By Sandile Ngidi

For most South Africans 1994 marked with a big X the long-overdue climax of their long walk to freedom alongside Nelson Mandela. However for kwaito and R&B phenomenon Lebo Mathosa, who died in a car accident early on Monday morning in Germiston, 1994 was the start of new music revolution in the townships of .

The new dawn meant that unless the township youth did something radical to get into the groove of the times, they would be out-of-step with the rhythm of the moment. Many of them had been born after the children of Soweto had already etched their names into history with stones and fire. To them Tsietsi Mashinini, Kgotso Seathlolo, the toyi-toyi and the black power salute were fast becoming fairy tale material. Some of these children had been born in 1977 the year Steve Biko was murdered for composing freedom songs and dreaming in colours that would make the future of all South Africans bright and positive. 

One of these children was Lebogang Mathosa the child of Magdalene and Gerrit Mathosa. She was born in 1977 in Dayeyton township on the East Rand . In that year Umkhonto Wesizwe cadre Solomon Mahlangu was sentenced to death for raising an AK47 against the apartheid state – the political temperature in the country was getting hotter by the day. It is in this township where Lebo spent the better part of her childhood life, save for a few years in Pietersburg.  After having gone to primary school and attended high school at among others St Mary’s College in Johannesburg , she fell for showbiz and never looked back.

Lebo, like her peers, had reached her teens in the late 80s when theatre magician Mbongeni Ngema had already reconfigured the Soweto ’76 story and rendered it for the stage through his hit musical Sarafina.  She was among those young people who knew Leleti Khumalo but knew virtually nothing about Victoria Mxenge, let alone Lillian Ngoyi and Dora Tamara of the 1956 women’s march fame. Lebo knew Mr. T of the television series A-Team but had heard nothing of Zakes Mokae and Dambuza Mdledle – two exiled South Africans who had opened new frontiers in the international film scene. She was among late South African pop sensation Brenda Fassie’s ‘children’. Elated township parents those days had used Fassie’s 1983 hit Weekend Special as a lullaby or an incentive for these children to eat their cereals.  No wonder almost all could sing Brenda’s songs from start to finish, and to this day, remain the generation that likes to party throughout the night. 

Born as the apartheid monster was loosing its poisonous fangs, this generation turned Brenda’s insistence that she would not leave anyone’s party until at least 7am the next day into a holy mantra.  Young as they were, these township souls would redefine the fun landscape in and neighboring countries with their rebellious, at times politically-incorrect and sexually explicit music and dance offering.

As freedom day dawned, these youngsters also wanted to join the long-derailed khushukhushu freedom train. They too wanted to enjoy the big party their elders had brought. These were ingenious young souls of a free Soweto, Zola, Daveyton and other ghettos near Johannesburg .  They would not let the historical tide pass them unnoticed. Kwaito was their defiant answer, their Amandla! From 1994 onwards this music blend became the unofficial freedom song in the lips and bones of every black youth in . 

Whilst in the 60s, 70s and 80s the politically charged had their heroes in Onkgopotse Tiro, Steve Biko and Peter Mokaba, the kwaito dance-floor revolutionaries also had their generals.  These generals included Christos Katsaitis, Mdu Masilela, Lindelani Mkhize, Oscar "Warona" Mdlongwa and later Arthur ‘Vuvuzela” Mafokate. Kwaito had arrived – and had managed to fuse American and European house with ’s township disco.  It was the age of the African bass lines, pumping drum, kick-arse dance beats and graffiti. This youth music battalion would create a hip new song through slightly re-arranging the tempo of the juicy parts of a song from a vinyl record, add local lingo and keep on replaying it with two turntables and a mixer.

Lebo Mathosa was part of this revolution. She was only 16 in 1994 when she shot into prominence as one of the lead vocalists and dancers for Boom Shaka. The multi-platinum-selling group comprising Mathosa, Thembi Seate, Junior Sokhela and Theo Nhlengethwa was something hitherto unseen in . Boasting a township suss, it was a classy and inventive entertainment AK47. From the belly of the beast in Hillbrow’s Europa Hotel to Durban ’s Xanadu nightclub and many other ‘unsavoury’ places, it did not matter. Wherever their new gospel was wanted, Boom Shaka came full force and delivered the good news – their elders had once told them of the day when the people shall govern. For Lebo Mathosa and her contemporaries it was through kwaito that the young people of a liberated were to govern.

She was kwaito’s brightest star. When she went solo in the late 90s as Boom Shaka fizzled out, she excelled till her swan song. A winner of numerous awards, I saw her strut her stuff with great confidence to receive an award at the 2005 South African Music Awards at Sun City – ’s very own Las Vegas . The moment was electrifying. There she was our self-made empress of the dance floor and the quintessential queen of kwaito the freedom sound of the party-loving back youths.

Like her heroine Brenda Fassie, Lebo had her naughty moments. In 1999 when I worked for the TV soap Generations one day we had to drive through downtown Jo'burg in search of the elusive star, she had to shoot that day for a cameo role on the soap and was nowhere to be seen. Whilst pretty eccentric in her own right, overall Lebo was one of the gentlest of souls with a sense of respect that sang so much about her childish charm.


With her 2004 release Drama Queen – Lebo proved she was unstoppable at the Kora Awards the same year.  In May this year alongside Mandoza and artists from other parts of Africa , Lebo helped launch MTV's global network of 69 music TV channels, showcasing African talent to 418.8 million households in 164 countries worldwide. Last month she was in London after being nominated for MOBO Awards that were broadcast live on BBC3.

Only two weeks ago Lebo treated her legion of fans at the 2006 Nokia Jammin' Concert in Newtown, Johannesburg ’s unofficial live music headquarters alongside 38 other sizzling local acts.

Lebo leaves ’s thriving yet trying music industry seven months after the death of talented R&B singer Tsakane ‘TK’ Mhinga. TK also aged 27 died in a drug binge in a northern suburb Johannesburg hotel in March.

After her icon Brenda Fassie had died in 2004, Lebo told a local newspaper that death was inevitable for all of us. Her solace was in the knowledge that “God has a better place for us, if you’re a believer.” So long Lebo. So long young and pleasant treasure of Etwatwa.

Additional articles about Boom Shaka

Free to funk it up - A Celebration of Democracy Pop Culture
South Africa Sunday Times
Boom Shaka wrote the anthems for a'born-free' generation eager to carve out its own politics and culture with a seductive sense of fun, writes Bongani Madondo, from South Africa’s Sunday Times. [read full article]

Pop band rocks industry
Electronic Mail & Guardian
Dance music stars Boom Shaka look set to sever ties with the label that created them. Maria McCloy asks them why. [read full article]

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