Sizwe Sibiya
Loved and Lost: Mncedisi Baldwin Shabangu: 1968 – 2022
Mncedisi Baldwin Shabangu meant many things to many people. He was an actor, a director, a playwright and a theatre director.
Born in KwaMashu in 1968, young Shabangu and his family were forced to move to a township called Kanyamazane in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, by the apartheid government’s Group Areas Act.
He attended Khaliphani Senior Secondary School where he completed matric in 1986.
He later enrolled at Johannesburg’s Market Theatre Laboratory in 1995, reported artSmart. And that is where he perfected and polished his acting skills, appearing in front of live audiences.
In 2004, when Shabangu won the 2004 Standard Bank Young Artist Award, he told artSmart that he had gained enormous experience studying art in London.
“I was very fortunate to be able to study at the Royal National Theatre Studio in London during 1998,” Shabangu had said during the interview.
With vast knowledge in acting, Shabangu directed and acted in well-known stage plays like the satirical ‘Woza Albert’, written by Mbongeni Ngema and Percy Mtwa in 1981.
During the nineties he starred in plays like Orpheus and Ways of Dying, and when the 21st century began he also started directing plays like The Barbershop, Mooi Street Moves, and L.A.T.E in 2003 taking inspiration from the ‘father of theatre’ Gibson Kente.
Award winning playwright his former colleague and close friend Lara Foot Newton applauded his commitment at the 2004 Standard Bank Awards.
After winning awards on stage, Shabangu starred in movies like the Hijack Stories and the 2006 true apartheid activism thriller called Catch A Fire.
His other works on screen include The Dirty Laundry, The Lab, Home Sweet Home and Rhythm City, the ETV drama soapie where he gained popularity and won the SA Film and Television Awards Best Supporting Actor in TV Soap for his portrayal of Khulekani Ngobese.
Shabangu suddenly passed away on Sunday 25 July at the age of 53 after suffering from chest pains, his brother Mthokozisi revealed.
“Mncedisi Shabangu passed away yesternight… May his soul rest in eternal peace,” announced his close friend and colleague Hamilton Dlamini, who plays ‘Banzi’ on Isithembiso TV drama series on his Instagram.
“R.I.P MNCEDISI SHABANGU Dlangamandla, Mbhele oluhlata…uyiqhawe, uyilimile indima yakho…salute mfowethu,” added the heartbroken Dlamini on a separate post.
The family said they would announce memorial and funeral arrangements soon.
