South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his condolences to the family and how heartbroken he was about the passing of James Matthews, 95. Matthews died in hospital on September 7, after he suffered a mild stroke two weeks earlier.
Ramaphosa shared how Matthews’s work impacted to so many people during apartheid. “James Matthews’s voice will ring in our consciousness following his departure and we will remain captivated and inspired by the rage and elegance with which he articulated the stark struggles of the oppressed.”
Matthews was born on May, 25 1929, in District Six, Cape Town, he referred to the place as ‘a house without bookshelves’. He attended school at Trafalgar High.
Miss Meredith, Matthews’s teacher, made an impact. She would declare him to be a writer after marking one of his compositions.
He left school at age 14, in Standard 8 (Grade 10), and found work as a messenger at the Cape Times. He used his library access to explore literature properly, and began crafting short stories that were published in the arts pages of both that newspaper and the Cape Argus.
In 1946, aged 17, his first story was published in a Cape Town newspaper, The Sun.
Matthews’s stories continued to be published in Drum and the Muslim News. His poetry and short stories portrayed the disfigurement that poverty and racial oppression left. His stories were published in Europe in the 1960s.
The apartheid regime banned one of his early works, Cry Rage, co-authored with Gladys Thomas and published in 1972. He was a founding member and patron of the Congress of South African Writers and set up two publishing houses, BLAC Publications and Realities.
“We will be comforted by the many works he has left for us to revisit and by our memories of his appearances at rallies, ghoembas, the front lines of street protests and intimate circles of kindred creatives where, beret askew on his head, he would feed the souls and fighting spirit of those around him,” Ramaphosa said.
Matthews eventually became an esteemed member of the National Order of Ikhamanga, he received this honour in 2004 for his excellent achievements in literature, contributing to journalism and his inspirational commitment to the struggle for a non-racial and peaceful South Africa.
Cyril Ramaphosa ended his tribute to James Matthews solemnly. “May he now rest in peace,” he said.
IOL