The Don Mattera Legacy Foundation

08/04/2026

New Arrival: Black & White T-shirts — comfortable cotton unisex Don Mattera Legacy Foundation tees. Limited offer: R150.00 each. Order on our WhatsApp line: 073 154 8914. Grab yours now: https://wix.to/n0h557O

09/03/2026

The wait is over. After five long years The Don Mattera Legacy Foundation is bringing the story of Westbury back to it's people.

24/02/2026

The Don Mattera Legacy Foundation joined environmental activist Go Green Go Clean at the Legends Township Marathon at the Eldorado Park stadium on the 21st and 22nd March to promote Don's legacy in sport as a unifier and support Go Green's cleanup campaign .

20/02/2026

J. Brooks Spector is a veteran US diplomat, political analyst, and founding associate editor of Daily Maverick, remembers The Zinga, Dr Don Mattera.....

%%excerpt%% Fiery but sentimental poet activist Don Mattera’s voice is now stilled. We celebrate and remember a friendship.

08/01/2026

Compliments of the season to all our partners and supporters. A new year, a new beginning, 2026 is here. Soon and very soon Don Mattera will be featured at the renowned Apartheid Museum part of the Gold Reef City complex in Johannesburg.

23/10/2025

22/10/2025

A Protea is not a flower - an exhibition featuring poet and author Dr Don Mattera, painter Gerard Sekoto and writer Bessie Head was a fabulous successful affair held last week Thursday at the Zeitz MOCAA museum at the Cape Town Waterfront.....

15/10/2025

BREAKING NEWS: If you in Cape Town this week you have to see this - A Protea is not a Flower is an Exhibition featuring the late poet Dr Don Mattera, painter Gerard Sekoto and writer Bessie Head launch tomorrow 16 October 2025 at Zeitz MOCAA Museum in Cape towns Waterfront. Here is the SAFM interview featuring the Curator Khanyi Mawhayi.
https://omny.fm/shows/first-take-sa/a-protea-is-not-a-flower-exhibition-opens-at-the-zeitz-mocaa-museum

09/10/2025

Zeitz MOCAA presents A Protea Is Not a Flower, an exhibition with contemporary visual artist Robin Rhode, International Ambassador of the Don Mattera Legacy Foundation and Lerato Shadi responding to the life and works of poet Dr Don Mattera, painter Gerard Sekoto and writer Bessie Head. Curated by Zeitz MOCAA's Khanyi Mawhayi, the exhibition opens on 16 October 2025 and runs until 15 November 2026.

A Protea Is Not a Flower is a multigenerational conversation between South African artists and writers whose lives and works contend with the complexity of the exilic experience. Contemporary visual artists Lerato Shadi and Robin Rhode respond to the lives and works of painter Gerard Sekoto and writers Bessie Head and Don Mattera, three important figures of the Black Modernist Intellectual Movement in twentieth-century South Africa. The exhibition’s title is inspired by Mattera’s poem Protea…, which addresses colonialism, apartheid, and patriotism through the metaphor of South Africa’s national flower. If a protea is not a flower, then what is it?

06/10/2025

The 15th annual Siyabakhumbula Awards, took place on Saturday, 4 October 2025 at the Gold Rush Dome in Johannesburg. This year’s ceremony shone a spotlight on South Africa’s fallen heroes like celebrated poet and writer Dr Don Mattera and celebrating living legends who continue to make a difference.

04/10/2025

Late poet and author Don Mattera’s son laid to rest

The Don Mattera Legacy Foundation (DMLF) mourns the passing of Donny Mattera.
The Foundation joins the Mattera family, friends, and broader community in mourning the tragic passing of Don Francesco Mangaliso Nuruddin Mattera, fondly remembered as Donny, beloved son of the late Dr. Don Mattera and Melody Mattera.

Donny’s untimely passing is not only a devastating loss to his family, but also to all who knew him for his warmth, resilience, and unwavering commitment to his father’s legacy.
The Foundation extends its heartfelt condolences to the entire Mattera family during this painful time. We stand in solidarity with the family as they navigate this deep sorrow, and we commit ourselves to continue honoring both Donny and his father’s memory by preserving and advancing the vision of a more just, compassionate and creative society.

Just as Dr. Don Mattera lived a life rooted in love, justice, and humanity, so too did Donny embody those same values, offering support and strength to the work of the Foundation and the communities it serves.

May his soul rest in peace, and may the family be comforted by the love and prayers of all who share in their grief.
Donny was buried on Friday 3rd October at 10:00am according to Muslim rites at Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg.
THE END

Issued on behalf of:
The Don Mattera Legacy Foundation
Contact: Elvis Presslin – [email protected]

29/09/2025