“I grew up in Lesotho which is an oasis in the middle of South Africa. My father was good friends with the likes of Chris Hani and for a long time we were essentially banned from the country and so my early memories of SA are limited to the connecting flights from the then Jan Smuts airport.” Kojo studied at the international school in Maseru and was admitted into the then University of Natal to pursue Economics. He recalls that university was his first encounter with the term “coloured”. “Given this country’s history, there seems to be a need to box people and nine out of ten times matters such as one’s race or origin seem to be the primary classification criteria when it comes to the identification of self. One university administrator kept changing the tick box on my annual intake form from “black” to “coloured”. I got fed up with this and in my third year I took her a picture of my extended family and asked her what colour she thought my father and step-siblings were.” Part of Kojo’s university days were spent training as an athlete and twice he run for the Lesotho national team. But as fate would have it, he injured a blood vessel in his final year which not only ended his Olympic dream but also left him walking with a slight limp for the rest of his life. Other than a career as a sprinter, Kojo has been an entrepreneur having cofounded an IT consulting company, a model when he worked for a designer friend called Duvall and a booker for
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an acting agency. “These were times when money was scarce and you applied yourself to all manner of things to make ends meet. I am a big believer in the fact that the experiences you go through can either be positive or negative depending on how you approach them. I always seem to have a story for everything now.” It was during these “broke times” that Kojo met his South African wife Estelle who runs her own project management company. Together they have two children; son Kweku who is four and daughter Ayanna who is two. He has tattooed their names on his body in an old German font along with a few traditional Ghanaian symbols. “I met my wife in a club; she doesn’t like it when I tell people that!” he says with a wry smile. “Unlike me, she doesn’t mind being referred to as coloured. The day my son was born, I figured out what my purpose in life was. I am a link in a chain that began with my forefathers in Ghana and the best legacy I can create is for my son to be saying 30 years from now that I created a great platform for him like I am now saying about my father.” Before becoming the editor of Destiny Man magazine in August 2010, Kojo did the rounds in the SA media industry. He wrote scripts for TV producer Pepsi Pokane’s shows including Afro Cafe and Zwahashu. He was the editor of a black men’s lifestyle publication and also
travelled around the world to do poetry shows. Kojo visited Ghana for the first time since childhood in 2009 to assist his father with a business venture. “I describe myself as a half Ghanaian, half German writer from Lesotho. I related very closely to an article I read in The Expatriate by Sheila Senkubuge titled “Citizens of the world” which spoke of her experiences as a child of the Diaspora. I feel it is more difficult as an African expatriate than any other foreigner in South Africa. Because of my complexion many assume I was born here and I sometimes get to hear what some South Africans really think of us.” Kojo is currently seeing a life coach who he says assists in many things including work life balance. He believes he has one great African novel in him and has a gentleman’s agreement with a publisher to see it through. He concludes by answering my question on what the future holds. “I am not concerned about becoming a millionaire, as long as I can have a happy and well taken care of family and as long as whatever job I hold allows me to keep writing. With just these two things, that’s my destiny as a man fulfilled.” - KC ROTTOK