Mandla Langa

Mandla Langa was born in Durban in 1950, studied for a BA at the University of Fort Hare but left following widespread student protests in 1972. He taught at a high school in KwaMashu in 1973/74 before going into exile in 1976. He has lived in Lesotho, Mozambique, Angola, Zambia, Hungary and the UK. In 1980 he won the pan-African Drum Magazine story contest and in 1991 he was awarded the Arts Council of Great Britain Bursary. He was deputy chief representative and cultural representative of the ANC in the UK and a weekly columnist for the Sunday Independent. He is the author of five books, including The Memory of Stones and The Lost Colours of the Chameleon, which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the Africa Region in 2009 and was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Fiction Prize. In 2007 he received the country's National Order of Ikhamanga (Silver) for his literary, journalistic and cultural achievements. From 1999-2005 he chaired the Independent Communications Authority of SA. He chairs the board of MultiChoice Africa and co-chairs the board of Koketso Holdings.