Actor John Matshikiza Dies, Age 54

Written by TVSA Team from the blog News on 16 Sep 2008
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South African actor, writer and director John Matshikiza died suddenly on Monday night after suffering a massive heart attack in a Melville restaurant. He was 54.

According to reports he was ill and had a scheduled appointment with a doctor for the following day.

According to his daughter, Lindiwe, he was eating at a restaurant when at around 20h30 he collapsed. Despite 30 minutes of treatment from paramedics they were not able to resuscitate him.

He is survived by two daughters, a mother and a sister.

Television fans will best remember Matshikiza in recent times for his role as the villainous businessman Zolani Modise in the SABC3 drama series Hard Copy, playing the role in the second and third seasons.

He recently wrapped filming a guest role on the third season of the M-Net drama series Jacob's Cross, playing the role of Femi's (Akin Omotoso) father.

Matshikiza was born in Johannesburg in 1954. Between 1977 and 1991 he was based in London where he appeared in various productions for theatre companies.

In 1991 he played the tite role in Shakepeare's Macbeth at the New York International Festival Of Theatre and went on to appear in various TV roles for BBC, ITV, HBO and Channel Four including Death Is A Part Of The Process, the television movie Mandela (in which he played Walter Sisulu) and The Singing Detective.

John's feature film credits include Cry Freedom (1987), Dust Devil (1992), There's A Zulu On My Stoep (1993), The Air Up There (1994), Beyond Borders (2003), Wah-Wah (2005) and Shake Hands with the Devil (2007), which was his final film.

At the time of his death Matshikiza was a columnist for The Weekender.

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21 Comments

Cande
17 Sep 2008 00:56

may his soul rest in peace...condolesces to family & friends

Nonny
17 Sep 2008 01:00

Cande, I'm sure u meant condolences. Neway condolences to his family, may his soul truly rest in peace.

Segololo
17 Sep 2008 01:11

this is really sad... may his family be comforted. RIP Ntate. Re tla go gopola ka ditiro tsa gago. (we will remember you with the work you've done)

Dimago
17 Sep 2008 01:26

Au bathu, i really loved his acting skills. He was definately one of the best. Rest in peace Baba

carino
17 Sep 2008 01:37

here you go again, bloggers.... talking to the dead....

May God grant his family strength to go through this....

Ms. Jay
17 Sep 2008 01:54

He was a great actor, I just pray his house was in order and that his remaining family will put theirs in order at such a time as this. May God be their families strength and help in this time of need.

Cande
17 Sep 2008 02:14

eish Nonny, isilungu..i blame that on my English 2nd language teacher from the rural areas..
Its really sad to see soo much talent leaving us

Renegade
17 Sep 2008 02:24

Condolences to his family, friends and fans.

Renegade
17 Sep 2008 02:24

Condolences to his family, friends and fans. Really a great actor.

molibelis
17 Sep 2008 02:37

Cande, I'm sure u meant condolences. Neway condolences to his family, may his soul truly rest in peace She is Touched, Touchy Touchy

molibelis
17 Sep 2008 02:41

He was a great actor, I just pray his house was in order and that his remaining family will put theirs in order at such a time as this. May God be their families strength and help in this time of need. Did u seriously Prayed 4 the family?

Bathong pls Ha ke na Tsebe hleng, ke rata ho kenella batho pls 4give me cause i dnt have a choice.......

Ms. Jay
17 Sep 2008 02:51

Yes I did, death is our birth to either heaven or hell. It pains me alot when I think that we don take time to consider that and live life so casually.

tha - bang
17 Sep 2008 02:52

another great loss for the industry

Nonny
17 Sep 2008 02:55

death is our birth to either heaven or hell. It pains me alot when I think that we don take time to consider that and live life so casually.
Mmmmhhh, so true Jael!!!

carino
17 Sep 2008 03:16

death is our birth to either heaven or hell. It pains me alot when I think that we don take time to consider that and live life so casually.
Mmmmhhh, so true Jael!!!

quiet true indeed... I hope he knew Jesus...

ngwana
17 Sep 2008 06:54

Ahh John, I think he had a peaceful death, he was at his favourite hang-out.
He was a good person, he will be missed.

tha - bang
17 Sep 2008 09:08

death is someting to ponder on at times cause it means your role is over and there are no more amendments or adjustments one can make to their script. your fate lies with a Higher power from then on but through our lives( how we lived it) with cast our own lot or dice. we'll we wake up that one great morning to Joy or fear of destruction.
I hope his family can be happy and comforted by the life the man lived and should not forget that death can be but a sleep for those with a blessed hope.

Bra Bizza
17 Sep 2008 11:27

sad loss indeed

Brown Shuga
17 Sep 2008 17:26

Carino bathong hehehe seng'saba nokuthi RIP....
Condolensces to John's friends and family.

I was listening to Redi Direko's show on 702 yesterday and she was saying that....
John wouldn't want us to make him out to be a demi-god now that he's gone.
She spoke about how she used to hang out with John in Melville and that he didn't take care of himself. He would eat Spare ribs for breakfast, lunch and supper and that he would drink a glass of wine at 10:00 am instead of coffee so she wasn't at all surprised when she heard that he died as a result of a heart attack.

Traditionally, this sort of talk after a death would be frowned upon but there was just something about the way she said it that made it sound okay. I'm liking Redi right now.

Sam2say
17 Sep 2008 18:15

hae, e e, family ya ga Ntate John e gomotsege, such talent we are losing . WHAT IS HAPPENING!!!!????

Re tlo go sala ka eng re ntse re loosa batho ba important soo.

Ntate John was here to deliver a message to all of us, i guess his mission was accomplished, God has his way of working, let us celebrate his life and be gratefull that he left us a legacy /wealth of knowlege in the ent industry.

may his soul rest in peace.

Ms. Jay
18 Sep 2008 03:46

:death is someting to ponder on at times cause it means your role is over and there are no more amendments or adjustments one can make to their script. your fate lies with a Higher power from then on but through our lives( how we lived it) with cast our own lot or dice. we'll we wake up that one great morning to Joy or fear of destruction."

I wouldn call it Fate - rather destiny, but you are so right. I lost an aunt last week - eish I can write a book about her earthly achievments but as long as they were not in accordance with Gods will for her life they amount to nothing.

We can write a storm about the late John but as long as he didn walk in Gods will and was saved - his achievments amount to nothing, not a thing! As terrible as that sounds - its tru, as long as God was not in our plans and Jesus our Lord our achievments mean nothing

Potentially the world is saved but its not. The Harvest is plentiful but the labourers scarce!!!

guys I hope we al consider that, when we dying I would like to believe that the possibilty of heaven and hell becomes a reality not just a scary story. Religion or religiosity doesn matter @ that point, its whether we believed or not

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