"Freedom is Coming Tomorrow" Song from the 1988 Play & The 1992 movie "Sarafina!" (video, background information, & lyrics)

MrPoochsmooch, Aug 22, 2014

Angela Lansbury introduces Sarafina! on the 1988 Tony Awards.
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The song "Freedom Is Coming Tomorrow" begins at 3:03 in this video clip.

Notice that this is a performance of the 1988 play version of Sarafina and not the 1992 movie version.

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Edited By Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases the song "Freedom Is Coming Tomorrow"* that is featured in the 1992  movie Sarafina!.

This post presents some information about the 1976 South African Soweto Student Uprising that is dramatized in the movie Sarafina! and presents some information about that movie.

This pancocojams post also presents the words to the preacher's remarks that preface the song "Freedom Is Coming Tomorrow" in that movie. The lyrics for that song are also included in this pancocojams post.

Thanks to all the students who were involved in the Soweto Uprising. Thanks to Mbongeni Ngema, the composer of the songs in the play and the movie Sarafina! and thanks to all those who were associated with the 1988 Sarafina play and the 1992 Sarafina movie. 

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it appears that online video clips of the movie "Sarafina!" can only be viewed on YouTube.

Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTXyh7YPQ9Y published by True Explorer, Jul 22, 2021 with the description: "Song by Ntomb'khona Dlamini and Sarafina! Ensemble". That video is a 2:39 high quality visual and audio clip from the 1992 Sarafina! movie. It features the song "Freedom Is Coming Tomorrow" and includes another song that is sung right before it. However, that video doesn't include the preacher's remarks that were made in that movie before that song.

Also, click https://youtube.com/shorts/QXWsJVHlecc?si=W7dNexlRFIzmoP6g for a YouTube video short of the preacher's remarks that preface the song "Freedom Is Coming Tomorrow" in the 1992 movie Sarafina. That video short which was published by @lessonsfromscenes9533, May 2025 has the best visual quality for YouTube videos of that portion of that 1992 movie that I've found to date. However, that video short can only be viewed on YouTube.

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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/06/sarafina-1992-movie-about-soweto.html

Sarafina (1992 Movie About The Soweto Uprising) - The Funeral Songs. 

Click the tags below for other pancocojams posts about the movie Sarafina!. 

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE 1992 MOVIE "SARAFINA!"
Source #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarafina!_(film)
"Sarafina! is a 1992 musical drama film based on Mbongeni Ngema's 1987 musical of the same name. The film was directed by Darrell Roodt and written by Ngema Mbongeni and William Nicholson, and stars Leleti Khumalo, Miriam Makeba, John Kani, Ngema, and Whoopi Goldberg; Khumalo reprises her role from the stage performance.

An international co-production of South Africa, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, the film premiered on 11 May 1992, at the Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

The plot focuses on students involved in the Soweto Uprising, in opposition to the implementation of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in schools….

Cast

Whoopi Goldberg as Mary

Miriam Makeba as Angelina

John Kani as School Principal

Mbongeni Ngema as Sabela

Leleti Khumalo as Sarafina

[…]

Production

Filming

Producer Anant Singh acquired the film rights to the Broadway musical Sarafina! After no Hollywood studio was willing to finance it, Singh raised the funds himself, with the BBC and the French company Revcom being among the investors. By the time filming started, Nelson Mandela was freed and apartheid was abolished, though racial tensions were still high. Said director Darrell Roodt: “Though our project is still confrontational and angry, it’s told with more hope and a spirit of reconciliation.” At the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, Whoopi Goldberg was announced to play Mary Masombuka; she was reportedly the first Black American actress to film a project in South Africa.[3]

The film was shot on location at Morris Isaacson High School in Soweto, South Africa. Morris Isaacson was a centre of the 1976 Soweto student uprisings.[4] Many of the extras and some of the cast members participated in the real-life resistance in Soweto, while Miriam Makeba was a political exile. Singh told the press that the film would be a different tackling of apartheid than other films about the subject, where they were told from a white perspective. "When people ask me why there is no good white in the movie," said Singh, "I tell them that this is one movie that isn’t about whites. Many of the actors have been arrested, had the police break down their doors in the middle of the night. Almost everyone had either first or second-hand experience with the movement. The kids in the cast were performing what they lived.” Given the racism that was still prevalent in South Africa post-apartheid, there were concerns that the filming of scenes showing protests and rioting would fan the flames. To avert this, the prop military vehicles were emblazoned with the insignia "Sarafina!" to ensure the public that a movie was being filmed there.[3]

In the United States, the film had some of the more graphic scenes removed to avoid a more restrictive rating.[3] The MPAA rated the film PG-13 for "scenes of apartheid-driven violence;" the Director's Cut, which was released on LaserDisc in 1993, was rated R for "strong scenes of violence."[5]

Reception

Accolades

The film was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival, where it was greeted with a standing ovation.[6][3] Years later, Whoopi Goldberg mentioned on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (who said the film was a hit in South Africa), that the ‘92 LA rebellion happened at the same time that Sarafina! was released which hampered the film's chance of success in the United States.[7] The film holds a 60% score on Rotten Tomatoes.[8]

[…]

Box office

Sarafina! grossed $7,306,242 in the United States and Canada.[9] It was the fourth-highest grossing film in South Africa for the year with a gross of $1.33 million.[10]"

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Source #2
From https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105316/
"[Genres] - drama, musical

[Summary] - South African teenagers fight against apartheid in the Soweto Uprising.

Director -Darrell Roodt

Writers -Mbongeni Ngema, William Nicholson

Stars: Whoopi Goldberg, Leleti Khumalo, Miriam Makeba

Motion Picture Rating (MPA) - 

Rated PG-13 for scenes of apartheid-driven violence

Storyline

As tensions of apartheid spread across South Africa, many students revolt… in a wake of the introduction of Afrikaans language as a means of teaching. … In [the] township of Soweto, a group of students, led by a beautiful and intelligent young girl, Sarafina, mastermind a plot to rise against the apartheid regime by vehemently rejecting the proposal to have Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. This angers the white people and results in a massive unrest of the students and those others supporting them. Meanwhile, Sarafina's mother accepts a job of a housekeeper in a white household and it angers Sarafina. Following the unrest of students and their possible torture and trial, Sarafina is released from prison, reunites with some of the colleagues and composes a "Freedom is Coming Tomorrow" song.—Isaac Museka Lupupa

Release date

September 25, 1992 (United States)

[...]

Languages - English, Zulu

[...]

Trivia

The original Broadway production of "Sarafina!" opened at the Cort Theater in New York on January 28, 1988, ran for 597 performances and was nominated for the 1988 Tony Awards for the Best Musical and Score. Dumisani Dlamini, Leleti Khumalo, Nhlanhla Ngema and 'Mbongeni Ngema' recreated their roles in the movie version. A nomination for the 1988 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical went to Leleti Khumalo."...
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Read the information found in this pancocojams' comment section about awards that the movie Sarafina! was nominated for or received.

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INFORMATION ABOUT SOWETO
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soweto
"Soweto ... is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships.[5] Formerly a separate municipality, it is now incorporated in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and is one of the suburbs of Johannesburg."...

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SOWETO STUDENT UPRISING
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soweto_uprising
"The Soweto uprising, also known as the Soweto riots, was a series of demonstrations and protests led by black school children in South Africa during apartheid that began on the morning of 16 June 1976.[1]

Students from various schools began to protest in the streets of the Soweto township in response to the introduction of Afrikaans, considered by many blacks as the "language of the oppressor", as the medium of instruction in black schools.[2] It is estimated that 20,000 students took part in the protests. They were met with fierce police brutality, and many were shot and killed. The number of pupils killed in the uprising is usually estimated as 176, but some sources estimate as many as 700 fatalities.[3][4][5] The riots were a key moment in the fight against apartheid as it sparked renewed opposition against apartheid in South Africa both domestically and internationally. In remembrance of these events, 16 June is a public holiday in South Africa, named Youth Day. Internationally, 16 June is known as The Day of the African Child (DAC).[6][7]

Causes

Black South African high school students in Soweto protested against the Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974, which forced all black schools to use Afrikaans and English in equal terms as languages of instruction.[8] The association of Afrikaans with apartheid prompted black South Africans to prefer English. Even the Bantustan regimes chose English and an indigenous African language as official languages. In addition, English was gaining prominence as the language most often used in commerce and industry. The 1974 decree was intended to force the reverse of the decline of Afrikaans among black Africans. The Afrikaner-dominated government used the clause of the 1909 Union of South Africa Act that recognised only English and Dutch, the latter being replaced by Afrikaans in 1925, as official languages as its pretext.[9] All schools had to provide instruction in both Afrikaans and English as languages, but white South African students learned other subjects in their home language.

The Regional Director of Bantu Education (Northern Transvaal Region), J.G. Erasmus, told Circuit Inspectors and Principals of Schools that from 1 January 1975, Afrikaans had to be used for mathematics, arithmetic, and social studies from standard five (7th grade), according to the Afrikaans Medium Decree. English would be the medium of instruction for general science and practical subjects (homecraft, needlework, woodwork, metalwork, art, agricultural science).[8] Indigenous languages would be used only for religious instruction, music, and physical culture.[10]

The decree was resented deeply by the black population. Desmond Tutu, the bishop of Lesotho, stated that Afrikaans was "the language of the oppressor."[citation needed] Also, teacher organizations, such as the African Teachers Association of South Africa, objected to the decree.[11]

[...] 

A change in language of instruction forced the students to focus on understanding the language, instead of the subject material. That made critical analysis of the content difficult and discouraged critical thinking.[13]

The resentment grew until 30 April 1976, when children at Orlando West Junior School in Soweto went on strike and refused to go to school. Their rebellion then spread to many other schools in Soweto. Black South African students protested because they believed that they deserved to be treated and taught like white South Africans. Also, very few people in Soweto spoke Afrikaans. A student from Morris Isaacson High School, Teboho "Tsietsi" Mashinini, proposed a meeting on 13 June 1976 to discuss what should be done. Students formed an Action Committee, later known as the Soweto Students' Representative Council,[14] which organised a mass rally for 16 June to make themselves heard.[8]

Uprising

On the morning of 16 June 1976, between 3,000 and 20,000[15][16] black students walked from their schools to Orlando Stadium for a rally to protest having to learn in Afrikaans in school. Many students who later participated in the protest arrived at schools that morning without prior knowledge of the protest but agreed to become involved. The protest was planned by the Soweto Students' Representative Council's (SSRC) Action Committee,[17] with support from the wider Black Consciousness Movement. Teachers in Soweto also supported the march after the Action Committee emphasized good discipline and peaceful actions.

Tsietsi Mashinini led students from Morris Isaacson High School to join up with others who walked from Naledi High School.[18] The students began the march, only to find out that police had barricaded the road along their intended route. The leader of the action committee asked the crowd not to provoke the police, and the march continued on another route and eventually ended up near Orlando High School.[19] The crowd of between 3,000 and 10,000 students made its way towards the area of the school. Students sang and waved placards with slogans such as, "Down with Afrikaans", "Viva Azania" and "If we must do Afrikaans, Vorster must do Zulu".[20]

The police set their trained dog on the protesters, who responded by killing it.[21] The police then began to shoot directly at the children.

Among the first students to be shot dead were the 15-year-old Hastings Ndlovu and the 12-year-old Hector Pieterson, who were shot at Orlando West High School.[22] The photographer Sam Nzima took a photograph of a dying Hector Pieterson as he was carried away by Mbuyisa Makhubo and accompanied by his sister, Antoinette Peterson, which became the symbol of the Soweto uprising. The police attacks on the demonstrators continued, and 23 people died on the first day in Soweto. Among them was Melville Edelstein, who was a sociologist and academic and had devoted his efforts to humanitarian and social welfare projects in Soweto. Serving as Deputy Chief Welfare Officer, Edelstein instituted many projects aimed at assisting youth, disabled, poor, and marginalized communities within Soweto. He was stoned to death by the mob and left with a sign around his neck proclaiming, "Beware Afrikaans is the most dangerous drug for our future".[23]

The violence escalated, as bottle stores and beer halls, seen as outposts of the apartheid government, were targeted, as were the official outposts of the state. The violence had abated by nightfall. Police vans and armoured vehicles patrolled the streets throughout the night.

Emergency clinics were swamped with injured and bloody children. The police requested for the hospital to provide a list of all victims with bullet wounds to prosecute them for rioting. The hospital administrator passed the request to the doctors, but the doctors refused to create the list. The doctors recorded bullet wounds as abscesses.[14][22]

1,500 armed police officers were deployed to Soweto on 17 June carrying weapons, including automatic rifles, stun guns, and carbines.[14] They drove around in armoured vehicles with helicopters monitoring the area from above. The South African Army was also ordered on standby as a tactical measure to show military force. Crowd control methods used by South African police at the time included mainly dispersement techniques. Hundreds of people were arrested, including activist Connie Mofokeng, who was tortured for information.[24]

Casualties and aftermath

The number of people who died is usually given as 176, with estimates up to 700.[4] The original government figure claimed only 23 students were killed,[25] with the number of wounded estimated to be more than 1,000 people. Black students also killed two white people during the uprising, one of them Melville Edelstein.[26][27][28]"...

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TRANSCRIPT OF THE PREACHER'S REMARKS THAT PREFACE THE SONG "FREEDOM IS COMING TOMORROW" IN THE 1992 MOVIE SARAFINA!
from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105316/
"They fear you because you are young. They fear you because you are the future. How fearful they must be that they shoot you children. How powerful you must be that they fear you so much. You are powerful because you are the generation that will be free. The violence, the beatings, the torture, the killings; all this is the birth pain of our free nation. Please God, may I live to see it. But if I don't, I see it now on your faces like the light of the rising sun, and my heart lifts within me, as if I, too, was young again. And I know, yes, I know freedom is coming tomorrow. May our children rest in peace. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

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LYRICS - FREEDOM IS COMING TOMORROW

(composer - Mbongeni Ngema)

"Nkosi sikelel' Afrika

Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo

 

Nkosi sikelel' Afrika

Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo

 

Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo

 

Freedom is coming tomorrow

(Get ready mama prepare for your freedom)

Freedom is coming tomorrow

(Get ready mama prepare for your freedom)

Freedom is coming tomorrow

Freedom is coming tomorrow

(Yaahooo woza uzojaiva mama)

Freedom is coming tomorrow

(Yaahooo woza uzojaiva mama)

Freedom is coming tomorrow

(Yaahooo woza uzojaiva mama)

 

Freedom is coming tomorrow

Freedom is coming tomorrow

Freedom is coming tomorrow

Freedom is coming tomorrow

Freedom is coming tomorrow

Hey"
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Online source - https://genius.com/Mbongeni-ngema-freedom-is-coming-lyrics
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"Freedom Is  Coming Tomorrow" is song #4 in the album Sarafina! The Sound Of Freedom (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2006)
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from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbongeni_Ngema
"Mbongeni Ngema (10 May 1955 – 27 December 2023) was a South African playwright, lyricist, composer, director, choreographer, and theatre producer, best known for co-writing the 1981 play Woza Albert! and co-writing (with Hugh Masekela) the 1988 musical Sarafina!. He was known for plays that reflected the spirit of black South Africans under apartheid, and won much praise for his work, but was also the subject of several controversies. He died in a car accident on 27 December 2023."...

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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Masekela
"Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018)[1] was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for writing well-known anti-apartheid songs such as "Soweto Blues" and "Bring Him Back Home". He also had a number-one US pop hit in 1968 with his version of "Grazing in the Grass".

[...]

Following the 21 March 1960 Sharpeville massacre—where 69 protestors were shot dead in Sharpeville, and the South African government banned gatherings of ten or more people—and the increased brutality of the Apartheid state, Masekela left the country. He was helped by Trevor Huddleston and international friends such as Yehudi Menuhin and John Dankworth, who got him admitted into London's Guildhall School of Music in 1960.[14] During that period, Masekela visited the United States, where he was befriended by Harry Belafonte.[15] After securing a scholarship back in London,[2] Masekela moved to the United States to attend the Manhattan School of Music in New York, where he studied classical trumpet from 1960 to 1964.[16] In 1964, Miriam Makeba and Masekela were married, divorcing two years later.

[Hugh Masekela] also collaborated in the musical development for the Broadway play Sarafina!, which premiered in 1988.[30][31]"...

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