Njabulo Ndebele was the first black writer to pleed for "the rediscovery of the ordinary" (title of a critical essay published in 1991). The 53-year-old rector and vice-chancellor of the University of the Cape, is now focusing on the home front and individual issues. He is one of the first black South African authors to move away from the theme of the Black-White relationship and concentrate on the contradictions that exist within the black community. Njabulo Ndebele is also one of the rare writes to fully assume his role as a politically active writer. In September 2000 he wrote an article on racism that criticised Thabo Mbeki's governement which was published in the Mail & Guardian, a weekly newspaper that several short earlier had wrongly accused him of misappropriation of funds.