Mbongeni Ngema

Mbongeni Ngema (1955-2023) was a South African playwright, composer, choreographer, and theatrical director from Verulam, in what is now KwaZulu-Natal. He worked across theater and music, writing and staging productions that drew directly on the lives of Black South Africans living under apartheid. He co-wrote the 1981 play Woza Albert! and went on to create several musicals, including Sarafina!, which became his most widely seen work.