Can Themba

His most famous story "The Suit" tells the story of Philemon, a middle-class lawyer, and his wife, Matilda, who live in Sophiatown. One day, Philemon hears that his wife is having an affair, so he goes home in the middle of the day and catches her in flagrante. Her lover jumps out of the window but leaves behind his suit. Philemon then dreams up a strange and bizarre punishment. Matilda has to treat the suit as an honoured guest, feed it, entertain it and take it out for walks. This serves as a constant reminder of her adultery. A remorseful Matilda eventually dies of humiliation. Philemon then regrets his actions but it is all too late. (A stage version of "The Suit" was created by Mothobi Mutloatse and Barney Simon at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg in the early 1990s, and was subsequently translated into French (Le Costume) by Barney Simon and Jean-Claude Carrière for a production by Peter Brook in Paris in 1994, and London in 2012.) Themba's increasing dependency on alcohol led to darker, introspective pieces such as Crepuscle, The Will to Die, and The Bottom of the Bottle.

He died of Coronary thrombosis in his flat in Manzini on 8 September 1967 .

Growing frustrations with the restrictions of apartheid, caused him to move to Swaziland where he worked as a teacher. In 1966, he was declared a "statutory communist", as a result of which his works were banned in South Africa. His literary output was only readily available in the 1980s with the publication of two collections The Will to Die (1972) and The World of Can Themba (1985).

Daniel Canodoise "Can" Themba (21 June 1924 – 8 September 1967) was a South African short-story writer.