Gospel singer Bucy Radebe has won the Best Traditional Faith Music Album award at the 32nd South African Music Awards for Praise & Worship in the Wilderness, Pt. 1, adding another SAMA trophy to a career that has established her as one of South Africa’s prominent gospel performers.
Radebe’s album was named the winner at SAMA32 on Saturday night at the Sun City Superbowl in the North West.
The victory came in a category that recognises recordings rooted in South Africa’s traditional faith music tradition. Radebe’s nominated album competed against Back To The Altar by Ntethe, Sound of Gratitude (Live at Urban Brew Dome) by Zaza, The Watchmans Camp by Sindi Ntombela and Worship in Newness by Puleng March.
The award adds to Radebe’s established history with the South African Music Awards.
She previously won Best Traditional Faith Music Album at the 27th SAMAs for Spiritual Encounter. That award established an early SAMA connection for an artist whose catalogue has remained closely associated with gospel and faith music.
Radebe was also among the artists nominated for the same category at SAMA32, demonstrating the continued recognition of her work within the awards’ faith-music categories.
Her current album, Praise & Worship in the Wilderness, Pt. 1, was released before the SAMA32 ceremony and became the recording through which she returned to the awards’ Traditional Faith Music Album field. Spotify lists the project as a 2025 album featuring Bucy Radebe.
The SAMA32 win is therefore both a new recognition and a continuation of an established pattern.
Radebe’s career has also produced recognition beyond the 2026 ceremony. At SAMA27, Spiritual Encounter earned her the Best Traditional Faith Music Album award, while she was also associated with other major gospel recognition during that period.
The latest victory places her among the SAMA32 artists whose work has been recognised within a specialist musical category while also contributing to the broader representation of gospel music at South Africa’s principal recording-industry awards.
The category itself reflects the diversity of the country’s faith music landscape. Its nominees included established gospel performers as well as artists representing different approaches to traditional worship and praise music.
For Radebe, the result provides a second SAMA win in the Traditional Faith Music Album category.
Her latest trophy also gives Praise & Worship in the Wilderness, Pt. 1 a place in the SAMA record alongside Spiritual Encounter, linking two different periods of her recording career.
