Thandiswa Mazwai Is the Voice of South Africa’s First Post-Apartheid Generation

At a gala dinner held soon after South Africa’s most contested election since the end of apartheid, a singer reminded the gathered politicians how to do their jobs.

“I want to implore you to think of the people of this country, and to think about why you have been chosen,” the singer, Thandiswa Mazwai, told the political elite at the June gala, put on by the Independent Electoral Commission in Johannesburg to mark the release of the vote’s final results.

Many of those listening were members of the African National Congress, the long-governing party that had just suffered stinging losses at the polls, a rebuke from voters frustrated by corruption and mismanagement after three decades of the A.N.C. being in charge.

Then, Ms. Mazwai, after her brief spoken remarks, burst into a set of songs whose lyrics, rather than offering light entertainment, instead doubled down on her determination to call out political malpractice. She sang of “fools for leaders” and “thieves” who “should leave Parliament.”

Chastising her influential audience is unlikely to cost Ms. Mazwai any future gigs — she’s simply too popular to cancel. At 48, she has performed for South Africans — from everyday fans to Nelson Mandela — for 30 years, as long as the country has been a multiracial democracy.

With her music reaching a wide audience and often containing sharp social commentary, Ms. Mazwai has emerged as the voice of a generation born during apartheid’s violent twilight: the first group of Black South Africans to enjoy the freedoms of a democratic South Africa but also to be confronted with its disappointments.