Playwright Athol Fugard, who chronicled apartheid and its aftermath, dies at 92

When apartheid ended, and Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa, Athol Fugard thought his life as a playwright was over, he told NPR in 2015.

“I sincerely believe that I was going to be South Africa’s first literary redundancy,” Fugard said. “But as it is, South Africa caught me by surprise again and just said, ‘no, you got to keep writing, man. There are still stories to tell.’ “

And for six decades, in close to three dozen plays, Fugard told stories about the corrosive effects of a political system which oppressed the black majority in his native country, as well as stories of the white minority.

The prolific playwright died Saturday in Stellenbosch, South Africa, a town near Cape Twon.He was 92.

He chronicled life both during and after apartheid in such plays as Blood Knot, Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, Sorrows and Rejoicings and “Master Harold”…