WALTER M. B. NHLAPO

1) Among the earliest writings of Walter Nhlapo to appear in a New African newspaper were Letters to the Editor of Bantu World which touched on particular social and cultural matters.

2) Poems in the English language in the Bantu World.

3) Poems in the Zulu language in the Bantu World.

4) Short Reflections on issues of the New African Movement in the Bantu World.

5) Two articles in Xhosa language in the Bantu World.

6) Sports Article in the Bantu World.

7) From August 24, 1940 to October 31, 1942, Walter Nhlapo wrote a column entitled Spotlight on Social Events in the Bantu World. This column defined some of the complex cultural contours of New African Movement. Perhaps more arguably important than this is that this column had a profound influence on the columns of Todd Matshikiza and Bloke Modisane in Golden City Post in the 1950s. Modisane and Matshikiza were members of the of the Drum writers also known as Sophiatown Renaissance. Walter Nhlapo together with Ezekiel Mphahlele together in the early 1950s conjointly edited a New African newspaper owned by the ANC Youth League in Orlando Township: The Voice of Africa (September 1949 to June 1952). A few years after The Voice of Africa collapsed, Ezekiel Mphahlele became the literary editor of Drum magazine. Through these interconnections, it is clear that Walter Nhlapo was an intellectual mentor to some of the Drum writers. Todd Matshikiza as a cultural critic of jazz in the 1950s was to follow directly on the critical legacies of the early 1940s outlined by Walter Nhlapo in this column.