Benedict Wallet Vilakazi

Benedict Wallet Vilakazi
Bambatha kaMshin
Born	(1906-01-06)6 January 1906 KwaDukuza, Natal
Died	26 October 1947(1947-10-26) (aged 41) Johannesburg, South Africa
Nationality	South African
Alma mater	University of South Africa University of Witwatersrand
Scientific career
Fields	Poetry, linguistics
Institutions	University of Witwatersrand
Thesis	Oral and written literature in Nguni.[1]
Doctoral advisor	CM Doke

Benedict Wallet Vilakazi (6 January 1906 – 26 October 1947) was a South African novelist, linguist, a descendant of the Zulu royal family, and a radically innovative poet who created a combination of traditional and Romantic poetry in the Zulu language. Vilakazi was also a professor at the University of Witwatersrand, where he became the first Black South African to teach University classes to White South Africans. In 1946, Vilakazi also became the first Black South African to receive a PhD.^[2]

Vilakazi Street along which the poet lived in the formerly segregated township of Soweto, is named after Benedict Vilakazi. Vilakazi Street is now very famous as the street where both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu also once lived.