Phuti Richard Ramaphakela

Phuti Richard Ramaphakela was born in 29 January 1981 at Ga Matlala, Maineleng, Polokwane, Limpopo Province. After matric, he enrolled with UNISA and achieved BA Degree (Communication Science) & BA Hons Degree (Integrated Organisational Communication) and acquired Computer Literacy, Designing skills, Code 10 Drivers license. A qualified Journalist and Designer, Phuti is a Managing Director (40 Designs and Projects) & Editor in Chief (Rise Africans Newspaper). 

Born a shy guy, as kid he will go to school, comeback and make some drawings just for fun. He was one of the bright learners at school but due to very poor family background, he had to stay at home after matric because his late domestic mother was the only a breadwinner. 

In 1998, Phuti and his mom had to move to then an informal settlement in a place called Mankweng, Turfloop, about 30 kilos from Polokwane. It was very tough to adopt a new life while his siblings were still at Ga Matlala. He spend most of his hustle by doing gardening works that paid less, earning R 150,00 per month. Between 2001 and 2002, he met this man who was working as a carpenter and worked together. In 2004 , he went to Polokwane, worked as a gardener and later worked in a butchery store. 

After Covid 19, Phuti registered a company called 40 Designs and Projects, specialising with online services just to keep food on the table. He met a guy called Mzi Ndlovu via social media and proposed to run Ithemba le KZN Newspaper online. It was much challenging work because he had to come up with lot of ideas on daily basis to see the newspaper growing. He did almost 99 percent of work at Ithemba le KZN Newspaper from Web Development, interviews, editing, uploading articles on the website and Facebook which is stressful.

In 2023, he registered Rise Africans Newspaper after resigning from Ithemba le KZN Newspaper and glad to have lot of people who give him support, starting family and mother, friend and teacher, Gerda Potgieter (Devoted Magazine Editor). 

He can be contacted at: Call or Whatsapp – 0715511531 | email: phutiktp@gmail.com | Facebook : Phuti Rams.