SESOTHO LITERATURE THROUGH THE DECADES

By Pule Lechesa

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to express my profound gratitude to those who facilitated this epoch-making FREE STATE WRITERS FORUM (FSWF) WRITERS INDABA. I believe that the future and legacy of our culture, linguistic, social and of course literary trends can only be further enhanced by workshops like this.

I do not want to encroach on the territory of any other speakers today; hence I shall try to be concise and economical; in the process I hope I will be able to provide glimpses into Sesotho literature in particular and if possible African literature in general.

It is always good to start with the provenance of things, to wit the genesis – the very beginning. How did what we call “formal literacy” start. The general picture all over Africa is that, the early missionaries were pivotal in introducing this element of western writing orientation. This was also the case when the missionaries arrived in Lesotho shores sometime towards the end of 1833. They built schools where they taught Basotho who to read the bible and write so that they could help them propagate Christianity.

That is when we saw the sudden emergence of pioneering figures in Sesotho Literature. I have in mind the generation that dominated the 1907 to 1930 period. Thomas Mofolo, author of the following books: Moeti wa botjhabela (1907), Pitseng (1910) and lastly the most controversial book that was translated into so many languages Chaka (1925). Motsamai who wrote a book called, Mehleng ya madimo - The era of the cannibals. Mofolo’s former school teacher, Lechesa Segoete also registered his name in the literary circles with a didactic book called, Monono ke mohodi ke mouwane, roughly translated Riches dissipate like mist or vapour.

Ladies and gentlemen, one of the African scholars, Ntate Moloi has rightfully pointed out that, “To appreciate Sotho creative writing one must understand the socio-economic and political milieu in which Sotho writers find themselves.”

You will remember that out of these books that I have mentioned it is only Chaka and Mehla ya madimo that were not hailed as perpetuating the pagans’ beliefs and customs. It was crystal clear that the teaching of the missionaries was that the African customs and religion were to be rejected out-rightly. They used the quarterly newspaper Lesedinyana la Lesotho that they founded in 1863 to criticize them. This paper also played a pivotal role in promoting literature as books like Chaka were serialized in it before they could be published in a book form.

The other generation of writers with a different mindset emerged between 1930 and 1960. My mind goes to the names such as A Nqheku known for his novella, Arola naheng ya maburu- Arola in a whiteman’s land. BM Khaketla Meokgo ya thabo - Tears of joy. GM Guma and many others. This generation had to tap into genres such as poems, short stories, historic novels and so forth. Guma curves a niche for himself as the outstanding historic novel writer.

Between 1960 and 1990 the writers were writing mainly about industrialization and urbanization. Books that were highly political in content were suppressed. The censorship could not stop writers like Jac Mocoancoeng and KE Ntsane from writing their counterparts who were writing protest poems in English.

Let us scrutinize Ntsane poem titled Dumedisa Base from his book called Mmusapelo. It reads thus:

Dumedisa Base

Dumedisa Base, o kgore,

O kgore makumane a weleng tafoleng,

Tafoleng ya Base ho tletse difannora,

Fannora tsa sekgowa hase ho kgadisa…



Here is my rough translation of the poem

Greet a white master!

Greet a white master for you to be satiated to plenitude,

To be satiated to plenitude with leftovers fallen from his table,

On his table is a surfeit of delicious assorted food,

Wow! You will feel like devouring this food,

They tantalize the taste buds of a passer-by Kaffir…



This poem was met with mixed feelings, as some were saying that he wanted blacks to accept being under a white master. But I beg to differ as the last sentence of the poem he urges Blacks to do something about this situation. White people realized the impact it made and they had a second edition that omitted this poem.

It is astonishing the travails that African female writers went through before they made their mark in the literary world. Even in the seventies and eighties, Mama Miriam Tladi who is the first black female writer to publish a novel in South Africa went through hell to get her book out. Even in the sophisticated countries like England, it was initially a mission impossible for Buchi Emecheta an internationally acclaimed female writer to set her feet on the writing path; read her memoir called Head above the water.

Thus we can imagine how incredibly difficult even further back for female writers including Sesotho writers to have their books published. You will remember how Buchi Emecheta talks about how her ex-husband tore her early manuscript. When I used to be a publisher myself, one female writer once shared with me a similar story of how her parents destroyed her manuscript. Virginia Woolf says for a woman to be a writer she must first have a “big house and money before thinking of writing.”

Mama Tladi says “everywhere where black women used to work their masters would lose their temper if they could see them reading; not to talk of writing!”

She also pointed out that Black women do not have time to think and analyse things properly. To write a novel, one has to be able to analyse the situation or circumstances they are living under. Another problem which is still prevailing even in this dispensation is that most women do not have confidence in themselves.

Hence, those few women who were able to publish their books despite daunting obstacles should be commended. It is no surprise that these female writers are particularly concerned with the plight of children and women. Sesotho female writers, just like their world female counterparts, Buchi Emecheta, Mariam Ba (Senegal) relentlessly lament through their creative work the travails women faced.

Let us look at Mme Suzan Sefatasa in her book of short stories called Makomo. In a short story, called Joo nnaa, bohlolohadi wee, she chronicles how widows used to be discriminated against in the society. In another one she laments the lack of respect for the grannies in our community. It seems to me that the difficulties of such women in Sesotho writing in no way rises to the terrible level of the female protagonist in the book of Lauretta Ngcobo which are rather heart-breaking.

I call upon the young budding writers to acquaint themselves with the writings of Mme Albertina Makgokolotso Mokhomo, Mamothibeli Sehlabo, Dr Maramane Matabane Tshabalala and Susan Sefatsa.

Literary museums are a thing of beauty. It is a repository of the literary legacy of the past, present and future. And South Africa is lucky in particular to have the best national English Literary Museum in Africa.

Visiting this museum leaves one spellbound by the manner in which every literary material is kept, filed away and even computerized over there. I have in mind primary products which are the books, then critical works on every writer, supplementary clippings by way of newspapers, journals, magazines, interviews, with different writers.

There is no doubt in mind that we should strive to ensure that our Sesotho literary Museum should be brought to the sophisticated and convenient to the level of Grahamstown. These days we no longer have to travel to Grahamstown physically, we just send an email; an enquiry. We are thereafter sent a stunning comprehensive and literary profile on the protagonists.

How nice will it be if our proliferating students can go to the literary museums here in the Free State and do electronic researches on our outstanding writers such as Ntate KPD Maphalla, Winston Mohapi, Professor Nhlanhla Maake and many others And everything can be computerized, including the bibliographic details, supplements etc...

• Excerpts from a speech delivered by Lechesa at the Workshop in Bloemfontein on 27th Sep 2012