Kabelo Mofokeng
A POET’S HUNGER
We often pay tribute to the protest poets of the apartheid era, who reported on the injustices and inequality they witnessed. But what role can poets play in our society today, 30 years into democracy?
As South Africans prepare to celebrate Human Rights Day on 21 March, The AVBOB Poetry Project interviewed Kabelo Mofokeng, poet, activist and jazz afficionado, to explore this question. His debut collection, Hungry on Arrival (Botsotso, 2024) celebrates the multilingual speech rhythms of the streets of Johannesburg. The reader constantly has to shift between registers and adapt to changing contexts. While some poems are written entirely in English, others include phrases in Sesotho and Scamtho, a creole language born out of the mixing of cultures in the melting-pot of the city. They reflect urgent contemporary realities but also look back in reverence towards Sesotho culture and traditions that still run strongly in his family.
Mofokeng explains, “The oral poetic tradition has always had a profound influence on me. If I address an audience living in a township, using words in Sesotho and Scamtho as well as in English evokes very particular emotions. Some people may not understand everything, but they can follow the rhythms of the speech. And, of course, there are footnotes to explain unfamiliar words.”
About the title of his anthology, he says, “Hungry on Arrival is the name of a composition by the great pianist, Moses Molelekwa. But on another level, I have always been writing about hunger. In my work, hunger does not only refer to the scarcity of food. I am as interested in the hunger of the mind: the hunger to know more, to transform a given situation. As a poet, I believe it is not enough to elevate myself. It is important to stand for something, to become involved in one’s community.”
This commitment to stay hungry while feeding others is beautifully expressed in a poem towards the end of the collection, called ‘A Poet’s Love’, which begins:
It is true
a poet’s love
does not belong
only to himself.
When a poet loves
he reaches further
the entire clan gathers
to welcome this offering of the gods
where his name shall remain
inside their hut.
When a poet loves
inside a House of Hunger
every word is broken politely
to feed the heart of every belly
for when hunger cripples the land
it hurts every child
that is why a poet cannot belong to any politician.
Mofokeng says, “This poem wants the reader to ask: if I am well-off but my neighbour is starving, how liberated am I really? I wanted to demystify the romantic version of love that is sold to us. Instead, I believe that our love is an extension of the way we live.”
What would it mean to put such a vision into practice, especially in the context of Human Rights Day?
“Hunger hurts everyone. And so, it is our responsibility to feed people. Sometimes the work is physical: turning dump sites into spots of greenery. And sometimes we have to feed people by doing the work of healing and remembering. For me, the 21st of March is about remembering and coming to terms with the past. Many of the conditions that caused workers to protest at Sharpville have not really changed, and this is symptomatic of a society that needs deep healing. We still need protest poetry, no matter what race or culture we are born into. The work of transformation remains unfinished.”
In the next few days, write a poem about the different kinds of hunger you have experienced.
The annual AVBOB Poetry Competition closed on 30 November 2025 and reopens in 2026. Visit www.avbobpoetry.co.za and register to enter.