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Abdullah Ibrahim

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South African musician, Abdullah Ibrahim was born on the 9 October 1934 in Cape Town, South Africa. Born Adolph Johannes Brand, he converted to Islam in 1968 during his pursuit for a more peaceful and fulfilling spiritual life. Ibrahim is known for his influence in jazz music as a pianist and composer, where some of his own earliest inspirations included his grandmother, who was a pianist for the local African Methodist Episcopalian church as well as his mother who led the choir. Here, traditional African Khoi-san songs and Christian hymns would be the birth of his love for music.

 

At the age of seven, he began taking piano lessons, making his first live professional debut at the age of fifteen and later recording with local groups such as the Tuxedo Slickers. After completing his matric, he worked as a school teacher, however he soon quit his job and went on to study music at The University of Cape Town. During his studies, he felt what he was learning was not to his taste or preference in music and soon after left the University. At the very core of Cape Town that saw a variety of culture and color, modern and traditional, he began to develop his own unique style in music using these influences as a stepping stone. In 1958, Dollar Brand Trio was formed and in 1959, his revolutionary septetthe Jazz Epistles was formed and they recorded the first jazz album done by South African Musicians. The band included musicians such as Hugh Masekela, Johnny Gertze, KippieMoektsi, MakayaNtshoko and Jonas Gwana.That same year he met vocalist Saithima Bea Benjamin whom he performed with and later married.

 

At the very peak of apartheid, Dollar Brand accepted a 3-year recording contract in Zurich, Switzerland at Club Africana in 1962, leaving South Africa in hopes for a greater platform for their music. In 1963, Saithima Benjamin convinced legendary musician Duke Ellington to listen to the band play at Club Africana, which then led to a recording session – Duke presents the Dollar Brand Trio - in Paris, and multiple requests to perform on television, radio and European festivals for the following two years. Shortly after, the newly married couple moved to New York where Dollar Brand made a performance appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival and Carnegie Hall in 1966 and was then offered a lead substitute position in the Ellington Orchestra as well as touring with the Elvin Jones Quartet for six months.

In 1967, Rockefeller Foundation presented him with a grant to attend the Julliard School of Music, during which he had the opportunity to meet and work with musicians such as Don Cherry, John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman and Archie Shepp to name a few. After his conversion to Islam in 1968, Abdullah practiced spiritual discipline through music and martial arts. He then founded his music school in Swaziland, spent two years there and in 1973 he returned to Cape Town together with his family. During this time he continued to tour internationally with Dollar Brand and in 1974 recorded “Mannenberg – ‘Is where it’s happening’” which became an off-the-record anthem for black South Africans. In 1976, following the Soweto Student Uprising, Abdullah arranged an illegal ANC benefit concert; shortly after, he returned again to New York with his family.

 

Abdullah’s career began to thrive in the 1980’s when he founded his record company, Ekapa, alongside his wife as well as the septet, Ekaya. He was also involved in multiple projects that were influenced by his music such as Garth Fagan’s ballet Prelude, the Kalahari Liberation Opera and a 1983 musical that took place in Cape Town. One of the biggest concerts he played at was in Central Park that commemorated Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday; he then also performed at Mandela’s inauguration in 1994.  Abdullah continued to travel and perform between the 90’s and 2000’s and will be celebrating his 83rd birthday this year. He holds music at his core proclaiming still, the title of a musician and continues to create and work on new projects as he claims, “some do it because they have to do it, we do it because we want to… so we have to do it.” Holding a martial arts Black Belt, he visits Japan as often as he can to spend time with his master. With such an innovative spirit and an exceptional musical skill and capability, Abdullah remains a true definition of a professorand a student in both his personal life and musical career.

Major Works

·        

Between 1965 and 1968, he released four albums including, ‘Anatomy of a South African Village’,’ This is Dollar Brand’, ‘The Dream’, and ‘HambaKhale’ with Gato Barbieri.

·        

Ibrahim composed the 1974 album, ‘Mannenberg - "Is Where It's Happening"’ consisting of two long cuts "Mannenberg" and "The Pilgrim" became a great hit. Mannenburg became the anthem of those fighting against apartheid.

·        

His 1999 album, ‘African Suite’ backed by the Youth Orchestra arranged by Daniel Schnyder was a reworking of Ibrahim’s compositions, and reflective of his South African origin, Islamic faith, European residence, and jazz passion.

 

·        

From 2002 to 2009, he released albums including ‘Cape Town Revisited’ ‘EkapaLodumo’, ‘African Magic’, ‘Senzo’, and ‘Bombella’. These albums revisited some of his earlier works and also presented new tunes


References:
• http://abdullahibrahim.co.za/ (accessed 6 January 2017)  http://www.allmusic.com/artist/abdullah-ibrahim-mn0000923935/biography (accessed 6 January 2017)
http://www.music.org.za/artist.asp?id=83(accessed 6 January 2017)
http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/abdullah-ibrahim-3753.php ((accessed 6 January 2017)
Abdullah website: http://abdullahibrahim.co.za/ (accessed 6 January 2017)
Abdullah Ibrahim extensive interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxOCsYr_v-0(accessed 6 January 2017)
All Access Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxq9Djm8owA(accessed 6 January 2017)
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/abdullahibrahimofficial(accessed 6 January 2017)
Synopsis:

Known as South Africa’s most distinguished pianist and a world-respected master musician.

First name: 
Abdullah
Last name: 
Ibrahim
Date of birth: 
9 October 1934
Location of birth: 
Cape Town, South Africa

Judith Mason

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Born Judith Seelander Menge on 10 October 1938 in Pretoria, Judith Mason is one of the most well known South African artists. She matriculated from the Pretoria High School for Girls in 1956 and from 1957 - 1960 she attended the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and received a BA Degree in Fine Art. She married Professor Revil John Mason, former head of the Archaeology Department University of the Witwatersrand, and changed her name to Judith Mason. Together they had two daughters, Tamar Mason (1966) and Petra Mason (1970).

Throughout her career she had local and international success. Her first solo exhibition was at Gallery 101, Johannesburg, in 1964 after winning second prize in U.A.T competition (1963).For more than ten years during the 1970s and 80s she was represented by the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg. She was chosen to represent South Africa at the Venice Biennale in 1966  followed by the São Paulo Biennial in Brazil in 1971 and the Houston Art Festival in 1980.

She taught drawing and History of Art at Witwatersrand University from 1963 until 1978. From 1989–91 she taught painting at Scuola Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence, Italy.  She came back to South Africa in the early 1990s and taught drawing and painting at Michaelis School of Art in Cape Town for a short time. Her work became part of the National South African School and University curricula.

Later on in her career Mason exhibited and worked with the Karen McKerron Gallery and Art On Paper in Johannesburg; the Chelsea Gallery in Cape Town; thePretoria Arts Association;the East End Gallery, East Hampton, New York; and at Art Basel Miami Beach, Florida, USA. Her work is represented in all the major South African National art collections and museums. Internationally she is represented in both private and public collections in Europe, including at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, UK, the USA at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington DC; and Yale University in Providence.

Mason’s work as a visual artist incorporated several techniques and methods and she was technically disciplined. She used oil painting, pencil drawing, print-making and mixed media. Mythical creatures and hyenas dominate her canvasses, something the artist herself refers to as trying to make sense of the chaos around her. She has admitted to a particular fascination with hyenas. She was motivated politically and made works that dealt with the atrocities uncovered by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which began in 1996 and ran for two years.

In an artist’s statement from 2004, Mason is quoted as saying, “I paint in order to make sense of my life, to manipulate various chaotic fragments of information and impulse into some sort of order, through which I can glimpse a hint of meaning. I am an agnostic humanist possessed of religious curiosity who regards making artworks as akin to alchemy. To use inert matter on an inert surface to convey real energy and presence seems to me a magical and privileged way of living out my day.”

 


References:
• Bio online http://www.judithmason.com/pdf/bio.pdf  [Accessed on 17 January 2017]
•  K. Dietrich,  lit net, 16 January 2017, available at: http://www.litnet.co.za/remembering-magician-tribute-memory-judith-mason/   [Accessed on 17 January 2017]
•  Bio http://www.art.co.za/judithmason/  [Accessed on 17 January 2017]
•  Article online written on 14 September 2016 http://wearewhiteriver.com/judith-mason/  [Accessed on 17 January 2017]
Synopsis:

Judith Mason was a prominent South African visual artist. 

First name: 
Judith
Last name: 
Mason
Date of birth: 
10 October 1938
Location of birth: 
Pretoria, South Africa
Date of death: 
29 December 2016
Location of death: 
White River, Mpumalanga

Molefe Pheto

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Molefe Pheto grew up in Alexandra, Johannesburg. As a talented young boy who displayed many interests in the arts, he was sent to London to study music and eventually became a music teacher. In 1970, as a young man he was active member of the Black Consciousness Movement of Azania (BMCA) for which he was detained in 1975.

He was the director of a Black Theatre group in soweto and he is widely known for his poetry and prose. He was the founding member and spokesperson of the Music, Drama, Arts and Literature Institute (MDALI) that was based in Soweto, and his arrest was also fueled by the three festivals of the black arts that were organised for this institute. He was on the forefront of the cause for black people to determine their causes as artists and musicians as he also spoke out against the exploitation of black artists by white owned galleries.

In 1977 he became exiled to Britain after spending some time in prison as a political prisoner as a member of the BMCA and of the African National Congress (ANC). During his captivity Pheto wrote many poems that were later compiled into a book And Night Fell: Memoirs of a Political Prisoner in South Africa (1983) which was published in London.

In London, Pheto and a number of exiled South Africans and political activists, staged a Non-stop Picket against apartheid at the South African embassy. The 16th of April 1988 marked the second anniversary of the protests and Pheto was among the three main speakers that addressed the crowd as a representative of the BCM, whilst David Kitson spoke for the South African Communist Party (SACP), and Rodwell Mzotane for the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC).

When Mandela was released in 1990, Pheto was one of the people who expressed disapproval of the negotiated settlement that was reached and as a result found it difficult to return to South Africa. He wrote a book entitled the Bull from Moruleng:Vistas of Home and Exile (2012)  in which he unpacks the struggle he faced upon his eventual return to South Africa and details the purchase of a farm which he would name "Ba Ngadile" which loosely translates to "they are sulking" or as others would say “they have thrown in the towel” in Setswana. This farm name was a comment on how him and his forefathers before him have "thrown in the towel" or “sulked”  for many reasons from his great grandfather ending up in Mochudi, Botswana, and his father not returning to the land of Moruleng and ending up in Alexandra, to his own walking out of a Catholic sunday church service in 1957 and denouncing his christian name ‘Phineas’. Towards the end of the book he writes how the book was written as a response to "the whites that cling to yesteryear".

Many of Phetos causes were in favour of black self-assertion against a white domination of the state, as this affected all aspects of culture, from arts, literature, education and religion. He is currently a member in the Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO).

 

Synopsis:

Molefe Pheto is a South African musician and music teacher. He was an activist in the Black Consciousness Movement and former political prisoner.

First name: 
Molefe
Middle name: 
Pheto
Location of birth: 
Alexandra Township, Johannesburg

Ray Berman

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Born and bred in Johannesburg, Ray Berman left South Africa in 1966 to go into voluntary exile in Swaziland and has since become a national household name in places such as Australia, Israel, South Africa and his home town, Mbabane in Swaziland.

Ray studied graphic arts at Witwatersrand Technical College and then landed a job in advertising which he pursued for a few years.  He painted in his spare time. In 1961, he won the award for ‘Most Promising Artist’ at the Artist of Fame & Promise Exhibition in Johannesburg. This motivated Berman to spend a year studying Fine Arts at the Academie de la Grande Chaumier in Paris, France.
Upon his return to South Africa, the state of oppression and struggle in the country dispirited him. Most of his friends were imprisoned along with the arrest of Nelson Mandela, while others had left the country. This sparked the decision he made to leave the country and go to Swaziland to start a new life. This proved quite challenging as an artist and with a means to sustain himself.  He found work as an architectural draughtsman, which is where he discovered his love for building design and eventually led him to open his own practice in architecture. Berman gained recognition for his designs and unique houses, his work appeared in ‘A House in Swaziland’ – ADA Magazine in 1990 as well as the Pioneer television series of ‘World’s Most Extreme Houses’ in 2005.

Berman began to engage with the traditions and culture of Swaziland and learned the customs of ‘art’ in Africa that revolve around ancestral influence in their work. To this day, Berman still practices the notion of submitting and listening to spirit and allowing them to inform his work. Ray is also influenced by African music and has found a deep appreciation for the uniqueness of urban jazz that he was exposed to in his earlier years in South Africa.
Following the Democratic election in South Africa, Berman returned to South Africa and worked as a storyboard artist, Art director and Production designer in the film industry. However, he quickly found the world of film to be superficial and too commercial for his liking and soon after, he returned back to his home in Swaziland and chose to paint full time. Berman is known to have distinct control in his choice of composition and color that brings about a natural and excellent confidence in his technical skills in his preferred medium of oil on canvas. He states that “through creating art, I attempt to fulfill some inner necessity. That’s why I’m here”, reiterating his belief that he paints because he has to. Ray relies on instinct and an openness to flow, a lot like in jazz music, in attempt to comprehend sound and form through his art. Thus his work can be seen as more internal and abstract, a shift away from the expected.

AWARDS: 

  • Most Promising Artist – Artists of Fame and Promise Exhibition – Aubrey Fielding Gallery 1961 Johannesburg South Africa.
    Prize of the City of Salzburg for Painting – Salzburg Art Academy 1969 Austria
  • COMMISSIONS:
    Sculptural Fountain for His Majesty King Sobhuza 11 – Embo State House Lobamba Swaziland
    Carved Hardwood Lions – Lozita Royal Palace Swaziland
    Murals – 11 meters by 4 meters – Maguga Lodge Swaziland
    Murals at several private homes and schools – Mbabane Swaziland
  • EXHIBITIONS:
    Various group and one man shows – Swaziland & Johannesburg South Africa.
  • His work is represented in private collections in Australia, America, Israel, Swaziland and South Africa.

References:
• 

http://yeboswaziland.com/artists/ray-berman/ (Accessed January 23, 2017)  

http://www.kbraunweb.com/rayberman/biography.asp (Accessed January 23, 2017)

Synopsis:

South African Painter and fine artist living in  Swaziland 

First name: 
Ray
Last name: 
Berman
Date of birth: 
1941
Location of birth: 
Johannesburg, South Africa

Pule Pheto

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Pule Pheto, son of activist and poet Molefe Pheto, was born in Soweto 1966. At The age of 12, his parents were exiled and the family moved to London where he and his brother Gibo Pheto were raised. Having been brought up in a musical family, Pule quickly took an interest in playing the drums. Throughout his upbringing him and his brother were very interested in music and he went on to study towards a Bachelor of Music in Piano from Goldsmith College University of London. He has become a “master pianist” who has gained high acclaim and respect in the “avant and free jazz” genres.

Pheto is signed to Ogun Records label and has released six albums with them, and has also been part of  a number of collaborations including Viva La Black with Louis Moholo, a South African drummer . He also often works collectively with his brother Gibo, and has written many songs for other artists. He has headlined a number of jazz festivals throughout his career, and in 2003 he collaborated with Louis Moholo, Mervyn Africa and Keith Tippett. Pheto brought his popular brand of free-improvisation and this collaboration can be seen as the fusing of three band styles.

His most recent work Deliverance (2016) is a collaborative jazz project that he worked on with Tumi Mogorosi. The project was an inter-textual intervention the saw the involvement of Mzwandile Buthelezi with his paintings, and the oratory work or Percy Mabandu. Pheto has an appreciation and great knowledgeable about various forms of music on a global scale and often incorporates that in his sets. He is creative and versatile and uses his music to reflect on the culture of South Africa and the rest of the world.


References:
• “Pule Pheto” theorbit.co.za. URL: http://www.theorbit.co.za/pule-pheto/ [Accessed: 26 Jan 2017] “Tumi Mogorosi and Pule Pheto” jhnblive.com. http://www.jhblive.com/Events-in-Johannesburg/live-music/tumi-mogorosi-and-pule-pheto/62442 [Accessed: 27 Jan 2017] Kaya FM “Pule Pheto and Tumi Moqorosi perform Llee Marikana Live and Unplugged on Kaya FM” YouTube video,6:38, posted April 11, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iXSeo8_pUY Brothermiloo2 “Louis Moholo, Pule Pheto, Gibo Pheto: Mark Of Respect (1995)” YouTube video,4:12, posted Jan 12, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYgobAuuphY
Synopsis:

Pule Pheto is a jazz pianist and composer who is known for his songwriting and improvised jazz performances.

First name: 
Pule
Last name: 
Pheto
Date of birth: 
1966
Location of birth: 
Soweto, South Africa

Buchi Emecheta

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Buchi Emecheta Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta, writer, born 21 July 1944; died 25 January 2017

Born Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta Obe  ‘Buchi Emecheta’ was born in the Nigerian city of Lagos on 21 July in 1944 to Jeremy Nwabudinke, a railway worker and Alice (nee Okwuekwuhe).  Her Igbo parents were from the town of Ibusa, and that is where she spent most of her childhood. The family was very poor and the mother did not have an education. The family only had enough money to send her brother to school. Her father passed away when she was eight years old. Emecheta was discovered by a benefactor who saw her potential and she was given the opportunity to study rather than sell fruit in the market.

In 1954 she won a scholarship to the well known Methodist girls high school, in Yaba, Lagos. A year later, her mother died and she then moved between relatives and the Ibusa community in Lagos.

She met Sylvester Onwordi, at the age of eleven and five years later the two married. In 1960 Onwordi moved to Britain to study at University. She came in 1962. She had five children but was unhappy in sometimes volatile marriage and left her husband to raise them on her own. He had burnt the manuscript of her second book, which had a fictional narrative similar to her own, Second Class Citizen. It was rewritten and then published later (1974). She worked as a librarian to support her family. In 1970, she enrolled at the University of London and worked towards a degree in Sociology. During this time Emecheta worked as a community worker in North London.  Much like the feminist writers who preceded her, her work focused on the politics of race, gender and sex based largely on her personal experiences. Her debut novel, In the Ditch, was published in 1972 as a series of articles in the magazine The New Statesman. This novel, alongside her second novel, Second Class Citizen, offers a view into the life of a poor Nigerian woman struggling to fit into the community in one of Europe’s biggest cities.

Her subsequent works depicted accounts of women’s experiences in female child-rearing, while facing numerous obstacles which included the changing values of traditional societies. Buchi Emecheta is also the author of several novels for children, including Nowhere to Play (1980) and The Moonlight Bride (1980). She published a volume of autobiographical tales, Head Above Water, (1986.) Her television play, A Kind of Marriage, was first screened by the BBC in 1976.

In the late 1970’s she was a visiting professor at several universities in the United States. In 1979 she received the prestigious New Statesman Jock Campbell Award for Commonwealth Writers. She returned to Nigeria in 1980 to work as a visiting Professor of English at the University of Calabar. Following this she ran Ogwugwu Afor Publishing Company alongside her son with branches in London and Ibuza. She remained a literary contributor to many leading magazines including New Statesman, the Times Literary Supplement and The Guardian. In 2010 a stroke hindered her mobility and her writing, and she became progressively ill. She died on 25 January 2017 in London. 

Synopsis:

Buchi Emecheta was a Nigerian author who focused on the conditions of women. 

First name: 
Buchi
Last name: 
Emecheta
Date of birth: 
21 July 1944
Location of birth: 
Lagos, Nigeria
Date of death: 
25 January 2017
Location of death: 
London, United Kingdom

Dali Tambo

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Synopsis:

Activist, Filmmaker, TV-personality, businessman and son of the late Oliver Tambo.

First name: 
Dali
Last name: 
Tambo
Date of birth: 
1 March 1959

Sydney Kumalo

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Sydney Alex Kumalo was born in the middle of the colonial conquest of Africa, the same year that Benito Mussolini’s foreign armies invaded Abyssinia (later called Ethiopia), which was under Emperor Haile Silassie. The sculptor and painter, was born on 13 April 1935 in Sophiatown, Johannesburg. He often accompanied his father, a house painter to work. During this time, the Black societies in South Africa were challenged by modernity and urbanity, which merged with racial segregation. Kumalo went to school at Madibane High in Diepkloof, Soweto after Black people were forcefully removed from Sophiatown. He attended the Polly Street Art Centre consistently over 4 years between 1953 and 1957. At the Centre, Cecil Skotnes, the Recreation Officer of the Johannesburg city municipality, provided him with mentorship.  The gallery owner, Egon Guenther visited the Polly Street Art Centre occasionally to encourage the artists who worked there. He often showed them images of sculptures and drawings of the German Ernest Barlach and Käthe Kollwitz, which acted as references of stylised representations in Kumalo’s work. Between the years 1958 to 1960, Skotnes arranged for Kumalo to build his sculptural works by offering him a space in Eduardo Villa’s studio two times a week.

In 1957, a 22-year-old Kumalo got his first of the many commissions through Skotnes to decorate a church near Kroonstad in the Free State Province. The same year he was favoured to assist Skotnes as an art instructor at the Polly Street Art Centre. He was subsequently appointed to teach on a full time basis from 1959 and continued in the same position at Bantu Men’s Social Club in Eloff Street, (also known as Jubilee Social Centre) upon the closure of the Polly Street Art Centre. As an art instructor he was instrumental in shaping a generation of Black South African artists who studied under his guidance during this period.

Kumalo’s thinking espoused the philosophy of the earlier mission-trained Black individuals who came to be called the New Africans. The personalities organised themselves into units such as labour unions and other professional bodies that strived to acknowledge the humanness of Black people within their limiting environment. Some of the New Africans wrote newspaper columns and books that focused on the development of Black people. Generally, they attempted to participate as equal partners in the new way of life that was characterised by European modernity. In the tradition of the New Africans, Kumalo’s teaching methods, seen through his art, showed awareness of ancient African imagery that he fused with European outlook and forms.

In 1961 he co-founded the art group Amadlozi, which was made up of Ezrom Legae,Cecil Sash, Giuseppe Cattaneo, Skotnes and Villa. Kumalo became a full time artist when he stopped teaching at Jubilee Social Centre in 1964. He was often given commission jobs locally and in neighboring countries. He continued to work and collaborate with Skotnes.

Kumalo held his first solo exhibition at the Egon Guenther Gallery in 1962 and his work inspired some of his art students. His work can be found in the collections of Durban Art Museum, Johannesburg Art Gallery and the University of the Witwatersrand amongst others. His awards range from the 1960 Artists of Fame and Promise to South African Race Relations in 1981. Kumalo’s work was widely exhibited globally and continues to be shown now. He died in 1988 at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto.

 

 


References:
• Miles, E. Polly Street: The Story of an Art Centre. United Kingdom: The Ampersand Foundation, 2004. Print  www.revisions.co.za/biographies/sydney-kumalo/ (Accessed 04 February 2017)    
Synopsis:

Sidney Kumalo was an art instructor, sculptor and painter.

First name: 
Sydney
Last name: 
Kumalo
Date of birth: 
1935
Location of birth: 
Sophiatown, Johannesburg
Date of death: 
1988
Location of death: 
Soweto

Martin Tose

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The quiet and yet temperamental Martin Qgibinsizi Tose was born in Germiston, Johannesburg during the first decade of Apartheid. His birth coincided with the ruling National Party’s second successive Whites only general elections victory. The year was also characterised by the start of the Treason Trial, the compulsory carrying of pass books for Black people and the breakaway of the Africanists section from the African National Congress after they were barred from attending public meetings. Tose was born when Dr Hendrik Verwoerd was chosen to succeed the country’s late Prime Minister, Johannes Strijdom after he died in 1958. 

He established himself as a sculptor, graphic artist and a painter during his late teens. Tose attended part-time art classes at the Open School in Braamfontein, Johannesburg under the guidance of Nathaniel Mokgosi between 1975 and 1977. The Open School was opened in 1974 to equip high school learners with foundational skills in fine art and music. He spent the next three years until 1980 at Katlehong Art Centre, studying under Thato Mamabolo whom trained at Ndaleni Teacher’s Training College in KwaZulu Natal. 

Tose’s subject matter ranges from landscapes, wild life and figure studies in oil, to sculpture in wood, bronze and mixed media. Tose’s handling of the various media tends to veer his work towards abstraction. His titles, such as ‘Orange Moon’, ‘Entering Jerusalem’ and ‘Moving Day’ and his use of colour reveal the artist’s reflections on issues of spirituality and mythology.  

‘Moving Day’ is a 32x52 cm mixed media piece on paper that was executed in 1990. The work shows a dynamic group of figures; male, female, children and their dogs moving from the left of the picture surface. One female figure is seen carrying a chair on her head and a baby on her back. Another is seen moving a single bed on her head while a young male figure is pushing a cart that carries what looks like a chest of drawers. This linear composition fills the entire frame with tints of ocher and blues that disrupt the white surface. Tose seems to be expressing the temporality of life in the townships when families are often evicted from their four-roomed houses or carry their household goods from one backroom dwelling to another. The artist’s tongue-in-cheek depiction of the realities of the poor raises questions about the sensibility of human interactions. The work shows the abnormality of the situation in its portrayal of families and pets that travel with their furniture on foot. ‘Moving Day’ may be Tose’s testament about how the indignities of the downtrodden are often normalized: a sad state, which seems to be currently accelerated. 

Since 1978 he participated in various group exhibitions until his untimely death at the age of 46. Although his life was cut short by kidney complications, Tose’s work forms part of the collections of major banks, universities and national galleries in the country. He died in 2004 in the Ekurhuleni township of Katlehong, southeast of Johannesburg.


References:
• http://www.gemsofafricagallery.com/martin-tose.html [Accessed 21 February 2017]
• www.sahistory.org.za/organisations/african-national-congress-anc [Accessed 23 February 2017]
•  1997. Makro Christmas brochure that celebrated local artists
Synopsis:

A South African born painter and sculptor

First name: 
Martin
Last name: 
Tose
Date of birth: 
1958
Location of birth: 
Germiston
Date of death: 
2004
Location of death: 
Katlehong

Barend de Wet

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Barend de Wet was born in Boksburg in 1956, and towards his untimely death had long become an emblematic figure of the artist, the possibilities of the playfulness in the creative act and the ostensible freedoms of an artistic life within the city of Cape Town where he was based. De Wet’s oeuvre, straddling nearly forty years, encompasses traditional sculptural media mostly in metal work, performances involving nudism, craft skills and fanatical hobbyism, and wall-based ‘knittings’, gaudy coloured canvasses comically clothed in knitting, crochet and embroidery. 

Winner of the Volkskas Atelier Award in 1990, De Wet dropped out of an architecture course at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, to study Fine Art at the Michaelis School of Art, University of Cape Town, graduating in 1983.  He held his first solo exhibition toying with art at the Old Castle Brewery in Woodstock, Cape Town, in 1985.  Two of his most iconic works were made in 1996, the first, art disguised as pasta involved De Wet preparing, in an empty storefront in Troyville, Johannesburg, as hosted by FIG Gallery, fresh pasta hung out in lines whilst dressed in chef’s whites.  The work comments on food preparation as having an innate sculptural component, whilst the transposition and decontextualisation of this activity from the kitchen becomes an artistic gesture of mock Art Povera in itself.  The second work art is life: homage to michelangelo, rodin, camille claudet and my wife was De Wet official resignation from the art world through the birth announcement of his son in the form of a photographic postcard depicting the new-born on a pedestal. 

During 1998, along with artist Peet Pienaar with whom he frequently collaborated in the 1990s, he established the Museum of Temporary Art at his hotel, The Grand, in Observatory. Here he continued his obdurate battle against the intellectualisms of art, favouring honest gestures imbued with visual puns and Duchampian mischief.  Before his return to commercial art galleries with three solo exhibitions at SMAC Gallery’s branches in Stellenbosch and Cape Town from 2010 onwards, De Wet followed various pursuits, including being a model for Issey Miyake and David West, a beekeeper, a Masters World record holder in yo-yoing, a serial tattooist and an innate exhibitionist.

Amongst several exhibitions his work was included in the 1994 São Paulo Biennale, Dada South? Exploring Dada Legacies in South African Art 1960s to the present co-curated by Kathryn Smith and Roger van Wyk at the IZIKO South African National Gallery in 2009, and the screening The Film Will Always Be You: South African Artists on Screen co-curated by Zoe Whitley and Abrie Fourie at Tate Modern, London, in 2015.  

Often inhabiting the position of the ‘wise fool’, and continually reinventing his practice through generosity and surprise, De Wet, according to Kathryn Smith who penned his monograph in 2010, “operated with stunning agility in the interface between contemporary art, material culture and social networks.  He is everywhere and nowhere at once”. His legacy is perhaps best articulated by Smith stating “throughout his career, De Wet has consistently opened up spaces for possibility for future creative action in a context of production with very specific local conditions.” [1]

Art Disguised as Pasta (2016) Lithograph on Paper Image source

janee (2010), painted bronze, 116cm Image source


Endnotes

[1] Kathryn Smith. 2010. Barend de Wet. SMAC Art Gallery. Stellenbosch.

Synopsis:

Artist

First name: 
Barend
Last name: 
de Wet
Date of birth: 
4 January 1956
Location of birth: 
Boksburg, South Africa
Date of death: 
18 March 2017
Location of death: 
Cape Town, South Africa

Ngugi wa Thiong’o

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The academic and social activist, Ngugi wa Thiong’o is one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. He was born James wa Thiong’o Ngugi in Limuru, Kenya on 5 January 1938 during the height of British colonialism. He attended Kamandura, Manguu and Kinyogori primary schools before proceeding to Alliance High School. During his education the background was the Mau Mau war of independence between 1952 and 1963. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Makerere University in 1963, the same year that Kenya became independent from Britain. The following year he got another Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Leeds in Britain.

wa Thiong’o wrote the play, The Black Hermit whilst still an undergraduate at Makerere. It was performed at Kampala National Theatre during the country’s independence celebrations in 1962. wa Thiong’o published his first novel, Weep Not, Child in 1964 and the second, The River Between the following year.

In 1967 he worked as a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Nairobi and published A Grain of Wheat in July the same year. Subsequently, he became a senior lecturer and the chair of the literature department. This led to him being instrumental in a movement that saw the changing of the same department into the Department of Literature, which advantaged African literature. He discarded his English name, James, in favour of Ngugi during this time.

 In 1976 wa Thiong’o co-authored the play, The Trial of Dedan Kimathi with a colleague, Micere Githae Mugo. The British settler establishment killed the revolutionary Kimathi in 1957 for being on the forefront of the Mau Mau uprisings. The play was performed in an open-air theatre and ruffled feathers within the country’s political leadership. The following year wa Thiong’o published another novel, Petals of Blood, which portrayed the state of the country post-colonialism. The same year his play, Ngaahika Ndena (I Will Marry When I Want) proved too challenging to the authorities and was consequently banned. He was subjected to an onslaught of political persecutions. His collection of books was confiscated and he spent the rest of 1978 in detention without trial at Kamiti Maximum Prison. wa Thiong’o chose to write in the Kikuyu language around this period. He lost his job at the university and upon release from prison he struggled to get any employment in the country. In 1982 he went to Britain to promote the novel that he wrote while in prison, Caitani Mutharabaine, which was later translated into English as Devil on the Cross. Owing to political challenges at home wa Thiong’o decided to live in exile. He lived in Britain between 1982 and 1989.

In 1983 he wrote Barrel of a Pen: Resistance to Repression in Neo-Colonial Kenya and three years later wrote against Neocolonialism and the seminal Decolonising the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature, which is regarded as one of the primary sources of post-colonial studies. In the late 1980s wa Thiong’o started writing in English again, to help his academic career. Between 1992 and 2002 he was the professor of Comparative Literature and Performance Studies at New York University.

He pens plays, novels, short stories, critical essays and children’s books. Generally wa Thiong’o writings deal with the cultural and political legacy of colonialism in contemporary Africa. He is often invited to deliver public lectures to top universities across the globe. After several attempts at his life, the literary genius returned to Kenya in 2004, two years after President Daniel Arap Moi’s autocratic political party lost power. Since 1965 he has amassed a number of literary awards, honorary doctorates as well as professorships from across the world. Currently he is a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California in Irvine.

 

 

Synopsis:

A Kenyan born academic, author and social activist 

First name: 
Ngugi
Last name: 
wa Thiong’o
Date of birth: 
1938
Location of birth: 
Limuru, Kenya

Esmé Berman

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Esmé Berman, a Jewish South African art historian, author and researcher, was born in 1929. She enrolled at the University of Witswatersrand in 1946 and completed a degree in Visual Arts and an honours degree in Psychology. Upon completion she went to London to study Drama at the Trinity College.

She returned to South Africa and started writing art reviews for Newscheck, a local magazine with the artist Robert Hodgins who worked as the assistant editor.

Since the 1960s Berman also worked as a freelance writer and contributed as reviewer to radio programmes.

Berman gave evening classes in culture, architecture, literature at in the Hillbrow Study Centre. It was through these courses and her lectures that she made the decision to write Art and Artists of South Africa. She sent a selection of these lectures in manuscript form to publisher AA Balkema. He declined to publish the lectures and instead encouraged her to write a comprehensive and well-researched book on South African art.

Berman made the plan to produce the book Art and Artists of South Africa, by visiting artists across the country, travelling thousands of kilometres to conduct personal interviews – in a way reminiscent of the Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari’s (1511-1574) approach in his book, translated as Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects.

With the publication of the book the pictorial dictionary, Art and Artists of South Africa, An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary and Historical Survey of Painters, Sculptors & Graphic Artists Since 1875, which was first published by Balkema in 1970 and revised in 1983, Berman established herself as a respected researcher and author within the South African art community. The book incorporates not only South African artists and their works, but also how and why they practice through vivid photographs and a comprehensive text.  The book is used still to this day as a reliable resource for South African visual art up to the early 1980’s.

In 1987 Berman moved Los Angeles but returned to Johannesburg in 2003 after the death of her husband.

Another book of note by Berman is Africa, the Sun and Shadows, published in 2010, which gives a personal and detailed account of the artist Alexis Preller’s life. Preller (1911 – 1975) was a renowned South African painter and Berman and him were close for many years. The book gives an intimate look at the man and his way of working.

Berman founded the Children's Art Centre in Johannesburg, was the Director of the Art Institute South Africa, an executive member of the S.A. Association of Arts, a professional adviser to the Rembrandt van Rijn Art Foundation and permanent art critic to the SABC and various journals. She was on the jury for and an adjudicator for numerous national and international art exhibitions.

On 30 March 2016, the University of the Witwatersrand honored Berman with a Doctor of Literature degree (honoris causa) in acknowledgement of her contribution to South African art history, art discourse and art criticism.

Later in life Berman suffered from Parkinson’s disease.

She past away on 4 June 2017 at her home in Johannesburg and is survived by three children and two grandchildren. 

Synopsis:

South African art historian and author

First name: 
Esmé
Last name: 
Berman
Date of birth: 
1929
Date of death: 
4 June 2017
Location of death: 
Johannesburg, South Africa

Francis Wilson

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Francis Aylmer Hunter Wilson is the oldest son of the anthropologists, Monica and Godfrey Wilson. He was born in May 1939 in Livingstone, Zambia. During this time his father was the director of the newly created Rhodes Livingstone Institute. Due to political pressure, in 1941 Godfrey Wilson was forced to resign from his position and subsequently took the family back to South Africa. They settled in rural Hogsback in the Eastern Cape, thirty kilometers from Alice. Godfrey joined the Red Cross and unfortunately died when Francis was four. Monica Wilson returned to live with her aging parents in Lovedale, where she took up a post at Fort Hare College. In 1947 she was appointed the first female Professor of Social Anthropology at Rhodes University and, in 1952, Professor and Head of Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cape Town (UCT).

The young Francis attended the English-medium Alice Primary School and later St. Andrews College, a private boarding school in Grahamstown. In 1957 he proceeded to the University of Cape Town where he obtained a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in physics three years later. At UCT he was exposed to a lot of Christian and socialist literature which began influencing his worldview. He mentions the liberal National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) as some of his circle of intellectual stimulation at university. He was also a member of the Students’ Health and Welfare Centres Organisation (SHWCO). Wilson’s quest to understand South Africa’s racial dynamics influenced his decision to undertake postgraduate studies in economics. He followed family tradition by enrolling at the University of Cambridge where he obtained a Master of Arts (MA) degree in economics and subsequently a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). In 1960, before going to Cambridge he spent a couple of months in Geneva with the Calvinist family of Diane and Alain Perrot.

Towards the end of 1966, in the aftermath of the Sharpeville police shootings, the banning of major Black political activity and the consequent Rivonia trial, Wilson decided to return to South Africa with his wife Lindy, whom he married in 1964. The following year he took up the post of a lecturer at the University of Cape Town. He started getting involved in research while teaching economics, mining, and the dynamics of poverty, economic justice and migrant labour in the context of South Africa. In 1975 he founded and for many years (until 2001) was the director of Southern African Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) at the University of Cape Town’s School of Economics. During this period Prof Wilson published three pieces of hard-hitting and graphic research about the effects of the migrant labour system in South Africa. In 1971 he contributed a chapter titled Farming 1866 – 1966 to the Oxford History of South Africa. The following year, Labour in the South African Mines 1911 – 1969 was published from his PhD. He subsequently published the book, Migrant Labour in South Africa in the same year.

In April 1982 he was head of directed the Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in South Africa, an influential investigation into poverty amongst black people in Southern African In 2001 he founded an information and training programme, Data First Resource Unit. In the 1990s Prof Wilson was Chairperson of the Council at the University of Fort Hare and of the National Water Advisory Council. He also chaired the International Social Science Council Inquiry into strategies to overcome poverty and inequality. In 2012 he was appointed the Acting Pro Vice-Chancellor for Poverty and Inequality at the University of Cape Town. He organised a conference that launched the Scientific Committee of the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty.

Professor Wilson, a theologian and activist scholar has shared his vast knowledge with students for over forty years in the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town. Throughout his illustrious career he has been a visiting professor at, amongst others, Oxford University, Yale University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Princeton University and the University of Fort Hare. He has co-edited and authored a number of books, chapters and articles. Currently he is the national coordinator of the newsletter Mandela Initiative: Dialogue and action to overcome poverty and inequality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis:

Academic, researcher

First name: 
Francis
Last name: 
Wilson
Date of birth: 
1939
Location of birth: 
Livingstone, Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia)

Juda Ngwenya

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Picture: Janice Keogh, City Press Image source

Juda Ngwenya began his career with The Star newspaper in Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng). Before he was even two years in the employ of the newspaper, he was approached by the renowned news wire services, Reuters to join the organisation.

In a career spanning over two and half decades, Ngwenya has covered some of South Africa’s hotspots and also travelled extensively doing different assignments.

Ngwenya covered conflict in Liberia and Nigeria, violent land seizures in Zimbabwe and natural disasters like the flooding in Mozambique, as well as other major news worthy stories in Africa.

Ngwenya also worked at The World and The Daily Mail, among other newspapers.

His pictures have appeared in front pages of newspapers such as London Times, The Observer as well as magazines such Time Magazine and Newsweek.

Ngwenya photographed conflict during South Africa's apartheid years as well as times of great hope, including the iconic image of when Nelson Mandela voted in the first democratic elections on April 27, 1994 at Inanda, Natal (now Kwazulu-Natal). Mandela was elected president and Ngwenya later gave him a framed photograph of the moment when the anti-apartheid leader stood, beaming and raising his right arm, after casting his ballot.

After retiring from Reuters after twenty years of work, he worked as a freelance photographer and took images for the Nelson Mandela Foundation. He participated in the Foundation’s exhibition Between States of Emergency in 2015, which was a tribute to photographers who sacrificed a great deal in order to tell the world of the brutal realities and injustices of South Africa during the states of emergency in South Africa in the 1980s. The work of 40 photographers were on display, with images from 21 July 1985 to 7 June 1990, when a series of states of emergency were imposed to clamp down on anti-apartheid protests in South Africa.

On 14 October 2016 Ngwenya suffered a massive stroke at his Leondale home, Ekurhuleni and was admitted to the Thelle Mogoerane Hospital in Vosloorus where he passed away five days later at the age of 65. A memorial service was held on 26 October 2016 at the Rhema Bible Church in Johannesburg.

Juda Ngwenya is survived by his widow Mwelase and five children, Vusi, Bathabile, Sibusiso, Ntombikayise and Nkanyezi.

Reuters set up a photojournalist scholarship fund at the Wits University School of Journalism for in honour of Ngwenya. 


References:
• Nelson Mandela Foundation. (2016). Foundation mourns the passing of Juda Ngwenya, 19 October. Available at https://www.nelsonmandela.org/news/entry/foundation-mourns-the-passing-of-juda-ngwenya . Accessed on 20 June 2017
•  Pinder, R. (2016). Obituary: Juda Ngwenya, The Baron, 19 October, online. Available at http://www.thebaron.info/news/article/2016/10/19/obituary-juda-ngwenya . Accessed on 20 June 2016
•  Torchia, C. (2016). South African photographer Juda Ngwenya is remembered, AP in US News online. Available at https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2016-10-26/south-african-photographer-juda-ngwenya-is-remembered . Accessed on 20 June 2016.
•  Nchabaleng, M. (2016). Media fraternity mourn Juda Ngwenya WordPress online. Available at https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/sowetan/20161020/281603829997760 . Accessed on 20 June 2016.
•  Slide Share. (2009).   Juda Ngwenya – Award Winning Photgrapher online. Available at https://www.slideshare.net/morgan6326/juda-ngwenya-powerpoint . Accessed on 20 June 2016.
Synopsis:

Photographer 

First name: 
Juda
Last name: 
Ngwenya
Date of death: 
19 October 2016
Location of death: 
Johannesburg, Gauteng

Mattheus Uys Krige

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Uys Krige Image source

Mattheus Uys Krige and his contribution to the Second World War 

Mattheus Uys Krige (1910-1987) can certainly be counted among the most dynamic literary figures of the 20th century. He distinguished himself as an author, poet, playwright, translator, broadcaster and lecturer. He also served as contributor for a number of prominent newspapers, including Die Vaderland, The Rand Daily Mail, Die Suiderstem and Die Burger. Besides his native Afrikaans, he communicated in perfect English and had command of Dutch, Spanish, Italian, German, French and Portuguese. [i] In his biography, Die goue seun. Die lewe en werk van Uys Krige J.C. Kannemeyer describes Krige as a cosmopolitan world traveller, a nonconformist and liberal who explored other literary and political avenues than the majority of his contemporaries. Indeed, he travelled so extensively that from 1945 until the early 1970s he was probably the most well-known Afrikaans author abroad. His departure from traditional Afrikaner nationalism and particular focus on the outside world is also unique among authors of his generation. [2] Aside from his considerable literary contributions, Krige played a vital role in South Africa’s war effort during the Second World War (WWII) as war correspondent and public figure. This article discusses his role in WWII and examines how he came to hold convictions so different from his contemporaries concerning both the war itself and South African politics in general. Therefore, this article focuses exclusively on the period c. 1910-1945 and investigates Krige’s youth and war experiences. 

Early Years c. 1910 – 1930 

Mattheus Uys Krige was born on 4 February 1910 on the farm “Bontebokskloof” in the Swellendam district. He was the second son of Jacob (Japie) Daniel Krige and Susanna (Sannie) Hermina Uys. Both parents were involved in the community they formed part of, serving on school councils and the like. [3] Even a cursorybrief  investigation into his background clearly demonstrates that Krige did not come from the typicaltextbook  Afrikaner nationalist home often associated with this period.

Japie Krige, born on 5 July 1879 in Franschhoek, was a talented athlete as well as an accomplished cricket and tennis player. He achieved fame, however, as a Springbok centre. According to some critics, he can be considered one of the greatest Springbok players of all time. He played professional rugby for the Western Province and formed part of the 1906 Paul Roos Springbok team that toured through Britain and France. He obtained a BA degree from Victoria College (present-day Stellenbosch University) and became a magistrate. As a magistrate, he became known for his thoroughly considered verdicts and his insight into human nature. [4]

Sannie Uys has been described as an artistic dreamer with a love for literature and music. Born on 8 February 1886 she became a teacher and loved playing the piano. Interestingly, she spoke predominantly English to her children, although her family was Afrikaans. She is characteriszed as reserved and sensitive. Krige clearly received some of his literary talent from her. At a late stage in her life, she began publishing short stories. Her work impressed, among others, the literary critic D. J. Opperman. [5] Krige continually encouraged her writing and they clearly shared a special bond. During high school, he writes the following about his poems: “My mother says she reads them, to her they are so nice, and so I’m not writing for you, but rather me and her alone.” [6]

Krige was one of six children. His elder brother Jacobus (Bokkie) was awarded a Rhodes scholarship and studied English at Oxford. His younger brother Arnold was also widely travelled and the youngest brother, Francois, became a respected artist. He exhibited in Venice and illustrated many books, including some of Krige’s works. Interestingly, Krige would turn out to be the only one among the brothers to have children of his own. Krige’s youngest siblings were two girls. Maria Magdalena (Mizzi) who showed considerable ability as an actress, although she died young, and Suzanna Hermine, the youngest, who would marry Revel Fox. It is important to note that all four brothers enlisted in the Second World War and achieved distinction in North Africa. Bokkie became an air force colonel, Krige a war correspondent, Arnold an intelligence officer and Francois a war artist. [7]

Krige spent his early childhood in the country, mostly in the Karoo and Cape area. Although his father’s occupation as a magistrate necessitated that the family relocate on what was almost a regular basis, his childhood seems mostly secure. [8] Later in life, Krige wondered whether these regular moves during childhood contributed to his own yearning for new destinations and his concern about things on an international scale. In 1920, the Kriges moved to Stellenbosch. Uys Krige shared some of his most treasured memories with this town. Some years later, he wrote, “for the golden glow that lies over my youth, I owe so much to Stellenbosch.” He could not imagine a happier, healthier and more natural and spontaneous childhood and youth than that which he enjoyed in Stellenbosch. [9]

His youth was filled with family holidays spent with grandparents and other relatives. The Krige grandparents lived in Onrust. There, he came to love the beach and ocean. The Uys grandparents remained on the farm “Bontebokskloof” where he was born. There the children spent many playful hours while listening to their grandparents’ retellings of adventures from the South African War. Many of Krige’s poems and short stories contain settings that can be associated with these family vacations or residences of relatives. On the whole then, his upbringing seems to have been peaceful and happy. [10]

Krige showed potential as a writer from an early age. As young as fifteen, he was already contributing English prose and Afrikaans poetry to reviews like The Cape, The Sunday Times, The Cape Argus and De Goede Hoop. He matriculated at “Hoër Jongenskool” which would later become the well-known Paul Roos Gymnasium and went on to study law at Stellenbosch University. This choice was possibly influenced by his father’s occupation as a magistrate. However, while at university, his interest in literature only increased. [11] During this time, he was strongly influenced by J. M. L. Franken, a professor of French language and literature, as well as Lydia van Niekerk, who guided him into Dutch literature. Krige soon began translating some French short stories for Die Huisgenoot and his desire to experience Europe and particularly French culture first-hand was awakened. During his student years, he also published in Die Stellenbosse Student and Die Nuwe Brandwag. Although he graduated with a law degree after the normal three years of study, he had, by then, decided to pursue a career in writing rather than law. [12]

After graduation, Krige left the area of his youth for Johannesburg. Although he was to remain there for only a year, this period was important, since it placed him on a course towards Europe and new experiences. In Johannesburg, Krige’s desire for new experiences that which was foreign and exotic was born. As his numerous subsequent trips abroad would demonstrate, this desire remained with him throughout his life. He enjoyed the city and all it had to offer; so different from what he had known to date. About the city, he wrote to his parents, “the air of Joburg takes one like champagne. This city has so many aspects; Chinatown where I can drink opium, Vrededorp, the Arab and Portuguese quarters.” [13]

On March 1, 1930, he began working at The Rand Daily Mail as a junior reporter. He absorbed all that Johannesburg had to offer, the good, the bad, and the ugly; even admitting in a letter to Bokkie that he knew all the “crooks, illegal alcohol sellers, gamblers and dagga smokers” in Vrededorp. Importantly, it was also here that Krige developed his criticism of the practices of the Afrikaner establishment. This too, would remain with him his whole life. By August 1930 though, even cosmopolitan Johannesburg was becoming too small and Krige expressed an increasingly fervent desire to travel to Europe. [14]

First European adventure c. 1931 -1939

On 30 June 1931, he finally departed on the Dunbar Castle from Cape Town to Southampton. His motivation for leaving lay, at least partly, in the search for an own identity. In a final letter to his parents before departure, he confided: “Sometimes I tire of being introduced as ‘Japie Krige’s son’ as if I don’t have a personality of my own.” A period of four and a half years spent in different European countries and cities; and certainly, in a vast variety of varying circumstances, now lay ahead for Krige. At times, he would struggle with intense melancholy and depression. This characteristic was apparently inherited from his mother, known for her reserved nature and sensitivity. [15]

At a time when many of his fellow poets found their inspiration in England, Holland and Flanders, Krige discovered his affinities with the cultures of the Romance language countries. His initial impression of England was unfavourable. The weather was terrible, his money quickly depleting and his elder brother, at this time studying at Oxford, away on holiday in Austria. He would be similarly disappointed in Holland, which he visited briefly some years later. Thus, in his choice of European destinations, he also varied from many of his contemporaries. [16]

Krige coincidently learned from a sporting journalist that he might feel more at home in the south of France. There, sunshine would be a more frequent visitor. He might even earn some money playing rugby, especially since the French rugby team had just defeated England for the first time. This, in combination with his desire to experience French culture that remained from his years at university, convinced him to move to France. [17]

He subsequently settled in Provence and played rugby for the Toulon club. This club was the most prestigious in France and had won the 1930-1931 national championships. The morning after he played his first game, he opened the newspaper to find himself on the front page. Accordingly, he was known as a French rugby star before publishing a single important line of poetry. [18] Indeed, he became the darling of the French sporting press with his “blonde mane of hair.” [19] Out of rugby season, he kept himself afloat with an assortment of odd jobs, only to resume playing and coaching when the winter returned. These odd jobs even included being a dishwasher in a Monte Carlo restaurant and a film extra, appearing as a trumpeter in “Don Quixote.” During this period, he also wrote regularly, often in bars and restaurants and sent articles on Provencal life to the South African press. [20]

In 1932, Krige met Roy Campbell, a fellow South African author. They shared a mutual enthusiasm for Provence and French poetry and Krige quickly became a regular visitor in the Campbell home. In some respects, Campbell served as a poetic mentor for Krige. He provided an example and gave advice and recommendations. He urged Krige to explore the world’s great literary works and this added greatly to Krige as an individual and an author. Their friendship clearly had a lasting effect on him in many respects. [21]

A new period began for Krige when he moved in with the Campbells in February 1933. The Campbells subsequently asked him to act as tutor for their two daughters, Theresa and Anna, and he spent his free time reading and learning Spanish. [22]  He was happier in their household than he had been in Europe to date. At the end of August, he also reported with overwhelming joy to Bokkie that some of his poetry had been accepted for publication in the Dutch magazine Helikon. For Krige, this is the first real recognition of his poetry and upon hearing of it, he “wept tears of joy.” [23]

However, in the background of this peaceful, happy period, the Great Depression of the 1930s was taking hold of Europe and financial troubles loomed for the Campbells. Living costs were on the rise in France and Campbell was working on Marine Provence, which would ultimately never be published. In order to aid the Campbells, Krige received several loans from Bokkie, who still studied at Oxford. Nevertheless, faced with ever-increasing expenses and debts they feared they could not pay, the Campbells, along with Krige, finally decided to move to Barcelona at the end of November 1933. [24]

They arrived in Spain only thirty months before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Shootings in the streets, bomb explosions and massive political demonstrations formed the background of Krige’s experiences here. This is clear in the first part of Sol y Sombra (sun and shadow), his collection of sketches from this period. [25] On 13 December 1933, Krige reported to his parents: “here, the bomb is an ordinary, daily, phenomenon.” [26] While in Spain, Krige initially felt removed from South Africa. His long absence eventually caused him to miss his homeland and his focus on a variety of European languages led to some trouble with writing Afrikaans. [27] Spain also reminded Krige increasingly of South Africa and  he acknowledged that he perceived many parallels between South Africa and Spain. Importantly, he recognized these parallels not only in terms of the landscape, but also on a political level. [28]

Krige’s time in Spain was significant for various reasons. In Barcelona, he first discovered himself as a prose writer and Madrid gave him his first tastes of the possibilities in theatre. The Spanish political situation also gripped Krige’s imagination and he recognized part of their struggle reflected in the South African situation. J. A. Berthoud explains: “Spain did to his heart and feelings what France had done to his mind and taste.” [29] In Spain, his political consciousness was awakened and his republican sympathies formed. In a radio broadcast some years later, Krige admitted, “my debt to Spain, for the blessings I received from her during those first two years, is unpayable.” [30]

Krige eventually parted ways with the Campbells, who became too poor to afford a tutor. By all indications, he enjoyed his time with them tremendously. Despite the sharply contrasting political perspectives they would embrace in future, when Krige supported the Spanish Republic and Campbell backed Franco; they maintained a great friendship and mutual respect for each other. Campbell used his influence to gain South African support for Krige’s first publication. [31] Krige, in turn, maintained, “I shall always be grateful to Campbell for the part he played in the first phase of my career as a writer.” [32] Twenty-eight years later, when he wrote a preface to a selection of Campbell’s poetry he declared: “when all the cliques, claques and coteries of our time have settled into their rightful little grooves, Roy Campbell will stand out as one of the finest lyrical voices of his generation.” [33]

Krige subsequently went to live in Barrio Chino, the underworld district of Barcelona where food and housing were cheapest. Here, he was surrounded by beggars, pimps, prostitutes and political refugees from almost every country in Europe. Anti-fascists, communists, Nazis, anarchists and spies could all be found here. Krige described it as a “boiling pot of intrigue, plot and counterplot.” In this environment, Krige met and befriended Alberto Colini. Colini was an Italian author, journalist, communist, and political refugee, wholeheartedly opposed to Mussolini and the Fascist ideology that was gaining ground in his homeland. [34] Krige was fascinated by his political ideas and his admiration for Colini becomes evident in a number of his letters.

During this period, Krige became extremely poor. [35] He began writing a series of articles, based directly on his own experiences, for the South African press. Although at least six of these were accepted for publication, payments took a minimum of three months to reach him. [36] In a letter to his parents, he admitted that the word “hunger” had gained deeper meaning for him and that he had forgotten the taste of a cup of coffee. In fact, he faced such dire circumstances that he even sold some of his clothes. [37] Colini, experienced as he was in the art of survival as a refugee, aided Krige for a time. Colini, in turn, was supported by a syndicate of beggars. This assistance, in combination with occasional gifts from grocers and the payments Krige eventually received for his articles kept him afloat. [38] During this period, Krige also sent the final manuscript, out of which his first publication, Kentering, would be formed to Bokkie. [39]

Thereafter, Krige grew increasingly restless and decided to move to Valencia. Here, he experienced the full impact of Spanish literature and was surrounded by talented poets and playwrights. Particularly Garcia Lorca made a profound impression on him. He would later translate some of Lorca’s works into Afrikaans. Thus, Krige became part of the “outburst of artistic creation” that Spain was experiencing despite her political disintegration. [40]

From 1934 onwards a longing to return home gradually took hold of Krige. [41] The breakup of a serious romantic relationship with a Spanish girl, Eulalia, (Emilia) possibly intensified this desire. Indeed, Krige was so serious about her that he wrote to his family with plans to marry. The cause of the break in the relationship is unclear. Krige, however, returned to South Africa alone in December 1935, four and a half years after he arrived in Europe and a mere six months before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. [42]

During his entire stay in Europe, Krige remained aware of current affairs in South Africa. He regularly wrote to his parents and enquired after the snippets of news he heard mainly from Dutch newspapers, regarding South Africa. His letters also contained requests for them to send news sources, specifically Die Huisgenoot. He expressed his approval that his parents did not support the new coalition government. His strong republican, anti-English and anti-Smuts feelings also became evident in his letters. On 4 March 1935, he wrote to his father, “to remain sheltered under the wings of the English means only one thing, death, and especially spiritual death.” These views, however, would soon change with a larger and more aggressive threat looming on the horizon. [43]

Upon his return to South Africa, Krige stayed with his parents for some months. He worked at Die Vaderland for a short period before moving to Cape Town at the end of 1936 and being employed by Die Suiderstem. He met Lydia Lindeque, a promising local actress, while in Johannesburg, and they were married on 27 January 1937. Krige observed international politics with increasing concern from their home in Cape Town. [44]

Krige’s time abroad likely gave him a marked advantage over many of his contemporaries. He had first-hand knowledge of the situation in Europe and was therefore better equipped to interpret the subsequent multifaceted events. Back in South Africa, he eagerly followed the news and discerned the volatile situation in Europe. Initially, he was passionately opposed to South Africa’s participation in another war in which tens of thousands of South Africans would die and the population would have new reasons for “thankfulness” towards Britain. [45]

However, in South Africa, Krige would come to other convictions. He would support the Smuts government’s war effort, be appointed by Smuts himself as Afrikaans Broadcaster on the Bureau of Information, and finally participate in the war first-hand as a war correspondent. One important reason for this change of heart was the events in Spain just prior to the Second World War. In his foreword to the sketches dealing with his time in Spain, Sol y Sombra, Krige explained how he lived alongside the common man while in Spain and shared their sun and shadow, their hopes and troubles. “However,” he continued, “Their greatest shadow – Franco’s temporary destruction in 1939 of the people’s aims and ideals, I experienced along with them only through my imagination.” [46]

The Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 alerted Krige to the dangers that fascism held, and he greatly sympathised with the Spanish population. Furthermore, he realised that Mussolini had been a powerful figure in Italy since 1922, and that support for fascism in Germany had only risen since Hitler came to power in 1933. Through Spain, he saw that fascism could lead to the destruction of Western values and that the future of democracy in Europe was being threatened. This was possibly one of his primary motivations for getting involved in the Second World War. [47]

Indeed, Krige was gripped with the Spanish situation and the Republican cause to such an extent that he seriously considered enlisting in the International Brigade. However, the Spanish ambassador dissuaded him from doing this by pointing out that the Republican cause needed advocates abroad, and particularly in South Africa, where the Afrikaans nationalist press was portraying Franco as a nationalist hero. To this end, Krige spoke and wrote about the conflict, daring to interpret its cause, and the dangers of Fascism, publically. In 1937, he also became a member of a committee that raised money to aid Spanish children. His first child, Maria-Eulalia, was also born on Christmas Day of that year. The conflict in Spain failed to stir strong emotions locally and Krige’s efforts to raise awareness among the South African population were met mostly with apathy. He observed with great disillusionment how “they all sided with Franco after July 1936 and merely shrugged their shoulders at all these horrific events.” Despite Krige’s lack of success in rousing the interest of others, it remains significant to note the lengths he was willing to go to in order to express his convictions. [48]

By the beginning of 1939, it was clear to many informed observers, including Krige, that a second world war, in which many countries would be involved, had become unavoidable. Nevertheless, Britain’s declaration of war plunged the South African cabinet into crisis. Although Smuts emerged victorious, and South Africa subsequently declared war on Germany on 6 September 1939, a variety of passionate and diverse emotions was present among the population and tensions were high. In this atmosphere, Smuts declared that no conscription would be introduced and participation in the war would be strictly voluntary. [49] The 1914 Rebellion, which occurred after South Africa entered the First World War, was still fresh in the nation’s memory and may have played a role in this decision. Nevertheless, more than two million South Africans, from all races, ultimately joined the war effort. [50]

The divisions caused by the war were exacerbated by the fact that the Nazi propaganda radio “Zeesan” also broadcasted in Afrikaans and had a significant local audience. In fact, most nationalists had greater trust in “Zeesan” broadcasts than those from local radio. On “Zeesan,” Hertzog was praised for his opposition to the government and the population was reminded of British cruelty during the South African War. Instructions were also given on how the population could sabotage the war effort and thus aid Germany. [51]

At the end of 1939, Smuts appointed Krige as Afrikaans broadcaster for the newly established Bureau of Information. It was designed to counteract the propaganda from “Zeesan.” Krige broadcasted on both the fall of Holland and the collapse of France. His opposition to Nazi Germany thus became public knowledge. The Nationalist Press reacted strongly to his views. He was ridiculed in a number of newspaper headlines and his “Afrikanerdom” was pulled into question, since a “true Afrikaner” would not support Britain. [52] It is important to realise, when considering this reaction that at the beginning of the war, only two prominent Afrikaans authors of the period, Jan van Melle and C. Louis Leipoldt, shared Krige’s stance of wholehearted opposition to the Nazi regime. [53]

In June 1940, Mussolini’s entry into the war spread the conflict to African soil. Since Krige had no military training, he requested to be sent to the front as a war correspondent. He arrived in Nairobi in November 1940 and caught up with Dan Pinaar’s forces at Harrar. He was among the first six men to enter Addis Ababa after it was captured, but he fell ill with the end of the campaign in May 1941 and returned to South Africa. [54]

However, Krige soon became restless. He returned to the front and arrived in Cairo, as war correspondent in the Egyptian Campaign, by September 1941. He formed part of the fifth South African Brigade that captured Sidi Rezegh on 19 November; but they were overwhelmed by Nazi units by November 23 and Krige was among the captured. Due to his knowledge of European languages, Krige quickly became a leader among the group of prisoners. He repeatedly brought their needs under the attention of their captors and reported their grievances. Many soldiers later testified with gratitude that, if not for Krige, their situation would probably have been worse. [55]

Thereafter, Krige spent the majority of two years in a prisoner of war camp in Sulmona, central Italy. While in the camp Krige learned Italian, read five or six Italian newspapers per day and used what he read to compile a personal English newspaper for the camp. This paper boosted morale among the men and was fairly accurate. It predicted, for instance, that Stalingrad would not fall. [56]

It is evident through his personal correspondence and writings that his war experiences had a profound impact on him as an individual and became a turning point in his life. Furthermore, with regard to his convictions concerning the war, Krige clearly refused to toe the line many of his contemporaries held. When South Africa entered the war on the side of the Allies Krige was one of only three prominent Afrikaans authors, alongside Dutch born Jan van Melle and veteran poet C. Louis Leipoldt who declared themselves decidedly opposed to Hitler. [57]

Thereafter Krige settled in Johannesburg and held a series of interviews, lectures, speeches and radio broadcasts focused on his war experiences. He also published a number of works concerned with this period, including The Way Out, an autobiography. Here, he provided details of his escape and the numerous occasions on which he received aid from the Italian population while he fled German pursuit and sought the Allied forces. In August 1944, Krige returned to Cairo to continue working as war correspondent. He would travel extensively to a variety of countries before finally returning to South Africa in March 1946.

Krige’s war reporting is significant for several reasons. Firstly, it must be understood in context. He expressed Allied support and anti-Nazi opinions at a time when the majority of Afrikaans speakers held a different view. Furthermore, he attempted to influence the public to see the situation from his perspective, at times to the detriment of his career or reputation. He realized the seriousness of the conflict and its consequences for the future and sought to communicate this to his audience. He was not willing to dismiss the conflict as merely European in nature like many of his contemporaries did. Instead, he regarded it as “something that affects the whole world, the entirety of humanity.” He believed that he was in the midst of a “universal tragedy” and part of a struggle that would “determine the fate of millions and set the course of the whole world during this century.” [58]

Moreover, Krige’s writings are consistently very detailed. He explained the movements and maneuversmanoeuvers of the troops, the reactions of the locals, the overall progress of the North Africa campaign and their contribution to the war effort. He also often added small details about daily life; such as the beauty of nature or a specific sunset, conditions in the camp, the weather, and jokes among the men, the boredom, or the food. He also repeatedly drew attention to the camaraderie among the men, their friendliness and sense of humour, in spite of the pending danger. [59]

These details may appear irrelevant or romantic, but in order to understand their significance it is important to remember that both his articles and radio broadcasts were intended for the public during the war. His focus on detail may therefore have served a dual purpose. Firstly, it allowed the South African public to imagine, at least partially, what daily life was like for their sons or lovers in the North African campaign. His focus on nature may also have functioned as a distraction from the harsh nature of war. Thereby, the public’s certainty could be strengthened and their worries alleviated with the knowledge that their loved ones were indeed not in such bad circumstances and would be home, and safe, soon.

Moreover, Krige’s writings demonstrate his consistently anti-fascist beliefs. However, he did not allow his hatred of fascist beliefs to turn into hatred for the individuals subscribing to the fascist ideology. On the contrary, his writings frequently contain details that lend humanity to the “enemy” and the war situation. He told of many instances of kindness and humanity between the opposing sides. This is particularly significant when considering the clear line between “friend” and “foe” that war necessitates a soldier to draw.

For Krige though, the “foe” was never nations or individuals, but rather ideologies and ideas. He admitted that “[there are those] whose political views horrify me, but whose essential humanity I could never have the audacity or self-righteousness to consider for a moment inferior to my own.” Perhaps his views on war as a whole can be best summarized by the following quote from Joseph, a character that would appear in his 1968 drama “Muur van die Dood.” (Wall of Death) “You can’t really hate people, at most you can hate only some of their thoughts and ideas and hope and pray that they get rid of these thoughts and ideas with time. But actually you have to like people, this way, you will find it easier to understand them.” [60]

Important dates

1933 - Visit to Spain, December

1935 - Kentering, first collection of poems, published

1939 - Appointed by Smuts as Afrikaans Broadcaster on Bureau of Information

1940 - Becomes war correspondent in the Abyssinian Campaign, arrives in Nairobi in November

1941 - War correspondent in Egypt, arrives in Cairo in September

1941 - Allies capture Sidi Rezegh, November 19

1941 - Captured at Sidi Rezegh, November 23

1943 - Escape from prisoner of war camp in Sulmona, Italy, September

Endnotes

[1] C. van Heyningen and J. A. Berthoud: Uys Krige. p. 13. ?

[2] J. C. Kannemeyer: Die goue seun, die lewe en werk van Uys Krige. pp. 17, 21. ?

[3] J. C. Kannemeyer: Die goue seun, die lewe en werk van Uys Krige. pp. 25, 44. ?

[4] J. C. Kannemeyer: Die goue seun, die lewe en werk van Uys Krige. pp. 38-39. and C. van Heyningen and J. A. Berthoud: Uys Krige. pp. 15-16. ?

[5] J. C. Kannemeyer: Die goue seun, die lewe en werk van Uys Krige. pp. 43-45. ?

[6] J. C. Kannemeyer (red.): Die Veelsydige Krige, vyf studies oor die skrywer en die mens.p. 11. ?

[7] C. van Heyningen and J. A. Berthoud: Uys Krige. pp. 17, 35-36. ?

[8] Ibid. p. 17. ?

[9] J. C. Kannemeyer: Die goue seun, die lewe en werk van Uys Krige. pp. 49-50, 62. ?

[10] Ibid. pp. 52-54. ?

[11] C. van Heyningen and J. A. Berthoud: Uys Krige. pp. 18-19. ?

[12] D. J. Opperman: Digters van Dertig. pp. 260-263. ?

[13] J. C. Kannemeyer (red.): Die Veelsydige Krige, vyf studies oor die skrywer en die mens. p. 12. ?

[14] J. C. Kannemeyer (red.): Die Veelsydige Krige, vyf studies oor die skrywer en die mens. pp. 13-15. and J. C. Kannemeyer: Die goue seun, die lewe en werk van Uys Krige. pp.

[15] J. C. Kanne5meyer (red.): Die Veelsydige Krige, vyf studies oor die skrywer en die mens.pp. 14-15.  ?

[16] C. van Heyningen and J. A. Berthoud: Uys Krige. p. 22. ?

[17] Ibid. pp. 22-23. ?

[18] Ibid. pp. 23-24. ?

[19] J. C. Kannemeyer (red.): Die Veelsydige Krige, vyf studies oor die skrywer en die mens.p. 15.  ?

[20] N. Purdon: Interview with Uys Krige. Radio Broadcast, The Krige Collection, 225.RO 6(2). and A. J. Friedgut: “Uys Krige’s Human Laboratory,” The Forum, 9 September 1944, pp. 25-27. The Krige Collection, 225.ko.23 (12). ?

[21] C. van Heyningen and J. A. Berthoud: Uys Krige. p. 25. ?

[22] S. P. van Aardt: Uys Krige se familiebriewe uit Frankryk en Spanje 1931-1935, teksuitgawe met historiese orientering, teoretiese verantwoording en annotasies. pp. 178, 194-195. ?

[23] Ibid. pp. 255-256. ?

[24] J. C. Kannemeyer (red.): Die Veelsydige Krige, vyf studies oor die skrywer en die mens. pp. 17-18.  ?

[25] C. van Heyningen and J. A. Berthoud: Uys Krige. pp. 27-28. ?

[26] S. P. van Aardt: Uys Krige se familiebriewe uit Frankryk en Spanje 1931-1935, teksuitgawe met historiese orientering, teoretiese verantwoording en annotasies. p. 297. ?

[27] J. C. Kannemeyer (red.): Die Veelsydige Krige, vyf studies oor die skrywer en die mens. pp. 20-21.  ?

[28] D. J. Opperman: Digters van Dertig. pp. 289-290. and J. C. Kannemeyer (red.): Die Veelsydige Krige, vyf studies oor die skrywer en die mens. p. 24.  ?

[29] C. van Heyningen and J. A. Berthoud: Uys Krige. pp. 30-31. ?

[30] U. Krige: Spanje. Radio Broadcast, The Krige Collection, 225.RP(1). ?

[31] J. C. Kannemeyer (red.): Die Veelsydige Krige, vyf studies oor die skrywer en die mens. pp. 22-23.  ?

[32] N. Purdon: Interview with Uys Krige. Radio Broadcast, The Krige Collection, 225.RO 6(2). ?

[33] C. van Heyningen and J. A. Berthoud: Uys Krige. p. 26. ?

[34] Ibid. pp. 28-29. ?

[35] J. C. Kannemeyer (red.): Die Veelsydige Krige, vyf studies oor die skrywer en die mens. pp. 21-22.  ?

[36] U. Krige: “Ons letterkunde en ander dinge, Uys Krige gesels,” Weekblad. The Krige Collection, 225.ko.3 (153a-d). ?

[37] S. P. van Aardt: Uys Krige se familiebriewe uit Frankryk en Spanje 1931-1935, teksuitgawe met historiese orientering, teoretiese verantwoording en annotasies. pp. 301-302. ?

[38] U. Krige: “Ons letterkunde en ander dinge, Uys Krige gesels,” Weekblad. The Krige Collection, 225.ko.3 (153a-d). ?

[39] J. C. Kannemeyer (red.): Die Veelsydige Krige, vyf studies oor die skrywer en die mens. p. 23.  ?

[40] C. van Heyningen and J. A. Berthoud: Uys Krige. pp. 29-30. ?

[41] Ibid. ?

[42] J. C. Kannemeyer (red.): Die Veelsydige Krige, vyf studies oor die skrywer en die mens. pp. 28-29.  ?

[43] Ibid. p. 24.  ?

[44] J. C. Kannemeyer: Die goue seun, die lewe en werk van Uys Krige. pp. 245-247, 252, 261-262. ?

[45] S. P. van Aardt: Uys Krige se familiebriewe uit Frankryk en Spanje 1931-1935, teksuitgawe met historiese orientering, teoretiese verantwoording en annotasies. p. 439. ?

[46] U. Krige: Sol y Sombra, Spaanse sketse. p. 5. ?

[47] J. C. Kannemeyer: Die goue seun, die lewe en werk van Uys Krige. pp. 286-288. ?

[48] J. C. Kannemeyer: Die goue seun, die lewe en werk van Uys Krige. pp. 286-288. ?

[49] J. C. Kannemeyer: Die goue seun, die lewe en werk van Uys Krige. pp. 287-292. and C. van Heyningen and J. A. Berthoud: Uys Krige. p. 35. ?

[50] L. Thompson: A history of South Africa. p. 177. ?

[51] J. C. Kannemeyer: Die goue seun, die lewe en werk van Uys Krige. p. 293. ?

[52] J. C. Kannemeyer: Die goue seun, die lewe en werk van Uys Krige. p. 383-384. ?

[53] C. van Heyningen and J. A. Berthoud: Uys Krige. p. 35. ?

[54] Ibid. p. 36. ?

[55] “The Germans at Sidi Rezegh, Story of 12 South Africans.” The Krige Collection, 225.ko.23 (46). ?

[56] C. van Heyningen and J. A. Berthoud: Uys Krige. pp. 38-39. ?

[57] Ibid. pp. 35-39. ?

[58] U. Krige: My werk as oorlogkorrespondent. Radio Broadcast, The Krige Collection, 225.RW (23). ?

[59] U. Krige: ‘n Kaptein gesels. Radio Broadcast, 28 December, 225. The Krige Collection, RW. (27/1).and U. Krige:  “The campaign in Italian Somaliland and Abyssinia,” Gordonia News, 23 June 1941. The Krige Collection, 225.ko.23 (59). ?

[60] J. C. Kannemeyer: Die goue seun, die lewe en werk van Uys Krige. p. 298. ?

Synopsis:

Major literary figure, author, poet and dramatist, war correspondent in WWII and anti-government activist 

First name: 
Mattheus
Middle name: 
Uys
Last name: 
Krige
Date of birth: 
4 February 1910
Location of birth: 
Bontebokskloof
Date of death: 
10 August 1987
Location of death: 
Onrusrivier, Western Cape

Navanethem (Navi) Pillay

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Synopsis:

Attorney, university lecturer, first woman to open her own law practice in Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal),  first Black woman judge in the High Court in Natal, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, member of the Women's National Coalition in South Africa, co-founded Equality Now, an international women's rights organisation

Title: 
Judge

Navanethem (Navi) Pillay was born on 23 September 1941 in Clairwood, Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). She attended the University of Natal (now University of KwaZulu-Natal - UKZN) where she graduated with BA in 1963 and then a LLB degree in 1965. At University she joined the Non European Unity Movement (NEUM – now known as the New Unity Movement of South Africa). 

After completing her university degrees, Pillay commenced her legal career by doing her articles in Durban under the guidance of Narainsamy Thumbi Naicker, a banned member of the South African Indian Congress (SAIC) and the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) who was also under house arrest.

In 1967, Pillay became the first Black woman to open her own law practice in Natal. She provided legal assistance for activists from different political organizations detained by the apartheid government.

In her first case, after starting her own legal practice, she represented Phyllis Naidoo who was charged for failing to report to the police station as a banned person. In 1971, she represented 10 members of the NEUM who were charged under the Terrorism Act.  Pillay also represented her husband Gaby Pillay — now late — who was detained by the Security Police under the Terrorism Act. This exposed the practice and effects of torture and solitary confinement on political detainees held in police custody. In 1973, she fought and won the right for political prisoners to have access to legal counsel. In the mid 1970s, Pillay defended detained members of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) such as Saths Cooper and Strini Moodley.

In 1982, she obtained a Master of Law and in 1988 a Doctor of Juridical Science from Harvard University in the United States of America (USA).

Pillay lectured at the UKZN, and was appointed Vice-President of the Council of the University of Durban Westville (now UKZN). In 1995, after the end of apartheid, Pillay was appointed an acting judge in the South African High Court, and in the same year was elected by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to be a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), where she served a total of eight years, the last four (1999-2003) as President. She was the only woman judge for the first four years of the tribunal.  Judge Pillay played a critical role in the ICTR's groundbreaking jurisprudence on rape as genocide, as well as on issues of freedom of speech and hate propaganda.

Judge Pillay’s tenure at the ICTR is best remembered for her role in the landmark trial of Jean-Paul Akayesu, which established that rape and sexual assault could constitute acts of genocide. In an interview, Pillay said , “From time immemorial, rape has been regarded as spoils of war. Now it will be considered a war crime. We want to send out a strong signal that rape is no longer a trophy of war”

In February 2003 Judge Pillay was elected to the first ever panel of judges of the International Criminal Court and assigned to the Appeals Division. She was elected to a six-year term but resigned in August 2008 in order to take up her position with the UN.

On 24 July 2008 UN Secretary-General Ban K-moon nominated Judge Pillay to succeed Louise Arbour as High Commissioner for Human Rights. The USA reportedly resisted her appointment at first, because of her views on abortion and other issues but eventually dropped its opposition.

The appointment of Judge Pillay as United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights was approved by the UN’s General Assembly on 28 July 2008. She took up the post on 1 September 2008. Her mandate was renewed for two years beginning on 1 September 2012. Judge Pillay was the fifth UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to be appointed since the office was founded.

In May 2009, following the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War, Judge Pillay called for an investigation into alleged violations of human rights by both sides  in the Sri Lankan civil war. In June 2009, the Sri Lankan Human Rights Minister, Mahincla Samarasinghe, expressed concerns that Judge Pillay’s statements were making it difficult for Sri Lanka to engage in dialogue with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Judge Pillay has been criticised for saying she will not attend the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in December 2010. The award was given to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. China called on nations and various inter-governmental bodies to boycott the ceremony. Pillay’s office rejected accusations that she was responding to pressure from China and insisted she could not attend the award ceremony because of a clash with another event for Human Rights Day. Judge Pillay called for Mr Liu to be released ‘as soon as possible”.

In South Africa, as a member of the Women's National Coalition, she contributed to the inclusion of the equality clause in the country’s constitution that prohibits discrimination on grounds of race, gender, religion and sexual orientation. Judge Pillay co-founded Equality Now, an international women's rights organization, and has been involved with other organizations working on issues relating to children, detainees, victims of torture and of domestic violence, and a range of economic, social and cultural rights.

Career

2003-2008 -- Appeals Division Judge, International Criminal Court in The Hague

1999-2003 -- President, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

1995-1999 -- Judge, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda 1995; Acting Judge, Supreme Court of South Africa

1995 -- Vice-President, University of Durban Westville

1985 -- Co-founded international women's rights group Equality Now

1980 -- Lecturer, University of KwaZulu-Natal

1967-1995 – Attorney and Conveyancer, High Court of South Africa

1967 -- First woman to start a law practice in Natal Province, South Africa. Defence attorney for many anti-apartheid activists.

Awards

2003 - Inaugural Gruber Prize for Women’s Rights

           Honorary degrees by Durham University

           City University of New York School of Law

           London School of Economics

           Rhodes University

2009 - Forbes ranked her as the 64th most powerful woman in the world

First name: 
Navanethem (Navi)

References:
• 
Last name: 
Pillay
Date of birth: 
23 September 1941
Location of birth: 
Clairwood, Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal)

Ronnie Govender

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People category:

Ronnie Govender was born on 16May 1934 in Cato Manor, Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal).  His father was born in Cato Manor and his mother was born in Fynnlands, Durban. His paternal and maternal grandparents came from South India.

After they gained their freedom from indenture his grandparents chose to live in Cato Manor. They bought a small piece of ground to develop a market garden. His paternal grandparents hawked vegetables from that garden for their entire lives. His maternal grandfather was a court interpreter.

His father was a bakery van driver and his mother a housewife. Govender has ten siblings. He attended the Cato Manor Government Aided Indian School and then went to Sastri College (high school). He spent a year at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and then went to the Springfield Training College for teachers in Asherville, Durban.

His brother was instrumental in helping him to get a job with the New Age as a sports columnist. This helped him to pay his way through university. At UCT he was elected treasurer of the Students Democratic Association that was formed to protest against the exclusion of African students from outside South Africa attending universities here. Former Constitutional Court judge Albie Sachs was the president of the Students Democratic Association.

After his high school Govender got a job working for an agricultural implements company. At the same time he did part-time sports writing for the Graphic, earning ten shillings a week, writing a boxing column as he was very keen on boxing. As a journalist he attacked racism in sport and that attracted the attention of the Special Branch.

Govender had completed his examinations at UCT and then the New Age got banned. Hence he couldn’t earn anymore and thus could not pay his fees. As a result he returned home to Durban and then enrolled at the Springfield Training College to become a teacher.

Before he left for Cape Town, Govender formed the Durban Theatre Association with people like the late Slim Moodley, Muthal Naidoo and Prem Singh. They produced the South African version of the Greek classical play Antigone. That was in the fifties. Again this attracted the attention of the Special Branch as it reflected the South African political situation. Following his relocation to Cape Town the Durban Theatre Association folded.

When he got back to Durban and started teaching, a group of politically conscious people like Fatima Meer and Ismail Meer, and others backed an initiative by the Union Artists who were based in Johannesburg at Dorkay House, which was about the only institution where free cultural activity was taking place in terms of a South African ethos. They brought out an eminent American director called Krishna Shah to direct and to put on his play King of the Dark Chamber written by the famous Indian writer, Rabindranath Tagore, and also to direct Sponono by Alan Paton. Shah was persuaded to run a three-week clinic on different aspects of theatre.

Govender had written a story, on one of the people who had taken part in King of the Dark Chamber, a remarkable dancer called Bashkar who was also a boxer.  Shah liked the story very much and he persuaded Govender to join his clinic where he received some very clear insights on the technical aspects of theatre. At the end of this three-week course, Shah selected three plays to stage, one of which was Govender’s play, Beyond Calvary, based on a couple from two different religious backgrounds.  

Another play that he wrote at that time was called His Brother’s Keeper, based on the life of a singer Eddie Gratino.  Govender’s brother introduced Gratino to him. He brought him and said: “Look this guy is out on the streets and he is a nice guy. Can’t we keep him at home?”  Govender said: “Ja there is a spare room. Let him come and live there.” Gratino was actually an African person who was pretending to be an American. He was earning a living as a singer at a Durban nightclub. Govender found Gratino’s life to be an interesting story and the play His Brother’s Keeper, based on an identity crisis, emerged.

The Lahnee’s Pleasure was based on characters in a hotel in apartheid South Africa. It was one of South Africa’s longest running plays. In line with the cultural boycott against South Africa, Govender refused invitations to play at establishment venues and in London.

He also penned Off Side lampooning people who had participated in the House of Delegates in the Tricameral Parliament in the 1980s. A sequel to this was Inside.

Govender is the former vice-president of the Natal Congress of South African Writers (COSAW).

In 1987, Govender participated in the Culture in Another South Africa (CASA) conference in Amsterdam for which he wrote a play, Blossoms from the Bough based on the life of a young lady Lily Felito, an honours student in Speech and Drama at Natal University. She was the partner of a fifth year medical student. Both of them were from Wentworth, Durban. The man was very politically involved and police had arrested him. Govender got Felito to talk about her life and based the play on her life – a one-person play, which received very good reviews for the play.

In 1991 Govender was appointed Marketing Manager of the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, and two years later appointed Director of Durban's Playhouse Theatre. In 2000 Govender was awarded a Medal by the English Academy of South Africa for his contribution to English literature.

In 2006, Song of the Atman, which is partially set in ‘old’ Cato Manor (Durban), was published. The latter book was also shortlisted for the 2007 Commonwealth Writers Prize. His In the Manure (2008), is a book of personal experiences and reflections.

He was appointed the resident director at the University of Durban-Westville’s (now University of KwaZulu-Natal – Durban Westville Campus) Asoka Theatre.

Govender was an executive member of the South African Soccer Federation (SASF), the non racial soccer body in South Africa and became one of the foundation members of the non racial South African Council on Sport (SACOS).

In 2008, the South African Government conferred the Order of Ikhamanga on Govender “for [his] excellent contribution to democracy and justice in South Africa through the genre of theatre". In 2014, the Durban University of Technology conferred an Honorary Doctor of Technology in Arts and Design upon Govender “for his contribution to literature and the arts in general as well as his contribution to democracy, peace and justice in South Africa through theatre”.

At the Edgeand Other Cato Manor Stories, for which he received the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for the Africa region, played at the Edinburgh Festival, where it was called, ‘Resounding into humanity’ by London Stage and Television Today Magazine.  He was then invited to stage the play at a festival in Toronto, Glasgow and then it got invited to India, to tour all the major cities in India, where it received standing ovations at every performance. His most well known play, At the Edge, won Vita nominations for Best South African Playwright and Best Actor.

Books:

1978. The Lahnee's Pleasure. Johannesburg:  Ravan Press.  (Play)

1986. Swami. Cape Town: David Philips Publishers. 

1996. At the Edge and Other Cato Manor Stories. Pretoria: MANX. 

2006. Song of the Atman. Johannesburg:  Jacana Media.

2008. In the Manure: Memoirs and Reflections. Cape Town:  David Philips Publishers.

2009. The Lahnee's Pleasure. Johannesburg: Jacana Media.

Awards

1997. Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for best First Book (Africa Region) for At the Edge and other Cato Manor stories

Synopsis:

Teacher, journalist, playwright, novelist, founder of the Shah Theatre Academy, Marketing Manager of the Baxter Theatre, Director of Durban's Playhouse Theatre, recipient of the Presidents National Award for Theatre, former Vice-President of the Natal Congress of South African Writers (COSAW).

First name: 
Ronnie
Last name: 
Govender
Date of birth: 
16 May 1934
Location of birth: 
Cato Manor, Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal)

David Dabede Mabuza

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Deputy President of the ANC, David Dabede Mabuza

David Dabede Mabuza was born 25 August, 1960 in Brondal, Mpumalanga. He matriculated from Khumbula High School. He obtained a National Teacher’s Certificate from Mngwenya College of Education in 1985. He furthered his studies at University of South Africa (UNISA) with Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989.

Mabuza has been involved in politics from his mid-twenties, holding the position of secretary of the Azania Student Organisation (AZASO) at the age of 24 from 1984 to 1985. Mathews Phosa recruited Mabuza into the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1986. He moved on to become a Chairperson of the National Education Union of South Africa (NEUSA) from 1986 till the organisation’s banning in 1988. During this time he was also a Treasurer of the Foundation for Education with Production (FEP); a Co-ordinator of the National Education Crisis Committee (NECC) from 1987 to 1989 and a Chairperson of South African Democratic Teachers Union from 1988 to 1991. Mabuza worked at KaNgwane Department of Education from 1986 to 1988 and he was a Principal of Lungisani Secondary School from 1989 to 1993.

Mabuza served as a member of Executive Council (MEC) for Education from 1994 to 1998, a position for which he was recruited by his erstwhile mentor, Mathews Phosa. Ferial Haffajee and Amil Umraw wrote for the Huffington Post that Phosa then “ [...] axed [Mabuza] when Mpumalanga's highly inflated matric results caused a national scandal.”[1] During this period, Mabuza was also serving as a regional Chairperson of the African National Congress (ANC). He would then go on to be a member of the Provincial Executive Committee of ANC from 1998 to 2006. Mabuza became a member of the Mpumalanga legislature in 1999, a position he has held until today. He was a member of Parliament from 2001 to 2004.

Mabuza has been very involved in the running of the ANC in Mpumalanga. He was a leader of Government Business in the Mpumalanga Provincial legislature in 2007. He served as a Deputy Chairperson of the ANC Mpumalanga Province in 2005 as well as MEC for Road and Transport, from 2007 to 2008, and MEC for Agriculture and Land Administration from 2008 to 2009. He was Chairperson of the Mpumalanga ANC in 2008.

As a result of Mabuza backing Jacob Zuma in the 52nd ANC National Conference in 2007, Mabuza was voted onto the ANC National Executive Committee the same year. Two years later, he was elected to the position of Premier of Mpumalanga. Under Mabuza’s control as Provincial Chairperson, the number of delegates which the province takes to the ANC elective conference has ballooned. Mpumalanga, as of the recent 54th National Conference in 2017, has the second highest delegate total of 736 delegates. This is a large amount as Gauteng, with a population of 12 million, has 508. Mpumalanga has a population of 4 million.

Mabuza has been surrounded by controversy during his stint as Premier. Mandy Wiener writes for Eyewitness News that “[i]n 2009, R14 million in cash mysteriously disappeared from Mabuza’s home in Barberton known as ‘The Farm’. The entire incident was shrouded in secrecy, with police eventually confirming R4 million had been reported stolen, but only R1,200 was actually taken. It all smelt very dodgy, but disappeared into the news ether.”[2] Furthermore, Mabuza has allegedly had a relationship with the Gupta family, evidenced by him accepting a flight on the family’s private jet. He has since distanced himself from the Guptas.

The most serious controversies surrounding Mabuza regard the spate of political assassinations in Mpumalanga. The most high profile of which was Jimmy Mohala, who was killed in 2009. The Mbombela municipality speaker had been a whistleblower regarding corruption related to the building of the R1.2 billion 2010 FIFA World Cup stadium in Mbombela. A similar series of events played out in 2010 when Sammy Mpatlanyane, the Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation spokesperson who blew the whistle on corruption regarding the tender for the Mpumalanga archives building, was killed. James Nkambule, a whistleblower claiming a hitman had been hired by politicians to kill the rival political faction in Mpumalanga, was also found to have died by poisoning. The spate of politically linked murders prompted former Police Commissioner Bheki Cele to set up a commission of inquiry in 2011 into the murders in the province. The findings of this inquiry have yet to be made public.

In 2015, Mabuza accused Mathews Phosa of defamation after Phosa sent a memorandum to ANC headquarters, Luthuli House, which accused Mabuza of being an apartheid spy. Mabuza claimed R10 million in damages from Phosa. The lawsuit was dismissed in the High Court in 2017. The two men were involved in another confrontation in 2017 as Phosa alleged that Mabuza was operating a ‘private army’ in Mpumalanga and using it to intimidate opposition. Mabuza dismissed the allegation as fabrication.

Mabuza’s self-appointed moniker is ‘The Cat’. Mandy Wiener writes that “[w]hen he returned from a mysterious two-month hiatus due to apparent poisoning in 2015, he told his supporters “the cat was back”.”[3] This is in reference to his constant political renewal as well as his ability to bounce back from political defeats. Nothing epitomises this more than his recent election as Deputy President of the ANC at the 54th ANC National Conference at the Nasrec expo centre in Johannesburg. He defeated his opponent, Lindiwe Sisulu, by 379 votes with a total of 2538 out of a total 4708.


[1] Ferial Haffajee, Amil Umraw, “David Mabuza: The Master Political Entrepreneur”, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2017/12/04/david-mabuza-the-master-polit...

[2] Mandy Wiener, “[Opinion] The Cat from the Wild East - David Mabuza”, http://ewn.co.za/2017/12/18/opinion-mandy-wiener-the-cat-from-the-wild-e...

[3] Ibid

 

Synopsis:

David Dabede Mabuza was born 25 August, 1960 in Brondal, Mpumalanga. He matriculated from Khumbula High School. He obtained a National Teacher’s Certificate from Mngwenya College of Education in 1985. He furthered his studies at University of South Africa (UNISA) with Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989.

First name: 
David

References:
• Alet Janse van Rensburg, “Who is David Mabuza, ANC kingmaker?”, https://www.news24.com/Analysis/who-is-david-mabuza-anc-kingmaker-20171010
• 
Alet Janse van Rensburg, “David Mabuza, the man who would be deputy president”, https://anc-votes.news24.com/david-mabuza-man-deputy-president/`
•  Government Communications, ‘Profile information: David Dabede Mabuza, Mr’, https://web.archive.org/web/20131231001457/http://apps.gcis.gov.za/gcis/gcis_profile.jsp?id=4387
• 
Jeanne-Marie Versluis, “Mabuza’s R10m defamation claim against Phosa dismissed”, https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/mabuzas-r10m-defamation-claim-ag...
•  Jan Gerber, “Mpumalanga ANC Denies David Mabuza Has A 'Private Army', Slams Mathews Phosa”, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2017/12/06/mpumalanga-anc-denies-david-m...
•  Mandy Wiener, “[Opinion] The Cat from the Wild East - David Mabuza”, http://ewn.co.za/2017/12/18/opinion-mandy-wiener-the-cat-from-the-wild-east-david-mabuza
• 
Ferial Haffajee & Amil Umraw, “David Mabuza: The Master Political Entrepreneur”, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2017/12/04/david-mabuza-the-master-polit...
Middle name: 
Dabede
Last name: 
Mabuza
Date of birth: 
25 August 1960

Keorapetse William Kgositsile

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Keorapetse William Kgositsile (popularly known as Bra Willie) was born in Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng). He attended Matibane High School. Influenced by European writers such as Charles Dickens and D.H. Lawrence, Kgositsile began writing as a hobby. He soon got a job at the newspaper, New Age, where he contributed poetry and news reporting. The New Age was a radical anti-Apartheid newspaper edited by political activist Ruth First. Kgositsile, being a member of the African National Congress(ANC), through the newspaper, found a platform from where he could voice his contempt for the system. In one interview he was quoted as saying: "In a situation of oppression, there are no choices beyond didactic writing: either you are a tool of oppression or an instrument of liberation."

In 1961, under the instruction of the ANC, Kgositsile left the country. He first went to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where he worked for Spearhead magazine. The following year, he left for the United States of America (USA), where he studied at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania University, University of New Hampshire and Columbia University. He graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.

Kgositsile gained much success in the USA. He published his first collection of poems, Spirits Unchained. It was well received and he was awarded the Harlem Cultural Council Poetry Award and the National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Award. In 1971, he published his most influential collection My Name is Afrika , which established him as a leading African poet. Kgositsile wrote extensively about the American jazz scene. He also founded the Black Arts Theatre in Harlem.

In 1974 he was a founder member of the African Literature Association together with Es'kia Mphahlele, Dennis Brutus, Daniel Kunene and Mazisi Kunene, among others.

From 1962 to 1975, he lived in exile in the United States of America (USA).

In 1975, Kgositsile took up a teaching position at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In 1977 he founded the ANC’s Department of Education, and its Department of Arts and Culture in 1983. In 1978, Kgositsile married Baleka Mbete, then a member of the ANC living in Tanzania. He took up several teaching posts in other Africans countries ”” Kenya, Botswana and Zambia.

When Apartheid ended,, Kgositsile returned to South Africa in 1990. He resumed his political activism, stating that even though Apartheid was officially over, not much had changed.  He constantly criticised Black leaders and the ANC government. His poem collection, When clouds clear was published the same year – the first of his work to be available in his native country.  

He previously held the position of Advisor to the Minister of Arts and Culture and holds the same position for Minister Lulu Xingwana.

Kgositsile was honoured with the South African Poet Laureate Prize in 2006 by the South African Literary Awards, a project of the wRite associates, in partnership with the national Department of Arts and Culture, Sowetan and Nutrend Publishers.

in 1996 Kgositsile was inaugurated as South Africa’s first National Poet Laureate and was later a recipient of the 2008 National Order of Ikhamanga for his contribution to the field of literature.

Kgositsile is best known for taking the resources of poetry from Africa to the African Diaspora in North America and returning the resources of African-American poetry to Africa. Lebogang Mashile, one of the youngest authors ever to win the Noma Award for publishing in Africa, has expressed her indebtedness to Kgositsile, who is often seen sharing the stage with the new spoken-word poets to whom he has been passing on the baton. His influence and inspiration is also acknowledged by established authors such as Mongane Serote, Mandla Langa and Mbulelo Mzamane.

His work includes: This Way I Salute You (2004), If I Could Sing (2002), To the Bitter End (1995), Approaches to Poetry Writing (1994), The Present is a Dangerous Place to Live (1975), When the Clouds Clear (1990), Freeword - with Katiyo, Davis, & Rydstom - (1983), Heartprints (1980), Places and Bloodstains (1976), A Capsule Course in Black Poetry Writing– with Brooks, Madhubuti & Randall – (1975), The Word is Here, ed. (1973), My Name is Africa (1971), For Melba (1971), Spirits Unchained (1969). He is also the author of numerous articles, speeches, and other materials. His poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals including Guerrilla, Journal of Black Poetry, Negro Digest, The New African, Pan African Journal and Urban Review as well as in the anthologies Black Arts, Black Fire, For Malcolm andPoems Now. Worldwide appreciation of Kgositsile is evident by the presentations of his poetry, lectures on writing as a craft, revolutionary ideas on arts and culture and anti-apartheid activism.

Professor Keorapetse William Kgositsile passed away on 3 January 2018 in Johannesburg, Gauteng.

Synopsis:

Poet, political activist, author, lecturer

Title: 
Professor
First name: 
Keorapetse

References:
• Unisa (2012), "Poet Laureate Keorapetse Kgositsile: Lifelong education is key",From: Unisa , ;[online] Available at: www.unisa.ac.za [Accessed on 3 February 2014]
• Poetry International Rotterdam ,"Keorapetse Kgositsile (South Africa, 1938)",From: Poetry International Rotterdam, [online] Available at: www.poetryinternationalweb.net ,[Accessed on 31 January 2014]
• SALA (2013) ,"The National Poet Laureate Programme",From: SALA, [online] Available at: www.sala.org.za [Accessed on 3 February 2014]
Middle name: 
William
Last name: 
Kgositsile
Date of birth: 
19 September 1938
Location of birth: 
Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng)
Date of death: 
3 January 2018
Location of death: 
Johannesburg, Gauteng

Ronnie Govender

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People category:

Ronnie Govender was born on 16May 1934 in Cato Manor, Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal).  His father was born in Cato Manor and his mother was born in Fynnlands, Durban. His paternal and maternal grandparents came from South India.

After they gained their freedom from indenture his grandparents chose to live in Cato Manor. They bought a small piece of ground to develop a market garden. His paternal grandparents hawked vegetables from that garden for their entire lives. His maternal grandfather was a court interpreter.

His father was a bakery van driver and his mother a housewife. Govender has ten siblings. He attended the Cato Manor Government Aided Indian School and then went to Sastri College (high school). He spent a year at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and then went to the Springfield Training College for teachers in Asherville, Durban.

His brother was instrumental in helping him to get a job with the New Age as a sports columnist. This helped him to pay his way through university. At UCT he was elected treasurer of the Students Democratic Association that was formed to protest against the exclusion of African students from outside South Africa attending universities here. Former Constitutional Court judge Albie Sachs was the president of the Students Democratic Association.

After his high school Govender got a job working for an agricultural implements company. At the same time he did part-time sports writing for the Graphic, earning ten shillings a week, writing a boxing column as he was very keen on boxing. As a journalist he attacked racism in sport and that attracted the attention of the Special Branch.

Govender had completed his examinations at UCT and then the New Age got banned. Hence he couldn’t earn anymore and thus could not pay his fees. As a result he returned home to Durban and then enrolled at the Springfield Training College to become a teacher.

Before he left for Cape Town, Govender formed the Durban Theatre Association with people like the late Slim Moodley, Muthal Naidoo and Prem Singh. They produced the South African version of the Greek classical play Antigone. That was in the fifties. Again this attracted the attention of the Special Branch as it reflected the South African political situation. Following his relocation to Cape Town the Durban Theatre Association folded.

When he got back to Durban and started teaching, a group of politically conscious people like Fatima Meer and Ismail Meer, and others backed an initiative by the Union Artists who were based in Johannesburg at Dorkay House, which was about the only institution where free cultural activity was taking place in terms of a South African ethos. They brought out an eminent American director called Krishna Shah to direct and to put on his play King of the Dark Chamber written by the famous Indian writer, Rabindranath Tagore, and also to direct Sponono by Alan Paton. Shah was persuaded to run a three-week clinic on different aspects of theatre.

Govender had written a story, on one of the people who had taken part in King of the Dark Chamber, a remarkable dancer called Bashkar who was also a boxer.  Shah liked the story very much and he persuaded Govender to join his clinic where he received some very clear insights on the technical aspects of theatre. At the end of this three-week course, Shah selected three plays to stage, one of which was Govender’s play, Beyond Calvary, based on a couple from two different religious backgrounds.  

Another play that he wrote at that time was called His Brother’s Keeper, based on the life of a singer Eddie Gratino.  Govender’s brother introduced Gratino to him. He brought him and said: “Look this guy is out on the streets and he is a nice guy. Can’t we keep him at home?”  Govender said: “Ja there is a spare room. Let him come and live there.” Gratino was actually an African person who was pretending to be an American. He was earning a living as a singer at a Durban nightclub. Govender found Gratino’s life to be an interesting story and the play His Brother’s Keeper, based on an identity crisis, emerged.

The Lahnee’s Pleasure was based on characters in a hotel in apartheid South Africa. It was one of South Africa’s longest running plays. In line with the cultural boycott against South Africa, Govender refused invitations to play at establishment venues and in London.

He also penned Off Side lampooning people who had participated in the House of Delegates in the Tricameral Parliament in the 1980s. A sequel to this was Inside.

Govender is the former vice-president of the Natal Congress of South African Writers (COSAW).

In 1987, Govender participated in the Culture in Another South Africa (CASA) conference in Amsterdam for which he wrote a play, Blossoms from the Bough based on the life of a young lady Lily Felito, an honours student in Speech and Drama at Natal University. She was the partner of a fifth year medical student. Both of them were from Wentworth, Durban. The man was very politically involved and police had arrested him. Govender got Felito to talk about her life and based the play on her life – a one-person play, which received very good reviews for the play.

In 1991 Govender was appointed Marketing Manager of the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, and two years later appointed Director of Durban's Playhouse Theatre. In 2000 Govender was awarded a Medal by the English Academy of South Africa for his contribution to English literature.

In 2006, Song of the Atman, which is partially set in ‘old’ Cato Manor (Durban), was published. The latter book was also shortlisted for the 2007 Commonwealth Writers Prize. His In the Manure (2008), is a book of personal experiences and reflections.

He was appointed the resident director at the University of Durban-Westville’s (now University of KwaZulu-Natal – Durban Westville Campus) Asoka Theatre.

Govender was an executive member of the South African Soccer Federation (SASF), the non racial soccer body in South Africa and became one of the foundation members of the non racial South African Council on Sport (SACOS).

In 2008, the South African Government conferred the Order of Ikhamanga on Govender “for [his] excellent contribution to democracy and justice in South Africa through the genre of theatre". In 2014, the Durban University of Technology conferred an Honorary Doctor of Technology in Arts and Design upon Govender “for his contribution to literature and the arts in general as well as his contribution to democracy, peace and justice in South Africa through theatre”.

At the Edgeand Other Cato Manor Stories, for which he received the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for the Africa region, played at the Edinburgh Festival, where it was called, ‘Resounding into humanity’ by London Stage and Television Today Magazine.  He was then invited to stage the play at a festival in Toronto, Glasgow and then it got invited to India, to tour all the major cities in India, where it received standing ovations at every performance. His most well known play, At the Edge, won Vita nominations for Best South African Playwright and Best Actor.

Books:

1978. The Lahnee's Pleasure. Johannesburg:  Ravan Press.  (Play)

1986. Swami. Cape Town: David Philips Publishers. 

1996. At the Edge and Other Cato Manor Stories. Pretoria: MANX. 

2006. Song of the Atman. Johannesburg:  Jacana Media.

2008. In the Manure: Memoirs and Reflections. Cape Town:  David Philips Publishers.

2009. The Lahnee's Pleasure. Johannesburg: Jacana Media.

Awards

1997. Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for best First Book (Africa Region) for At the Edge and other Cato Manor stories

Synopsis:

Teacher, journalist, playwright, novelist, founder of the Shah Theatre Academy, Marketing Manager of the Baxter Theatre, Director of Durban's Playhouse Theatre, recipient of the Presidents National Award for Theatre, former Vice-President of the Natal Congress of South African Writers (COSAW).

First name: 
Ronnie
Last name: 
Govender
Date of birth: 
16 May 1934
Location of birth: 
Cato Manor, Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal)
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