Molefe Pheto (born 1935) is a former South African musician and music teacher who, as an activist in the Black Consciousness Movement, became a political prisoner in 1975. He was a friend and spokesperson of South African President Nelson Mandela.
Early life Pheto was born in 1935 in Alexandra Township, South Africa, where he grew up.Clarke's Bookshop, 2014 Catalogue 123, p. 33."Molefe Pheto", South African History Online, 20 January 2017.
Career Pheto was an active participant in the Black Consciousness Movement since 1970. In 1971, he founded the Black Consciousness group Mhloti, working with others such as Wally Serote, producing music, poetry, and theatrical events and performing speeches by political activists and schools, churches and political rallies.John Peffer, Art and the End of Apartheid, Volume 2, University of Minnesota Press, 2009, p. 73. Pheto organised three Black Arts festivals for MDALI (the Music, Drama, Arts and Literature Institute in Soweto), of which he was a founder member and spokesman, and in 1975 he was detained under South Africa's 1963 Terrorism Act for 10 months.Peter O. Stummer and Christopher Balme (eds), Fusion of Cultures?, Cross/Cultures 26, ASNEL Papers 2, Rodopi, 1996, p. 186. He was held in Johannesburg's police headquarters, John Vorster Square.Sue Blaine, "Apartheid revisited, for a better future", Business Day Live, 4 October 2012, via The Atlantic Philanthropies.
In 1977, Pheto left South Africa and, after the murder of Steve Biko, began a life of exile in Britain.Wits Oral History Interviews, 20 April 2011. In 1983, London-based Allison & Busby published his memoir, And Night Fell: Memoirs of a Political Prisoner in South Africa,Moji Mokone, "Book reviews : And Night Fell: memoirs of a political prisoner in South Africa", Race & Class, October 1984, vol. 26, no. 2 103–104. which was banned in South Africa.Phumla Mkize, "Story of a freedom not yet realised", Sowetan, 2 May 2014, via PressReader.
After 20 years in Britain, Pheto returned to South Africa and settled on a farm in Magaliesburg, publishing his second book, entitled The Bull from Moruleng: Vistas of Home and Exile, in 2014.Jane Rosenthal, "Exile's bullish reconnection with his ancestral land", Mail & Guardian, 17 April 2014. He is a member of the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO).
Bibliography And Night Fell: Memoirs of a Political Prisoner in South Africa, London: Allison and Busby, 1983. The Bull from Moruleng: Vistas of Home and Exile, Ekaam Books, 2014.
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