South Africa Mourns Johnny Clegg

This week South African music legend Johnny Clegg passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. 

Earlier this year the musician undertook his Final Journey Tour to perform for his fans one last time.

Clegg was born in Britain in 1953 before moving to Zimbabwe and then Johannesburg at the age of six.

As part of the group Jaluka, Clegg enjoyed his first hits with tracks such as Africa Sky Blue and Great Heart, rising to international fame.

He repeatedly ran into trouble with the authorities for breaching apartheid regulations, as well as his song Asimbonanga in which he sang of performing with then-incarcerated Nelson Mandela and named various victims of the apartheid regime.

During his career Clegg received a number of awards for his work, including being named a Knight of Arts and Letters by the French government in 1991, an Officer in the Order of the British Empire in 2015, and the Order of Ikhamanga from the South African government in 2012. 

While in recent years Clegg had expressed disappointment with the state of the country he continued to preach patience, saying it could take as long as 40 years for the new South Africa to flourish following the end to apartheid. 

Clegg was buried on Wednesday in a private family ceremony. A public memorial event is expected to follow.