Obituary: Johnny Dimba, writer of maskandi hit, champion of artists' legal rights

l1953-2015: Johnny Dimba, who has died at the age of 61, wrote and recorded one of the most popular and enduring hit songs in Zulu.

After being in the first intake of black SABC TV presenters in 1982, when he presented a popular music, entertainment and lifestyle programme in Zulu, he switched professions to devote himself to protecting the rights of musicians he felt were being robbed by avaricious music producers and broadcasters.

Dear Msakazi, which he wrote 30 years ago, is a song about the difficulty of communicating with one's loved one in the homelands, when finding a shop with a working public phone, having the right change ready, getting through at last, battling to hear each other, then being cut off and having to start all over again was an often heart-wrenching ordeal.

It is still a favourite on radio because of its poignant echoes of a history that many people can relate to, and because of its beautiful poeticism. It has been incorporated into the school Zulu curriculum.

The poetic quality of many of his songs brought dignity and respect to maskandi, which, before him and the days of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, was looked down on as music for illiterate country bumpkins.

He was a prolific songwriter - when travelling from Durban to Johannesburg by car he would sometimes regale fellow passengers with renditions of his songs for most of the journey without repeating a song - but recorded only a fraction of what he wrote.

He had an extraordinary memory. His great inspiration as a poet was Professor Ottie Nxumalo, whose 42-page poem Bathandekile Dimba could recite effortlessly until shortly before his death.

Dimba was born in Durban on July 21 1953. He cut short his career as a musician and TV and radio presenter to study law after seeing how badly many musicians were ripped off and in effect robbed of the money their work deserved and made for radio stations and record producers.

He obtained BProc and LLB law degrees from the universities of Zululand and Venda, did his articles at Shepstone & Wylie, practised as an attorney at Jacobs & Partners and worked as a legal adviser at Absa before establishing a foundation to empower musicians and teach them how to use the law to protect their work.

As a specialist in the field of intellectual property, he served on advisory panels to the Ministry of Arts and Culture, developing policy and lobbying for the government to recognise arts and culture as part of poverty alleviation and job creation.

However, he was frustrated by the red tape of government institutions.

He found it more satisfying to work with artists on a one-on-one basis to give them the intellectual tools to run their careers successfully and reap the benefits of their own creativity.

He was popularly known as "Incwasimende" for his immaculate dress sense and debonair personality.

Dimba, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in February last year , is survived by his wife, "Tops", and two sons.