Xhosa

Kendi — the “X” stands for his middle name, Xolani, a Xhosa and Zulu word for peace — pulls no punches in making such connections.

Ms Nayimuli said that while growing up she would constantly speak Xhosa, her mother tongue and one of South Africa’s official languages, to “prove her South African-ness”.

Stories spread through the city of a bearded man - nicknamed “whiskers” in the Xhosa language - who made people disappear at night.

In Johannesburg and the Eastern Cape, the vocal tradition of isicathamiya and the steady, Zulu and Xhosa dance rhythms of the regions exerted strong influence.

In 2004, he spent a month in the wilderness with a troop of young men from his community - all part of a coming-of-age ritual traditionally observed by South Africa's Xhosa ethnic group.