Commendation: Isahluko sokugqibela
Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature 2000: Silver

Two friends, Themba and Bongani, decide to leave school before they even finish Standard Nine. Seeing other boys who have left school driving in cars is their motivation for this decision.

In Umtata they experience great hardship as they cannot find employment. Their misery is even greater in Queenstown, where they find themselves at the wrong end of the law because they do not have the correct documents to be in the town. 

Wherever they ask for work, their biggest obstacle is the matric certificate which is always demanded. By luck Themba gets a job at a panel-beater's shop. Bongani gets a job on a very cruel Willem's farm.

At home, Nomfundo, Themba's sister, does well at school. She is a great success. Melinda, Themba's girifriend, who is a teacher, looks after him well, even when he drowns himself in liquor after losing his job owing to strikes. Melinda is the one who talks reason to Themba. She advises him to go home and make peace with his mother and pay his last respects to his deceased father.

The author succeeds in dealing with the "Jim goes to Jo'burg" theme in a fresh and most meaningful way at the right time. A look at the successes of Nomfundo and Melinda, however, adds another dimension to the work. It turns out to be a masterful work acknowledging the power of women.

In this accessible but imaginative work the author shows great respect for the reader's intellectual capabilities. The reader is often left to make inferences from previous narrations. Skilful use of flashbacks complements the effort. I have no doubt in my mind that young readers will find the novella utterly enthralling.

It gives me great pleasure to recommend that the Sanlam Silver Prize be awarded to Isahluko Sokugqibela by Zibele Sisusa.

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