Chants of Freedom

Mathews Phosa developed his love for poetry as a young boy growing up in rural Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Mostly written while in exile as the commander of an MK unit, Chants of Freedom vividly recreates the feelings of anger, defiance, frustration, shame, pain and ultimately hope that characterised the exiles’ experience of the struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa. Writing in a lyrical style, Phosa addresses such themes as oppression, violence, death and hatred, and recalls the atrocities