‘Sweet and Sour’ for old SA Apartheid wounds

Maseo Nethanani

LIMPOPO – MOHLOUA ‘Teddy’ Ntsasa from Bolokanang is the author of a book called ‘Sweet and Sour’.

The book is a mirror of, and the remedy for, wounds caused by Apartheid in South Africa. It voices opinions on various aspects of life around issues of image, power, culture, identity and ambivalence affecting Africans’ sense of being. Moreover, it is intended to dissect our minds, our thinking patterns and the traces of their origins as an attempt to reveal what mind rules the African world today.

Ntsasa holds a Bachelor of Arts in dramatic arts, from Witwatersrand University and a Bachelor of Accounting in science in financial accounting from the University of South Africa. He currently runs an auditing firm in Polokwane and Mankweng.

“My writing, especially poems, mainly reflect on stories of my disturbed childhood. I started writing while in high school. I was inspired by my father to recite my poems. Also, at school my teachers supported me and I won several interschool competitions for arts and cultural festivals like the Youth Parliament. I am strongly motivated by my past. ‘Sweet and Sour’ is a book about the sweet and sour experiences of our African nations under the hands of the oppressors; chapters include interracial marriages, fong kong freedom and indigenous languages. It exposes the forces that organised the African world as degenerated as it stands today.

“I simply reflected on what I felt, saw, heard and meditated on. This book is not about hate but about love, it’s not about the sour but about how to make the sour sweet. It’s a book about true forgiveness and reconciliation,” Ntsasa says.

He says his biggest wish is to run a degree-issuing institution in South Africa. “I have been motivated by talented writers Eskia Mphahlele, Bessie Head and Chinua Achebe.

“The only advice I can give to a young person is to keep focused on your goal, reclaim your inheritance from the claws of the devil,” he says.