What does it mean to be a woman in contemporary South Africa?
It means I have had to sharpen my skills when it comes to claiming my space. I know the importance of my opinion in my personal and professional space. As a writer, you are gifted with the ability to express yourself clearly and powerfully, and writing has become important for me on both formal and informal platforms. Before I published my debut book, The Syndicate of Twenty-two Natives , I was known as a writer of short stories or reflections on life published on social media. These are contemporary platforms that can be used to express ones thoughts and tell stories.
From time immemorial, women have been strong and influential, even in traditional settings. I like to think of myself as an extension of my great-grandmother, Khokho Mandlesilo my fathers maternal grandmother, who was a very strong and influential woman in her family and community. She was outspoken and feisty, and she did not feel threatened by being the fourth wife in a patriarchal traditional Zulu setting. She claimed her space and was well-respected well into her 90s. I am a modern extension of Khokho Mandlesilo, but in contemporary times. I still have to make sure patriarchy and misogyny do not drown out my voice and those of other women.
Which books by a South African woman writer made the single biggest contributions to your literary work?
There are quite a few South African women writers who have influenced me, but the woman who had the greatest influence on me has to be my late aunt, the ambassador Lindiwe Mabuza. She taught me the joy of reading and writing at an early age, when she came to live with our family in Lusaka in the mid-1970s, when we were in exile. She was an academic, a freedom fighter and an activist, as well as a poet and writer. During the struggle years, as an ANC cadre, she compiled short essays written by women in a collection titled Malibongwe, released in the late 1970s under the pseudonym Sono Molefe. She sent out a request to the liberation camps and offices of the ANC around the world for poems written by women during the struggle. I love that she showed women how to express their inner thoughts, fears, triumphs and disappointments in writing.
