Wearing a crisp black shirt, award-winning gospel artist Sabelo Matse sat down for a candid conversation on the Banele WJLM podcast, speaking openly about his life, his music, and what he believes people with disabilities need most from society.
For Matse, the answer is love and acceptance. The 44-year-old musician spoke about becoming disabled when he was six years old after he was left unattended near a fire. A fire log fell on him, leaving him with severe burns to his face and injuries that eventually led to the amputation of both hands.
He spent about a year recovering in hospital. Life after the accident was different from the childhood he had known. Matse explained that he could no longer do many of the things other children could do on their own, making his childhood experience far from normal.
But as he grew older, he found something that gave him a way to express himself. He found his voice through music.
Matse, who is now an award-winning gospel artist, spoke about accepting the Lord as his Saviour and finding purpose through his faith and music. During the podcast, he smiled and laughed as he shared his experiences, offering a glimpse of the person behind the circumstances that changed his life as a child.
His story has also taken him beyond his own experience. Matse has become an advocate for people with disabilities, particularly in how they are treated by society. He wants people with disabilities to be accepted not only by communities, but also by the systems and spaces in which they live and work.
Sabelo believes parents have an important role to play in changing that by teaching children from an early age about people with disabilities and how to treat them. He wants children to understand that disability is not something to laugh at or use as a reason to exclude someone.
His message also extends to people living with disabilities themselves. Matse encouraged them not to look down on themselves or allow their circumstances to determine what they believe they can achieve. He urged them to remain positive and continue pursuing their goals.
His own journey, from a childhood changed by a devastating accident to finding a place in music, informs that message. Alongside encouraging individuals, Matse called for stronger support within the disability community.
He encouraged parents and members of the community to meet regularly, check in on one another and create spaces where people can talk, share experiences and offer support. His advocacy is also closely connected to his work as a musician.
Matse rose to wider recognition after winning the overall title at Eswatini’s first Music and Arts Festival for Persons with Disabilities in September 2025. The achievement opened further opportunities for him, including a trip to Zimbabwe in March 2026, where he collaborated with artists and visited the St Giles Rehabilitation Centre.
He is also available for bookings, performing at corporate functions, weddings, birthdays and other events.
For Matse, however, music is about more than performing. His conversation with Banele Dlamini returned to a message that is bigger than his own story: people with disabilities want the same basic things as everyone else to be respected, included, supported and treated with love.
His experiences have shaped that message, but they do not define the whole of who he is. Sabelo Matse is a musician, a gospel artist, a father of his own journey and an advocate for others navigating disability.
And after everything he has experienced, what he asks for is not complicated. He wants to be loved. He wants to be accepted. And he wants others living with disabilities to know that they should not stop believing in themselves.
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