Awe! The “Coloured” Community in Post-Apartheid Gauteng: Winners of the 2025 Written Pieces Competition
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Sharon Arends, Danille Elize Arendse, Tamia Bianca Botes, Deborah Cockrell, Tamrin Crisp, Kim Elisia Dearham, Christian Emecheta, Caelyn Fisher, Charlize Hermans, Patrick Jacobs, Chadwin Julius, Angelo C Louw, Khethiwe Mhlanga, Ramela Modise, Adele Mooi, Taylor Petersen, Tasnim Prokopis, Ladene Ramsamy, Mark Scheepers, Amani Smith, Robyn Wangra, Jhahne Watson, Nkosinathi Zulu
- Date of publication: 18 April 2026
- Download Output
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ISBN:
978-1-0492-9456-8
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eISBN:
978-1-0492-9457-5
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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36634/PPCI3523
The call for written pieces
As part of the “Coloured” Community in Post-Apartheid Gauteng research project, a call for written submissions invited individuals to share their thoughts, opinions and feelings about the Coloured community in Gauteng. The aim of this competition was to amplify the voices of people living in South Africa who may not always have the opportunity or platform for their writing to reach a wider audience.
The competition officially opened on 4 July 2025 and remained open until 26 September 2025. Submissions were invited in the form of poems, essays, stories or personal reflections. In total, 101 submissions were received. From these, a selection panel embarked on the difficult task of selecting the top 25 pieces.
Authors whose work was selected for the top 25 received a store voucher, either from Pick n Pay or Exclusive Books, as a token of appreciation for their contribution. The top five submissions received additional prizes in the form of store vouchers.
The process of writing one’s own story, or documenting the stories of others, is an important act of preservation. Too often, experiences and reflections are not passed down through the generations and may be lost over time. Writing offers a way to capture these moments, ensuring that they can be shared and reflected upon in the future. This publication, therefore, provides a snapshot of how individuals felt about the Coloured community in Gauteng.
We are immensely grateful to the individuals who took the time to write and submit their work. By sharing their voices and experiences, contributors have helped create a collection reflecting a diversity of perspectives.
Key themes emerging from the submissions
During the review process, the judging panel identified several key themes emerging from the pieces: resilience, socio-economic conditions, place, culture and identity, stereotypes, history, colourism, texturism and politics. Across the submissions, powerful reflections emerged on the legacy of apartheid and its continued effects. Angelo Louw writes about the lasting weight of stereotyping:
“The shackles of apartheid stereotyping have not only kept us under constant scrutiny, but have allowed many perpetrators to carry out racist agendas against us without fear of retribution.”
Other pieces spoke about the difficult realities faced in some communities. Amani Smith reflected:
“Many gang leaders are attempting to keep real change as slow as possible. Wars over territory and gang members had almost kept my cousin (who is my age and still in Newclare) from finishing high School.”
While several authors emphasised resilience and unity, Caelyn Fisher writes:
“Yes, our streets know gunfire, yes, drugs and GBV lurk in corners like shadows – but when darkness comes, we rise together, because unity here is louder than violence.”
Some pieces reflected pride in communities that are often portrayed negatively. In his poem, Patrick Jacobs highlights the achievements that have emerged from Westbury:
“Westbury het uitmuntende sportmanne voortgebring, sportvroue wat grense verbreek het, skrywers wat ons stories neergeskryf het, digters wat pyn in poësie verander het, dokters en prokureurs, leiers wat uit pyn tot krag opgestaan het.”
Some authors expressed the hope that their stories would be heard and recognised. As Robyn Wangra writes:
“We embrace, we persist, we praat, And maybe, one day, the world will finally hear us.”
Together, these pieces reveal the complexity of experiences within the Coloured community in Gauteng and convey messages of struggle, resilience, pride and the desire to be heard and understood.