How to be heard

Southern Africa's top speaker, Vus'umuzi Phakathi, unpacks the architecture of a powerful speech, mental illness, transformation and becoming visible in white spaces in an interview with Dshamilja Roshani

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Southern Africa’s reigning public speaking champion, Vus'umuzi Phakathi, moves between poetry, journalism, advertising and academia with rare fluency.

In this conversation, he talks about confronting mental illness on stage, transforming a century-old organisation from within and the secret behind crafting the most powerful speech in the region.

Vus'umuzi Phakathi, you are a proud member of Toastmasters, a global network dedicated to fostering public speaking skills. When did your speaking journey begin, and why did you join Toastmasters?

As a performing poet with 20 years of experience, I am no stranger to the spoken word. What brought me to Toastmasters in particular is the quiet architecture behind public speaking: the structure, the order, the reverence for time.

I wanted to become someone who could hold a deadline with grace and precision. Someone who could show up prepared, speak with clarity, and live with intention.

Some of my closest friends are Toastmasters and I had been circling its orbit for over five years — a guest at the table but never quite pulling up a chair.

Late last year, something shifted. Life asked something more of me and I knew I had to answer it as a different kind of person. More rooted, deliberate and disciplined. I didn't just want to speak better, I wanted to be better.

You seem to have mastered the former rather quickly. In May, after winning several competitions on club, area, division and district level, you were crowned Southern African Champion of Public Speaking - declaring you the best speaker of 114 clubs with close to 1 500 members. In your professional opinion, what makes a good speech?

A good speech begins long before the first word is spoken. It begins in the marrow of lived experience, where truth meets memory. That's the spine.

From there, it needs intention — the skeleton that holds the form upright.