CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2021
GRANT WINNERS
Lesedi Molefi
Patient 12A
LESEDI MOLEFI is a Soweto-born writer, documentary filmmaker, photographer and entrepreneur who lives and works in Johannesburg. Patient 12A is his first book. It was shortlisted for the prestigious City Press Tafelberg Non-Fiction Award in 2018. Patient 12A is his absorbing memoir, reflecting on his time spent in a psychiatric clinic in 2016. It is a personal history, an observation of how childhood experiences can have a profound effect on the adults we become, and a commentary on how mental illness remains a difficult conversation in black families.
Dr David wa Maahlamela
Mokgathatshemo-ya-lehwiti: Tswetsopele le Kgodisokadimo Thetong
David wa Maahlamela was born in Namakgale, Limpopo. A fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for the Advanced Study (JIAS), he holds an MA in Creative Writing (cum laude) and a PhD in African Languages from Rhodes University. He authored four Sepedi books and served on the National English Literature Museum (now Amazwi), the National Arts Council, the University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Creative Arts, Film and Publications Board, and PanSALB. This Sepedi scientific-book project attempts to answer the question of modernising tradition or traditionalist modernity without losing artistic aesthetics. The project will delink African creative output from the subject-object linguist relations and the Eurocentric epistemic domination, and allow linguistic exchange between African languages.
David Robbins
The Testimony of Rivers
David Robbins has published more than twenty books and won several major awards for his writing. The structure of The Testimony of Rivers relies on the juxtaposition of two narratives, one in South Africa, the other in Deep South USA, and both are centred on rivers. The American river is the Mississippi, which has become synonymous with slavery. In South Africa, the river is the Koonap, a little-known tributary to the Great Fish River that featured prominently in the Frontier Wars that wracked the Eastern Cape for a century. The book, part memoir and part ‘literary travel’, will be written in the first person and will probe the history and inner realities of humanity’s perpetually festering racial divides.
Ronesca Cloete
Contemporary Concordia: A visual experience
Ronesca has a degree in Creative Writing from the University of South Africa and describes herself as an avid photographer. Her book project is a contemporary reflection of the historic copper mining town of Concordia in Namaqualand. Concordia and her people have a rich history and with this project the author wants to showcase not only modern-day Concordia but the history, culture, traditions and wonderful landscapes. Concordia is a place where many gathered to extract copper from the earth but also where families made a living for themselves. This book is the author’s love letter to Concordia and her people, a celebration of what it means to reside in the desert landscape of Namaqualand. Photographs will take the reader on a visual journey; written pieces will transport the reader into the heart of this small village.
Neil Rusch
A Smell of Rain Comes with the Wind: Markings and stories from the Kurukop
Neil Rusch is Research Associate with the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. His fields of interest are archaeology, oral tradition and rock art. He is a member of ATEM (Archaeological TransfrontEir Music), a research group investigating ancient sound in the archaeological context of southern Africa. The book details the lifestyle, expressive culture and worldview of people who frequented and lived at the Kurukop before and after they suffered decimation by the colonists who took over the land. The text weaves between images and tracings that will serve as documents, aimed at conserving the cultural heritage of the site, which is in an area increasingly coming under the pressure of mining interests.
Francis Kintu
Where is your bread buttered? Strategies for finding niche markets for entrepreneurs in South Africa
I am a businessperson with roots in academia and a desire to improve the lives of people who are less fortunate than me. I am an ardent believer in the role of business as a key strategic player in boosting the South African economy as well as transforming the lives of ordinary people. The book project aims to give practical solutions to entrepreneurs in South Africa with respect to finding lucrative niche markets that can grow their businesses to sustainable levels. It will provide advice and strategic guidance to address this ‘pain point’ that destroys many business start-ups.
Martha Evans
A biography of Lillian Ngoyi
Martha Evans teaches journalism and media studies at the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town. She has a deep interest in apartheid history and transitional justice. Lilian Masediba Ngoyi was a woman ahead of her time, a pioneer of women’s rights within the liberation movement. A leader of the 1956 Women’s March, she was the first female member of the ANC’s National Executive Committee and a key figure in FEDSAW and the ANC Women’s League. Despite this, she died in penury, and pitifully little is known about her life. My book will be the first full-length biography of Ngoyi, chronicling her experiences and shedding light on the uniquely South African category of the ‘banned person’.
Dr Bongeka Buhle Hlengwa-Selepe
A Critical Analysis of South Africa’s Contemporary Language Policies and Status of their Implementation
Dr Bongeka BuhlebaMashasha Hlengwa-Selepe is a researcher and lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand. In her private capacity, she works as a translator, interpreter, editor and proofreader (English/ IsiZulu). Her project is about converting her PhD thesis titled “A Critical Analysis of South Africa’s Contemporary Language Policies, with Specific Reference to the Use of Official Languages Act into a book. "Although South Africa is home to nine indigenous African languages, English remains the dominant official language and in essence, the only official language," she says. This continues to happen even though the country’s Constitution and the Use of Official Languages Act (UOLA) of 2012 oblige the government to ensure that all official languages are equitably used and that indigenous languages are developed and promoted. The book discusses factors that led to the status quo and makes recommendations on what can be done to rectify this.
Struan Douglas
The Story of South Africa Jazz
Struan Douglas is a cultural writer, performer, activist and educator. He has degrees in Philosophy and Religion from the Social Sciences Department, University of Cape Town and RSM5 in theory and trumpet performance at Ukusa UKZN. He is the author of several books. The Story of South Africa Jazz Book Series is an open-source platform of open minded and open hearted South African Jazz research and storytelling. Built on a foundation of commentaries, tributes, photographs, articles and interviews, this book series is a spirited record and memory of many musicians who would otherwise not have been remembered. Volume One, in 2015, begins this abundant journey through musical histories and philosophies of South Africa’s eras of social, political, and spiritual change. Volume Two, continues the expansive chronicle of Southern African music, taking the reader through a tumultuous journey from the villages, into mine compounds, performance halls, distant lands and continents and landing at the current moment.
Jimmy Moshidi
Monyanya Wa Batau (Kgato Ka Kgato Tshepedišong Ya Lenyalo)
Jimmy Matshele Moshidi is a Sports, Arts and Culture Promotion Officer at Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality. He is widely known as a heritage and indigenous languages activist. The Limpopo based Sepedi author won several creative writing awards to date. His current project Monyanya Wa Batau (Kgato Ka Kgato Tshepedišong Ya Lenyalo) seeks to outline the importance of all traditional wedding steps as part of preserving cultural practices and imparting traditional African knowledge system to the youth.
Dr Marlini Nair-Moodley
The implications of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) for retail businesses in South Africa.
Dr Moodley Is a lecturer at the private education institute MANCOSA and also a director of The African Dream Foundation, assisting with public relations and training programmes. She is a certified Business Advisor and the author of Entrepreneurship for Women – The African Dream and The African Dream – Sunflower effect' is her second collaboration which was launched in September 2021. This book section investigates the impact of the CPA on the promotional strategies of retailers. Currently, marketers using social-network sites are obligated to ensure that they are compliant with the CPA which poses a threat to businesses that promote their goods or services via the internet because legal action can be taken against them. Consumers’ rights have now been given priority. The customer has become the focus in the transaction and the balance of power no longer lies in the hands of the retailer. This book section unpacks the ramifications of the lack of implementation of the CPA for small businesses and highlights recommendations in respect of compliant promotions strategies.
Kearabetswe Moopelo
The Cave And the Mountain: The meaning of Land for Rural Black South Africans
Kearabetswe Moopelo is an ethnographer, writer, storyteller, cultural practitioner, researcher and anthropologist whose career has focused on the socio-cultural significance of land. Her diverse upbringing in many parts of Southern Africa has positioned her as a trained cultural practitioner, storyteller, social science theoretician and creative. Her book project is about researching and writing about South African heritage sites such as Madimatle (a sacred cave at the foot of a beacon know as Maletse mountain) and sites used for ancestral rituals, healing and worship. Wheree power, money, political influence and legal rights are lacking, rights to religious practice and recognition of heritage upon the land have become ‘weapons of the weak’. Madimatle is awakening African spirituality and tradition, re-rooting the Bakgatla ba Kgafela people in the land of their ancestors and in their historical identity as ‘owners’ buried in and living in this place, despite forced removals.