title: Molefe Pheto
text: # Molefe Pheto
  
  Molefe Pheto (born 1935) is a former South African musician and music teacher who, as an activist in the Black Consciousness Movement, became a political prisoner in 1975. He was a friend and spokesperson of South African President Nelson Mandela.
  
  ## Early life
  
  Pheto was born in 1935 in Alexandra Township, South Africa, where he grew up.
  
  ## Career
  
  Pheto was an active participant in the Black Consciousness Movement since 1970. In 1971 he founded Mhloti, working with others such as Wally Serote, producing music, poetry, and theatrical events and performing speeches by political activists and schools, churches and political rallies. He organised three Black Arts festivals for MDALI (the Music, Drama, Arts and Literature Institute in Soweto), of which he was a founder member and spokesman, and in 1975 he was detained under South Africa's 1963 Terrorism Act for 10 months. He was held in Johannesburg's police headquarters, John Vorster Square.
  
  In 1977, Pheto left South Africa and, after the murder of Steve Biko, began a life of exile in Britain. In 1983, Allison & Busby published his memoir, And Night Fell: Memoirs of a Political Prisoner in South Africa, which was banned in South Africa.
  
  After 20 years in Britain, Pheto returned to South Africa and settled on a farm in Magaliesburg, publishing his second book, entitled The Bull from Moruleng: Vistas of Home and Exile, in 2014. He is a member of the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO).
  
  