Tribute to Kole Omotoso

by Kwesi Prah

Kole Omotoso was a colleague at the University of the Western Cape in the early 1990s,

when the apartheid system was inexorably headed for the dung-heap of history. Under the

leadership of Jakes Gerwel, we provided enthusiastic support through the work of preparing

students for the post-apartheid era. Kole was a pillar in the academic edifice of the

university, with wide experience and extensive knowledge to offer. Putting his versatile

academic endowments to great use, with relaxed manners he inspired students and

provided ready guidance to the youth of the country. He had incessant traffic of students

through his office and never showed external signs of distress, irritation or exhaustion.

The rich and varied nature of Kole’s gifts spanned all the different facets of the dramatic

arts, from organization to direction and performance. He was at home with all aspects of

the theatre and flourished in this disposition.

Kole was a singularly gifted writer with exceptionally lucid and uninhibited narrative skills.

He was as much an artist as a craftsman, able to turn the most mundane expression to

artistic pleasure. He contributed with masterly ease and certain results to such work at

Stellenbosch University where he spent some time. He did this with no fuss but calm

panache. Kole became a national asset with his Vodacom advert, “Yebo Gogo”. He

confessed to me that he found the universal and incessant glamour which came with it

sometimes tiring.

Kole was also well-known in Africa for his expertise in Arabic studies. He assisted in the

success of a major conference on Afro-Arab cooperation which took place in Cape Town in

the opening years of this century. He had extensive scholarly contacts with members of the

Arab League Educational and Social Council based in Tunis.

Kole’s departure at the ripe age of an early octogenarian is a marker and reminder of the

relentless thinning of the ranks of our peers. His societal contributions and affable style is an

indelible part of the testimonial iconography of our generation.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Kole’s psychological makeup was his fair-

mindedness. Furthermore, he was a strikingly kind personality, ready to help and assist new

and old friends alike. His unaffected compassion and sympathetic frame of mind was a

distinctive, heartwarming, rare and abiding quality.

Kwesi Kwaa Prah

Cape Town

3.8.23