A memorial service for John Matshikiza, an award-winning journalist, actor and writer, will be held at the Bassline in Newtown, Johannesburg, at 12pm on Friday, a family spokesperson said on Wednesday.
”All who wish to pay their respects and celebrate the life of this extraordinary man are invited to attend,” she said in a statement.
Matshikiza collapsed and died of a heart attack in a restaurant in Melville on Monday. He was 54.
The family was not yet able to give interviews to the press. ”The shock of his passing has rendered the Matshikiza family unable to grant interviews to the press at this time.
”The family have expressed their deepest thanks for the flood of sympathy and love that has come from all corners of the country and of the world,” the statement said.
Matshikiza, who was a long-time contributor to the Mail & Guardian, was born in Johannesburg in 1954 and grew up in Lusaka and London. While in London, he trained in drama and also worked in theatre, television and film as an actor, director and writer.
He also lived in the United States, Amsterdam and various African countries including Senegal, where he was director of the department of culture of the Gorée Institute for some time, according to an entry on the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s website.
He returned to South Africa in 1991 and directed plays at the Market and Windybrow theatres, wrote and directed documentaries and dramas for television and appeared in various films.
He was also a columnist and feature writer for newspapers, including the M&G, where his With the Lid Off column ran from several years from the mid-Nineties. — Sapa