Mhlophe emphasises importance of reading, preserving culture
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Thursday June 12, 2025 09:44
Mhlophe, who has made a significant impact in the literary and entertainment industry, was speaking during a meet-and-greet session held on Tuesday at the Thapong Visual Arts Centre in Gaborone. The event was hosted by the HRDC. During the event, Mlhophe proved that she is a pioneer with her brilliant and comical storytelling that got the audience laughing. Her energy and vibrant smile lit the venue as she took the audience through her childhood memory lane, which also led her career path.
She also shared details of her childhood, having grown up in a rural area and how her father used to make them clean their relatives’ graves while telling them stories about them till nightfall. She said they would spend days listening to his father’s stories, whilst others were never completed as he left them hanging. Amidst all those stories, she said she was given her great-grandmother’s name, ‘Nomakhwezi.’ She said that when she asked what the name meant, her father told her that even though her late grandmother did not know how to read and write, she collected anything with words on it. She said her later great-grandmother had a collection of books and old newspapers. That made the young Mhlophe at the time curious and eager to know how to read and get to know their history.
Unfortunately, she said no one in the family knew where her late grandmother’s suitcase was and so a few years later she decided to ask for donations of old books and papers. She said she achieved some and started donating books to schools in a quest to encourage young people to read more books. That was the birth of Mhlophe - the storyteller, poet, scriptwriter and motivational speaker’s career with the help of loved ones. Mhlophe’s creative work spans across multiple genres, including children’s literature, poetry, plays, and short stories. She said she also made a name for herself as a performer, having produced and performed on a CD for children with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, as well as performing her own stories for television audiences on the SABC TV series Gcina & Friends. With her talent and creativity, she has become an inspiration to many aspiring writers and performers, both in South Africa and beyond. In an effort not to leave anyone behind, she said she has books written in braille and audio books, together with visual books, and also has a sign language interpreter as she tells her stories. The goal is to enable children and people with hearing impairment to see and understand her stories.
She further said it was very crucial for young people not only to read but also to know, understand and embrace their culture, especially language. She called on Batswana and fellow Africans to not let their cultures die and therefore pass it to their children, whilst also teaching them the importance of transferring their indigenous language to their offspring.