Sipho (Sydney) Sepamla: 1932-2007.

Chapman, Michael

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Born in West Rand Consolidated Mines Township near Krugersdorp (Mogale City), Sipho Sepamla--a trained school teacher--contributed to the return of a black protest voice after the suppression of dissent and the banning of black writers in the 'silent decade' of the 1960s.

Together with Matthews, Mtshali, Serote, Gwala, Madingoane and others, he was influenced by the rise of Black Consciousness and was a prominent figure in what was termed the New Black Poetry of the 1970s or Soweto Poetry. Avoiding direct statement as assertion of resistance he combined his commitment to the destruction of apartheid with innovative shifts of language-register, image and rhythm ranging from contemplative verse to wicked irony, from global reference to tsotsi-taal in the collections Hurry Up to It! (1975), The Blues is You in Me (1976), The Soweto I Love (1977) and Children of the Earth (1983). Selected Poems appeared in 1984.

Sepamla was also a cultural activist, who in 1978 was instrumental in establishing the Federation of Black Arts (FUBA). As a novelist, he published The Root is One (1979), A Ride on the Whirlwind (1981), Third Generation (1986) and A Scattered Survival (1989).

Sipho Sepamla's abiding concern was the legacy, on into the future, of the '76 'Children of Soweto'.