Mafika Pascal Gwala (born 1946) is a contemporary South African poet and editor, writing in English and Zulu.
Mafika Gwala was born and grew up in [Verulam] North of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. He spent most of his adult life in Mpumalanga Township, west of Durban. He has worked in a factory as a clerk, an industrial relations officer, a high school teacher and a guest university lecturer aside from writing and editing. He also has an MPhil in Politics from the University of Natal and was a researcher at Manchester University.[1]
Gwala was active in the struggle against Apartheid and a leading light of the 1970s Black Consciousness movement of which he says:
| “ | We didn’t take Black Consciousness as a kind of Bible, it was just a trend, which was a necessary one because it meant bringing in what the white opposition [to apartheid] couldn’t bring into the struggle. So much was brought into the struggle through Black Consciousness.[1] | ” |
His work is characterised by a rhythmic musicality he attributes to the Zulu language. In 1991 he edited and translated into English a collection of Zulu writing entitled Musho! Zulu Popular Praises. He currently lives in Mpumalanga Township, Hammarsdale.
Poetry
Edited