Тәтамхулу Африка: Өмір және шығармашылық жолы

Poet, writer and anti apartheid activist

Ismail Joubert (7 December 1920 – 23 December 2002), commonly known as Tatamkhulu Afrika, which is Xhosa for Grandfather Africa, was a South African poet and writer. His first novel, Broken Earth was published when he was seventeen (under his "Methodist name"), but it was over fifty years until his next publication, a collection of verse entitled Nine Lives. He won numerous literary awards including the gold Molteno Award for lifetime services to South African literature, and, in 1996, his works were translated into French. His autobiography, Mr Chameleon, was published posthumously in 2005.

Tatamkhulu Afrika was born Mogamed Fu'ad Nasif in Egypt to an Egyptian father and a Turkish mother, and came to South Africa as a very young child. Both his parents died of flu, and he was fostered by family friends under the name John Carlton. He lived in Cape Town's District 6, a mixed race inner city community. District 6 was declared a "whites only" area in the 1960s and the community was destroyed. With an Egyptian father and a Turkish mother, Afrika could have been classified as a "white", but refused as a matter of principle. He founded Al Jihaad to oppose the destruction of District Six and apartheid in general, and when this became affiliated with the African National Congress' armed wing, Umkhonto We Sizwe, he was given the praise name of Tatamkhulu Afrika, which he adopted until he died. Tatamkulu Afrika died on 23 December 2002 shortly after his 82nd birthday, from injuries received when he was run over by a motorist two weeks before, just after the publication of his final novel, Bitter Eden. He left a number of unpublished works, including his autobiography, two novels, four short novels, two plays and poetry.