Well-known book author and avid contributor to the News‘ letters page, Thabile Mange recently released his seventh book. The book titled, An Unsung Struggle Hero, tells the story of Michael Sello Matsobane who was a member of the Pan African Congress (PAC) and fought against Apartheid.

Thabile said the book was written on request from Sello himself to tell the stories of his contribution to the struggle.

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The two of them started the book in 2022, which was launched on May 6, and Thabile interviewed Sello, his daughter Mankele and his comrade Hippo Letsheleha for the book. Adding that he also made use of documents sourced from the PAC and the internet to put the whole picture together.

In addition, the old man also had notes he had written over the past years about political events he was part of,” Thabile said.

He said one of the biggest struggles was that Sello is already 82 years old and could not remember everything.

“I had to find other means of getting information. Last year his health was failing him. So, I had to work fast to complete the book – in a space of a year. I wanted to publish it while he was still alive. It was also his desire. But it placed me under a lot of pressure.”

He said that this book means a lot to him because Sello contributed immensely to the struggle against apartheid but his contribution remains unrecognised and unacknowledged.

This book attempts to recognise his contribution.”

Thabile started writing in 2017 in that same year he published God’s Servants or money grubbers?, followed by Kagiso Women Making Waves – On Their Own Terms in 2018, Women Abuse: A cancer killing our nation in 2019, Men Abuse: A silent scourge’ in 2020, The Face of Poverty is Black’in 2021 and then Absent Fathers: A generational curse? in 2022.

He was born and bred in Kagiso and is a civil servant working for the City of Johannesburg. He has a lovely life and is blessed with three children, two girls and a boy.

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“I became a writer by accident. When I was still a Catholic, the late priest Mantsobisi Shomang introduced a newsletter. No one was contributing. I started writing for the newsletter. As they always say, the rest is history.”

Since then he has been a columnist for the Sunday Sun, a paper that is now an online newspaper, and the News Time which does not exist anymore.

I have also contributed to various magazines and newspapers. Now I’m an author and publisher under Mange Publishing.”

His books are self-published and he jokingly said he sells them from the boot of his car. Anyone interested in buying one of his books for R250 can contact him on 072 575 0066 or send an email to thabile.mange@gmail.com. He is also on Facebook under Thabile Mange.

“The West Rand has a rich history. Yet it is still to be unearthed. There are many struggle veterans, including women, from the West Rand who have contributed immensely to the struggle. However, they are unknown. Therefore, we need to write and document our stories so that we can preserve our history.”