After obtaining a diploma, Tshepang Mothibi knew his passion was still writing and since then he has put his head down and has been writing.

His pen name is Ntate Tshepang Mothibi. He was born in Thaba’Nchu in the Free State,

but grew up in Lesotho where he attended primary and high school.

He moved to eMalahleni in 2003 to further his studies at TUT, Witbank campus.

“I obtained my diploma in electrical engineering, process instrumentation and I have trained and worked for different mining companies around the town. When I was at TUT, I was university newspaper reporter in 2006. I also had a column named Umageza from Witbank. I have always made time to write between schoolwork, late nights after work or on weekends,” said Tshepang.

Tshepang longed to have his first novel to be a best seller and it takes only 3 000 copies to reach that status.

“It will be a great achievement as I have done everything on this project; after finishing the manuscript, I used two different applications to edit it. I conceptualized the book cover, wrote the blurb. I designed the typesetting and the format of the book and funded the printing and distribution of the book,” continued Tshepang.

This is his first book. It is a memoir published in 2018 and reprinted it again this year. It has sold over 1 000 copies since it was published. In this book he uses personal stories and experiences to challenge a lot of issues in our society; issues about identity, the education system, and belief systems etc.

It was launched in Lesotho in 2018 because that’s where he grew up.

It was mainly promoted on social media platforms and at local arts events in eMalahleni. In 2019 its copies were bought as Women’s Day gifts by then South 32 Ifalethu Colliery.

This is my second book, but my first novel. It is also self-published and the copies started selling on December 9. The story is narrated by an omniscient narrator.

“After I enrolled in an online course for creative writing, I challenged myself to find my voice in storytelling. I chose to write about infidelity because it is one of the biggest challenges in our society. There is a saying that, ‘If he doesn’t cheat on you, he is cheating with you.’ But is there a cut and dry script to infidelity? The story is used to challenge how we view infidelity ‒ What it means to different types of relationships, to a person who cheats and to the person who is cheated on,” said Tshepang.

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