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Siphiwo Mahala, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Johannesburg

Can Themba: South Africa's rebel journalist was a teacher at heart

Detail of a photo of Can Themba at Drum magazine. Photo Jürgen Schadeberg courtesy Wits University Press

Siphiwo Mahala is well known as a South African short story writer, novelist, playwright and literary organiser. He is also an academic. In fact, his most recent book is a product of his PhD thesis, titled Can Themba: The Making and Breaking of the Intellectual Tsotsi. Can Themba was a journalist and short story writer who challenged the apartheid state by foregrounding the pain and the joy of black life. We asked Mahala to tell us more.


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