Intside Naison Tfwala’s life

 But for Naison Tfwala, author and poet of note, 34 years of working for an industrial cconcern did not dim his incandescent work. Journalist Admire Kudita (AK) sat down with Tfwala (NT) for a chat:

AK: What is the motif that runs through your works?
NT: I am a traditionalist. I stand for traditional values.
AK: What does that actually mean in terms of life application?
NT: Amasikho (traditional values) that you are who you are because of where you come from. Your forefathers shape who you are today.
AK: How is that relevant today?
NT: Well, if you don’t know where you are coming from, how do you know where you are going?
AK: I can’t quite see how that matters. I mean in the sixties, for example, many folks from here left for Wenela to look for work in South Africa. Many of them reinvented themselves when they got there and assumed new identities re-imagined their world and moved on?
NT: If you check the names of your fathers they will give you an indication of your people’s history.
AK: You said that you are a traditionalist. What is your take on the on-going discourse around restoring the monarchy?
NT: I think that the discussion should be there.
AK: So do you believe that there should be a monarchy?
NT: I believe that discussion should be allowed in a democratic society.
AK: But democratic society tends to be ‘majoritarian’ and moreover, is monarchy not regressive, for example, the Swati and even some sections of British society — the republicans would rather not have the monarchy besithi iyasinda (it weighs heavy on the people’s shoulders)?
NT: It can hold society together though.
AK: Your new book, Perspectives, is an e-book. Why did you go that route of publishing online?
NT: A certain lady based in             South Africa spoke about it at a                                      workshop in 2010 and I thought to take it up as an idea. The book is sold on Amazon.com at US$2,99 so all one has to do is down load the book after using his visa card or the prescribed way of payment.
AK: It’s definitely new territory for you and a new frontier for you as a writer to access the cosmopolitan audience who have the digital media to access the book?
NT: Yes it is a good way of accessing the global market.
AK: What is the story outline in your book?
NT: It is about a couple, very successful at that too, who do not have children or are failing to conceive. The husband is a pharmacist and the wife is a hotelier. The rest you have to read for yourself. The book promises to be a riveting read that promises to tackle the traditional hang ups about issues of barrenness and how people mired in certain cultures resolve their crises and how the clash of world views plays out.
– Naison Tfwala’s published works include poetry in Umdumo wezinkondlo and Ezivusa usinga anthologies; Akuqaqa lazizwa ukunuka which is being studied       at Advanced Level Ndebele until          2015; Umfukula wenhlathu, launched at Intwasa Festival last September, Perspectives published by Kwadukathole online with Amazon.com in America; On the brink of society, a short story published in the Writing without boundaries anthology.