father was kept under house arrest by the apartheid state.

For the latest breaking news in South Africa, follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here. Click here to subscribe to Sunday World.

Phumla Mkize


»Mazibuko Msimang’s latest piece honors SA’s first black film star«

↯↯↯Read More On The Topic On TDPel Media ↯↯↯