A resident of Mphambo near Malamulele, Esaya the Poet, or Esaya Morgen Hlongwane as he was baptized, is an itinerant performance poet. He moves from village to village and from town to city, reciting and selling his recorded poetry to the people.

His poetry is provocative as he tackles the issues of lack of service delivery and corruption in bigger offices. However, his subject matter is also steeped in the Bible as he uses his poetry to tell people to repent. “I discovered the art of poetry, music, song writing and script writing way back in the early 1980s while at secondary school,” he recalled. “Pupils performed my work during what was then called school concerts.”

Esaya the Poet has, so far, recorded and released five albums. The one which is still receiving massive acceptance by fans is Messenger No.4 - Sokologa. The kind of poems in Sokologa speak directly to the mind and soothes broken hearts.

For this poet, poetry means sharing what God has deposited in him.
“My albums are called ‘messengers’ because they have a unique style of message which I receive from God, who sent me to deliver messages to the people through poetry,” he said.

Now, at more than 40 years of age, Esaya the Poet is a family man who enjoys spending quality time with his wife and three children. He is also a professional teacher attached to George Hasani School at Mavambe. “My primary aim is to preach the gospel through my poetic preaching style,” he states. “If ever there shall be any remunerations for the good work that God sent me to do, that will be a bonus because I am already receiving God’s blessings.”

He has a profound love for South Africa. “South Africa is a blessed country full of opportunities,” he says. “There are no barriers in SA if you know what you want. You only need to commit yourself towards what you want and know.”

He says it pains him to see people undermining the law and not committing themselves in prayer. “I don’t like the government’s attitude towards artists when comes to the burning issue of piracy,” he says. “People are killing the music industry by pirating our music and the government is dragging its feet about the matter.”