One Saturday morning in 1970, Tito Zungu arrived at the African Art Centre, having been directed there by Mary Clarke, a member of the Institute of Race Relations. Born in 1946 in the Mapumulo district, he was a country man with no education at all, and had come to Durban to find work. Technology had made a huge impression on him - above all aeroplanes and high rise buildings.

He brought with him that morning an envelope decorated entirely with various coloured ball point pens-the origin of his description as being the 'ball point pen artist'. Later, he began to combine fine line felt tip pens with ball point pens. When warned that felt tip could fade, he carried on using them, but goes over these areas three times.

Zungu had been working in Durban for many years, primarily as a cook at Catholic institutions. He had begun drawing as a teenager and in 1960 started decorating envelopes which he sold in the market place to migrant workers sending letters home to their families in the country.

My first reaction when seeing Tito Zungu's decorated envelope was disbelief that it could be done by human hand. I telephoned Dr Ronald Lewcock of the University of Natal's Department of Architecture and asked him to come to the Centre to see this wondrous thing.

Zungu offered the envelope for 50 cents - above the going price in the market place. I speculated that his decorating of envelopes might have a connection with envelopes which are beaded and yet go through the post, but he denied any connection. His idea was entirely original.

We offered to double the price to R1, not because we didn't think it worth more, but because Lewcock expressed reservations about the possible effect it might have on the artist and his work if too high a price was offered immediately. As it turned out, we need not have had any fear. I asked him how he did his fine line-dot decorations, and he immediately sat down and did a simple version, using the back of his comb as a ruler.

Thereafter he brought in envelopes from time to time. One of his early admirers was Professor Pancho Guedes, formerly of the University of Mozambique and later head of the Department of Architecture at the University of the Witwatersrand. Guedes was introduced to Zungu's work through Lewcock's fine small collection.

In 1971, Zungu brought in two framed ball point drawings - he always frames his drawings himself, the mount being well integrated with the drawing - which the Art Centre bought and entered on his behalf in the 1971 Art: South Africa: Today exhibition. Both were accepted and this was the first public showing of his work. One was titled Skip Boat and the other, untitled, depicted city buildings with an aeroplane overhead.

Zungu attended the opening. A characteristic of his personality, I have noticed, is a great sense of appropriateness in any given circumstance. He was seen at the opening with a beaded comb in his hair, several thick beaded neckbands and an elegant beaded stick. He was completely at ease and could have been at a fashionable exhibition in Paris or London.

A press photograph shows him in front of his drawing, with the caption 'Mr Tito Zungu cook boy'. The 'cook boy' is now nationally and internationally known, and his work is in all major South African public galleries.

After the 1971 exhibition the demand for his drawings grew and all his work was sold through the Centre. His work appeared again on Art: South Africa: Today in 1973 and 1975. The prices rose steadily but he continued to work slowly, mostly in the evenings after a day's work.

In 1976 he was commissioned to do work for the African Arts magazine, University of California in Los Angeles, which appeared in 1977.

In October 1982 a retrospective exhibition of drawings by Tito Zungu was arranged in the Studio Gallery, Senate House, University of the Witwatersrand. The exhibition was coordinated by Vittorio Meneghelli, of the Totem-Meneghelli Gallery, and the African Art Centre. All the drawings were borrowed from early collectors of Zungu's work.

Tito Zungu and I flew up for the opening. It was his first flight and, considering his marvellous illustrations of aeroplanes - particularly on his early decorated envelopes - it must have been an exciting event for him. At a party after the opening, Zungu was seen in animated conversation with renowned sculptor Eduado Villa, their conversation apparently not inhibited at all by the fact that one was Italian and the other Zulu speaking.

It is sad that, although Zungu's artistic fame was founded in Durban, it was never possible for the Art Centre to hold an exhibition for him because he could not afford to accumulate enough work. The exhibition in Johannesburg was only possible because of the generosity of the lenders, most of whom lived in Johannesburg.

Zungu's work was exhibited several more times during the 1980s, including a major exhibition of his work in September 1987 at the Primitive Art and Antiquities Gallery in Rosebank, Johannesburg. The exhibition was coordinated by Meneghelli and the African Art Centre.

It took nearly four years from the time of initial planning to build up sufficient work. In the process Zungu was subsidised by Meneghelli, and a nominal payment was made on the completion of each work. Finally 20 pieces were exhibited, some of which had been bought by Meneghelli some years previously.

Gallery directors and collectors were invited to a preview and nearly all the works were sold, the balance being sold at the official opening the next day. Prices ranged from R500 to R600 for decorated envelopes, and R800 to R3 000 for framed pictures. Considering the modest prices of Tito's drawings of the 1970s, it was an other case of It's Never Too Early.

Press reviews - from Durban and Johannesburg to the Washington Post - were numerous, and reflected the enthusiasm with which the exhibition was received and Zungu's growing stature as an artist. Credit must be given to Vittorio Meneghelli for his patience and determination to exhibit Zungu's work. The Totem Meneghelli Gallery was able to host a professional exhibition which the promotion required, and which benefited Zungu financially and artistically.

There were many human sides to the exhibition. At Zungu's insistence, his wife Gloria Ngethusile Zungu, accompanied him to Johannesburg. Both were the guests of Paulina and Vittorio Meneghelli in their luxurious and art packed home, and a guide was provided to show Mrs Zungu the sights of Johannesburg. I was given equally warm hospitality.

In 1988, Cape Town architect Jack Barnett commissioned Zungu to design a tapestry for the Students Union at the University of the Western Cape. Arrangements were made for Tito to fly to Cape Town and go to the University to get a feel for the building, and perhaps absorb something of its characteristics.

The African Art Centre was closely involved in a some­what protracted process of Tito producing a perfect design which, in his inimitable way, he of course did. Barnett had a great rapport with Tito and was admirably patient. His patience was rewarded with a marvellous design, which was transformed by Marguerite Stephens into a weaving measuring 18, 4 metres - a tremendous weaving feat.

During the 1980s and 1990s Tito Zungu's work appeared in several other exhibitions and publications, including in The Neglected Tradition - Towards a New History of South African Art (1930-1980), the Art from South Africa exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, the 1991 Cape Town Triennial and in Venice in 1993.

He has received many awards, and his work is now in the collections of galleries worldwide. In 1993 Zungu returned to his home in the Tugela Valley, where he now combines farming with his artistic talents.