Phumlani Pikoli

Phumlani Pikoli (1988 – 11 April 2021) was a Zimbabwean-South African writer and multidisciplinary artist. His body was discovered on 11 April 2021, by his parents after they hadn't heard from him since 9 April 2021.^[1][2]

Phumlani Pikoli
Born	1988 Zimbabwe
Died	11 April 2021(2021-04-11) (aged 32–33)
Nationality	Zimbabwean-South African
Occupation(s)	Writer, multidisciplinary artist
Notable work	The Fatuous State of Severity, Born Freeloaders
Parents	Girlie Pikoli Vusi Pikoli

Background

Pikoli was born in Zimbabwe to Girlie and Vusi Pikoli, who were exiled from South Africa during the Apartheid regime.^[2][3] His family moved back to South Africa when Pikoli was a young child, and eventually settled in Pretoria.

Creative work

Pikoli wrote his first book, The Fatuous State of Severity, whilst recuperating from a depressive episode at a psychiatric clinic.^[4] The book contains a collection of short stories and drawings. Pikoli self-published the book in 2016, and it was later republished by Pan Macmillan.^[5]

His debut novel, Born Freeloaders, was published by Pan Macmillan in 2019. The title is a play on a common South African slang term, "Born Frees", used to describe the first generation born after the end of Apartheid.^[6] Pikoli described the book as exploring "assimilation [and] colonial takeover" amongst the young black middle class in democratic South Africa.^[7] The book was awarded the K. Sello Duiker Memorial prize for a debut novel at the South African Literary Awards in 2020.^[8]

Pikoli also worked as a multimedia artist in theatre and film. He contributed to Carla Fonseca’s play The Same Pain at the Soweto Theatre. He released a multimedia exhibition based on The Fatuous State of Severity at Johannesburg’s TMRW Gallery and was developing Born Freeloaders into a film with Diprente Films.^[9]