LIFE AND TIMES OF SOL PLAATJE
ONE either enjoys biographies or avoids them and of course they vary. In bios of celebrities, some readers hope to find notoriety, in those of adventurers, heroics; in tales of trailblazers, dedication, bravery, perseverance against all odds and humility and vision.
In professor Brian Willan’s 600page definitive epic about one of South Africa’s most valuable sons Sol Plaatje, trailblazing traits are described in fascinating detail. Sol Plaatje: A Life of Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje 1876-1932 (Jacana Media) is a monumental work, an odyssey and testimony to a man who strove for change for his people, but because of the times and the stubborn obstacles he encountered, contemporarily achieved little – maybe nothing.
As Willan, an historian of Scottish descent, says: “His political career was gradually forgotten, his manuscripts were lost or destroyed, his published books largely unread. His novel Mhudi formed part of no literary tradition and was long regarded as little more than a curiosity.”
Willan, a scholar and author of distinction, traces Plaatje’s life from birth into a family of Tswana Christians and his education by German missionaries near Kimberley.
Plaatje (his home language was Setswana) spoke seven languages fluently, was a significant “blogger” of the Siege of Mafikeng, newspaper editor and the first general-secretary of the South African Native National Congress, which was to become the ANC, founded on January 1912.
Sadly, he was viewed with suspicion, distrust and even hostility.
Today, however, rather like an artist or composer whose masterpieces now either sell for millions, or are adored by cognoscenti, but who die in poverty and unknown, Plaatje is recognised as a political and literary visionary, a struggling pioneer in the birth of the black Press.
So, what was South Africa like in 1920 – when Plaatje was 44 and still bent on achieving so much?
The Union of South
Africa (predecessor to the Republic of South Africa) was established on May 31, 1910, after unification of the Cape colony, Natal colony, Transvaal and Orange River colonies.
Plaatje led the battle to have the hated Natives Land Act of 1913 repealed, both at home and during three visits to England, and dedicated his life to fighting inequality – long before official apartheid.
Willan traces how the articulate visitor won over sections of the British public, including David Lloyd George, one of the great reforming British chancellors of the 20th century; prime minister from 1916 to 1922 – talking earnestly of the race equality imbalance even then in South Africa.
The author relates how George, after meeting Plaatje, twice wrote to the South African prime minister Jan Smuts, suggesting Plaatje and his organisation be taken seriously.
So who really was this man, born in a far-flung part of southern Africa, who rose from his humble beginnings to become a major role player for so long, during his life and after his death.
Plaatje was born in Doornfontein near Boshof, Orange Free State (now Free State), the sixth of eight sons, on October 9, 1876.
His talent for language would lead to a career in journalism and writing. He was editor and part-owner of Korana ea Besana (Bacchanal Gazette) in Mafikeng, and in Kimberley Tsala ea Becoana (Bechuana Friend) and Tsala ea Batho (The Friend of the People).
Plaatje always opposed Cecil Rhodes, eventually realising by 1930 there was to be no salvation for his people.
Willan not only adroitly describes Plaatje’s opposition to the 1913 Land Act, but makes clear Plaatje regarded the 1927 Department of Native Administration as an even more looming threat to black citizenship rights than the Land Act.
And at the siege of Mafeking, he faithfully recorded events.
His diaries are a remarkable piece of South African history.
Plaatje was a committed Christian. His fellowship group, the Christian Brotherhood, was formed in Kimberley, where he married Elizabeth Lilith M’belle. They produced five children – Frederick, Halley, Richard, Violet and Olive.
Willan makes it so clear that Plaatje was not just a militant. He was no rabble rouser, no pulpit preacher. Plaatje is portrayed as a figure way ahead of his time, a friend and confidant of white and black alike.
He died on June 19, 1932, aged only 56. After having contracting a lung condition during the Great Flu of 1918, he was to develop deadly pneumonia in Pimville, Johannesburg.
Plaatje was buried in Kimberley; nearly 2 000 people attended his funeral. A tombstone erected in 1935 bore the inscription: I Khutse Morolong: Modiredi Wa Afrika – Rest in Peace Morolong, You Servant of Africa.
His name is in enshrined in the Sol Plaatje Local Municipality, which includes the city of Kimberley, as is the Sol Plaatje University there, which opened in 2014.
Willan’s brilliant academic work is a must for any student of South African history, making it clear how black African nationalism in South Africa failed, before rising phoenix-like to its current dominance.