Quibell Ramantswana released his first book, titled Ha-Phamba, which is a family nickname of the Ramantswana clan. The Ramantswana surname is fairly well known in Venda, but can also be traced elsewhere in South Africa.

Ramantswana was born in the village of Luvhalani and went to Malema Primary School and George Mbulaheni Secondary School. He studied journalism in England. During his 10-year stay in the UK, Ramantswana worked as a freelance journalist for various UK-based online/print magazines and newspapers.  He also spent five years as a radio producer/broadcaster with one of the local UK radio stations, Future Radio, based in Norwich, East Anglia.

His success as a broadcaster led to his nomination as the South African UK-based Radio DJ of the Year in 2013 at the UK South African Achievers Awards (SAAA).

Ramantswana also studied drama while in Norwich. During this time, he was approached by the BBC’s Voice Norwich to shoot a short documentary about his ‘identity’. This documentary made it to the top 10, out of more than 150 documentaries submitted.

Since his return to South Africa in 2013, Ramantswana has featured in several TV adverts. In 2017, he also joined the cast of a popular SABC 2 soapie, Muvhango, playing the character of Matodzi.

Ramantswana’s new book has two parts: a family history and a family tree. “Our family ancestors originated from Botswana and settled in Venda in the mid-1800s. This book highlights their journey, the role they played during multiple wars that happened in Venda as well as South Africa”.

The book documents six generations and almost 1 000 family members are identified, excluding those that could not be verified or found. The author said that when attending family gatherings such as funerals, stokvels, weddings, etc. “I often hear family history from our elders that we, as younger generations, are not aware of. Unfortunately, these stories end there. I decided to follow up and document my family’s history, so that I can encourage other families to do the same,” he said.

“Most importantly, our next generations will be able to trace and reference their identity – a big problem in our society. Every family has a history; every family has a family tree. As much as we are encouraging Africa to tell its own stories in different ways, documenting our family history is just as important”.