Mafikizolo

Mafikizolo is a in South African musical act that started in the 1990s, The members of this group are Theo Kgosinkwe, Nhlanhla Nciza, and Tebogo Madingoane. The genre of music this group makes is called kwaito, which is an African genre. Their music has fans dancing and singing along to the beat.

The group has been in the industry for many years and where signed by Kalawa, a South African record company. The trio consisting of a female, Nhlanhla and two males Theo, and Tebogo have been a sensation; their unique music style attracts both young and old fans.


In 1997 they released their first album, and self-titled it as‘’Mafikizolo”. Their second album called ‘’Music Revolution’’ in 1999, then in 2000 had a best-selling album named ‘’Gate Crashers’’. This group has a great impact on their listeners, because they create songs the public love to listen to, and can relate to. After almost losing their lives in a fatal car accident in December 2001, Mafikizolo released an album based on how thankful they were to be saved by God. The album was released in 2002, and called ‘’ Sibongile’’ which means thank you God in Zulu, one of the traditional languages in South Africa. After this album the group‘s success was off the charts, they won many different awards for the album and started to perform internationally.


Despite all this success, on Feb.14, 2004 one of the male singers, Tebogo Madingoane was shot after an argument got heated with another driver in traffic. This news shocked the music industry, fans, and especially the other two members of the group. Tebogo was a very dedicated, and contributed a lot of his time and talent to the group. The thought of carrying on without him was hard on the group, because it never crossed their mind that they would end up being a duo. After mourning the death of their friend and partner, the duo had to keep their name alive despite losing one of their valuable members.


After this tragic event the group released three albums ‘’Khwela’’, ‘’VanToeka Af’’ and ‘’Six Mabone’’. After their last album ‘’Six Mabone “in 2008, the duo decided to take a break from the group. Theo released his successful solo album called "I am", as a way of revealing his own identity after only being known as the male singer in the popular group, Mafikizolo. The female singer, Nhlanhla also decided to go solo, and wrote her own songs.


In the process she released two albums Inguquko (Change), and Lingcinga Zam (My Thoughts). She experienced a rough time when she lost her 5 year old daughter, Zinathi in a car accident in December, 2009. After two years of ups and downs, in 2010 the duo decided to reunite in order to do a continuation to their last album ‘’Six Mabone”, and to be recognized as their fans have known them to be, Mafikizolo.