Rashid Lombard

Rashid Lombard (10 April 1951 to 4 June 2025) worked as an international political and hard-news photojournalist for more than 30 years. He later applied this expertise to the production and management of entertainment and performers. He served as station manager of Fine Music Radio and as programming manager at P4 Smooth Jazz Radio, and produced e-TV’s well-received Jazz Café.

With more than two decades of experience in managing music concerts and events, and as the founder of esp Afrika in 1998 and festival director of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival from 2000 to 2014, Lombard played a pivotal role in conceptualising, strategising, programming and implementing the international and national marketing strategies for the iconic event, now branded ‘Africa’s Grandest Gathering’.

In 2014, Lombard received the Presidential Order of Ikhamanga, a South African honour awarded by the President of the Republic of South Africa in recognition of achievements in the arts, culture, literature, music and journalism. In his later years, he focused on developing his company, Rashid Lombard Inc. (Pty) Ltd, through writing, consulting, and the cataloguing of his extensive photographic archives.