Playwright Athol Fugard, who captured injustices of apartheid, dies at age of 92

The South African playwright and director Athol Fugard, whose works included the plays Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island and the novel Tsotsi, has died at the age of 92.

- Mark Lawson

A major political dissident playwright of the 20th century, Fugard wrote more than 30 dramas including Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act (1972) and Master Harold...and the Boys (1982).

Both of those drew upon the time in the 1950s when he could only find employment as a clerk in one of the courts where black South Africans were charged (and inevitably convicted) of breaches of the "pass laws", designed to control the movements of a racially segregated population under the apartheid system. There, he witnessed hourly the dehumanisation of those who had chosen the "wrong" streets or people.

In a statement yesterday, the mayor's office in Cape Town called Fugard "a true patriot whose legacy will continue to inspire generations".

"Beyond his literary achievements, Fugard's commitment to justice and equality made him a pivotal figure in South Africa's cultural and political spheres," it said. "Athol Fugard was not just a luminary in the world of theatre; he was a teller of profound stories of hope and resilience about South Africa."

Fugard's cultural and political impact was rivalled elsewhere only by the dramas of Václav Havel in what was then Soviet-controlled Czechoslovakia. Havel was jailed and, when released, abandoned theatre to become the first president of the Czech Republic.