On 23 January 2018, Hugh Masekela passed away peacefully at his home in Johannesburg, South Africa surrounded by his family. He died after a battle with prostate cancer. In March 2016, he underwent eye surgery when the doctors found out his cancer had spread. The same year in September he had to have surgery again after another tumour was discovered.

Masekela was born in KwaGuqa Township in Witbank, Mpumalanga Province. He started to sing and play the piano at a young age.  At the age of 14 after seeing a film of a ‘young man with a horn’, he began to play the trumpet. His first trumpet was from Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, an anti-apartheid Christian priest at St Peter's Secondary School.  He then mastered the trumpet and joined Alfred Herbert’s African Jazz Revue.

On 12 May 2018, legendary photographer Sam Nzima passed away at the age of 83 in hospital in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga. Nzima was born in Lillydale a small village in Bushbuck Ridge, Limpopo. He grew up in a farm where his father worked and his family lived.  Nzima’s  teacher had a camera and he was interested to see pictures coming out from a box, and then he bought himself a small Kodak Box Brownie.

During the school holidays, he used to go to the Kruger National Park and charge people to take their photographs. This legendary photographer is known for taking the picture of Hector Pieterson during the 1976 Soweto uprising. Hector Pieterson was shot by the apartheid police in 1976 when students in Soweto where fighting against the imposition of Afrikaans. Nzima leaves behind his wife, a son, Thulani, and family. He was buried at the Sam Nzima’s legacy museum and cultural village site at Lillydale B (Mabarhule), Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga.

On 24 October 2018, Jabulani Tsambo, who was also known as HHP, passed away at the age of 38. Details of his death were not clear, but reports suggested that it was a possible suicide as he was suffering from depression. Tsambo was one of the iconic Motswako rappers. He was well known as Jabba who released hits including Tswaka, Jabba, Harambe, Mpitse, Music and Lights, Bosso ke Mang and others. Although he did not start the style, Jabulani was considered as a Motswako icon.

Tsambo started his music career with a group called Verbal Assassins. He had international collaborations with people like Omar Retnu, Lutan Fyah and Amerie. Tsambo was married to former television personality and socialite Lerato Sengadi.  He was buried at Heroes Acre at the Mmabatho cemetery in Mafikeng, North West.

On 30 June 1968, Rebecca Malope was born in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga (then Eastern Transvaal).  She became well known after winning the Shell Road to Fame talent search in 1987, with a soulful rendition of the spiritual Sizwe Zako composition, Shine On. When Malope noticed she was not doing well in pop music, she switched to gospel music.

In 1990 she won the OKTV award as the Best Female artist. Despite winning the competition, she struggled to find a recording company until she met Mike Fuller of Fuller Artists Management Enterprise to record her first album Sthembele kuwe.

After her first album she went back home to look for her mother. When she arrived there, she found her mother sleeping in an abandoned caravan in Witbank. Malope then bought her mother a three bedroom house in Spruitview, Gauteng. In 1993, it was estimated that more than one million listeners voted for her as Best Local Established Artist in the Coca Cola Full Blast Music Award Music Show. Rebecca continued with her music career and received an honorary doctorate in 2003 from the University of Natal (now University of KwaZulu Natal – UKZN) for her contribution to music. 

On 23 February 2019, Dorothy Masuka died at her home, surrounded by her children and grandchildren, after suffering from hypertension.

Dorothy Masuka was born on 3 September 1935 in Zimbabwe. Her father was originally from Zambia and her mother from Natal (now KwaZulu Natal), South Africa. In 1947, Masuka moved to live with her aunt in South Africa. Masuka is known for her contribution to jazz in South Africa and the entire world.  Masuka’s talent was discovered when she was singing at a school concert at St. Thomas Catholic Boarding School in Johannesburg. At the age of sixteen she signed up at Troubadour Records.

During her teenage years, she released about 30 singles and most of them achieved hit status. This is when she started to be a top recording star. One of her famous song was ‘Hamba Nontsokolo’ which created fame and introduced her to professional music. In 1961 Masuka wrote a song to pay tribute to Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  She continued to release more songs until one of her songs about apartheid laws was banned. She then went into exile where she spent time in Malawi and Tanzania.

While she was in exile, she campaigned for the liberation of people through music.
Masuka will be missed for her contribution to music and the role she played in the fight against apartheid. At the time of her death, Dorothy Masuka was based in Yeoville, Johannesburg.