- John Matshikiza
John Matshikiza (
26 November 1954 –15 September 2008 ) was aSouth Africa nactor ,theatre director ,poet andjournalist .John Matshikiza was born in
Johannesburg , South Africa toTodd Matshikiza and Esme Matshikiza. Todd was a renownedjazz pianist ,composer and journalist. Due toapartheid , the Matshikiza family went into exile inLondon in 1961. John was only seven at the time he boarded the ship for London. Later the family moved toLusaka ,Zambia where John completed his schooling and took a degree ineconomics andpolitics . He returned to London to theDrama Centre London to train indrama . While in theUnited Kingdom , he worked for theRoyal Shakespeare Company andGlasgow 'sCitizens Theatre company and also worked intelevision andfilm . He became active in the exiledAfrican National Congress . John also lived in theUnited States ,Netherlands and various African countries includingSenegal , where he was director of the department of culture of the Gorée Institute. While in exile John had two books published, "South Where Her Feet Cool on Ice" (1981) and "Prophets in the Black Sky" (1986).When the African National Congress was unbanned in South Africa in 1991, John returned to South Africa and directed plays at the Market and Windybrow theatres, wrote and directed documentaries and dramas for television and appeared in various films.
Among others, he was seen in "Hijack Stories",
Leon Schuster 's "There's a Zulu On My Stoep ", "Cry Freedom " and 1987's "Mandela ", in which he played the role ofWalter Sisulu . One of John's last acting roles was the villain in the third series of the television series "Hard Copy". John wrote for several South African and foreign publications including theMail & Guardian , where his "With the Lid Off" column ran from several years from the mid-Nineties which was gently critical of the government. In 2002, John won the regional and nationalVodacom Journalist of the Year Award in the specialist category for his column, which appeared in a collection of his and his father Todd's works titled "With the Lid Off: South African Insights from Home and Abroad", published in 2000.In December 2007, John was violently hijacked and became more critical of the goverments failure to curb the high crime rate. Due to the hijacking and
malaria which he contrated on one of his trips in Africa his health started to decline.On the 15 September 2008, John suffered a heart attack in Picobella restaurant in Melville,
Johannesburg and died soon afterwards.References
* [http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-09-16-john-matshikiza-dies-in-joburg John Matshikiza dies in Jo'burg]
Mail & Guardian 16 September 2008.
* [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-matshikiza-poet-actor-journalist-and-activist-936191.html John Matshikiza: Poet, actor, journalist and activist]The Independent 20 September 2008
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