Perhaps there could not have been anyone among the New African intellectuals who would have in a better position and vantage point than H. I. E. Dhlomo in evaluating his senior brother, R. R. R. Dhlomo. Writing a fascinating portrait of his brother in Jordan Ngubane's Inkundla ya Bantu, H. I. E. Dhlomo appraises him in the context of his role as an assistant editor to R. V. Selope Thema on the Bantu World in the 1930s: "The two men got on well together. This is surprising when one considers their diametrically opposed characters and outlooks. Thema was a politician, Dhlomo was a pure writer; Thema was a public figure and a popular platform speaker; Dhlomo was a retiring man who would collapse perhaps if forced to go on a platform; Thema did not believe in signed contributions and feature articles, Dhlomo did; Thema believed in dishing out the ordinary Reuter news culled from the White Daily press; Dhlomo wanted to see Africans supplying their own news. Even their habits were different; Dhlomo did not and does not consider himself a scholar, an intellectual, a philosopher. He shuns the circle of great men and intellectuals. He hardly appears in public places (meetings, concerts, cinemas, etc.) except in cricket and Football meetings for he loves these games, and, here, no one embarrasses him by rigid formalities and discussions---both of which he dislikes.He spends his spare time---like the proverbial busman---reading and writing. A voracious reader, his normal reading is a novel each day" ("Three Famous African Authors I Knew: R. R. R. Dhlomo", August, Second Fortnight, 1946). Interestingly, H. I. E. Dhlomo wrote this sketch while he was assistant editor to his brother in Ilanga lase Natal. R. R. R. Dhlomo had assumed editorial responsibility from Ngazana Luthuli in early 1943. Besides enumerating his brother's achievements in journalism, H. I. E. Dhlomo was also anxious to indicate his attainments as a creative writer, having written a novella, An African Tragedy, as well as several historical novels written in the Zulu language: uShaka, uMpande, uCethywayo, uDingane and others. H. I. E. Dhlomo states that his brother these novels because he believed very strongly that art was a fundamental part of the struggle for National Liberation. Strangely enough, beside this serious and earnest side of R. R. R. Dhlomo, H. I. E. Dhlomo mentions his satirical and humorous literary works. In fact R. R. R. Dhlomo caused a stir in the early 1930s with his satiric pieces which appeared in Stephen Black's weekly, The Sjambok. Lastly, H. I. E. Dhlomo writes that Benedict Vilakazi, the great Zulu poet, had recently given a lecture in which he praised R. R. R. Dhlomo as the foremost humourist of the era. Indeed, a decade earlier Benedict Vilakazi had praised R. R. R. Dhlomo for his inspiring journalism which had been for many years on the pages of Ilanga lase Natal: "Then comes Mr. R. R. R. Dhlomo who has long patronised the paper and whose writings unto this day still hold good. One thing I like with this writer is that he is by reading a novelist with an open eye to everything that happens around him. He is also good in political reports and criticisms. There is one thing he has not done for the Ilanga---his short stories have so far not been there published. But why should he be so conservative with them. But why should he be so conservative with them? Do we not need them in the Ilanga?"("What Writer Has This National Paper?", Ilanga lase Natal, March 17, 1933). From the moment he made his debut in Ilanga lase Natal with a short article "Kaffir" (June 16, 1922), R. R. R. Dhlomo was to be one of its major voices in the first half of the twentieth-century. The duration of his editorial leadership of the newspaper from 1943 to 1962 was arguably the longest. With intellectual assistance from his brother, R. R. R. Dhlomo made Ilanga lase Natal in the 1940s and in the 1950s one of the best in South Africa, if not the best. It is not surprising therefore that Albert J. Lithuli, within six months of becoming President-General of the ANC in 1952, in an important address on cultural matters, mentioned R. R. R. Dhlomo as one of the major New African intellectuals within the New African Movement: "In the literary field  we have men who show that they have outstanding ability, and, given financial resources for futher training sand for the production of their works, would make a lasting contribution to the literary treasure, not only of South Africa, but of the world. Here again I can only cite a representative sample of names that come quickly to my mind. In the older school: S. Plaatje, T. Soga, Dr. W. Rubusana, S. K. Mqhayi, Dr. J. L. Dube, N. Luthuli and others. In the younger school: the Dhlomo brothers of the Ilanga, J. K. Ngubane, J. R. Jolobe and others" ("The Emergent African", Ilanga lase Natal, May 16, 1953). Although R. R. R. Dhlomo was not of the same high caliber as his younger brother H. I. E. Dhlomo, he was nevertheless one of the principal shapers of modernistic sensibilities in South Africa in the twentieth-century. Undoubtedly, a critical biography would reveal the full dimensions of his achievements.