Joe Mafela will live on through his work
The legendary South African actor, Joe Mafela will live on through his extensive body of work. That was the the sentiment shared at his memorial service at the Joburg Theatre on Thursday.
The arts fraternity, family members and fans filled the Nelson Mandela Auditorium to pay their last respect to the 75-year-old actor who died following a car accident on the M1 North in Johannesburg last weekend.
Mafela's son Jimmy says his father was loved not only by his family, but the world.
"He never had issues with any human being so I think he just had a lot of wisdom and that is what made him so loved."
The SABC's Kaizer Kganyago described Mafela as a pioneer who will be remembered for his humour and passion for the arts.
"We are saying it is important to start saying to the people of South Africa that if we use the term celebrity, we mean people like Joe Mafela," he said.
Generations creator Mfundi Vundla said Mafela is a legend and should be honoured as such.
"Joe and I and the company Generations worked out of a studio called Studio 5 inside the SABC. It's the biggest studio. I wrote to the head of TV and said my suggestion is that this Studio 5 must be named the Joe Mafela studio," Vundla said.