In Heritage Month, Classics on Turf and the Thabo Mbeki Foundation asked a provocative question: Who gets to define how we preserve heritage and our stories? The answer, delivered before more than 2 000 people at Rhema Bible Church in Randburg on Saturday night, was a resounding reclamation of the life and work of Reverend Tiyo Soga, the man who wrote Lizalis’ idinga lakho more than 150 years ago.
The concert opened with a tribute to Abdullah Ibrahim, with pianist extraordinaire Thandi Ntuli filling the auditorium with the dulcet harmonies of Ibrahim’s Blues For A Hip King. It was a prelude, setting a tone of intergenerational reverence before the programme turned to Soga’s hymns, translated texts and journalistic legacy. Soga was the first ordained Black minister in South Africa, translated Pilgrim’s Progress into isiXhosa, founded the newspaper Indaba in 1862, and wrote more than thirty hymns before his death in 1871. Yet, as the evening demonstrated, millions who sing Lizalis’ idinga lakho at funerals, in churches and at political gatherings have almost never pondered the origins of this ubiquitous anthemic hymn.
Mandisi Dyantyis directed the music, with Kutlwano Masote conducting the Chamber Orchestra of Johannesburg and the Renaissance Singers in renditions of Lizalis’ idinga lakho, Wazidala iinto zonke, Vuthelani ixilongo and Abaninzi abanamafa. By the final bars of Lizalis’ idinga lakho, the audience was on its feet, singing and swaying in a moment that felt less like performance and more like collective remembrance. It was a sight to behold, witnessed by an appreciative audience including former President Thabo Mbeki, Patron of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation as well as former Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo‑Ngcuka.
Staffrider Returns: “The Train That Carried Our Voices”
Vincent Zwelibanzi Mntambo, Founding Patron of Classics on Turf, used the platform to announce the return of Staffrider magazine. The original Staffrider ran from 1978 to 1993, publishing writers including Professor Njabulo Ndebele, Miriam Tlali, Mtutuzeli Matshoba, Ingrid de Kok and Gcina Mhlophe. Named after the young men who rode on the roofs of overcrowded trains between townships and the city, the magazine carried work by Black writers, photographers and artists through some of the hardest years of apartheid before closing in 1993.
“The staffriders rode outside moving trains. They defied death. They risked their lives to tell our stories. Today, we bring that train back,” Mntambo told the audience.
The inaugural print edition of the revived Staffrider is a tribute issue, printed on high‑quality paper with multi-award renowned musician Msaki on the cover, and is available for sale now. Going forward, most content will be published online, with short‑form pieces across digital platforms and one or two print editions a year. The Editor‑in‑Chief of the new Staffrider is Fred Khumalo.
Mntambo brought the team behind the revival onto the stage and thanked them.
“This is not just a magazine,” Mntambo said. “It is a train. It carried our voices through the years of struggle. Now it will carry them into the future.”
Thabo Mbeki Foundation: “Memory Is a Form of Power”
The partnership with the Thabo Mbeki Foundation is an extension of their long‑running work on the African Renaissance, which it describes as reclaiming Africa’s memory to build its future. Foundation CEO Max Boqwana has argued that memory is a form of power, and that the question of who gets remembered is never neutral.
Mntambo echoed that framing in his remarks.
“This is not about looking back,” he said. “It is about equipping the next generation with a heritage they can stand on. We are building a different kind of museum. Not a building where history gathers dust, but a living archive of sound, memory and legacy.”
Next Stop: Sol Plaatje in Kimberley
Classics on Turf also announced that the next concert in this series will honour Sol Plaatje and will be held in Kimberley. Plaatje was a writer, translator and journalist, and a founding member of the South African Native National Congress, the organisation that became the ANC. He translated Shakespeare into Setswana and wrote Native Life in South Africa, insisting, like Soga, that African languages and African stories were worth preserving on their own terms.
“The Sol Plaatje concert in Kimberley is a commitment to make sure that the names, the languages, the songs and the stories that built this nation are not lost.” Mntambo said.
A Promise Kept: From Wits Great Hall to Rhema Bible Church
This was Classics on Turf’s 13th concert. The first Tiyo Soga concert was held at the Wits Great Hall in June 2026 and drew about 1,000 people. At that concert, Mntambo promised a bigger venue to accommodate demand. Saturday’s Rhema Bible Church event hosted over 2,000 guests.
Classics on Turf was founded in 2023 by Vincent Zwelibanzi Mntambo and is now led by Co‑CEOs Ma‑Setlogelo Masote and Pumza Sobalisa. The platform combines orchestral music, heritage preservation and sport, and holds events that include both a golf day and a concert.