The Queen of the Streets of Johannesburg Maria McCloy given a deserved and dignified send off by a creative sector she helped build

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

The late former journalist, publicist and fashion designer, Maria McCloy, for a number of gigs that she worked on as a publicist, be it Thandiswa Mazwai’s concert, or Fete De La Musique festival, was successful in filling up venues partly due to her communication skills within the creative and cultural sector, and partly as a result of the peculiarity of the artist or the festival or concert she would be working on. It also helped that she was well networked within the creative and culturally sector.

Paradoxically, Maria filled up the Nelson Mandela Theatre, up to the rafters during her memorial service held at Joburg Theatre on Wednesday. She passed on, Tuesday last week at Milpark hospital, reportedly due to heart failure.

The irony of filling up the Mandela Theatre was not lost on the creative and cultural industry’s consciousness, where the creative sector gathered in big numbers to honour one of their own. Just as she filled up venues with fans for concerts, due to her superior marketing skills, friends, colleagues and those whose life has interacted with hers in the creative sector camein big numbers to honour Maria.

Heart felt speeches were made. Emotions were expressed. Emotionally charged tears, were shed on stage by those who loved her during her life time. That was a recognition of a life fully lived and yet, taken away at the relative young age of 50. Maria turned 50 recently, and the several parties to mark that turning point in her life, were still the talk of the town before they were rudely interrupted by her sudden demise.

Based on observations and listening to emotional speeches from friends and colleagues during the memorial service, from Malaika Mazwai, Thandiswa Mazwai’s daughter, to fashion designer Thula Sindi, it became clear that the sector was in pain as a result of loss of a life that loved a lot and made friends with many.

Maria, became clear during the memorial service, was a marketer for artists in this country, and her skills in communication were valuable to the sector.

For example, it was not unusual to go to a music venue promoting a concert and find it full with music lovers, due partly to Maria’s communication skills and marketing ability for live shows. And her network within the cultural and creative sector in the country, was tight, from musicians to fashion designers, as well as the media at large.

Many a musician relied on her to fill up venues for live shows as a marketer and communicator. It was therefore, ironic that Maria filled up the Mandela Theatre at Joburg Theatre, which takes up to 1000 bums on seats on Wednesday, May, 20, 2026, at her memorial service. It looks like in death, just as in life, Maria was influential with regards to contemporary culture. Though her career in the communications field took off initially as a trainee journalist at Mail & Guardian newspaper in the 1990s, in later years, she made an impact as a recording company executive, TV producer and pioneer in youth lifestyle culture through Outrageous Records. It was a youth initiative active in popular music, lifestyle and TV production, as well as publishing.

Maria co-founded the company with friends Dzino and Kutloana, friends she met during their years at Rhodes University.

Dzino, Kutloano, Thula Sindi, Pula Masekela and Malaika Mazwai, were among a number of people who spoke about the life and times of Maria McCloy.

Personally, our paths crossed at a number of events over the years, as we needed to interact because of the work both of us did. She as a publicist for mainly festivals, and I, as a journalist, and editor of CITYLIFE/ARTS.

But most importantly, our paths first crossed for the first time during the Yeoville days in the 1990s, when the suburb was a vibrant haven for creativity and intellectual engagement. Maria as others left the suburb to other areas, particularly wealthier suburbs in the north, in later years as its fortunes went down, losing its social, political and intellectual currency, remained. Till the very end of its glory days. She live in the famous West Minister Mansion apartment block till her apartment burnt down only a few years ago, forcing her to leave and live in Killarney. It would not be a live to suggest though that Maria being Maria, her heart was still in Yeoville, even as the suburb’s fortune changed.

With her demise, speaker after speaker spoke fondly of Maria and how she was generous, and connected people with like-minded people and creatives with the media.

In Maria, the creative industry in Johannesburg, has therefore, lost a valuable friend, a trusted aunty, a designer who defined style for her generation, and a connected publicist, who assisted many an artist with the right media platform. She will be missed.

Maria was someone who knew the streets of Johannesburg very well, set her foot where others feared to tread, and made friends easily with both the powerful and influential and wealthy in the northern suburbs as she did with the ordinary in the streets of Johannesburg. She was therefore, in some circles, called the Queen of the Streets of Johannesburg, and that was not for nothing. The mourning that took place at Joburg Theatre was in recognition of one of Johannesburg’s iconic cultural figures in touch with the pulse of the city and its streets.

Therefore, her memorial service with poet Lebo Mashile taking charge as the programmes director, was befitting for a multi-dimensional creative who took as much from the city as she enriched its streets in terms of style and culture.

The creative sector therefore, gave her a deserved and dignified send off to the other World. Rest in peace Maria McCloy, the Queen of the Streets of Johannesburg. Your contribution to enrich African culture with music, journalism and design, has been recognised in your absentia.