BY SHARON SIBINDI RENOWNED educationist, poet, playwright, historian and biographer Pathisa Nyathi has said late arts doyen Cont Mdladla Mhlanga was a lover of history and was connected historically with the Ndebele Royalty.
Mhlanga (64) died on Monday morning at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) after being admitted for 10 days.
He succumbed to pneumonia.
“His life journey has been very clear, he left very indelible footprints especially in arts — theatre in particular. So when you look at his life, you are looking at a life which was fulfilling, there is no doubt about that. But there’s also an element perhaps to some people who are not familiar. He was the lover of history; Cont was connected historical with the Ndebele Royalty….”
“These are Mhlangas and they have come from the South together with King Lobengula’s mother in other ways King Mzilikazi’s wife — Fulada Tshabalala. So he knew a lot and had an intimate knowledge about history, King’s Royal, the Royal connection and did write a few books,”Nyathi told Standard Style.
He said they interacted most in that area and they were in the Writer’s Club together.
“That’s where we interacted the most and I was still going to learn a lot more. He was in the Writer’s Club and we were together. This was the first truly writer’s board in this country — Zimbabwe Writers Union and we created it in 1980-81,” Nyathi said.
“So he was amongst those who in Bulawayo together with Mthandazo Ndemangwenya, Ndabezinhle Sigogo and I was representing the writers fellows…. Then in 1989 he became the chairperson of that union and he campaigned strongly against abuse of intellectual property.
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“So we worked very closely with Justice Smith in pushing for a new law, the copyright law.
He was very keen on that. He was also connected with an organisation called KOPINOR in Norway and we were learning how they were doing it and also ideas how to improve the book industry that time it was the Zimbabwe International Book Fair. It was very strong, powerful and we worked together to improve the book side of things.”
Nyathi said the late Mhlanga made considerable contribution, had several books written on theatre, drama and that’s where he excelled.
“People know him best for his contribution towards theatre; theatre for television but also theatre for the stage. You know he had several books written on theatre, drama… that’s where he excelled and you look at some of the young fellows now who are in this arts industry, most of them went through Cont’s hands. That for me it’s something that is great,” he said.
“From what I was hearing a lot of people were expecting that he was going to be declared a national hero but as you know that it didn’t go that way. But most of the people that I hear from Matabeleland are of the opinion that he should have been declared a national hero.”
