‘A brother and comrade’ — John Kani remembers Athol Fugard

It was in 1965 when everything looked so very bleak in my life living in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth. The Eastern Cape was a wasteland of pain and suffering. All the people we knew were either in detention, in exile or killed.

As young men, we were standing by eagerly to be secretly shuttled out of the country to join Umkhonto we Sizwe to train to be the soldiers who would liberate our country, South Africa.

A friend, Fats Bokholan, told me about a group of actors called the Serpent Players Drama Group who were performing plays in the township. He asked whether I would like to join the group. He told me they were doing a play called Antigone by Sophocles. This excited me, so I said yes.

I arrived at the place where the group was rehearsing. I knew most of the people in the room except for a white guy who was with them. I was a bit surprised that these militant guys, who I knew from New Brighton, were working with a white person. Fats started to introduce me to everyone and finally to the white guy. Fats said: “John, this is Athol. Athol, this is John”. That was the beginning of a whole new chapter in my life, and a lifelong friendship.

Athol, Winston Ntshona and I worked together through the very difficult times of the 1960s, creating and performing in plays that examined the conditions under which black people lived during apartheid. Of course, this immediately attracted the interest of the security police, who hounded the group’s every performance and even extended this to our private lives. However, through all the difficult times Athol stayed with us.

In 1972 Winston, Athol and I created Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and in 1973 together we created The Island and, as they say, the rest is history.

Athol was my brother and my comrade in the struggle for the liberation of our country, and my friend for life. No one can tell the story of protest theatre without mentioning the names of Athol Fugard, Winston Ntshona and myself.

With their deaths, I must accept that my two beautiful friends are gone. I feel so alone. My only comfort is the memories of the two giants of South African theatre and the struggle for a better life for all.

Athol believed in me and my anger and I believed in him and his cool temperament and that the use of words is a more powerful weapon of change.

I will miss him very much. 

Athol, you have been an inspiration to your fellow theatre practitioners your entire life. You are a giant of South African storytelling. Your words and works have impacted so many peoples’ lives, inspiring them, uplifting them and educating them.

Hamba Qhawe lamaQhawe. Your work is done. Rest in peace, my true and loyal friend.

• Dr John Kani is a veteran actor, director and playwright who was honoured with the esteemed Order of the British Empire.