On 18 March 2017, legendary actor Joe Mafela passed away on his way home from Soweto, after he was involved in a car accident in Johannesburg. According to Edna Mamonyane, Metro police spokesperson, the accident occurred at around 10pm on the M1 North, a road between Oxford and Houghton Drive.
Joe Mafela was born in Sibasa, Limpopo in 1942. Mafela’ s acting career started in 1964, when he featured in a film by Peter Hunt, ‘Real News’. His popularity increased after he starred in Zulu language sitcom, “Sgudi ‘Snaysi”.In this film, he played the leading character, named ‘Sdumo’. Joe Mafela worked as a producer in the South African film industry twenty years amongst other creative pursuits such as releasing his own album, “Shebeleza”.