South Africa: Babsy Mlangeni, the blind voice of Soweto, dies at 83

South African singer, guitarist, and composer Bernard "Babsy" Mlangeni died on October 2, 2026, at the age of 83, reported the specialized media outlet Music In Africa. Born in 1943 in Orlando East, in the township of Soweto, he leaves behind a body of work spanning nearly sixty years that accompanied several generations of South Africans.

Blind since childhood, Mlangeni learned to play the guitar at the Athlone School for the Blind in Cape Town. It was from this school for visually impaired children that an entire career began, at a time when apartheid denied Black artists the circuits, studios, and rights enjoyed by their white counterparts.

Songs that became part of daily life

His best-known tracks—"Sala Emma," inspired by his wife Emma, "Bua Nnete," "Botsotso," and "Hey Mr Taxi Driver"—circulated far beyond his original linguistic community, according to Music In Africa. In a country where language also serves as a border, this circulation is a cultural fact in itself: Mlangeni sang for listeners who did not necessarily share his language.

"Hey Mr Taxi Driver" says something about the material of his work. The minibus taxi is the nerve center of South African urban life, the one that takes township residents to the neighborhoods where they work every morning. Turning this commute into a song means taking ordinary existence seriously rather than decorating it.

Two lifetime achievement awards

South Africa recognized this trajectory late but clearly. Mlangeni received a lifetime achievement award at the South African Music Awards in 2017, followed by another distinction of the same type at the National Arts and Culture Awards in 2025.

The South African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), the country's music rights management body, hailed him as "an influential voice" in South African music for nearly six decades, according to Music In Africa. Minister Gayton McKenzie described him as "a music giant, a pioneer," noting that his songs carried "the warmth, the romance, the resilience" and the experience of ordinary people.

His passing serves as a reminder of an rarely addressed urgency: a large part of the 20th-century African musical heritage exists only on fragile media, tapes and vinyl, held by defunct record labels or by families. Archiving and reissuing this repertoire means preserving the memory of a continent that has documented its history as much in songs as in books.