“My home situation forced me to drop out of school”

A talented self-taught cartoonist proves that you can make it in life as long as you know what you want and keep focus. Mahlatse Moremi (26) is from Tzaneen, Limpopo Province in South Africa. He is a founder of fast growing comic strip called Stumbo Comics on social media. After dropping out of school, Mahlatse did not look down on himself, instead he started to learn on how to make cartoons via Youtube.

“This is my first ever newspaper interview, I am humbly honoured. Growing up, I had to face many challenges, I had to drop out of school in Grade 11 (2018) because it was hard. It was hard for my parents to buy food or school uniform. My father and I decided to move to Johannesburg, Gauteng province to seek for a job since he was the best builder in our village. In 2019, I heard that Youtube pays money for contents then decided to learn how to make cartons on Youtube tutorials. I always wanted to become one of the cartoonists on the Internet. My first video was made in 2021, trust me it was poor but I kept on going”, he said,

Stumbo comic fans are crazy about the guy who always mix iSiZulu language mixing with Sepedi language to impress her woman. The content is unique and funny one can believe Mahlatse is originally a Sepedi speaking guy. “My content is motivated by beef between Zulu people and Pedis. I decided to make a video of Zulu and Pedi guys aiming to make them united. I chose this combination because I knew people will love it.  The video which title is “Imagine having a Zulu husband who tries to speak Pedi language “reached 3.3M views on tiktok”, added Mahlatse.

The main challenges of being a cartoonist is deadlines and pressure from clients who demand their work in short space while the process is taking lot of time and patience is needed. His advice to all aspiring cartoonist is to start small, everything is possible only if you are willing to it with love. Just believe in yourself, it may seem hard but with one step at the time, everything will be fine.

“Shout out to my friend Luckyboy “Nkosiyamanesi” Ngxongo, my family, friends and fans out there, please keep supporting my work and wait for more funny videos”, concluded Mahlatse.

All information / support can be referred to: Facebook -  Stumbo Comics Or Whatsapp : 0647769021