The South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) mourns the passing of poet, writer and publisher James Matthews who died in Cape Town on Saturday 7 th September, at the age of 95.
Latiefa Mobara, Press Council executive director, described Matthews as her mentor from Bridgetown when she worked at the Congress of South African Writers (Cosaw).
"He was as fit as a fiddle and a prolific poet, who would write on the spot wherever he was with a glass of red wine in hand.
"James walked everywhere and was a mischievous free-spirited bohemian. May his artist soul explore eternal creativity," she said.
James David Matthews was born to working-class parents in District Six, Cape Town, on 29 May 1929. He attended Prestwich Primary School and then went on to Trafalgar High School in Cape Town.
After leaving school, Matthews had a number of jobs, including as newspaper boy, office messenger, clerk, and telephonist. Following the publication of his first writings in 1946, when he was aged 17, he found work as a journalist, over the years contributing to various national publications such as the Golden City Post, Cape Times, and Drum, as well as the independent community newspaper The Muslim News.
In 1972 his first poetry collection, Cry Rage (co-authored with Gladys Thomas), was published. It was banned by the apartheid regime — the first poetry collection to be targeted — as would also happen to most of his later works. Matthews was detained by the government in 1976 and was denied a passport for 13 years.
He established the first black-founded art gallery in South Africa (Gallery Afrique) in 1972, and the first black-owned publishing house, BLAC (Black Literature Arts and Culture), 1974–91, which closed as a result of constant government harassment. In 2000, he founded the publishing house Realities.
In 1984, Matthews visited the campus of the University of Iowa and met with students there who, so profoundly influenced by his descriptions of the horrors of the Apartheid regime, would go on to organize thousands of students to occupy the main administration building at Iowa and ultimately convince university authorities to sell off all portfolio investments in companies that were doing business in South Africa.
Matthews was a founding member and the patron of Cosaw from its inception in 1987.
As SANEF we bow our heads in sorrow for the loss of such a prolific writer, poet, and publisher as Matthews. His words and wisdom will continue to inspire generations. We express our sincere condolences to his family and the journalism fraternity. And peace to his soul.
