Publications
Fond memories and heartfelt tributes characterised the memorial service of veteran photojournalist Mike Ndumiso Mzileni.
Bra Mike, as he was fondly remembered, was a remarkable storyteller and a strict disciplinarian with a roaring sense of humour.
This is how family, friends and colleagues remembered him on Tuesday – sharing tales of their adventures – during his memorial service.
The service was held at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg where photojournalists came out in their numbers to speak profoundly about their colleague and friend.
The overriding sentiment was:
The photographer passed away at his home in Diepkloof, Soweto, last Wednesday after a long battle with poor health.
Mzileni worked for various publications during his prolific career, including The World, the Sunday Express, the Rand Daily Mail and The Sunday Times before joining joined City Press at its launch in 1982. He headed its photographic desk until his retirement in 2000.
READ: Veteran photographer Mike Mzileni died with no regrets
Veteran photojournalists Dan Tleketle, Len Khumalo, Robert Magwaza, Sol Rachilo and Connie Molusi as well as many other photographers and politicians who had worked alongside Mzileni, we in attendance.
His son Kwame said his early memories were of his father visiting him in Swaziland where everybody called him “Bhut’ Mike”. Every morning before going to school, his father would without fail inspect his hair, shoes and ensure his shirt was tucked in. He would send him off with 2cents for goodies. Kwame saw his father as a disciplinarian.
READ: Obituary | Mike Mzileni, an Africanist who captured history
“Bhut’ Mike valued his craft. He used to come back from work and tell me to carry his camera for him. And if I carried it in a manner that wasn’t good, he would scold me, saying that my whole life depended on it,” he recalled fondly.
Tleketle called Mzileni his “twin brother”, saying they were inseparable since 1962 while Mzileni worked for a shoe company.
He said Mzileni had asked him where he could learn photography after buying his first camera:
“Many of us were part of the Pan Africanist Congress and Mike was a walking [reference] book of the party. Hamba ka kuhle mo Afrika. Izwe lethu.”
Top photographer Siphiwe Mhlambi said he was grateful to Mzileni who stepped into the role of a father and a mentor as he dad was in prison.
“He wanted to see himself in me, in his younger day. My style of work is influenced by him. He was strict as hell.”
Mhlambi said his rebellious character, which stemmed from being without his parents, changed the day he met Mzileni. “I learnt all of that from this one man and when I got the news that he had passed on, I was heartbroken because he is the only male figure in my life who has shaped me into the man I am today. I am very proud to have known him.”
Mzileni is survived by his sister, Noma Mokoena, wife, Antoinette, children Nandi and Kwame and four grandchildren. He will be laid to rest in Diepkloof on Thursday.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
