Mbongeni Ngema, South African playwright and creator of ‘Sarafina!’, is killed in a car crash at 68
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Renowned South African playwright, producer and composer Mbongeni Ngema, the creator of the Broadway hit “Sarafina!”, has died in a car crash at the age of 68.
That’s according to his family. Ngema was killed in a head-on accident while returning from a funeral in a rural town in Eastern Cape province.
The celebrated playwright was best known for writing “Sarafina!”, which premiered on Broadway in 1988.
It was adapted into a musical drama starring Whoopi Goldberg in 1992 and became an international success, being nominated for Tony and Grammy awards.
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22439726
“Sarafina!” told the story of a student and how she inspired her peers to fight against racial segregation in apartheid South Africa after her favorite teacher, played by Goldberg, was thrown in jail for protesting against the system.
Apartheid was an institutionalized system that discriminated against non-whites and ensured South Africa was ruled by the minority white population from 1948 until the first all-race democratic elections in 1994.
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