Humour was Joe Mafela’s forte

He inspired black copywriters to make it in a sector stubbornly resisting transformation, writes

WHEN Living Legends Legacy Projects decided to honour Joe Mafela last month for his milestone contribution to the arts scene, he politely declined and graciously suggested they should pay tribute to Sam Mhangwani, his peer and the unsung Thespian of township theatre.

Mafela subsequently attended the ceremony in Diepkloof Hall, Soweto where he spoke glowingly about Mhangwani’s thankless but outstanding contribution to theatre and the live music scene.

It was a rare gesture of unselfishness and selflessness. Mafela was not turning down the honour but he was reminding those who wanted to celebrate him that there were equally deserving artists who were being overlooked for such praises despite their bequest to subsequent generations. And indeed the 74-year-old artist’s legacy will loom larger following his tragic passing in Joburg after a car accident on Saturday night.

He was a colossus who left lasting imprints in film, TV, stage and music. Mafela was also a torch-bearer in the advertising world.

He inspired young, black and aspiring copywriters that it was possible to make it in a sector that’s notorious for being stubbornly resistant to the transformation agenda. He became a respected creative director at some of the country’s top advertising agencies such as BBDO.

Despite his larger-than-life accomplishments in various fields, there were never airs and graces about him.

He projected his unassuming, amiable and approachable personality to the “everyman” screen characters that he played with so much aplomb and finesse.

Humour was his forte. And he was a peerless comic genius in the sitcom genre – black or white. Mafela belonged to a generation of gifted and well-loved funny men that included Ndaba “Mshefane” Mhlongo, Bingo “Bentley” Mbotshana and Ray “Velaphi” Ntlokwana. Sadly, they have since passed on. But he has undoubtedly represented them very well.

Born Joseph Daw Mafela on June 26, 1942 in Sibasa, Venda, he was raised in Joburg where he fell in love with movies and acting from a very young age. Acting was a passion that was only rivalled by his love for football. He played as a goalkeeper for Moroka Swallows junior side.

As a musician Mafela later reminisced about those glorious years of South African football in one of his songs from his debut album, Shebeleza. It came as no surprise when the title track was selected as a theme song for the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations. The year 1964 was a significant year for local cinema when he made his debut as a 22-year-old, playing the role of a newspaper editor in the movie Real News.

The director Peter Hunt was a renowned British filmmaker who has distinguished himself as editor and director of James Bond spy thrillers such as From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964) and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969).

Ken Gampu made his first movie appearance in 1964 when he appeared in Jamie Uys’s Dingaka (1964) alongside British film star Stanley Baker. The role made Gampu the first internationally recognised local black actor.

Another film that was released in that year was Zulu, starring Baker as Lt John Chard and Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi as King Cetshwayo, his great-grandfather.

The film commemorates the Battle of Rorke’s Drift after the humiliation of the British imperial forces at Isandlwana.

Mafela was involved in Zulu as assistant director. It was a part he subsequently played for a number of international films.

Mafela’s role of Peter Pleasure in the all-black cast feature film, uDeliwe (1975) alongside Cynthia Shange, Simon Sabela Mabhunu, Sol Rachilo and the late Sidney Chama brought his acting talent to the spotlight. It is a memorable character that confirmed his place in the pantheon of local film stars. UDeliwe has become the only local production to have been reincarnated twice – as a feature film and television series. It started as a radio drama.

He was involved in another Peter Huntdirected film, Shout at the Devil (1976), based on a Wilbur Smith novel of the same name – a war movie with Roger Moore and Lee Marvin in the lead roles.

Shot in South Africa in 1975, its creators hyped the two-hour, thirty-minutes long epic as “filmed with all the spectacle of King Solomon’s Mines, the drama of African Queen, the passion of Snows of Kilimanjaro and the majesty of Lawrence of Arabia, a spectacular adventure you will always remember and a beautiful love story you will never forget”.

Shout at the Devil was released in Britain and the US in 1976 to critical acclaim but left a bitter taste in the mouths of the cultural boycott activists. Although TV was introduced to local audiences in 1976, black TV only became a reality in the 1980s.

After serialising African American sitcoms in local languages for a few years, in 1986 black TV eventually got its homebrewed sitcom, Sgudi Snaysi (It’s Good, It’s Nice). Ironically, the creators had initially thought of a crime series with a political twist based on the Msomis and Spoilers, the notorious gangsters of the 1950s.

The working title was The Life and Times of Badman Sibisi with the script by the late Drum editor, Stanley Motjuwadi. But when creative producer Roberta Durrant presented the idea on behalf of Penguin Films, the SABC bigwigs were not impressed. They advised Durrant to create a comedy series.

Her initial idea was a series with an all-female cast to celebrate women.

“But on second thought I realised that the production could do with some male energy, and that’s how the character of S’dumo, an eccentric lodger who worked as a night watchman, was conceived,” she remembers. Durrant recalled that when she was introduced to Mafela in 1985 she instantly knew that he was the actor for the S’dumo role.

It was an everyman character that has since endeared him to millions of TV viewers even beyond the country’s borders. He brought to it the common touch of an ordinary man in mathanda kitchen outfits. Sgudi Snaysi was a hit from the first episode and managed to hold viewers’ interest for more than five years during its run of six seasons and 78 episodes.

Written by Richard Beynon with Durrant as creative producer, the series marked the beginning of the sitcom genre for local television – at least on black channels. Several accolades it received included The Star Tonight Awards (1991) in the Best Actor, Best Script and Best Drama categories.

Their next production, the hilarious Going Up! took the sitcom genre to greater heights.

Madam & Eve started life in the Weekly Mail (now Mail & Guardian) from 1992 as a comic strip about life in the new South Africa. In 2000 Penguin Films adapted the strip to a sitcom to be aired on the new e.tv channel.

They added a black male character that was not part of the cartoon strip. His name was Sol, another everyday character who worked as a handyman and gardener. Of course, he was portrayed by Joe Mafela alongside Tina Jaxa (Eve Sisulu), Val Donald Bell (Gwen “Madam” Anderson), Jenny (neighbour Marge) and Pat Sanders as the Madam’s mother. Sanders died in 2005 when the show was still running.

It scooped an international award in Switzerland for best sitcom ahead of 30 submissions from around the world.

In his illustrious career he has inspired and mentored a generation of performers, notably actor Patrick Shai whom he groomed from 1977 when both of them were in the Mzumba musical.

In 2015 he became the recipient of the Comics Choice Lifetime Achiever Award.

At the time of his death he was playing the role of uncle Tebogo Moroka in Generations – The Legacy.

Penguin Films was developing a comedy series based on the Sdumo and Biza characters.

The latter is played by Tshamano Sebe in the multi-award-winning and long-runing sitcom, Stokvel (2002-2012), Mafela’s brainchild.

He is survived by his wife, four children and six grandchildren. Sam Mathe is the Editor and Publisher of Jazz Life Magazine