Es’kia Mphahlele’s works showcased at Market Theatre
THE MEMORY of Professor Ezekiel Letoba Mazwi Mphahlele (1919-2008) or “Es’kia” or “Zeke”, was rekindled throughout February at The Market Theatre in Newtown, Gauteng.
The origin of the nickname “Zeke” remains elusive, unlike that of “Es’kia”. After almost two decades (1959-1977) in self-exile, in defiance of the apartheid regime, when arriving back in South Africa – what Mphahlele called “the tyranny of place” in 1977 – he decolonised his name from the biblically derived Hebrew “Ezekiel” to “Es’kia”, which embraced his Africanism.
The decision is
