Lindani Mbense is a Pietermaritzburg-born director and producer whose documentary "Dr Mbongeni Ngema" was screened at the Joburg Film Festival (JFF) 2026 edition.
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Pietermaritzburg-born director and producer Lindani Mbense’s documentary “Dr Mbongeni Ngema: This Is My Story” was screened at the Joburg Film Festival (JFF) 2026 edition.
The award-winning film forms part of Mbense’s ongoing documentary series, “This Is My Story”, a deeply personal project that seeks to capture the untold narratives of South African icons before time, memory, or circumstance erases them.
Mbense, speaking to IOL, unpacked the concept of iconic South Africans telling their own stories as they reflect on their illustrious careers.
“Dr Mbongeni Ngema: This Is My Story” embeds a lot of South African history within the theatre space, within the artistic space, within the sports, art, and culture.
“It's very deep culturally. He's a very sacred part of the South African theatre space. Every time you speak of Dr Ngema, you quickly jump to Sarafina, but he did so much more than just Sarafina, all the plays he did."
Mbense began working on the documentary in 2020 and was fortunate enough to have filmed Ngema telling his story before he died in 2023. The playwright passed on even before seeing the final body of work.
Mbense reflected that, from an audience point of view, we were very lucky that Ngema left them with his story.
“From a South African point of view, from an international point of view, we were very lucky that he did leave us with the story now.
“We've got a full story that he tells about; how it all happened, how it all began, the trials and tribulations of it, the challenges, the successes, the great people that he got to touch and work with along the way.”
In the documentary, Ngema speaks a lot about Quincy Jones, and they were fortunate to have a clip of the American record producer and composer speaking about Ngema.
“I think we're very lucky that it was done at the time that it was done. We do have it, and hopefully, these are the kind of legacies that you want to have as an artist. The flesh and blood will go, the surnames will forever remain. And I think his will be one that will remain with us for a very long time.”
“Dr Mbongeni Ngema: This Is My Story” features some of the most precious archives, from interviews with John Kani, Whoopi Goldberg, and behind-the-scenes footage from “Sarafina.”
“All those interviews are from back there because I didn't want to bring them to now, when it was then, because some of these that I'm speaking about, you could have gotten later interviews, but it just makes more sense to stay in that time to use those interviews and not bring them, not outdate them in this sense.”
The documentary won Best Documentary Feature Film at the Simon Mabhunu Sabela Film and Television Awards, and at the Umlazi International Film, and was selected to be shown in Ghana.
“It's always nice to have filmmakers watching your work because they watch it from a different point of view. They watch it from a very analytical point of view. You expect to get some criticism out of this because we want to learn.”
Mbense has been in production for a decade and, like many filmmakers, he has seen the different phases and challenges of the industry.
“Dr Mbongeni Ngema: This Is My Story” is a fully self-funded documentary. When Mbense got the go-ahead to start the process, there was no six months or 12 months or two years to now be looking for funding and putting things together.
“Funding continues to be a very difficult part of our space as filmmakers; others are lucky.
“You can't really complain because someone is lucky. It could be you, and not all films can be funded, unfortunately. But I think if you've got a good production and you're telling a good story, it will not be able to be kept down, it will kickstart itself.”
The KZN Tourism and Film continues to intensify efforts to position KwaZulu-Natal as both a source of powerful narratives and a credible, investment-ready production destination.
“A lot of provinces are trying to do that, but I think KZN has really excelled,” remarked Mbense.
“There's a lot of funding that they are doing from a learner student level to start-up filmmakers. A lot of money is being invested in the industry in KZN and I think it's a good thing.
“I haven't been lucky, obviously, in getting the funding, but, my documentary won there and I think winning at such a prestigious stage or events as they have been able to host it, also counts, because it's not a no-name brand, it's the Simon Mabhunu Sabela Film and Television Awards.
“A lot is going on in KZN, it's not just in the urban areas. They're reaching out to get those cultural traditional stories. They're getting their young stories, they're getting the old stories.”
IOL