MaNdebele Photo Gallery to host legendary lensman Sam Msibi

By Tonderai Chiyindiko | All Pictures by Sam Msibi.

MaNdebele Photo Gallery founded by photographer, gallerist and creative entrepreneur Gopolang Ledwaba will be hosting award-winning veteran camera-guru Sam Msibi for a conversation which promises to shed light into the work of the celebrated former SABC lensman.

As one of the most vibrant cultural spaces in the community of Braamfischerville in Soweto, the gallery is quietly fashioning itself as a space for not only photography, but also as a safe space for young people to learn various aspects of photography and important life skills which can empower them to imagine life beyond their circumstances.

In this first ever Artist Talk to be hosted at the MaNdebele Photo Gallery, the selection of Sam Msibi as the first guest is more than fitting and is testament to his decades-long work as one of the first black news camera operators to be employed by the public broadcaster where he covered among other key events conflicts in Rwanda and Somalia as well as in the Middle East.

For gallery founder and director, Gopolang Ledwaba, hosting someone of the ilk of Sam Msibi is part of what he sees as his photo gallery’s key role of ensuring that intergenerational conversations take place between celebrated veterans like Sam Msibi and the younger generation of visual storytellers who are blazing their own path in a post-apartheid South Africa.

“Bab’ Msibi carries an important and powerful story—one that holds a deep and personal history of South Africa”, says Ledwaba.

Sam Msibi, though now retired, has received several accolades in his celebrated career and is also an accomplished author who has chronicled his life and work in a book called The Accidental Frontline Journalist.

The Artist Talk will take place on Saturday 26 April 2025 at MaNdebele Photo Gallery, Braamfischerville, Soweto from 11h00-13h00.