Africa-Press – Lesotho. Legal practitioner and author, ’Matalente Pheko, sees herself creating waves in the film industry, and co-directing some of her scripts. A lawyer by profession, ’Matalenta also writes as a as a hobby.
She has published three books to date, ‘Inside Wounds Never Form Scars’, ‘Ba re e-ne e re’ and a poetry anthology ‘A Losing Battle. ’ “I am a lawyer by profession, specialising in Child Law.
I am the founder of the Child Advocacy Centre Lesotho, a half-way house for abused and neglected children. “Besides that, I am also an entrepreneur managing Kids World located at the NRH Mall where we specialise in kids’ parties and entertainment, school uniform and are a party store.
“Composition writing has been an area of focus for me in school since my primary school days, and it was at this time that I realised I am capable of writing.
“I developed a deep love for writing in 1998 when I was in Form B, when I met my late mentor Ntate Kwame.
“He made writing more interesting and fun and my creative writing skills were sharpened during this time.
Fortunately, he took me from Form B to Form E and my writing skills developed,” she says. “I began writing my first book in 2009, however, I only published it in 2020. I was triggered by one particular hurt and I began to see life from a different angle, though this project started as a poem,” she recalls.
She then embarked on a project to turn the very poem into a book and managed to write seven chapters of the book, which carry the same theme that ‘we are all born pure and empty, the people entrusted with the responsibility to raise us, our environment and how people treat us make us the people we become’.
So before judging anyone, take a step back into their past, look deeper into who they are and a person finds out who they ought to have been had life been fair.
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“I would personally be honoured to work with Khotso Nkhatho. I have always admired his journey.
Otherwise, I would be very honoured to be a part of an established film company as a writer; I see myself in the film industry co-directing in the acting of my writings, maybe with a record of at least two books published each year.
My first book has run a fair mileage but I strongly believe because it was my first, the same applies with my Sesotho book. ” She is currently working on two books, ‘Books in the Oven’ – a collection of short stories for pre-schoolers and her first romantic heat.
The 37-year-old ’Matalenta is from Kolo ,Ha Ntsie, in Mafeteng. She started schooling at Kolo Primary School and then proceeded to Tšakholo High School from 1997 to 2001 and later enrolled with the National University of Lesotho where she studied for her LLB from 2002 to 2008. In 2012 she went to the UNISA and studied Management Principles.
