ATHOL Fugard, the apartheid-defying dramatist widely acclaimed as one of South Africa’s greatest playwrights, has died aged 92, BBC News reported.
The son of an Afrikaner mother, he was best known for his politically charged plays challenging the racist regime.
Paying tribute to Fugard, South Africa’s Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie hailed him as “a fearless storyteller who laid bare the harsh realities of apartheid through his plays”.
“We were cursed with apartheid, but blessed with great artists who shone a light on its impact and helped to guide us out of it. We owe a huge debt to this late, wonderful man,” McKenzie added.
Fugard wrote more than 30 plays in a career that spanned 70 years, making his mark with The Blood Knot in 1961.
It was the first play in South Africa with a black and white actor — Fugard himself — performing in a front of a multiracial audience, before the apartheid regime introduced laws prohibiting mixed casts and audiences.
The Blood Knot catapulted Fugard onto the international stage — with the play shown in the US, and adapted for British television.
The apartheid regime later confiscated his passport, but it strengthened Fugard’s resolve to keep breaking racial barriers and exposing the injustices of apartheid.
He went on to work with the Serpent Players, a group of black actors, and performed in black townships, despite harassment from the apartheid regime’s security forces.
Fugard’s celebrated plays included Boesman and Lena, which looked at the difficult circumstances of a mixed-race couple. Having premiered in 1969, it was made into a film in 2000 starring Danny Glover and Angela Bassett.
His novel, Tsotsi, was also made into a film, winning the 2006 Oscar for best foreign language movie.
Other well-known plays by him include Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island, which he co-wrote with the actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona, in a powerful condemnation of life on Robben Island, where anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.
Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2025
