TSIETSI MASHININI, elusive hero of Soweto

216pp., b/w & colour illus., paperback, Tafelberg, Cape Town, 2026

ISBN: 9780624095880

A biography of the 1976 Soweto uprising's most iconic leader, the charismatic Tsietsi Mashinini (1957-1990).

Mashinini was a gifted and popular schoolboy at Morris Isaacson High School who recited poetry, was head of the debate team and president of the Methodist Wesley Guild. Identified as a ‘ringleader’ in the uprising, Mashinini went into hiding. Eventually forced into exile, first to London and later to various other African countries, including Liberia, he became an international celebrity, addressing the United Nations and meeting heads of state. Mashinini died under mysterious circumstances while in exile in Guinea. His body was repatriated to South Africa, where he was interred in Avalon Cemetery.

South African journalist and writer Sam Mathe is the founding editor of Jazz Life magazine. He is the author of From Kippie to Kippies: Group portraits of South African artists and the poetry collection, When You Are Gone & Other Poems, and contributing author to Brenda Fassie: I'm not your weekend special, Joburg Noir, Culture and the Liberation Struggle in South Africa and Journey of a Soweto Entrepreneur, 1904-1924.