Witbooi, Lukho2026-01-132026-01-132025https://hdl.handle.net/10566/21672Entitled The Road to Johannesburg, my mini-thesis is a novel that attempts to tap into the myth of moving to a better place for a new beginning. The idea stems from my desire to move from Cape Town to Johannesburg because of a popular misconception that this is what people who are interested in becoming successful contemporary artists do. These people leave their town and go elsewhere in order to find economic prospects. It is also a familiar trope in early twentieth-century Black South African fiction, termed by Stephen Gray as “Jim Comes to Jo’burg”. My story follows Isibane Zuma, a 22-year-old Black South African man navigating identity, freedom, and belonging in post-apartheid South Africa. Set against the backdrop of Langa township, Cape Town, and Johannesburg, the narrative traces Isibane’s reckoning with unresolved trauma—stemming from a claustrophobic upbringing with a hoarder father, racial dynamics in a predominantly white workplace, and a fractured relationship with his ex girlfriend, Zimasa. After a haunting vision of white police officers at an airport triggers an existential crisis, Isibane abandons his journalism internship to write “Wine for Birds”, a book within the novel that bridges his rural Eastern Cape roots and urban Cape Town life. Through fragmented timelines, journal entries, and cinematic techniques, the story interrogates the illusion of post-apartheid liberation, asking: How do systemic inequities persist in shaping identity, relationships, and creative expression? The Road to Johannesburg was originally conceived as a full-length novel. For the purpose of my mini thesis, I have written the first 25,000-plus words. However, I hope to ultimately complete the novel, as I view this submission here as the opening act of a larger whole.enLong FictionRealismSubstance AbuseComing Of AgeMental HealthThesis