Oswald Tshikota's literary star shines brightly

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The literary star of Oswald Tshikota (26) has been shining brightly after he was awarded second prize in the Limpopo Sports, Arts and Culture Literature Awards in 2019 for his selection of poems.

He won the prize for his first Tshivenda manuscript, entitled Tshidongo tsha Vhurendi.

During the award-giving event that was held recently at the SABC offices in Polokwane, 18 Limpopo authors won prizes for poetry in six Limpopo languages, namely Tshivenda, Xitsonga, IsiNdebele, Sepedi, English and Afrikaans.

“The winner of each category received R 20 000, the second prize was R15 000 and the third-place holders won R12 000,” said Tshikota. “The manuscripts were not published by the department; it will be the discretion of the authors to get the manuscripts published. I am so happy now that my poetry has been recognised.”

A resident of Mudimeli village in Nzhelele, Tshikota said he was very nervous when he entered the competition last year. “I know that most Tshivenda writers are more experienced, and competing with them was a challenge, and I thought I didn’t have any chance of winning,” he said.

He said he was proud to be counted among the authors who wrote in their mother tongue. After winning the award, he was convinced that a career as an author was waiting for him. Apart from writing, Oswald is also an entrepreneur and owns his own business for drawing up house plans.

“I had taken me a week to pen 33 poems, from which I picked 20 award-winning poems,” he said. “Writing is not really hard if you read a lot of books.”

Tshikota said he started writing while he was still in high school. "In the early years of my life, my mother, Ms Vidah Mulaudzi, used to read different books tome, and from then I started imagining myself as a future writer,” he said.

He was inspired by the excellent author Albert Mugwena, whose novel Li a Kovhela was prescribed for Grade 11 some years ago. "I write in my mother tongue, so as to play a role in preserving our culture and dignity,” he said.

The Department of Sports, Arts and Culture disclosed that more than 200 entries in the poetry genre were received this year and winners were selected in six language categories.

Tshikota Oswald loves proofreading, editing and coaching other young writers. He can be reached on 071 537 8288 or [email protected].

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.