Dr Phil Ndlela celebrates legacy of literary giant

Dr Phil Ndlela, an English literature lecturer on the Mafikeng Campus of the North-West University (NWU), recently published a peer-reviewed essay on one of South Africa's literary giants, Prof Ezekiel Mphahlele, on AOSIS - an online platform that publishes African scholarly research.

The essay: "Do not let him die: Celebrating the legacy of Es'kia Mphahlele" is an attempt by Dr Ndlela to retrace the indelible footprints and immense contribution by Prof Es'kia Mphahlele, as he was commonly known.

Born on 17 December 1919, Mphahlele was a South African writer, educationist, artist and activist widely celebrated as the father of African humanism and one of the founding figures of modern African literature.

Revered as the "dean of African letters", before his death in October 2008, Prof Mphahlele had written two autobiographies, more than 20 short stories, two verse plays and a considerable number of poems.

Among his many accolades and achievements, Prof Mphahlele was nominated in 1969 for the Nobel Prize for literature. In 1998, former president Nelson Mandela awarded him the Order of the Southern Cross, which was the highest recognition granted by the South African government.

In the conclusion of his essay, Dr Ndlela celebrates Prof Mphahlele as a remarkable, erudite writer and thinker with powers of articulation, bearing an incisive mind, insight, integrity, a pleasant disposition and sense of humour, which made him a true icon of modern African letters.