Mbongeni Ngema’s family does not recognise pregnant second wife

The family of renowned playwright, musician and producer Mbongeni Ngema has dismissed claims made by Yolanda “Wanda” Moncho that she is his second wife. Ngema, who was publically married to Nompumelelo Gumede-Ngema, died in hospital after a car crash involving a truck on the R61 in the Mbizana area in the Eastern Cape on 27 December. Speaking to Daily News before the funeral, Ngema’s brother Nhlanhla Ngema said that the family was unaware of the Sarafina! creator’s marriage to Moncho. He said all he had heard was that there was a woman who was managing his brother’s work.

“We heard about the letter which was said to have been written by a woman but we are not aware of her marriage to my brother except hearing that she was his manager.

“For now, we are focusing on burying my brother so we will deal with other things after the funeral,” said Nhlanhla. The response came after Moncho, who claims to be Ngema’s customary wife, threatened to interdict the government from organising the world-famous musician’s burial. She also claims to be four-months pregnant with the 68-year-old’s child.

Moncho had written to the office of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube, who accorded Ngema a provincial funeral at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Durban.

The letter was also addressed to the office of the president of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, offices of the KZN provincial government director-general, KZN MEC for sports, arts and culture, KZN police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, minister of sports, arts and culture Zizi Kodwa and Nhlanhla Ngema.

When asked if Dube-Ncube responded, Moncho told Sunday World that she was not feeling well and had, therefore, not had the time to check or find out.

Sello Maake kaNcube says Mbongeni Ngema was on path to clean his name before death

Veteran actor Sello Maake kaNcube said musician and playwright Mbongeni Ngema was on a path toward redeeming his name before his passing.

The Sarafina! creator died in a car crash on his way back from a funeral in Eastern Cape on Wednesday.

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While Ngema was remembered for creating the internationally recognized Sarafina! film, a cloud of controversy also hung over his name.

Though some people might have sung along to Ngema’s music, and some might have also shed a tear while watching some of his films, some had completely different experiences with the man.

Both his ex-wives, Xoliswa Nduneni Ngema and Leleti Khumalo, accused Ngema of abuse during their marriages.

Maake kaNcube, who described Ngema as a gift to the arts fraternity, said the musician recognised his mistakes and committed to renewing his brand.

“I’ve had conversations with him, and he had so much that he was looking forward to doing. He had hopes of the opportunity to do all those things that he wanted to do and really cleaning up his name, so to speak as well.”

Maake kaNcube said Ngema was one of the people who helped him launch his acting career in a political play he co-wrote in 1981, Woza Albert.

Mbongeni Ngema’s family receive his remains

The Eastern Cape Forensic Pathology services have concluded an autopsy on veteran playwright Mbongeni Ngema.

Ngema died shortly after being attended by doctors at Adelaide and OR Tambo Memorial Hospital in Mbizana on Wednesday after a car crash involving a truck on the R61. As tributes for Ngema flood social media timelines, his family received his remains.

“The Ngema family identified his body at the hospital earlier today [Thursday]. The department conducted the autopsy and released his body to the family. The body is now en route to KwaZulu-Natal,” the Eastern Cape health department said.

Family spokesperson Nhlanhla Ngema said they were distraught.

“It’s difficult for the family, but we are trying to keep it together. We’ve been communicating. We are not all in the same place, but we’ve assigned people to do different things,” said Nhlanhla.

Mbongeni Ngema’s granddaughter details horrific rape ordeal: They stabbed my vag!na and gang rap3d me

The granddaughter of internationally acclaimed playwright has opened up about her rape and gang-rape ordeals in two separate incidents in Kwazulu-natal about two decades ago.

Ayanda Ngema, whose grandfather is award-winning playwright Mbongeni Ngema, said she was raped by the son of their helper when she was four years old. She was later gang-raped by three men.

The gang-rape resulted in her suffering from urinary incontinence and loss of bowel control.

Ayanda, 26, revealed the ordeals in two memoirs – They Raped Me, Now So What? and Life After Rape – which were published between October last year and last month.

Ayanda said the first rape happened at her parental home in Umhlanga Rocks in 1999. She had followed the domestic worker’s son into his mother’s room that was detached from the main house, she wrote.

He grabbed her and threw her on his mother’s bed and told her to trust her. He then raped her and threatened to kill her parents if she told anyone.

“From there, I started to experience a severe burning pain when I urinate. I was afraid to tell anyone at home because of what he told me,” she said.

She also detailed that she was stabbed in her private parts and gang-raped by three men at her grandmother’s house in Kwamashu in 2004 when she was nine. Ayanda said the incident happened when her cousin sent her to his friend’s place to give him a R5 coin to buy a cigarette.

She said when she walked in the man’s room, she found him with two other men who were drinking and listening to music, adding that one of them closed the door immediately after she entered the room, drew a knife and ordered her to undress.

“The guy who was holding the knife stabbed me in my vagina, took off my clothes and raped me. When he was done, the other two guys also raped me. At school, I would just wet myself and I also couldn’t control my bowels. Even now in the township, I’m still known as that girl who wets and defecates in her pants,” she said.

Ayanda, who now has two children, said the stabbing left a big scar on her private parts, which she was forced to explain to the father of her kids.

She said she told her mother about her rapes in 2015 when she decided to write a book, noting she has forgiven her violators and would not press charges against them.

University cancels event featuring Mbongeni Ngema after he beat up ex-wife over Leleti Khumalo

The Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) has cancelled an event in which playwright and seasoned actor Mbongeni Ngema was to be the main speaker.

Ngema, who has gender-based violence allegations hanging over his head following claims made by his ex-wife Xoliswa Nduneni-Ngema in her tell-all book, was expected to speak under the theme Arts and Social Justice: The Pursuit of a Nonracial, Non-sexist Democratic South Africa.

According to a flyer on social media, the event was scheduled to take place virtually on August 27.

Other panelists were Tefo Maloka and Gugu Xaba.

The event was to be hosted by Buwa Student newspaper and TUT. In her book, Heart of a Strong

Woman, which was released two weeks ago, Nduneni-Ngema accused her former husband of raping her and beating her to a pulp just before they separated over 20 years ago.

Women in the arts have since voiced their anger on social media over the event, accusing the university of giving a platform to a “woman abuser”. TUT spokesperson Willa de Ruyter confirmed that the event has been cancelled.

“We are having a management meeting on Tuesday and we will comment more on that.”

Ngema said: “The university told me they are cancelling the event because of article published last week. I’m not concerned by the cancellation; I am actually used to these things by now where newspapers write things about

The TUT arts department’s Janine Lewis said she had raised the issue with the university internally.

“When we [performing arts department] saw the poster we were concerned about Mbongeni’s reputation because of the topic. We celebrate him as a brilliant and well-known artist and will not take that away. We just felt the topic was not appropriate with the latest reports that are coming out from his ex-wife.”

– Sowetan