Mbulelo Vizikhungo Mzamane (28 July 1948 – 16 February 2014) was a South African author, poet, and academic. He was described by the late President
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
as a "visionary leader and one of South Africa’s greatest intellectuals".
Early life
Mbulelo was born in
Port Elizabeth
Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...
, and grew up first in
Soweto
Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...
and then in the
Brakpan
Brakpan is a mining town in the Gauteng province of South Africa.
History
The name Brakpan comes from a small pan on a farm called Weltevreden, which was filled with very brackish water and was probably referred to as the "brakpan," and it was nea ...
-
Springs area. His mother Flamma Cingashe Nkonyeni was a nurse and his father
Canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western can ...
Joshua Bernard Mbizo Mzamane was an
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
priest; both were community leaders. His early schooling was in Soweto, and he later attended high school at St. Christopher's in
Swaziland
Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...
, where he was taught by distinguished writer and journalist
Can Themba
Daniel Canodoise "Can" Themba (21 June 1924 – 8 September 1967) was a South African short-story writer.
Early life
Themba was born in Marabastad, near Pretoria, but wrote most of his work in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, South Africa. The town was ...
.
Education and Work
Mbulelo did his
undergraduate education
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...
at the then
University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (UBLS, Roma Campus), obtaining dual
degree
Degree may refer to:
As a unit of measurement
* Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement
** Degree of geographical latitude
** Degree of geographical longitude
* Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics
...
s in English and Philosophy and a Certificate in education
cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
. He also obtained an M.A. in English from UBLS.
He taught at
Mabathoana High School Mabathoana High School is a secondary school in Maseru, Lesotho named for Emmanuel Mabathoana, the Archbishop of Lesotho attended by more than 600 students. It is particularly known for one of its more famous alumni, Thabang Makwetla
Thabang Sa ...
in Lesotho before moving to
Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...
, from where he was later expelled for political activism. He obtained his PhD in English Literature from the
University of Sheffield
, mottoeng = To discover the causes of things
, established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions:
– Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield
, type = Pu ...
, England.
He held various academic positions in Lesotho, Botswana, England, Nigeria, USA, Germany, Australia and South Africa. In 1976 he was the first recipient of the Mofolo-Plomer Prize for Literature.
In 2012 he was the recipient of the African Literature Association's Lifetime Achievement Award, The Fonlon-Nicholls Award, for creative writing, scholarship and human rights advocacy.
Mbulelo is also widely known as a writer of fiction and poetry, and his collections of short stories are especially noteworthy. Much of his fiction work was written while in exile and subsequently banned in apartheid South Africa.
On 16 February 2014, he died at the age of 65.
Activism and exile
Mbulelo was an activist against the apartheid government of South Africa. He spent many years in exile in Nigeria and the USA and spread South African literature there and conscientious people on the South African struggle.
Return to South Africa
Mbulelo returned to South Africa in 1993 and in 1994 he became the first post-apartheid Vice Chancellor and Rector of the
University of Fort Hare
The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
It was a key institution of higher education for Africans from 1916 to 1959 when it offered a Western-style academic education to students from across sub ...
, where he also held the faculty rank of Professor in the Department of English Studies and Comparative Literature. After leaving the University of Fort Hare, he was a vocal contributor to international debate on issues confronting African populations on the continent and in the diaspora of the Americas.
Mbulelo chaired and served on numerous boards, including: the African Arts Fund (affiliated to the U.N. Center against Apartheid) and the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (affiliated to the
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...
). Mbulelo was also the director of the Center for African Literary Studies,
University of KwaZulu-Natal
The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) is a university with five campuses in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2004 after the merger between the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville. ...
(UKZN).
He worked closely with
Ngugi Wa Thiong’o Ngugi or Ngũgĩ is a name of Kikuyu origin that may refer to:
*Ngugi wa Mirii (1951–2008), Kenyan playwright
*Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (born 1938), Kenyan writer
*David Mwaniki Ngugi, Kenyan politician and member of the National Assembly of Kenya
*Jo ...
and
Nawal El Saadawi
Nawal El Saadawi ( ar, نوال السعداوي, , 22 October 1931 – 21 March 2021) was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist and physician. She wrote many books on the subject of women in Islam, paying particular attention to the practice of ...
as co-chairs of BUWA! African Languages and Literatures into the 21st Century.
He was appointed by both former presidents Nelson Mandela and
Thabo Mbeki
Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...
into various advisory boards. He was also involved with some aspects of the National Development Plan. In June 2013 Mbulelo was the guest speaker at the inaugural Can Themba Memorial Lecture alongside
Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer (20 November 192313 July 2014) was a South African writer and political activist. She received the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognized as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writin ...
and
Joe Thloloe.
He was the Project Leader and General Editor of the ''
Encyclopaedia of South African Arts Culture and Heritage'' (ESAACH).
Published collections
Mbulelo was a popular personality on the international speaking scene
and some of his works have been translated into several languages including German, French, Russian, Dutch and Slavic. His publications include:
* ''Mzala: The Short Stories of Mbulelo Mzamane'' (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1980).
* ''My Cousin Comes to Jo'burg'' (Harlow: Longman, 1981).
* ''The Children of Soweto: A Trilogy'' (Harlow: Longman, 1982).
* ''The Children of the Diaspora and Other Stories of Exile'' (Western Cape: Vivlia Publishers, 1996).
* ''Where There is No Vision the People Perish: Reflections on the African Renaissance'' (University of South Australia: Hawke Institute, 2001).
* ''The Race Between the Turtles and Cheetahs (Children's Book)'' (Canberra, The Australian National University: The Herbert and Valmae Freilich Foundation, 2004).
* ''Children of Paradise'' (UKZN Press, 2011).
* ''Of Minks and Men and Other Stories of Our Transition and The Mbeki Turn: South Africa after Mandela'' (Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013).
References
External links
Official website.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mzamane, Mbulelo
South African activists
Academic staff of the University of Fort Hare
1948 births
2014 deaths
People from Gqeberha
South African writers
South African male short story writers
South African short story writers
Alumni of the University of Sheffield