Tse bohloko hadi feli (bad news never ends).
Dr. ZulumathaboVusumuzi Lefalamang Mocholoko Zulu has transitioned to the ancestral realm.
To multitudes of his fellow South Africans who did not know him, the flyer circulated on social media announcing his death described Mkhulu Zulu as “a transmitter of the knowledge of the erudite African Ancients and a revered African scholar”.
I am curious, which local scholars revere him as may be evidenced from their scholarship?
It was thus fitting that his funeral featured Black Consciousness (BC) activist and essayist Veli Mbele, as the master of ceremony, fellow adherents of Africa’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS’s) ranging from Joshua Maponga, Ntsiki Mazwai, Lucas Moloi, Thabo Matsafu, and other traditional healers.
Further elaboration about him, is addressed further on.
According to a media statement released on the 3rd of June 2024, issued by the Zulu Family alongside an organising committee for his funeral, it is narrated that, “After a brief period of illness and hospitalisation, Mocholoko’s body grew weary and he sadly transitioned on the morning of 2 June 2024, in Azania [South Africa].
“He leaves behind his daughter and son [Nomfanelo and Dumehlezi Moloi].”
My interest in Mkhulu Zulu’s wisdom was cemented by our family bond as Makholokoe.
His burial service was held last Sunday, the 9th of June 2024 in Orlando East Communal Hall, in his childhood neighborhood of Orlando.
Among others, this afforded his close childhood friend Vuka Tshabalala, to attend and pay him a fitting farewell tribute as Amabhubesi Ase0rlando.
Although the colony of South Africa, is still preoccupied with its political future, from the euphoria of national elections and the razzmatazz of the latest discourse, regarding forming a Government of National Unity (GNU) reminiscent of the initial one, under the presidency of Nelson Mandela in 1994-1999, it has remained perplexing to me how mute, mainstream media has been, concerning the fateful departure of this gifted local “son of the soil”.
To unmute Mocholoko’ s griot status, let’s turn to his obituary, which affords his voice expression.
Mocholoko’ s Early Life
I was born on Aug 17, 1961, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Throughout my life, I have lived in eight countries across three continents, stretching nearly half the globe.
I am fluent in over eight languages.
My upbringing was shaped by apartheid but surely transcended the confines set by it.
My parents’ paths connected in Johannesburg as a result of the migrant labourer system.
My grandmother, Josephine Zulu, migrated from KwaZulu-Natal in search of economic opportunities, while my grandfather, Hlathi ka Mfene, similarly sought his fortune after leaving the Eastern Cape.
Their meeting in Johannesburg laid the foundation for my ethnically diverse family.
I was initiated as Mocholoko, selected as herdboy in the village of Matamong in the Eastern Free State, in what is also known as Afrikaskop, as Mocholoko, tending cattle of the traditional architect Abram Mlangeni and the sheep of the traditional surgeon Nyanga Masangane.
I am the last generation to acquire an indigenous knowledge system in a traditional African society in the village of Matamong.
I was raised by two traditional surgeons Ngaka Madisebo and Nyanga Masangane who subjected him to an extensive training in the domain of traditional knowledge.
Mocholoko’ s Education and Training: Life in Exile
In 1984 I earned my degree in Journalism and Professional Writing from an institution in England.
Subsequently, I joined the SABC as a Television Journalist in 1985.
I then joined the feminist organisation, Black Sash, under the leadership of Sheena Duncan where I served as a field worker in Botshabelo.
Following a passionate and revolutionary poetry performance at the Women’s Liberation Conference in August 1987 at the University of Witwatersrand, I was exiled to Botswana.
Arriving in Canada in 1989, I pursued further studies in Computing Science and Mathematics.
I also completed a certified publishing program, specialising in graphic arts, printing, typography, darkroom techniques, desktop publishing, and more.
For over two decades, I contributed to the technological landscape as a software engineer, working with well-known companies such as Bell Northern Research, Nortel Networks, Google Inc., Xwave Solutions, Gameworkz, Health Canada, and Montage IT Services.
My innovative work in various domains led to the issuance of intellectual property certificates by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, particularly in fields such as cryptography, digital forensics, and therapeutic technologies like Thekwini Visual Canvas and diagnostic tools like Emofeel.
Mocholoko’s Life’s Work: Scholarly Accomplishments
The above life experiences laid the foundation for my scholarly endeavours which earned me a number of titles, including journalist, computer software scientist, patent holder, author, teacher, mentor, doctoral practitioner, research scientist, lexicographer, metaphysical scientist, cosmologist and custodian of indigenous medicine.
I am an avid storyteller and thus a preserver of ancient Afrikan knowledges and wisdoms.
I have published more than eight books and produced hundreds of unpublished manuscripts.
These include “Sesotho Dictionary of Mathematics,” “A Woman in The Bush”, “African Origin of Mathematics” and scholarly papers like “African Origin of Mathematical Teaching and Learning”.
This list of publications also includes “African Drum Telegraphy and Indigenous Innovation: African Contribution To Communication Science”, and “African Metaphysical Science and Decolonisation and Africography Research Framework: African Metaphysics of Research”.
I have shared my gifts widely in my lifetime, contributing to the development of academic curricula and literature in a number of fields, including Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Climate Change, African Indigenous Architecture and Design, African Metallurgy: Materials Science and Engineering, Historiography of African Science and Technology, African Ethnomathematics.
This led me to hold various academic positions at various academic institutions on the African continent and in other parts of the world.
Mocholoko’ s Return to Azania: Madisebo University, Madisebo Foundation
Upon my return to South Africa, I founded Madisebo Foundation and Madisebo University – an independent institution dedicated to indigenous African teaching and learning.
Drawing inspiration from the traditional Mophato school system of the Basotho ancients and incorporating elements of the modern Corporate University training model, Madisebo University represents a paradigm shift in education.
Madisebo University’s mission is to train teachers as griot professors and knowledge engineers who teach and model the sacrosanct principles of the African origins of knowledge.
From the above-summarised entry of Mocholoko’s life story, which earned him titles such as titles, which ranged from “journalist, computer software scientist, patent holder, author, teacher, mentor, doctoral practitioner, research scientist, lexicographer, metaphysical scientist, cosmologist and custodian of indigenous medicine”, ought to support why in the final analysis, my opening remarks about the grave silence or ignorance across most nationwide mainstream media outlets as regards Mocholoko’s incredible accomplishments, robbed fellow South Africans from knowing about one of their unsung Afrocentric griots, sanusis, Imhotep’s, sages, philosophers, etc.
In fact I dare venture to declare that according to my epistemic calculation, Mocholoko had surpassed by far the Eurocentric academic rank of “Dr. Zulu”.
Even by Eurocentric logic, his erudite scholarship earned him the scholarly rank of full professor.
It follows that posthumously, I salute him as an Emeritus Afrocentric Professor.
Camagu! Thokozani Makhosi!
*The author of this article is Dr. Tshepo Mvulane Moloi is a Doctoral Candidate: History Department, at the University of Fort Hare
*The views expressed by Dr. Tshepo Mvulane Moloi are not necessarily those of The Bulrushes
