John Langalibalele Dube - Man of Letters

Man of Letters

He was among the pioneering men of letters who helped to establish Zulu literature. He was one of the first published Zulu authors, although the first published Zulu book was written by Magema Fuze, whose history of the Zulus, Abantu abamnyama lapo bavela ngakona (translated as "The Black People and From Whence They Came"), was published in 1922 having been written in the 1880s and early 1890s. Dube's first published work was an essay in English on self-improvement and public decency that was published in 1910. The work that was to earn him the honorary doctorate of philosophy was the essay Umuntu Isita Sake Uqobo Lwake (A man is his own worst enemy) (1992)(text in pre-1936 Zulu old orthography). He went on to publish a historical novella that has proven to be popular and influential in Zulu canon titled Insila kaShaka (Shaka's Body Servant) (1930). Dube also embarked on writing biographies of the Zulu royal family, especially that of King Dinizulu, making him the first biographer in African literature. There are numerous other works of less significant literary quality such as the essay Ukuziphatha (1910).

In addition to his literary works, Dube was a productive man who founded the first Zulu/English newspaper Ilanga laseNatali (The Sun of Natal) in 1903, a publication that in 2003 celebrated its centenary. Ilanga laseNatali is no longer independent since being bought by the then proto-political association Inkatha yeNkululelo yeSizwe in 1988, led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, later to be known as a political party in post-apartheid South Africa called Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). Dube wrote and edited numerous editorials for the paper and under various pseudonyms as well as publishing some indifferent poems. He nurtured journalist who later on went to become editors at his paper and contributed to the flourishing field of Zulu literature.