Basil ‘Manenberg’ Coetzee
1944 – 1998

Basil Coetzee was born in District Six, Cape Town, on 2 February 1944. In the 1970s he started working as saxophone player with South African jazz legend Abdullah Ibrahim, known then as Dollar Brand. In 1974 Coetzee’s “Manenberg”, inspired by the apartheid township of the same name, became an internationally popular African jazz song which brought Coetzee fame and gave him his nickname.

In the 1970s, when many South African musicians went into exile because of apartheid, Coetzee stayed in the country. He worked in a shoe factory, and only began actively performing again in the early 1980s, when he played at several rallies of the United Democratic Front (UDF). In 1986 he made a new name for himself in the African jazz scene with the formation of his band, Sebenza. In the 1990s Ibrahim returned to South Africa and once again, the two musicians worked together regularly. Coetzee released three solo albums: Sabenza (1988), Monwabisi (1993) and B (1998).

On 11 March 1998 Coetzee died from lung cancer.