By: Sbongakonke Mbatha

Kgebetli Moele leaves no room for content warning as he discusses themes of rape and sexual violence in his third book titled, ‘Untitled’.

Untitled is the harrowing tale of a young girl called Mokgethi, who dreams of going to Oxford University but is faced with the reality of sexual abuse and poverty.

For Mokgethi, there is a crushing sense of hopelessness and inability to escape from all dark events. For Moele, this is a story rooted in truth.

The book is a verse to his late partner who was raped at the age of 11 by her teacher and was blamed for her own rape.

“I began the book as a poem that I was writing for her. I wanted to celebrate her as someone that I loved but when I started writing, I was filled with so much anger that I wrote until I was done,” said Moele.

“She was made to feel responsible for what was done to her, but that made her strong and she came out a survivor,” said Moele.

Untitiled is Moele’s call to justice for young women and girls abused by the system.  The book documents a culture of binge sex by wealthy and respected men who go into the poorest areas to take advantage of young women and girls- a culture of entitlement.

Moele’s writing style has gained him a significant following. He said, “I write for myself and for my situation. These are things that I see in my community and they are things that disturb me. Our culture is a prison; our tradition is organized to make men dominant.”