WHO IS XOLANI SITHOLE?
THE ARTIST
PROFILE OF XOLANI SITHOLE
Xolani Sithole, also known by the noms de plume (pen-names) Jobe KaMatshane, and Ethiops Jobe. Both these name feature extensively on his Facebook social media accounts. He is a South African writer, poet, and cultural activist known for his work on African history, cultural identity, and psychological liberation from the legacy of colonialism and oppression. Facebook+1
📚 Who He Is
- Author & Poet: Xolani Sithole writes books that
explore African history, identity, colonisation, and self-emancipation.
His works include A Nation Enslaved and Anthology
of the Perplexed, Volume 1: African Slave Science — titles that
address the psychological and historical effects of slavery and
colonisation on African peoples. Facebook
- Cultural Activist: Through his writing and social
commentary (often under the name Jobe KaMatshane), he engages
in discussions about decolonisation of thought, Black consciousness, and
empowerment. Threads
- Online Presence: He has been active on social media
platforms such as Facebook and Instagram under the alias Jobe
KaMatshane, and Ethiops Jobe, where he shares insights, quotations, and reflections tied
to his philosophical and literary work. Facebook+1
📖 Themes in His Work
His
writing broadly focuses on:
- Historical awareness and reinterpretation of African experiences in the
context of slavery and colonialism. Facebook
- Psychological liberation and understanding of how colonial
impact shapes identity. Literary
Tourism
- Empowerment through knowledge and cultural introspection. Threads
🧠 Alias And Identity
- “Jobe KaMatshane” is the name he uses in his
literary and online activism work — effectively a pen-name or
public persona for his cultural commentary. Facebook
- Ethiops Jobe is a pen name / online alias used by Xolani Sithole. Under the name Ethiops Jobe, Xolani Sithole presents aspects of his literary, philosophical, and Afrocentric work—particularly on social media (notably Facebook). The name functions as an intellectual and artistic persona, distinct from but connected to his legal name and other identity (Jobe KaMatshane).
ARTS TRAINING PROGRAMMES
- Project Development
and Management of Local Community Centres (2007) Belgium : South African National Youth Commission
& VZW JINT (the international youth work coordination agency for the
Flemish Department of Culture, Youth, Sports)
- Mentorship Training
for Creative Writing (2009) : Dancing
Pencils Literacy Club.
- International Arts
Management Fellowship Programme (2009) USA :
The John F. Kennedy Centre for the performing arts of the United States
Department of State.
PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENTS AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
The Performing Arts
- Awesome Africa Music Festival (2000) – the only youth poet to share the stage with an Australian
band, Sapien, amongst a list of accomplished academics/poets such as Prof Pitika Ntuli and
Professor Garside amongst others. "We made history."
- International Poetry Africa (2001) – performed as a guest artist “imbongi / slam poet” alongside the late maskandi
artist Shiyani Ngcobo. Peter & Monica Rorvik were the
main organisers during this period of time, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
- SPOT Poetry Slam Championships (2002) – the first KwaZulu-Natal live
poetry slam champion held at the BAT Centre, Durban. The event was a
partnership between the BAT Centre and the Slam Poetry Operation Team (SPOT).
- The 26th Encounters South African International
Documentary Festival
(2024) – the event took place at the BAT Centre on 29 June 2024,
with film screenings, panel discussion and live poetry, where I performed alongside Thando Fuze, Nelile Hlongwane
and Deborah Ewing. (follow link) https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8xMETFtvRd/?igsh=MWMzY3BmajhiZ2Vreg==
The Literary Arts
- Creative Writing Mentor (2009) for Community Organisation Dancing Pencils
- Elected as a Board Member (2011) for the Dancing Pencils Literacy Project, by accomplished writer, Felicity Keats who spear-headed development of creative writing in South African schools, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal.
- Published Book (2011), “The Anthology of the Perplexed” : Umsinsi Press [*See link: www.literarytourism.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=642:int erview-with-xolani-sithole&catid=26&Itemid=100053
List of Published Titles
1) The Anthology of the Perplexed (Umsinsi Press, 2011)
2) A Nation Enslaved, Ziph’IInkomo (IwriteWhatILike Publishers, 2021)
3) The Revolutionary, An anthology of poems (IwriteWhatILike Publishers, 2021)
4) Poetry & The Arts Revolution (IwriteWhatILike Publishers, 2024)
5) Incwadi Yokuphila Kwethu (IwriteWhatILike Publishers, 2024)
6) The Healer Of Ancients (IwriteWhatILike Publishers, 2024)
(Use mobile device to View Catalogue on WhatsApp: https://wa.me/c/27814473800)
EARLY HISTORY:
The plight
of the artist: the
incomplete biography of a South African creative
soul.
Xolani “Jobe” Sithole
..is a South African prolific writer, born in the city of Durban, KwaZulu- Natal, South Africa. In the early nineties, as a budding poet/hip hop lyricist, Jobe found himself involved in the early Durban Hip Hop scene. The Durban Hip Hop scene was supported by a vinyl music shop called "DJ Syndicate", owned by a well-informed Capetonian only known as "Jackson" to the local Hip Hop enthusiasts. The shop was located at the Point, Durban Beach, vicinity. The spot can be said to have been the genesis of some of Durban's veteran Hip Hop groups that performed in, arguably, the first music concert featuring a highly acclaimed Kwaito act, and local upcoming Hip Hop artists. Some of the local cats featured in the show include Kwanele Sosibo, Nkanyiso "Shaq" Ngcobo and Mduduzi Ntuli (my rap partner as Phunkadelia). The list of other active Hip Hop innovators of that Durban era, is extensive, with names like Raheem Kemet topping the underground list.
Most interestingly, in 1996, after leaving the city of Durban with a music demo tape Sithole found himself being part of the bigger picture in South African music scene. The music demo that was painstakingly recorded at Mbongeni Ngema's Kloof Studio became a gateway to new acquaintances. The demo songs were composed by a multi-talented "Mthandeni" who worked at the studio religiously to produce the South African sound of Umbhaqanga. One of other talented musicians that Sithole could not forget from the memorable recording occasion was Nhlanhla Sibisi from KwaNdengezi. He gave Mthandeni good advice in the programming of the Hip-Hop Mbhaqanga sound for the young Sithole’s demo tape.
During these "early years" of South African music evolution, the young and ambitious poet/lyricist crossed paths with various foot-soldiers of the Jozi Hip Hop movement. The year was 1997 and some of the people that the Durban "aspiring rapper" interacted with in his plight for a career in the arts included Ishmael (musician), "Vusi" from Odameester, Wendy Mseleku (RIP), Herbert Schwamborn (Alkebulan), and Snarez "the dictator" if only to mention a few people. Those were brief fleeting moments in time that were special to aspiring artist. Most of the interaction took place on Rocky Street, Yeoville, Jozi's (Johannesburg) cultural precinct at the time.
Later that year (1997) while carrying his music demo from the Ngema Studios, a chance meeting at Gallo Records, with Ray Chikapa Phiri and Joe Nina (MH Xaba) landed him at their recording house in Braamfontein, in Jozi. After developing a professional relationship with the two afore-mentioned South African music legends, the production of Nina’s “Talk to Me” album led to Sithole’s extended stay in Johannesburg.
In the
December of 1997, while working with Joe
Nina at Om Alec Khaoli's recording studio,
during an interview for the
Channel-O
Music tv network, Jobe prophetically stated that "Nothing can set us free, but only the music
at heart!" This was a
way of trying to emphasize the strength or wealth of our own South African culture, tradition and musical
heritage as opposed to the Asian, the Indian and the Western art forms. It was at that point that the spirit and mindset of cultural activism began emerging from
the soft-spoken lyricist, poet and undiscovered writer.
In early 1999, the writer returned to the University of Durban-Westville (UDW) after having left in 1995 - after a single year of studying Fine Art. It was during this year that the poetic literature became the mouthpiece. Most of the hard-hitting literature that is found in The Revolutionary poetry (book) collection was composed during this period. In the short-lived 1999 academic period Sithole had enrolled for the Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities where he had hoped to find a course to hone his love for novel writing.
On orientation day of that year, there was a tradition of the Arts Faculty where each student was invited to stand infront of the lecture room. Jobe remembers being asked by the Dean of Arts why he had chosen to persue a B.A. degree. Having grown up reading books like Grimus (Salman Rushdie), Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien), A Wizard of Earth-sea Trilogy (Ursula Le Guin) and Christie (Stephen King) - the only words that croaked out of my dry throat were: "I want to be a writer". The Dean simply froze and mumbled, "good luck" - as there was no specific advise he could provide relating to a non-existing creative writing curriculumn. The BA Degree majors included Psychology, Philosophy, Anthropology, and Political Science – listed in the order of personal interest.
In his accolades as a university scholar, Jobe was the
only youth student to perform at a prestigious Awesome Africa Jazz Festival
(2000) alongside accomplished poets such as Professor
Pitika Ntuli, Professor Garside and others, after being discovered by Prof
Ntuli at a UDW writing competition.
His sharp literary works were further fuelled by his love for his people which was
returned with cynicism
and
scorn
by his black
peers. He became progressively disturbed by the continuous state of
negativity between Africans. The young
author could not, for all his love of higher education, ignore the inhumane and semi-deranged behaviour that existed
within the Black community as a whole!
It was at this point that he began writing a collection of poetic literary work reviewing the appallingly absurd behaviour of Black undergraduates and post graduates students. It was an appalling display of self-hatred where the smarter kids were by bullied by the majority older black students. The wretched behaviour inspired the birth of the poem Observations of Neighbour (*see pg. 42 of book, A Nation Enslaved).
Pictured: Xolani’s campaign poster for the 1999 UDW Student Representative Council (SRC) campaign. Please follow the link below to Facebook post of Jobe KaMatshane (Author’s nom de plume) https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159564068118007&substory_index=0&id=574428006
As a soft-spoken individual who had changed his degree after being told that painting people’s faces displays a lack of intellect, Jobe’s mindset became more rigid. He became more determined to go on a life-long quest to find the root of the problem of the maddening crowd. His critical reviews of the realities around him became recorded in his poetry works which he described as compressed essays in a script titled African Slave Science.
In his quest for a
solution towards the dilemma of the antagonistic society of Africans, leading
toward a culmination of Sithole's domestic
and personal challenges, the scholarly poet began to lose respect for the academic
discourse as it was failing to provide
a remedy for the millions engaged
in a passive mental state of self-negation and empty spitefulness.
After
leaving varsity, the radical poet emerged as freelance journalist for the Daily News' Commercial
Editorial department for the Independent Newspapers, in 2001. The fiery spirit
of activism found its way into the
first article that paved the way for Sithole’s entry into the Daily News newspaper
world of freelance journalism. The article
was titled, The Plight of The Rikshaw
Workers, in the Daily News Workplace supplement.
Beginning from the first articles that established his journalism career,
Sithole was hell-bent on covering success
stories of independent African business
owners. The featured
business owners were earmarked by Sithole as most of them survived the
Apartheid era without tertiary education and
still managed to establish
thriving careers.
Sithole, later, became employed as an office assistant in a research,
publishing and community
development NGO called I-Mediate Development Communications. This is where
he gained the opportunity to utilize his fine art skills as an illustrator,
writer, researcher and editor of
journals such as the Goldstone Commission's children's Rights journals called Children First.
|
Pictured: Xolani Sithole (on the right) conducting an interactive workshop with Wentworth youth while using the
Children First journal as a guiding manual. (Please follow link to see Facebook
page https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Bdhz1jLMx/ |
From as early as year 2000, the solitary poet and soft-spoken philosopher had already begun using the Durban harbours grass jetty as a place to find solace as a recluse from the “maddening crowd”.
"A stranger who found me writing poetry at the jetty, pointed to a colourful building at the waters-edge, Durban Harbour. He proceeded to tell me that I would find others like me at that spot. He called it the BAT Centre."
"Oh, how appropriate, I told myself, for, I seem unable to fit into the conventional world of birds and mammals. The BAT is ostracised on both sides."
▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎
Two years later, in 2002, Xolani Sithole became crowned as the first SPOT Poetry Slam champion next to skilled poets such as Daliwonga Pantshwa and Ewok Robinson.
Eventually, having collated
written poetry work that dates as far back as 1994,
the writer joined the Dancing Pencils writing club in
2009 where he was trained as a novelist. Under the strict mentorship of accomplished
author, educator, and literary activist, Felicity Keats,
The Anthology
of The Perplexed novel became
published in 2011.
“The Anthology of The Perplexed is a book
about the psychology of the previously oppressed South Africans
that underwent a process of negative conditioning long before the introduction of the Apartheid
system. It also looks at the demise
of spiritual principles and the growth of
materialism as a prime reason for society’s problems today. The 249-page
book comprises of short stories,
poetry and critical
essays.” – Felicity Keats (Umsinsi Press)
In 2011 after the first edition of his book was published, Sithole proudly stated: The Anthology of the Perplexed is just
the beginning of my life ambition to be a writer."
“There can be no revolution
without a thesis,
it all begins when you put your mind to it
and then put pen on paper.” – X.Sithole
----------------------------------------
In 2015 both of Sithole’s
senior family leaders,
father-figures, who were based in the Lamontville township passed away after tragically
falling sick and passing away in hospital
two months apart. Xolani Sithole’s
father Lewis Vusimuzi
Sithole (a renowned
mathematician) and Jabu “Bra
Jabs” Sithole –also a mathematician and honoured ANC intellectual, both played a pivotal part in uplifting the political and academic profile
of Lamontville.
In
early 2017, following a two-year self-exile period from KwaZulu-Natal,
the cultural activist and author has finished drafting
an arts development paper (*pictured below – titled NgeArt Syabangena).
The paper takes its directive from the late "intellectuals of the struggle" from Lamontville, namely, the brothers LV Sithole and Jabu “Bra Jabs” Sithole. The two maths educators and elements of inherent black conscousness spent a life-time creating methods of empowering the minds of the previously oppressed Black South Africans. The unpublished paper of NgeArt Syabangena (2017) was leaked to certain government departments before being eventually published in the book - Poetry and the Arts Revolution (2024) - correctly so because it is aligned with “Bra Jabs” favourite slogan: “Ask not what the government can do for you, instead, ask yourself what you can do for your community and then ask the government for assistance.”
The NgeArt
Syabangena a paper is an implementable or practical formula for community
intervention by highlighting the importance of “Organisation”.
Organisation or cooperation at a grass-roots level is a doorway towards community development through arts conscientization with an aim of promoting tolerance, information-sharing and skills development at various levels of society. This is a view that sees family units working tirelessly and without pressure in building their own neighbourhoods using creative activities as a beginning point of interaction. This means dialogue and cooperation will once more become a prevailing mindset in the African society to promote a progressive mindset.
----------------------------------------------------------------
"Inkululeko
ayithunyelwa ncelu, kepha iyakufika
nokusa komqondo"
2017©
“Freedom shall not
be delivered by any servant or whosoever, instead it will come
with the psychological process of realisation that is born from the appreciation of the historical ideas that gave way to the repressive
methods that are responsible for taking away
the freedom of the people.”
2017©
PICTURED BELOW:
The Kennedy Centre arts management fellowship programme for 2009 was based on a paper by Michael M. Kaiser, titled - "The Turnaround Strategy for Community Arts Organisations"
Pictured above (clock-wise from centre front row): Pictured, are eight fellows from around the globe namely, China, Ningizimu (South Africa), Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Grenada, Iran, and Philippines - amongst 3 American hosts of European descent. Importantly, Sithole was the sole candidate chosen to represent the African continent in the 2009 Arts Managers fellowship Programme. The other richly melanated arts manager is from the Grenada islands in the Carrabean.
Knowledge is power, but the real power lies in the equality of all humans.©Xolani Sithole
The Contact Details of
Xolani Sithole
Author/ Arts Activist
+27(0)81-447-3800 (main
mobile no)
iwritewhatilikepub@gmail.com
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