Mafika Gwala

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]	”

In 1982, Gwala published a book of Black Consciousness poetry in a collection called No More Lullabies.

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.

Works

Poetry

• Jol'iinkomo. (1977)
• No More Lullabies. (1982)

Edited

• Black Review. (1973)
• Musho! Zulu Popular Praises. With Liz Gunner (Michigan State University, 1991) ISBN 0-87013-306-3

External links

• The jive poem
• Interview at Chimurenga Online
• Interview & poem at Mail & Guardian Online

References

Authority control VIAF: 112719265 BNF: cb119897207

Persondata
Name	Gwala, Mafika Pascal
Alternative names
Short description	Contemporary South African poet and editor
Date of birth	1946
Place of birth	Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Date of death
Place of death