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The South African Communist Party (SACP) joins the nation and people across the world in mourning the death of one of South Africa's most celebrated musicians and cultural ambassadors, the jazz icon Abdullah Ibrahim, who died on Monday at 91.

The SACP conveys its message of heartfelt condolences to his family as well as the liberation movement and the people of South Africa for the loss to whom he devoted his entire life and work.

Celebrated as a master pianist and a pioneering composer, Ibrahim’s extraordinary career spanned more than seventy years, making him one of the most influential musicians across the globe. The untiring musician never stopped playing. His final performance took place on 27 March 2026 at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. 

Ibrahim was more than a musical icon, however. Many of his compositions instilled social consciousness in the people of South Africa. His iconic “Manedberg”, recorded two years before the historic Soweto Uprising, was inspired by the Cape Flats township where many of those forcibly removed from District Six were sent. Through his music, he unapologetically inspired anti-apartheid resistance and hope for the people.

While his music inspired the people of South Africa to stand firmly in resistance against apartheid rule, Ibrahim was equally inspired by the 1976 uprising to the point that, following the uprising, he publicly expressed his full support for the liberation movement which had been banned 16 years earlier.

Together with his wife, musician Sathima Bea Benjamin, Ibrahim was forced to move to Europe in 1962, in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, briefly returning to Cape Town in 1968. The racist apartheid system again forced them to exile until their return in the early 1990s.

Life and work abroad did not remove their connection from South Africa, however, as they continued to compose music to inspire the global community to support the people’s struggle against apartheid.

Upon his return to South Africa in the 1990s, Ibrahim had symphony orchestra performances and honoured President Nelson Mandela with a performance at his inauguration as president.

Among many accolades and awards, in 2009, the Presidency honoured Ibrahim with the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver for his excellent contribution to the arts, putting South Africa on the international map, and his fight against racism and apartheid. On the other hand, his wife Sathima Bea Benjamin, with whom they were inseparable, had been honoured with the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver in 2004 for her excellent contribution as a jazz artist and for her contribution to the struggle against apartheid. Benjamin died in 2013.

In tribute to Abdullah Ibrahim, the SACP reiterates its call for the support of South African music. The various governmental departments, including the departments of arts and culture, and basic education, have the responsibility of creating platforms for the development, recognition and profiling of African crafts of various talents. As the SACP, we will continue to support our talented performers with the intention to rekindle political consciousness among the people of our country, in memory of Ibrahim and various music stalwarts we have lost.

Issued by South African Communist Party