Nthato Mokgata is a South African storyteller whose work spans music, film, and now fiction. Known internationally as Spoek Mathambo, Mokgata has spent two decades crafting innovative, politically charged art that speaks to both the fractured beauty and latent danger of modern life.
His debut novel, Ghost in the Drum (2024), is a mind-bending literary exploration of fame, exploitation, poverty, and the cracks in the South African Rainbow Nation dream. Set in the country’s chaotic cultural underbelly, it follows a gifted young musician spiraling through addiction, paranoia, and the brutal price of visibility. Mokgata writes with the urgency of someone who’s seen behind the curtain—his work is poetic, darkly funny, and unafraid to interrogate the systems that shape us. Already acclaimed for his filmmaking (Future Sound of Mzansi, Mutant, Burkinabe, A Scam Called Love, Surf Sangoma), Ghost in the Drum marks a powerful new chapter in a career defined by reinvention and fearlessness.
He lives and works in Johannesburg.
