[1][2] In 1959, Phango was cast to replace her cousin,[3] Miriam Makeba, in the female lead of the musical King Kong, about a South African boxer.
[1] She was in a vocal group with fellow King Kong cast members, Patience Gowabe and Hazel Futa, called the Velvettes; they sang backup for Cyril Davies and his All-Stars in clubs in the 1960s.
[2] Phango also acted in non-musical roles on stage, including such shows as You Can't Take it With You, The Crucible, The Little Foxes, and Fishing, the first play by Paulette Randall.
Her appearances in television dramas about South Africa included roles in Victims of Apartheid (1978), Prisoners of Conscience (1981), The Biko Inquest (1984), and Death is a Part of the Process (1986), the last based on a novel by Hilda Bernstein.
[1] Shortly before her death she appeared as the character Mrs Wald in the first episode of a long-running television show, Lynda La Plante's Trial and Retribution.