Actor Oscar ‘Madluphuthu’ Mgudlwa remembered as ‘humble and patient’ at memorial service

Family, friends and colleagues gathered in Randburg to bid farewell to actor Oscar Mgudlwa, popularly known as Madluphuthu, at his memorial service on Wednesday.

“He was a humble and patient person, and he rubbed off those good qualities on us,” said actor Innocent Masuku, who is still fondly known as his character name from Yizo Yizo, Bobo.

Mgudlwa died a week ago, and the cause of death has not been revealed. He was 49 years old.

“He was not just an actor. We were planning to host a lot of programmes together, but that won’t happen. So I’d like to say rest well, my dear friend,” said Masuku.

One of Mgudlwa’s sons, Asanda, said his father was a good-hearted person.

“Our dad tried his best and had a beautiful heart. He loved his family and his kids a lot, even his friends. He loved them a lot. He prayed a lot and gave us advice,” Asanda said. The actor is survived by four kids.

The son was one of the first people to make his father’s passing public on the day he died.

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Mgudlwa a pioneer

Mgudlwa was one of the pioneers in the low-budget movie industry, which experienced significant growth around the 2000s when DVDs were prevalent.

In films such as My sh*t father and My Lotto Ticket, Madluphuthu 1 and Madluphuthu 2, Mgudlwa became an instant celebrity through his character of intellectually disabled and hilarious Madluphuthu.

The films, whose DVDs were priced under R50, were a staple in most townships due to the infectious humour that most black people in those areas could relate to.

Before building a name for himself in film and comedy, Mgudlwa had a stint as a Kwaito musician. He worked with the late Mapaputsi in 2001, and prior to that, he released an album with Mina Nawe’s Man Child in 1998.

Mgudlwa was from Daveyton, in Ekurhuleni.

Although not as prominent as he once was in his heyday, Mgudlwa remained appreciated within the industry at the time of his death.

The likes of film and TV director Mandla N were in attendance at his memorial service, as was hip-hop artist Kwesta, singer and actor Jamela Vuma, affectionately known as J Ross.

The latter said that he and Mgudlwa’s changing rooms were next to each other while they were working on a project.

“Every morning, we started with prayer. I’m sure the second month from when the show started, we were always together. I think the last day on set, we prayed as a cast. I know where he is now, he is with the Lord,” shared Vuma.

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