Literature in mother tongue, tantalising translations, ebb and flow of pertinent literature, et al...

By Pule Lechesa
(with Dr Wally Serote above)


Ladies and gentlemen, let me take this opportunity to greet our honourable MEC for Sports, Heritage, Culture and Recreation Ntate Dan Kgothule.

Not forgetting the Director of Heritage, Museum, and library services Ntate Vincent Khetha, Deputy Director of Library services Mathene Mahanke, and The manager of wordfest the enterprising and innovative Tseliso Masoloane

Ntate Khotso Maphalla and one of the Patriarchs of Protest poetry Mongane Wally Serote...



Let me start by expressing my exhilaration! I was on cloud nine when some years ago i learnt that one of the all time greats of African literature Ngugi wa Thiong'O had published his latest novel in Kikuyu titled Murogi wa kagogo. Of course the whole literary world was excited. But there was a problem.

It is a problem that assails our entire continent and continue to perturb our great minds and pundits. Kikuyu is one of the many hundreds spoken languages in Africa, so how am I as a proud Sesotho writer comprehend this latest literary offering of Ngugi?

Or if you want to stretch this a bit further. I have always admired Chinua Achebe novels but if they were published in his mother tongue Igbo languages would I have been able to read them? Of course not!



We should not even go too far, can I even read books published in Zulu? So, the problem can be alleviated through translations hence Ngugis Kikuyu books are now available through out the world. I have in mind The Wizards of the Crow and Matigari. Many Kikuyu readers will appreciate the African version more than the international version hence the significance of our mother tongue. We have also seen this practice in Sesotho literature when Azariele Sekese who lived between 1849 and 1930 translated the Sesotho heroic poetry into English.



Many educators have pointed out that when a child gets his/her medium of knowledge via the mother tongue their cognitive ability is enhanced. This can be a template upon which advanced knowledge is built; that is to say, under an ideal situation we should all be able to appreciate and be fluent in our particular African language(s) and also in so called international languages which these days is mainly English.

On my own part, i have very happy and satisfied, I derive maximum satisfaction by reading both in English, Sesotho and Afrikaans. The same way I relished reading Sesotho as a youngster I still enjoy them to date. Despite absorbing hundreds of books in English i still appreciate in totality the literature in my mother tongue.



That is the way it should be for all of us.



There will always be polemics over whether literature in a particular language is plummeting, or is developing in a consistent manner. We must remember even in euro-centric books that are regarded as classic some where deemed failures when they were initially publishing their books. We have to contend with the trends fashions, pertinent criticism and what is referred to as retrospective judgement.

Hence it might not be fruitful to churn out definitive statements claiming or suggesting the Sesotho literature is vibrant or is dying. During our era, now for example, we have witnessed a great literary icon Ntate Khotso Maphalla publishing dozens of books over three decades or so. If there were no other writers on the scene, the prodigious output of Maphalla alone shows that Sesotho writing is healthy in-deed. We must strife to have audit of our books as it will provide us with a proper yard stick to measure if Sesotho literature is developing or plummeting



Let us go back to England, the era of Charles Dickens over 150 years ago there were many superb literary works of Dickens then over the decades when he was alive was enough to prove that literature was at its peck in England. This does not mean that there were no other writers operating, it was just that Dickens shone and still shines virtually over every writer.



To put things in perspective the greatness of Ntate Maphalla does not mean we do not have many other good writers. We have the likes of Wiston Mohapi, Suzan Sefatsa, Letshase Nakeli, the Mokoenas and so forth.



Sesotho literature also has the fascinating features of many illustrious names over the last century or so. For example do we look at the past with rose tinted spectacles? Now that they are no longer with us the achievements of JJ Moiloa, Machabe Khaketla, KE Ntsane, Thomase Mofolo, Lesoro seem bigger than they are?

Literature world wide has indeed shown that great writers become bigger after they had departed. Why is William Shakespeare regarded now as literary god, when he was alive many regarded him as something of a half-baked writer!



I also look at the career of the fantastic Thomas Hardy who was forced by the critics to stop writing novels – after their dissatisfaction with Jude the Obscure which at the time was viewed as controversial. But this is no longer the case!



I venture to say that our contemporary writers are free to write about anything. In the intriguing work, titled Tutudu ha e patwe, roughly translated you can not keep a good man down author Mathene Mahanke allude to the accusation of rape by a protagonist who is a teacher, I am not sure that the author would have done it hundred years ago.

But before we go on let us pay tribute to the emergence of now literary talent new Sesotho literary talent do not emerge. Two examples will suffice here who are keeping the flag flying. i have in mind Mr Thabo Mafike and Teboho Letshaba.



How many of us have seen the work of Thabo Mafike? Because of constraints of time I will just mention his major work, Tjhe bo bophelo, which was published when he was in his early twenties.



This is a full length work which is experimental in its own way with a mixture of graphic monologue, flashbacks, interesting conversation and panorama of characters that make the book come alive.



Now we come to Teboho who was classically described as having “the type of transcendental literary talent that makes fellow writers wince with jealousy. The young man is a worthy successor to the world time greats like KE Ntsane, JJ Moiloa, KPP Maphalla and many others. One of his masterpieces, Pelong ya Lerato is prescribed for high schools in South Africa. His other works are Lejwe la Kgpiso, Ntsunyakgare, Mehlolo e tsamaya le badumedi.



Can we suggest that other literary gems are waiting to be discovered and be published? My experience as a publisher, as people used to provide me with manuscripts, some were very promising indeed. It is very easy enough to suggest as people are fond of doing that talented writers will always get published sooner or later. In fact many potentially great writers have been frustrated over the years. Some of them even having their books published post-humously perhaps even by luck in the end.



This brings me to the subject of self publishing which many people are denigrating as if the world is coming to an end when you self publish. And incredibly large number of all time great writers have more or less self published during their careers. The Bronte sisters all paid for their books, Initially Thomas Hardy had to guarantee printing expenses before his early books could come out, Mark Twain in America was famous for self publishing, Virginia Woolf started her own printing press and even published other authors. The late Saro Wiwa of Nigeria started his printing press too and many of his books are available in our local libraries. These were all celebrated writers and are still the greatest.



I am not saying that people must not try to improve themselves or go to the mainstream publishers. As Zakes Mda, one of the all time great writers in the African literature says in his latest book Sometimes there is a void,: "If you believe that what you have written is good you must not allow anyone to change it as people are different." Some publishers rejected Madonna of exelsior but the others accepted it. This teaches us that One man's meat is another man poison. Just because one publishers do not like a book that does not mean that that book is badly written.



Let us briefly consider one of the all time great writers in the English Literature George Orwell, author of Animal farm and Nineteen Eighty-four. His books where always rejected but now he is one of the best writers the world has ever seen. So, who has the right to say a book is great or not?



My experience as a publisher, as people used to provide me with manuscripts, some were very promising indeed. it is very easy enough to suggest as people are fond of doing that talented writers will always get published sooner or later. In fact many potentially great writers have been frustrated over the years. Some of them even having their books published post-humously perhaps even by luck in the end.


Before I round off I think it is pertinent that we should look at the subject of literary criticism. It is a pity that as African writers we confuse criticism with negativity; that is "trashing and slashing" a book. It also bothers me that many of us claim that criticism is 'fault finding', this is simply not true! The evaluation of a book necessarily included pointing out what a particular reviewer or critic does not like about the work.

Need we repeat that world wide writers ranging from Shakespeare to the Nobel award winning author Tony Morrison these days are criticised thousand times over and over again? If we are true writers we should be envious that countless books have been published on the great writers world wide.

As Africans, Sesotho writers, how will our legacy be passed on when we are afraid of criticism? When we are not evaluated by reviewers or critics who are we writing for?

Let us face it: our goal should be to have whatever we have written evaluated stringently on a regular basis. Free State writers forum and Free State PanSALB must be seen on the vanguard.

The other day, I was at UFS Library and I counted about ten critical books written about Omoseyi Bolaji. This is what we Sesotho writers must strive for. How many studies have been published on our distinguished writers?

At least, the greatness of Doctor Khotso Maphalla can be further proven or illustrated by the fact that he has quite a number of critical books published on his books. They include the following; Stylistic analysis of novels of KPD Maphalla by Yvonne Makhubela, Art and Ideology of poetry of KPD Maphalla by the same writer; and Study of some aspects of KPD Maphalla's poetry by Professor Moleleki Moleleki.

I was also happy that there is a special book; a critical study written on Wiston Mohapi titled Race relation in post-apartheid Sesotho farm novels. This study is written by MP Mokhele and is a must read.

Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to embark upon a brief treatise; I believe we have touched on certain salient aspects of Sesotho literature with some emphasis on the Free State here. This is a dynamic genre that we Sesotho speakers, readers, can do all we can to ensure that our body of literature continues to increase both, in quality and quantity!
Text of a speech - its English equivalent here - delivered by Mr Pule Lechesa at the MACUFE wordfest in Bloemfontein city

PIX ABOVE: Lechesa, poet Skietreker (Seape) and O Bolaji at the wordfest