‘n Viering van sewe jaar van Suid-Afrika se poësie-erfenis: Die 2024 AVBOB-Poësiekompetisie

 

 

Salvia Ockhuis, wenner van die Afrikaans-kategorie saam met Carl van der Riet, uitvoerende hoof van AVBOB

 

Die 11 wenners van die 2024-AVBOB-Poësiekompetisie wat elk van Suid-Afrika se amptelike geskrewe tale verteenwoordig, is op Woensdag 18 September 2024 stylvol gehuldig tydens die AVBOB-Poësie-galadinee by die Pretoria-buiteklub. Hierdie geleentheid het die land se ryk kulturele diversiteit in die kollig geplaas; so ook AVBOB se voortgesette verbintenis tot die bewaring van ons linguistiese erfenis deur die kuns van poësie.

Carl van der Riet, AVBOB se Uitvoerende Hoof, het in sy geleentheidsrede poësie beskryf as ’n noodsaaklike hulpmiddel om sin te maak van ons diepste ervarings. In aanloop tot Suid-Afrika se viering van Erfenisdag op 24 September het hy hulde gebring aan die ryk en diverse plaaslike landskap van die digkuns: “Ek moedig elke digter aan om die lewe vanuit ’n vars hoek te beskou en die moontlikhede te ontgin van dit wat is en wat kan wees. Poësie bied individue en gemeenskappe die vryheid om hul persoonlikste gedagtes uit te druk … woorde wat nie deur logika ingeperk word nie en wat ons aanmoedig om met ons harte te luister.”

Hy het ook met trots ’n nuwe tema van die AVBOB-Poësiekompetisie aangekondig. “Noudat ons reeds die sewende jaar van die viering van die digkuns betree het, is dit gepas om ’n splinternuwe element in te sluit wat tot die volhoubaarheid van die projek sal bydra. Behalwe die oorspronklike temas van Geboorte, Hoop, Dood en Liefde, is ’n Nuwe Begin van vanjaar af die vyfde skryftema. Hierdie nuwe tema nooi digters op alle lewensterreine uit om die moontlikhede van ’n nuwe begin te verken en om die opwinding van ’n nuwe reis en lewensfase deur middel van die digkuns te besing.”

Die wenner in elke taalkategorie van die AVBOB-Poësiekompetisie het ’n kontantprys van R10 000 gewen, sowel as ’n boekgeskenkbewys ter waarde van R2 500 en ’n elegante trofee.

Elke gas by die galageleentheid het ’n eksemplaar ontvang van vanjaar se bloemlesing, I Wish I’d Said … Vol. 7, wat by die geleentheid bekend gestel is. Die topses gedigte in elke taalkategorie verskyn daarin (elk met ’n Engelse vertaling). Die bloemlesing word aangevul deur ’n aantal opdraggedigte, sowel as een Khoikhoi-gedig deur die vooraanstaande digter Toroga Denver. Hierdie omvattende versameling is saamgestel deur die hoofredakteur van die AVBOB-Poësiekompetisie, Johann de Lange, en die Siswati-redakteur, prof. Stanley Madonsela.

 

Volgens De Lange het poësie die unieke vermoë om nie net besonder persoonlike gedagtes uit te druk nie, maar ook om ’n gedeelde taal van rou of lewensviering te verwoord juis wanneer ons dit die nodigste het. “Wanneer ons poësie van gehalte lees of skep, word ons daaraan herinner dat ons nie alleen is nie. Ons weet dat daar ander is wat reeds hierdie situasie beleef het, wat op soek was na woorde, net soos ons nou. Die uniekheid van ’n kompetisie soos dié is dat dit deelnemers aanmoedig om hul diepste gevoelens te ontgin om die woorde te vind wat altyd ’n vlam van hoop laat brand.”

Gaste is vanjaar vermaak deur Beauty and the Beat, die viool-en-beatbox-duo wat tydlose musiek en moderne digkuns volmaak kon laat saamsmelt. Dié vitaliteit van die vertoning het die perfekte atmosfeer geskep waarin die seremoniemeester, Tumelo Mothotoane, Van der Riet kon bystaan om elke wenner aan te kondig. Fezile Mpela, Siysanga Papu, Hanli Rolfes en Nozi Langa het die program afgerond deur die aangrypende voordrag van gedigte.

In alfabetiese volgorde volgens taalkategorie is die wenners van die 2024-AVBOB-Poësiekompetisie: Salvia Ockhuis (Afrikaans), Sarah Frost (Engels), Nosipho Noxolo Nxumalo (isiNdebele), Athi Simamkele Dyantyi (isiXhosa), Siyabonga Nxumalo (isiZulu), Moses Seletisha (Sepedi), Moeketsi Golden Mokotjo (Sesotho), Othusitse Moses Lobelo (Setswana), Junior Gcina Nkomo (Siswati), Humbulani Julia Tharaga (Tshivenda) en Amukelani Deborah Mashele (Xitsonga).

 

Om I Wish I’d Said… Vol. 7 te bestel, SMS die woord ‘POEM’ aan 48423 (teen ’n standaardkoste van R1.50 per SMS) sodat dit aan jou gepos kan word teen ’n totale bedrag van R240. Of anders kan jy jou bestelling stuur aan tertia@naledi.co.za of dit by uitgesoekte boekwinkels koop.

 

Besoek die AVBOB-Poësiebiblioteek by www.avbobpoetry.co.za om te registreer vir deelname aan die 2025-AVBOB-Poësiekompetisie (wat op 30 November 2024 sluit).

In alfabetiese volgorde in elke taalkategorie is die 2024-AVBOB-Poësiekompetisiewenners:

 

Afrikaans wenner	Naam: Salvia Ockhuis Gedig: Metafoor (vir Clement)
Naaswenners	2de plek	3de plek	4de plek	5de plek	6de plek
Digter	Diana Ferrus	Herman Jonker	Annami Simon	Natalie Goetsch	Basil Blom
Gedig	Ek is reg	Kamer Sewe	Daar was jy	Skielik	Oseaan

 

Engels wenner	Naam: Sarah Frost Gedig: Opacity
Naaswenners	2de plek	3de plek	4de plek	5de plek	6de plek
Digter	David Muirhead	Dawn Garisch	Phelelani Makhanya	Gail Dendy	Yuwinn Kraukamp
Gedig	Aviator	Fully dilated	Galibasi 2001	Memorial garden	In the back of your closet, waiting

 

isiNdebele wenner	Naam: Nosipho Noxolo Nxumalo Gedig: Isikhathi sibe ngangonombhenyani
Naaswenners	2de plek	3de plek	4de plek	5de plek	6de plek
Digter	Yamukela Mahlangu	Sphiwe Price Skosana	Mxolisi Muzi Mthombeni	Zinhle Sikhosana	Nkosinathi Ntuli
Gedig	Itjhwabile imbewu	Akusese kukoma okungaka	Sele liziphose kunina	Thatha igadango lokuthoma	Enza njengokutjho Kwakhe

 

isiXhosa wenner	Naam: Athi Simamkele Dyantyi Gedig: Kufandin’akufi!
Naaswenners	2de plek	3de plek	4de plek	5de plek	6de plek
Digter	Lwando Thantsi	Asiphe Ndingaye	Sanelisiwe Mtsewu	Bhelekazi Gloria Ntandane	Anelisa Thengimfene
Gedig	Kuvuna obelimile	Zingce!	Lixesha lethu	Okungalibalekiyo (2014)	Qhubani ngobunono

 

isiZulu wenner	Naam: Siyabonga Nxumalo Gedig: Kanginjena
Naaswenners	2de plek	3de plek	4de plek	5de plek	6de plek
Digter	Thembinkosi Qwabe	Sizwe Alexis Zungu	Zamokwakhe Mkhize	Euclene Busie Maphumulo	Nonhlanhla Noblemade Mavundla
Gedig	Ngekhaba laseMchitheki	Emnqwambeni elibeni	Lilele ihlobo!	Kwangembula ingubo	Nkondlo yami

 

Sepedi wenner	Naam: Moses Seletisha Gedig: Lerato la morapedi
Naaswenners	2de place	3de plek	4de plek	5de plek	6de plek
Digter	Mokgale Machitela	Nokuthula Thubane	Matebane Oscar Nkogatsi	Diketso Mogoswane	Lethabo Zanele Nhlapo
Gedig	Tšhiwana	Go amogelwa ga Hunadi legodimong	Ke boile fela	Re be re sa kgolofetše	Seo ke tlilego go mo gopola ka sona

 

Sesotho wenner	Naam: Moeketsi Golden Mokotjo Gedig: Ha ke a hloleha
Naaswenners	2de plek	3de plek	4de plek	5de plek	6de plek
Digter	Sibongile Abigail Ogabo	Manko Bettie Mnguni	Rethabile Molibeli	Tlholohelo Thelejane	Refiloe Ngozo
Gedig	E lwanne e hlotse!	Ena tsenene e meutlwa!	Boreledi ba sereledi	Re bana ba kgwale	Lerato

 

Setswana wenner	Naam: Othusitse Moses Lobelo Gedig: Ditladiema
Naaswenners	2de plek	3de plek	4de plek	5de plek	6de plek
Digter	Andries Oupa Mosala	Ontiretse Lentotwane	Remmogo Magobe	Oratile Duncan	Goitsemodimo Tlhabadikwane
Gedig	Pele go ya kgakala	Intshwarele	Ke a go rata	Kgorogo ya ngwetsi	Ke a leboga, Mmê

 

Siswati wenner	Naam: Junior Gcina Nkomo Gedig: Phuma kungakabi ngemalangabi
Naaswenners	2de plek	3de plek	4de plek	5de plek	6de plek
Digter	Stephen Umlobi	Grace Mdaka	Gugu Maphanga	Nozipho Ngomane	Bongekile Ndinisa
Gedig	Bengitfunjiwe	Ingijimi	Bonga	Hola, mholi	Dear Mfundvo!

 

Tshivenda wenner	Naam: Humbulani Julia Tharaga Gedig: O fhola
Naaswenners	2de plek	3de plek	4de plek	5de plek	6de plek
Digter	Rebecca Maredi	Gudani Managa	Jeremiah Neluvhalani	Junior Machaba	Mahlatse Mphilo
Gedig	Fulufhelo	Fhatuwani	Mavu o nonaho	Pfunzo	Kondelela

 

Xitsonga wenner	Naam: Amukelani Deborah Mashele Gedig: A wu tise yini?
Naaswenners	2de plek	3de plek	4de plek	5de plek	6de plek
Digter	D Mboweni	Advise Vhukeya	VC Rikhotso	Sithokozile Hlongwane	Coolman Mathebula
Gedig	I xidzedze	Yimbelela nyanyana	U kotisa wayeni	Swi lo yini, Rixaka ra Nkwangulatilo?	Mabokoboko

 

WINNING POET PROFILES: 2024 AVBOB Poetry Competition

 

1. Afrikaans first place: Salvia Ockhuis

Salvia Ockhuis is from Heuningvlei near Wupperthal in the Clanwilliam area. She is a registered professional nurse who took early retirement to focus on her writing. Like American poet Walt Whitman, another famous nurse, Salvia turns to nature for inspiration.

Her creativity blossomed when she began entering the AVBOB Poetry Competition, and in 2020, she placed third in the AVBOB Poetry Competition. This inspired her to keep going. Salvia has twice been a finalist in the Lapa/Kuier short story competition and was awarded a PEN Afrikaans/Jakes Gerwel Foundation writers’ residency at Paulet House in KwaNojoli.

Salvia’s winning poem, ‘Metafoor’ started with a late-night notification on a WhatsApp group. “My childhood friend had passed, and I was dumbstruck. A vivid image of something precious slipping into a crevice into the rocks appeared. Some weeks later, while standing in my late grandparents’ flower garden, I spotted a beautiful plant blooming from a crevice in the concrete stairs. My immediate sense was, ‘Oh, there’s Clement!’ Soon a poem flowed, as clear as the perennial streams of my hometown.”

2. English first place: Sarah Frost

Sarah Frost is a prolific poet from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, with poems appearing in South African and international journals in print and online. Her debut poetry collection, Conduit, was published by Modjaji Press in 2011, and her second collection, River Fugue, is forthcoming from Karavan Press later this year. She won the Mystical Poetry Prize in 2022 and was short-listed in the New Guernsey Poetry Festival competition. She works as an editor for Juta Legalbrief.

Sarah has published 34 poems in the AVBOB Poetry Library and placed fourth in the 2022 AVBOB Poetry Competition. She found that the themes of love, death and birth inspired her to dig deep. “I wrote ‘Opacity’ after visiting my dear friend Janine and her partner Connor on a smallholding in Pietermaritzburg,” Sarah recalls. “We met at university 30 years ago and have been firm friends ever since. While sipping tea together at their rewilding project, Ferncliffe Rewilding, I admired the enduring, beautiful quality of their love for each other as Janine has been quite sick. In the light of this, their relationship seemed even more special.”

3. isiNdebele first place: Nosipho Noxolo Nxumalo

Nosipho Noxolo Nxumalo, from eMkhondo (previously Piet Retief) in Mpumalanga, is the youngest winner tonight. She is 19 years old and currently a BSc in Computer Science and Information Technology student at UKZN and has big dreams of becoming a business owner and a successful poet.

Nosipho began entering the AVBOB Poetry Competition in 2020 but this year, her poem of exquisite tenderness about losing a baby caught the judge’s eye. ‘Isikhathi sibe ngangonombhenyani’ translates as ‘Time was very limited’ and was written in response to the death of a baby in her family, aged just two months old. For the narrator of this bittersweet poem, merely to have carried her beloved child proves to have been a gift and a triumph.

4. isiXhosa first place: Athi Simamkele Dyantyi

Athi Simamkele Dyantyi is a prolific poet from Ngcobo, in the Eastern Cape. He currently works as a builder, following in the tradition of a poet he reveres, Mzwakhe Mbuli. (It’s a little-known fact that “The People’s Poet” was once a bricklayer!) Athi’s poetry aims to sow the seeds of hope in his readers, especially those who have been touched by loss.

His passion for preserving his mother tongue dates back to his youth. He began writing in high school when the isiXhosa teacher, Mr Dlavuza, recognised Athi’s talent with words and encouraged him to try creative writing.

Athi came second in the AVBOB Poetry Competition in 2020 and sixth in 2023. He has 35 poems published in the AVBOB Poetry Library and is the author of Qul’uye!: incwadi yemibongo (Memezela, 2022). In 2020, he was named the best isiXhosa poetry writer at the Ngcobo Gala Awards Dinner.

His winning poem, ‘Kufandin’akufi!’, honours the memory of his mother, who died tragically on the day of Athi’s birth. He wanted his poem to speak back to death, saying, “Enough!”.

5. isiZulu first place: Siyabonga Nxumalo

Siyabonga Nxumalo is a poet, publisher, editor and author who hails from KwaMshaya village, Mtubatuba. He works as an Occupational Health and Safety Officer for a sizable construction company in South Africa. Like American poet Philip Levine, who wrote about the experience of making cars in an automobile factory, Siyabonga’s work reflects the issues of labourers, their work conditions, and the relationships formed in that environment.

Siyabonga began writing in 1998, and his first book was published in 2007. He began entering the AVBOB Poetry Competition in 2019 and placed second in 2020. With more than 10 self-published books and over 50 poems published in the AVBOB Poetry Library, Siyabonga takes aspiring writers under his wing and helps them achieve their writing dreams.

“As poets our work is to heal people’s souls and comfort their feelings. I’m amazed at how the AVBOB Poetry Competition helps and heals people. My poems have reached an audience beyond my best expectations,” says Siyabonga.

Speaking of his winning poem ‘Kanginjena’, he shares, “In the construction industry our work takes us to many different places, so when a project is over, we part from our colleagues and rarely see each other again. Some deep friendships are formed, and some people stay in contact. This poem speaks of those lost brothers from other cities. If they had not come to those places, we would never have met. Their meeting was planned by the Almighty, and even if we are separated by death, what brought us together remains in the hearts of those who are still alive. The poem ponders how if they had never met, those left behind would not be experiencing the pain and heartaches of losing their loved ones.”

6. Sepedi first place: Moses Seletisha

Moses Seletisha’s writing career began at age 15 in Ga-Matlala‘a Rakgoadi in Limpopo. He is now a multi-award-winning social-performance poet, biographer, translator and author. He also works as an environmentalist in the Witbank collieries, where he ensures that coal mining practices comply with environmental legislation.

Moses has earned an impressive array of awards for his literary endeavours, including the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award, the SALA First-time Published Author Award for his biography of Tlokwe Maserumule, the UJ Main Prize in Creative Writing in Sesotho sa Leboa and the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences Non-Fiction Award. He was named a Mail & Guardian Young South African in 2021 and won second place in the AVBOB Poetry Competition in both 2022 and 2023.

Moses views himself as a custodian of his mother tongue. “I felt the need to represent and defend Sepedi (Sesotho sa Leboa) through the written word, and I appreciate how the AVBOB Poetry Competition honours all indigenous languages,” he says.

“My poem ‘Lerato la Morapedi’ narrates my personal experience describing my early life as a desperate job seeker. It took root in my heart, and I am grateful this poem has been recognised.”

7. Sesotho first place: Moeketsi Golden Mokotjo

Moeketsi Golden Mokotjo is a prolific writer who resides in the Free State town of Bothaville, where he works as a security officer. In this regard, he follows in the footsteps of Charles Bukowski, who was also a security guard!

He began practising his craft as a 12-year-old and never quit trying. In the long hours of the working night, he had plenty of time to craft plot lines in his head. He now has 15 completed manuscripts awaiting a publisher. Moeketsi’s entry to the AVBOB Poetry Competition was driven by his desire to improve as a writer. “I love writing with all my heart. I love entering competitions. I love competing with the best so that I can grow as a writer,” he says.

Moeketsi’s poetic inspiration grew out of his personal despair. “Things were falling apart; nothing added up in my life. Nothing made any sense. In this stressful state of hopelessness, I decided to pause and take a few steps backwards. I chose a new strategy, which included writing about the things I care about the most. Instead of failing, I returned stronger and more powerful in my vision.”

With this, his first literary award, Moeketsi hopes to garner interest from publishers for the manuscripts he’d like to share with the world.

8. Setswana first place: Othusitse Moses Lobelo

Othusitse Moses Lobelo hails from Ga-Khunwana village in North West, where he is following his artistic dreams. This multi-talented, multi-award-winning writer is a novelist, editor, playwright, voice-over artist, radio personality and community leader. His Modiri FM radio shows are based on cultural and traditional issues, as are his novels Diselammapa and Ntlhomole Mmutlwa, which were prescribed literary works for matric.

Othusitse has been nominated and shortlisted for a host of cultural, literary and musical awards. He was awarded the SANLAM/Tafelberg Prize for his youth novel Maru ga se Pula in 2021 and took second place in the PANSALB Multilingualism Awards 2023/2024. He also took second place in the 2023 AVBOB Poetry Competition, and his poems are included in volumes 4, 5 and 6 of the AVBOB Poetry anthology I wish I’d said…

Explaining his impetus to write poetry for the bereaved, Othusitse says, “African funerals are community affairs in which the whole community feels the grief of the bereaved and shares in it. The purpose of the activities preceding the funeral is to comfort and heal those who are hurting but not to rip them off.”

9. Siswati first place: Junior Gcina Nkomo

At just 20 years old, Junior Gcina Nkomo is a young writer with a great deal of talent. She comes from Kamhlushwa township in Mpumalanga and is a civil engineering student working towards her N5 certificate. Junior began writing in 2015 as a Grade 5 learner and soon started winning Siswati speech competitions. In 2018, she entered the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Oral History competition, and, in 2021, one of her poems was published by Fundza.

Open mic sessions held under the auspices of Imagine Scholar, an education non-profit, fired her imagination and gave her a grounding in poetry performance. The AVBOB Poetry Competition offered a chance to read other poetry and to gain a sense of community. She says, “Participating in the competition helps me feel I’m in the right place. Knowing that thousands of people can read my poetry in the online library motivates me to keep working on my craft.”

Junior opened up about what drives her, “Poetry is like a therapy session. It helps me to express my feelings and know my thoughts. I’ve seen many abused and unemployed women staying in unhealthy relationships in the name of love and for the sake of money. I wrote this poem for my sister, hoping it might help her heal from everything she’s been through.

Speaking out about the abuse happening in her neighbourhood is risky, but Junior hopes that her poem, ‘Phuma kungakabi ngemalangabi’ will speak to all who experience gender-based violence.

 

10. Tshivenda first place: Humbulani Julia Tharaga

Humbulani Julia Tharaga comes from Tshilata, a village in the Vuwani area in Limpopo. In Grade 5 at Matamela Primary School, her love of poetry was sparked by reading the poetry of PR Ngwana. At Davhana Secondary School, Mr Makwarela, her teacher who was also a writer, encouraged her creative writing.

She pursued tertiary studies at Pretoria Technical College and has been working as an Administrator for the South African Police Services since 2002. “I see a lot of traumatising things in the dockets, and often death tells a terrible story. Poetry helps me deal with many painful things.” Humbulani has 42 poems published in the AVBOB Poetry Library – poems she hopes will inspire people to live differently. “I want to tell them that death is real, it’s not just the rapture coming to take them away,” she says.

When Humbulani’s beloved grandmother passed at the age of 97, she was inspired to write her winning poem ‘O fhola’. She explores the tender paradox inherent in the final hour, when death brings a comforting balm, a sense of completion for a life well lived, and the promise of healing and release.

11. Xitsonga first place: Amukelani Deborah Mashele

Amukelani Deborah Mashele was born and raised in Pimville, Soweto, the elder of two daughters in her family. She works in a Johannesburg restaurant, like famous African-American poet and author Maya Angelou, who once served as a waitress and cook.

A deep and abiding love of poetry was instilled in Amukelani by a teacher in secondary school, and she first entered the AVBOB Poetry Competition in 2021 to develop her own voice and expand her writing skills.

Amukelani was inspired to write her poem, ‘A wu tise yini?’ by female friends and family who lost their babies after giving birth. “They go through such a lot when their arms are empty,” says Amukelani. “My poem features the hardship women experience when they cannot nurture the life that grew inside them.”

 

 

Wenners van die AVBOB Poësiekompetisie saam met Carl van der Riet, uitvoerende hoof van AVBOB