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John Matshikiza (26 November 1954 - 15 September 2008) was aSouth African actor, director oftheatre,poet andjournalist.^[1]

John Matshikiza was born inJohannesburg, South Africa, toTodd Matshikiza –jazzpianist,composer and journalist – and Esme Matshikiza. Due toapartheid, the Matshikiza family went into exile inLondon in1961. John was only seven at the time he boarded the ship for London. Later the family moved toLusaka,Zambia, where John completed his schooling and took a degree ineconomics andpolitics. He returned to London to theCentral School of Speech and Drama to train indrama. While in theUnited Kingdom, he worked for theRoyal Shakespeare Company andGlasgow'sCitizens Theatre company and also worked intelevision andfilm. He became active in the exiledAfrican National Congress, joining Mayibuye, the Cultural Unit of the ANC (he can be heard performing on their album'Spear of the Nation', a collection of poems and songs in Xhosa, Sotho, Zulu, and English). John also lived in theUnited States,Netherlands and various African countries includingSenegal, where he was director of the department of culture of theGorée Institute. While in exile John had two books published:South Where Her Feet Cool on Ice (1981) andProphets in the Black Sky (1986). In 1989, he wrote lyrics for theGrand Union Orchestra's world jazz album,Freedom Calls.^[2]

When the African National Congress was unbanned in South Africa in1991, John returned there and directed plays at theMarket andWindybrow theatres, wrote and directed documentaries and dramas for television and appeared in various films.

Among others, he was seen inHijack Stories,Leon Schuster'sThere's a Zulu On My Stoep,Cry Freedom and 1987'sMandela, in which he played the role ofWalter Sisulu. One of John's last acting roles was the villain in the third series of the television seriesHard Copy. John wrote for several South African and foreign publications including theMail & Guardian, where his "With the Lid Off" column ran from several years from the mid-1990s and was gently critical of the government. In2002, he won the regional and nationalVodacom Journalist of the Year Award in the specialist category for his column, which appeared in a collection of his and his father Todd's works entitledWith the Lid Off: South African Insights from Home and Abroad, published in 2000.^[3]

In December2007, John was violentlyhijacked and became more critical of the government's failure to curb the high crime rate. Due to the hijacking andmalaria, which he contracted on one of his trips in Africa, his health started to decline.

On 15 September 2008, John suffered aheart attack in Picobella restaurant inMelville,Johannesburg, and died soon afterwards. His death was reported by theSABC and it reported that Matshikiza collapsed in the Melville restaurant while dining on the Monday night of 15 September 2008 and he could not be revived.^[4]

• "John Matshikiza dies in Jo'burg",Mail & Guardian, 16 September 2008.
• Gavin Evans,John Matshikiza: Poet, actor, journalist and activistThe Independent, 20 September 2008.

• 1954 births
• 2008 deaths
• 20th-century South African poets
• Male actors from Johannesburg
• South African male film actors
• South African male stage actors
• South African male television actors
• Xhosa people

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