Hamba Kahle Ngamla
By Edward Tsumele
When news of the eventual and true demise of legendary actor Menzi ‘Ngmla’ Ngubane broke out on Saturday,, a relative of mine woke me up on Saturday evening to tell me that he was gone. And on Sunday, morning, I received yet another message from a friend on my phone relating to this actor: “I heard one of these Menzi Ngubane rumours before- is this really true now?”
My son, Edward Junior, who is 13, likened Ngubane’s bad guy character on Generations that he executed so well to that of poet turned actor Masoja Msiza, Inkunzi, in Uzalo, the country’s number 1 soapie that like Generations, The Legacy, where the late Ngubane plied his trade.
All this points out to the fact that Ngubane in short has left an indelible mark on the country’s TV acting scene as he played the bad guy characters so well that it became difficult for producers to cast him in another character, for example playing softie. In fact the bad guy characters that he played, he managed to immortalise to an extent that they will be etched in public consciousness for a long time to come, perhaps maybe even outliving the legend’s life.
Ngubane was a natural actor whose bad guy characters people had embraced so well. It perhaps was not a surprise when during his lifetime, rumour mongers killed him several times. Ngubane’s TV acting exploits had become the stuff that legend is made of.
Ngubane, 56, who died of stroke related complications at his home in Lady Smith KZN, will be remembered by many for his acting gifts and abilities for a long time to come.
Hamba Kahle Mgamla.
