“Behind closed doors he was a quiet, humble person. Always the same, always sharing knowledge and helping people,” this is how Bennie Gool, journalist and family spokesperson will remember the late Rashid Lombard.
Rashid Lombard, acclaimed photographer, cultural activist, and jazz visionary died on Wednesday 4 June at the age of 74.
He was laid to rest on Thursday 5 June according to Muslim rites.
Gool said as an as young journalist just starting his career years ago, Lombard was his hero.
“I was a young photographer just starting out and Rashid was a hero. He was more than just a photographer, he was a musician, and an artist.”
Gool explained that Lombard lived a simple life.
“One just needs to look at his house, the car he drove. He was very simple. Rashid should have been the minister of arts and culture in South Africa. He had that kind of wisdom to do a thorough job of that.”
Tributes continue to pour in for a man whose life’s work bridged the worlds of political resistance and artistic expression.
Lombard and his parents moved to Cape Town in 1962.
Originally trained as an architectural draftsman and later as an industrial photographer, he began his career with construction giant Murray & Roberts.
His political consciousness was later amplified through the influence of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM).
Lombard went on to work as a freelance photographer and television sound recordist during the height of the anti-apartheid struggle.
His lens captured the unrest and hope of a nation in transition for international media outlets including Agence France-Presse, the BBC, and NBC.
Over the course of his career, he documented pivotal moments in South Africa’s journey to freedom, including the rise of the democratic movement in the 1980s, the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990, and the country’s first democratic elections in 1994.
With democracy came the opportunity to fully embrace his other great passion—jazz.
He served as station manager at Fine Music Radio and later as programming manager at P4 Smooth Jazz Radio.
In 1997, Lombard founded espAfrika, the events management company behind one of his most enduring legacies: the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, which he launched in 2000 and directed until his retirement in 2014.
After stepping away from the festival, he took over the digitisation of his archives, a task previously managed by his wife
Colleen.
He later partnered with the National Archives and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) to make the collection publicly accessible online as a national heritage resource. His daughter will now carry this work forward.
Marlene le Roux, chief executive officer of the Artscape, described Lombard as an “unwavering activist and a promoter of the arts”.
“He was one of the most unassuming, humble, modest advocates for the arts. Whether it was through his photography, his involvement in music, jazz in particular, or whether it was through his development and creation of work opportunities.”
Le Roux said they would be lighting a candle on stage in his memory.
“The arts world is definitely poorer now that he is gone. But his legacy lives on in people whose lives he touched, the work he created and in the immaculate images only he could see through his lenses.”
espAfrika and the Sekunjalo Group said in a press statement Lombar’s passing is a “profound loss” to South Africa and the global arts community.
“Rashid’s legacy is etched across multiple spheres—from his work as a courageous photojournalist during the anti-apartheid struggle, to his pioneering role in founding espAfrika and conceptualising the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, now ranked among the four largest jazz festivals in the world,” read the statement.
Lombard who is survived by his wife
Colleen Lombard, his sister Fazoe Sydow and his children Chevan, Shadley, Yana, Zach, and Daniel, and his grandchildren.
