Johannesburg- Exclusive Books Killarney was abuzz recently with literary enthusiasts, business leaders and devotees of Letepe Maisela’s work socialising at the launch of his new book Sperm Donor, a novel published by local publishing house Xarra Books. A panel that included Dr Reuel Khoza, the current Chairperson of the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and Ferial Haffajee, Daily Maverick’s Associate Editor led the discussion and businessman Happy Ntshingila was the facilitator.
Maisela is a published author, and has a number of titles under his belt including his bestseller The Empowered Native (2005), ‘Survival in the Corporate Jungle’ (1998), and a children’s storybook called Thabo, the Computer and the Mouse (2014).
Sperm Donor is Maisela’s latest work of fiction. The book is set at the beginning of the democratic era in the new South Africa. This is during Nelson Mandela’s tenure as first elected President of the liberated country in 1994. The story narrates the trials and tribulations of a young African couple residing in Johannesburg’s predominantly black Soweto Township faced with a problem of conceiving a child after three years of marriage. The new country however presents its own challenges and solutions. The initial trigger in this tragic and yet humorous episode is when at her deathbed Mahlodi utters the devastating words privately to her only son Karabo: ‘Your father, is not your father.’
Louisa Mogudi, one of the guests described Maisela’s book as a breath of fresh air and an encouragement for other African writers. “We grew up reading and quoting Charles Dickens and now our children can refer to an African author Letepe Maisela,” said Mogudi.
Another guest at the launch commended Maisela on how he was able use his characters to deal with serious socio-economic challenges that were facing the black middle class during the transition from the apartheid rule to a new democratic dispensation. “I like the manner in which you were able to use Mahlodi to reflect on issues that were facing not only black families but women at this critical time in the history of South Africa.”
Advertising guru Peter Vundla also commended the author on his usage of Sesotho and isiZulu language expressions in the book quite unapologetically without translation.
Describing Letepe Maisela’s writing pedigree, former business partner Reuel Khoza, ascribes his writing skills to pioneering research he used to conduct when they worked together during the 1980’s in a company they both founded, aptly named Co-ordinated Marketing. As Dr Khoza succinctly put it: ‘His pioneering work in Research sharpened and deepened Letepe’s erudition and writing. The creatively and masterfully crafted novel Sperm Donor is a worthy product from those pioneering years. This makes for a novel laced up with a series of vignettes full of life lessons, captured by a mature empirical observer.’
