For millennials growing up in the 2000s, the late Cynthia Shange was the No.1 television supermom on Muvhango, playing MaNkosi Buthelezi, Thandaza’s (Sindi Dlathu) mother.
At 9pm, Thandaza always had a crisis, whether it was “mjolo” drama or holding it down in the boardroom. MaNkosi, with her wisdom and nurturing nature, was always the reassuring figure that both Thandaza and viewers needed. They quickly became the ultimate mother-daughter duo in the popular cultural soapie.
Shange carried that same loving approach to parenting in real-life too. Viewers got a glimpse of it on daughter Nonhle Thema’s Kardashian-esque reality show, Nonhle Goes to Hollywood, in 2011.
In the midst of chaos, Shange blended her “chill as hell” nature with devotion and poise. Their close bond resembled gentle parenting way before it became a TikTok buzzword.
That was only Shange’s third act. Shange, before her curtain fell on Monday at the age of 76 in a KZN hospital after battling illness, had cross-generational influence that spanned over six decades.
In 1972, she shattered conventional beauty standard in apartheid SA when she became the first black woman to represent SA at Miss World in London.
Hailing from Lamontville, South of Durban, Shange started her beauty pageantry career in the early 1970s, winning Miss Natal at one stage.
It marked an historic moment in local beauty pageantry when she entered the Miss South Africa competition for black contestants. Black women could only enter Miss Africa South, and later, Miss Black SA, while Miss SA was the preserve of white women.
After being crowned Miss Black SA in 1972, Shange became the first black woman to represent the country globally.
After Miss SA became inclusive in the early 1990s, Jacqui Mofokeng was crowned the first black Miss SA in 1993, paving the way for iconic winners such as Basetsana Kumalo, Peggy-Sue Khumalo, Kerishnie Naicker and Zozibini Tunzi, who won Miss Universe in 2021 as the first black South African to do so.
But let history show that Shange impacted posterity – she walked so that future generations could stand on the stage of equality.
Her trailblazing CV also includes being the lead star of SA’s first black feature film Udeliwe, in 1975, opposite the late Joe “Sdumo” Mafela and directed by the late Simon “Mabhunu“ Sabela. She later played Mkabi in the five-part mini-series Shaka Zulu.
Shange has left an everlasting legacy of breaking boundaries and empowering generations of women.
