This paper examines the tension between political commentary/social criticism, and existential dramatic conflict, in Athol Fugard's Sizwe Bansi Is Dead. It considers the problematic compatibility between socio-political and ideological concerns and existentialist philosophical dilemmas in the same play. The paper concludes that Fugard does a good job of reconciling these tensions in his play. The ability to do so is limited and any reconciliation eventually falls apart in the dissolution of the larger socio-political concerns. This leaves a vacuum that the basic existential angst cannot really fill. The conclusion is that the fault lies not with the play itself but with any attempt to ”fold” cultural and political concerns into existential ones.