Known for his outspoken personality on Piano Pulse, Sfiso “Mafitsotso” Ndlovu is preparing to show South Africa another side of himself as he makes a move from talking about music to releasing music under his own name.
The podcaster, music manager and record label owner had a chat with TheJournalistDJ.com and opened up about his largely unseen history as a songwriter, his experience growing up on the streets and why he now believes the time has come to build Mafitsotso into something bigger than a podcast personality.
At the centre of his next chapter is a deeply personal song called “Hallelujah”, inspired by his journey from being a street kid to becoming an established figure within South Africa’s music industry.
Mafitsotso wants to become more than a podcast name
Sfiso says the idea to release music emerged from a conversation with his wife about the future of the Mafitsotso brand.
The question was simple: people already associated Mafitsotso with podcasting, but what else could the name represent?
“How can we utilise the brand Mafitsotso? Because now the brand Mafitsotso is standing on the name of the podcast only. What else can we do?” he recalled.
The answer was music.
Sfiso says he already had experience as a songwriter and music producer, making releasing his own material a natural extension of work he had been doing behind the scenes.
“As a music producer, I understand the drum I want, I understand the beat I want, the frequency I’m looking for,” he explained.
He also hinted that music could be just the beginning, saying there are “more secrets” planned for the Mafitsotso brand after he begins releasing his own records.
Sfiso claims he helped write major songs long before Amapiano
One of the biggest revelations from the conversation was Sfiso’s claim that his songwriting history stretches back years before Piano Pulse made him widely recognisable.
“I wrote some of the biggest hits, bro, before Amapiano,” he said.
Sfiso would not identify many of those songs, saying agreements he signed prevent him from publicly disclosing the records.
Instead, he pointed towards different periods in South African music, mentioning the eras associated with Zahara, Nathi Mankayi’s “Nomvula” period and Donald’s Over the Moon.
He was careful not to claim specific songs from those periods during the interview, repeatedly stressing that NDAs prevent him from doing so.
There is, however, one major Amapiano record he openly associates himself with: “Hamba Juba.”
“I wrote ‘Hamba Juba’ single-handedly,” Sfiso claimed during the interview.
“Hamba Juba”, released in 2023, is associated with Lady Amar, Cici, Murumba Pitch and JL SA and went on to accumulate millions of streams. Sfiso’s involvement with the record has previously been publicly documented, particularly through later disputes surrounding payments and royalties.
“I just wanted a place to sleep”
Behind Sfiso’s claims about his early songwriting career is a considerably darker story.
He says he was homeless when some of that work was being done.
“I was a street kid when I did most of the songs that I signed NDA for,” he revealed.
According to Sfiso, he wasn’t approaching contracts from the perspective of a songwriter thinking about publishing rights, royalties or the long-term value of intellectual property.
He was trying to survive.
“I just wanted to survive. I was just looking for a place to sleep,” he said.
That desperation, he believes, resulted in him signing agreements he didn’t fully understand.
“I signed shit I didn’t know of, and the songs are big,” he said. “I was doing it out of, like, desperation. I just wanted a place to sleep.”
For Sfiso, those experiences now form an important part of why his voice in conversations about the music industry matters.
“Hallelujah” tells the story of his childhood
His past will now become part of the music itself.
Sfiso revealed that an upcoming song titled “Hallelujah” is based on his life story and features Nobuhle, with Ntokozo Mkhize also being added to the record.
Unlike some of the material he says he has written for other artists, Sfiso didn’t write Nobuhle’s contribution.
Instead, she wrote about him.
“It’s a song about my life story from being a street kid, my mother dumping me, and growing up in the streets,” Sfiso explained.
He said Nobuhle knows his story personally and used that knowledge to interpret his journey through music.
Sfiso describes the record as having a musical feeling close to Master KG and Nomcebo Zikode’s global hit “Jerusalema”, but with a story focused on a child who survived difficult circumstances, became a man and eventually found himself able to help change other people’s lives.
“You watch me on the podcast and you think I’m a bad person”
The song could also expose a side of Mafitsotso that is largely hidden by his controversial podcast persona.
Piano Pulse has become known for frank and sometimes inflammatory discussions around Amapiano and its personalities. Sfiso himself has repeatedly found his comments making headlines.
In 2024, for example, he publicly apologised to Uncle Vinny after making an allegation about him that he acknowledged was false and defamatory. He again attracted controversy over comments about vocalist Thatohatsi, later apologising to her.
But Sfiso says the person audiences encounter through podcast clips doesn’t necessarily represent the person those closest to him know.
“You watch me on the podcast and you think I’m a bad person,” he told TheJournalistDJ.com.
According to Sfiso, Nobuhle’s motivation for “Hallelujah” was partly rooted in wanting people to understand his character away from the microphone.
He said her prayer was essentially that people could interact with him personally, understand his heart and see what he is willing to sacrifice so that other people can succeed.
From talking about DJs to becoming one?
Sfiso’s expansion into music may eventually take him behind the decks too.
He revealed that he is currently taking DJ lessons, although he doesn’t intend to rush his public debut.
When he finally feels ready, however, he already knows who he wants standing next to him.
Kabza De Small.
“I know if I end up as a DJ, my first set in South Africa will be a back-to-back with Kabza De Small,” Sfiso declared.
He isn’t putting a deadline on it.
“It might take one year, it might take six months, it might take as long as it takes.”
But Sfiso says that when he eventually introduces himself publicly as someone capable of playing music, he wants that introduction to happen alongside Kabza.
“He can’t say no”
It’s a bold ambition, but Sfiso believes his relationship with Kabza makes it possible.
“He’s my boy. He has no choice,” he joked.
“I love Kabza, bro. Kabza and I have, like, a dope relationship.”
Sfiso also expressed admiration for Kabza’s obsession with production, claiming he knows the producer’s musical fingerprints well enough to recognise his contribution to a song by ear.
“If you play me a song that Kabza De Small played a chord, I’ll tell you that’s Kabza,” he said.
Whether their eventual B2B happens publicly, online, at Piano Hub or even privately, Sfiso insists he wants Kabza involved in his introduction behind the decks.
“I don’t wanna come out as a DJ and I’m not playing head-to-head with Kabza De Small.”
Sfiso says he wrote 85% of an upcoming project
Mafitsotso also revealed that his songwriting work continues behind the scenes.
During the interview, he discussed an upcoming project involving Naledi Aphiwe and Goon Flavour, claiming that he wrote approximately 85% of its songs.
According to Sfiso, the songwriting team on the project consists of himself, Ntokozo Mkhize and Naledi Aphiwe.
It is this body of work that Sfiso believes gives weight to his opinions when discussing South African music.
“People [are] thinking, ‘Why is Mafitsotso’s voice important?’” he said.
“It’s very important because I got hits. I can back it up.”
He also recalled spending time around major figures in South African music, including AKA and Kwesta, saying his history within the industry stretches considerably further back than the podcast for which many people now know him.
“I’m gonna be famous. I’m gonna be rich”
Perhaps the most powerful moment of the interview came when Sfiso returned to his childhood.
He recalled living on the streets and telling the other street kids around him that his life would one day change.
“When I was a street kid, I used to tell the other street kids, ‘I’m gonna be famous. I’m gonna be rich. I’m gonna have money.’”
Today, he looks back at those declarations with a sense that the child making them wasn’t entirely dreaming.
“I kinda like delivered to all three,” he said.
But success didn’t erase where he came from.
Sfiso says he eventually returned to the bridge where he had once lived and encountered people still trapped in the circumstances from which he had escaped.
Asked whether those street kids were proud of what he had achieved, his response captured the harshness of the environment.
“Street kids will never tell you they’re proud, man. All they want is money, is food, is drugs.”
Yet he believes their reaction whenever he returns tells him what they may struggle to put into words.
“You see how they receive you, and that’s how you know they are actually proud of you.”
