It took Sonny Lucas Sekwakwa an hour to write his surname after he broke his neck and became a quadriplegic in a horrific car crash in 1996.
Barely able to use his hands, the then 37-year-old practised every day, slowly learning to write again.
Thirty years later, Sekwakwa is proof that practice does indeed make perfect, with four books he has written going on sale all at once on Thursday.
The 67-year-old has written 23 scripts since the crash, three of which have been published.
The four being released this week will bring the number of published scripts to seven.
He lives in an old age home in Mahwelereng outside Mokopane, formerly Potgietersrus, in Limpopo, where he has been for almost a decade.
“After the accident, I couldn’t write a thing,” Sekwakwa told IOL.
“I remember trying to write my surname, Sekwakwa.
“It took me an hour to finish writing my name in capital letters.”
He kept practising, slowly getting better at holding the pen and putting his thoughts on paper.
Then, one day, he managed to write an entire chapter.
“That chapter was just to say thank you God for giving me another chance,” he said.
“I was so happy to know that I can write.”
Sekwakwa was born in Boipatong, Vanderbijlpark, on March 28 1959, passed matric in 1980 and was chairman of his school debating committee.
He trained as a nurse at Sebokeng Hospital and was working at a Sasol mine hospital in Secunda when the crash happened.
About 37 at the time, he was driving his mother-in-law home to Sharpeville in Vereeniging, with his wife, a friend and the friend’s wife in the car.
Four months were spent recovering at Eugene Marais Hospital in Pretoria.
His marriage ended soon after he returned home, and he said most of his friends drifted away.
“I was angry with life and kept asking ‘why me?’
“I was a shadow of a former self, a total wreck. I knew exactly the meaning of when days are dark, friends are few.”
He said had it not been for the two physiotherapists, Lebogang and Thandi, he may never have got to the point where he could hold a pen again.
Within weeks he was writing three pages a day.
His first manuscript has never been published because he believes its contents would hurt his children and grandchildren.
His first published drama book the Sepedi title Kgomo Tšešo came out in 2014 through Dinkwe Production in Pretoria, which has since closed.
His second, Abominations in Secunda, followed in 2015 through Publishing World SA, which has also closed.
In 2020 he took his work overseas, and Rowanvale Books in Wales published Defying the Laws of Nature is Detrimental that April, weeks after borders and flights shut down.
“There is this notion that if you publish overseas, the market is good and the possibility that you can be rich soon,” he said.
“That’s a lie. I learnt the hard way. My book was published in the middle of Covid. My book only sold three copies worldwide.”
The four titles being launched on Thursday are published by MFH Publishers in Pretoria, run by Thuso Mathebe.
They are Abnormalities in Pudiakgopa, a second edition of Kgomo Tšešo, Ke Pyempyete and the Sepedi drama Sekatapowana.
Kgomo Tšešo is about a priest who steals livestock from the very congregation he preaches to every Sunday, yet remains adored by the village.
“We heard of a priest who prayed for a woman, then raped her,” Sekwakwa said.
“We heard of a priest who stole church money.
“People we thought are bringing us closer to God. So, priests are not holier than thou. I am writing fiction with the element of truth in it.”
Ke Pyempyete tells the story of a boy who refuses to give in to peer pressure.
After seeing a girl throw a baby into a river, he dives in and saves the child, who is later given to him to raise by the traditional council.
Sekwakwa moved to Mokopane in 2007 to care for his ageing father.
His brother, who had been looking after them both, died in 2009, and his father died the following year.
He has two grown children, a policeman in Ermelo and a second child working in Vanderbijlpark, and four grandchildren.
Asked what he would say to a young person in a wheelchair reading about him this week, he urged them not to give up.
“It is not the end of the world to be in a wheelchair,” he said.
“God has a purpose for each and every person on the planet Earth.
“If I was walking, maybe I couldn’t have written and published seven books.
“God put me down so that I must focus.
“Every person has an assignment to complete and remember, do not be ashamed and afraid to be in a wheelchair.”
IOL
