Former president Jacob Zuma told mourners at Durban's Playhouse that legendary playwright, theatre director and musician Mbongeni Ngema was working on a play about Zuma's life.

He said Ngema's death came after they had agreed to do a play on the life and times of how an uneducated village boy from Nkandla in rural KwaZulu-Natal became president of South Africa.

"He was a freedom fighter with a rare talent for expressing messages about how apartheid oppression affected ordinary people.

"Madlokovu (Ngema's clan name) has been relentlessly asking for me to agree to get him to tell my story.

"He said 'I want to tell the story of a young man from Nkandla called Gedleyihlekisa Mhlanganyelwa Zuma."

Zuma said when he turned Ngema down, the multi-award winning creative director approached his sister, Gloria Ngema, Zuma's fourth wife.

"He went to his sister who got married at KwaDakwadunuse and begged her to put in a good word for him.

He said Ngema was then advised to write down his proposal which was one of many proposals that the Zumas had received.

"We ended up agreeing that he can start his work," said Zuma.

"I felt that Ngema was the one who could tell my story in the correct context because he is a man among men who understand Zulu culture.

"He knows what a Zulu man does and how he portrays himself.

"In no time he returned to Nkandla and said he wanted me to block an entire week that we could spend together."

Zuma said they had agreed not to disturb family time during the Christmas holidays but planned to meet in the new year to begin the recording of the Zuma story.

Ngema was killed in a car crash last week after attending a funeral in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has granted a special provincial official funeral for the legend.