KOPANO MATLWA

Kopano Matlwa is an inspirational young South African woman in her mid-20s who has already achieved more than most of us dream of achieving in a lifetime. She has completed her medical degree, won a scholarship to complete her masters at Oxford University in the UK, and written two award-winning novels.

Her list of achievements (which she won’t want used to define her) includes being selected as one of eight Goldman Sachs Global Leaders in 2005 and making the Mail & Guardian “100 young South Africans you must take to lunch” list two years in a row.

The eldest of Matsobane and Ingrid Matlwa’s three children, Kopano was born at the Mamelodi Day Hospital in Pretoria in 1985. As big sister to Tumelo and Manewa, she grew up in Midrand in Gauteng and won a scholarship to attend St Peter’s College in Sunninghill, Johannesburg, on the northern border of Eskom’s Megawatt Park.

Kopano was selected as Head Girl at high school, achieved full academic colours and matriculated with seven distinctions before heading to the University of Cape Town (UCT) to study medicine and always seems on the lookout to improve herself and the space around her.

At UCT she furthered her schoolgirl interest in community outreach projects as a volunteer for the Students' Health and Welfare Centres Organisation a student-run NGO at UCT that aims to improve the quality of life for individuals in developing communities. Kopano was also a member of the Clarinus House Committee, an orientation leader and member and mentor of the Golden Key National Honour Society – well known for developing exceptional leaders.

In her second year at medical school Kopano was selected as one of eight Goldman Sachs Global Leaders and went on to represent South Africa at the Goldman Sachs Global Leadership Institute in New York.

She was also a founding member and chairperson of Waiting Room Education by Medical Students, a non-profit organisation teaching patients, in the waiting rooms of mobile clinics, about common health conditions to empower them to take their health into their own hands.

While studying for her bachelors in medicine and surgery, the energetic Kopano made the time to follow in the footsteps of her heroine author, Toni Morrison, and wrote her first novel. She started writing about two young women growing up in contemporary South Africa in December 2003, after discussions with her sister Tumelo made her realise the important and uncomfortable issues people should consider.

Several rejection slips from publishers later, just as her manuscript was doomed to languish in a drawer while she set off on other pursuits, her debut novel Coconut – a fascinating view into the lives and issues of South African youth living in the modern post-apartheid era – won an EU Literary Award and a publishing contract with Jacana Books, when Kopano was just 21. Coconut, published in 2007, also won Kopano the JD Baqwa merit award.

Her highly acclaimed novel is a now set book, used as a teaching tool in many South African schools and several universities, and won the Wole Soyinka Prize for African Literature in 2010.

“I’ve always been a dreamer, with many goals and millions of ideas. My family and close friends will tell you what a restless soul I am; always involved in something new, often wearing myself out in the process,” said Kopano at the launch of Coconut in 2007.

Motivated by a quote from Abraham Maslow that reads: “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be,” Kopanos said that it was only after publishing Coconut that she truly understood that “when you have a dream or a goal you must go for it with your all, not only for the sake of others who are sure to benefit from what you can contribute, but for your own sake.”

Kopano completed her second book Spilt Milk before she graduated from medical school in 2010 – and made it onto the prestigious long list for the 2011 Sunday Times Fiction Prize, although she didn’t get onto the short list.

In 2010 Kopano was awarded a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford University in the UK, where she’s currently reading for her masters in Global Health.

In a recent interview with Brenda Nyakudya for AfroPolitan Kopano said: “Fear is a powerfully debilitating emotion, and if you can conquer that, you can conquer anything.” Kopano certainly seems to have found an effective way to conquer any of her fears and achieve great heights!