Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje was born on October 9, 1876 on a farm called Dornfontein in the north-western part of the Orange Free State, some thirty miles north east of Kimberley. He came from a family with a tradition of contact with Christianity that goes back to the 1820's. Later he went to Pniel near Barkly West in the Cape where he attended school. At the age of 9 and 10 he attended a Church of England mission school in Beaconsfield, some 18 miles from Prilel. This was in the late 1880's. Then back at Pniel he was progressing far beyond the other pupils; so be began to receive additional private instruction from the missionary, Ernest Westphal and his wife.
At 13 he passed the Cape Education Department's standard 4 examinations: almost certainly the first pupil at Pniel to have achieved this. In February 1892 he was appointed a pupil/teacher, a post he held for two years . In March 1894 Plaatje left the mission station to take up a job in the Post Office in Kimberley as a letter earner a highly sought-after job because it was one of the relatively few avenues of opportunity open to Africans for employment. At 17 he seemed to have been well prepared for a life outside the limited confines of the Pniel mission.
On March 1, 1894 Plaatje began work as a letter carrier in the Kimberley Post Office. The Kimberley Post Office had been the first in the Cape to employ Africans as messengers and letter carriers. This was in 1880 when the Post Office found it impossible to secure reliable and inexpensive white labour. This provoked the anger of the whites who felt threatened by this act. Plaatje remained in his job for four and a half years. This afforded him the opportunity to improve his command of the English language.
Outside working hours Plaatje became part of an identifiable and quite conscious social stratum whose cooperate life he was closely associated with. Kimberley then had a permanent population of about 8-9,000 employed in a wide-range of activities. The African community was cosmopolitan. Some of them were mission educated Africans. These were people like Rev. Jonathan Jabavu (brother of Tengo Jabavu, the editor of Imvo Zabantsundu) Gwayi Tyamzashe and David Msikinya. Isaiah Bud M'belle whose career and achievements embodied - perhaps more than anyone else in Kimberley at this time the aspirations and ideals of this social group to which Plaatje belonged, became his life-long friend after they first met in 1894. (In 1898 Plaatje married Elizabeth M'belle, sister to Isaiah Bud M'belle).
In June 1895 Kimberley's most able and articulate Africans formed the South Africans' Improvement Society for meetings and discussion at fortnightly intervals. This organisation provided Plaatje with the ideological, social and literary training ground. The name of the society itself is interesting because for the Africans "improvement" like "progress" was an absolutely key concept. The aims of this society were:
"Firstly, to cultivate the use of the English language, which is foreign to Africans; secondly, to help each other by fair and reasonable criticism in readings, English composition etc. etc.".
We should remember that those were the days when Africans aspired to a full participation in the predominantly English South African society.
An Interpreter in Mafeking
On August 5, 1898, Plaatje applied for the position of interpreter to the Magistrate's court in Mafeking. He was a linguist: his knowledge and proficiency in both African and European languages had greatly improved. He spoke Tswana, Sesotho, Xhosa, Zulu, Koranna, English, Dutch and German. The career of an interpreter was one of the most highly regarded jobs in the Cape Civil Service that an African could pursue.
On October 1, 1898 Plaatje went to Mafeking. The population of Mafeking was 5,000 Africans and 1,500 Whites. Mafeking is a railway junction on the line northwards to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), the the 24 administrative capital of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, market centre for the district. Since 1897, it possessed its own Resident Magistrate and Civil Commissioner. Though much smaller than Kimberley, it was the largest town for many miles around.
It consists of two separate settlements: the European town founded In 1885 and the older settlement Mafikeng (meaning Tswana "place of rocks" of which Mafeking is a European corruption) founded and occupied by the Tshidi/Rolong and separated by a distance of about a mile from the European town.
The great figure in Tshidi/Rolong history, Montshiwa, had died two years before Plaatje's arrival in Mafeking. But memories about remained extremely strong. Montshiwa was chief of the Rolong for nearly fifty years. He led his people to their new home in the 1860's. Through fierce resistance, skilful bargaining and negotiation his people retained for themselves much of their land and a considerable degree of independence and self-government in the face of white settler expansion in the latter part of 19th century.
There were other influences and factors in Tshidi politics: Wessels Montshiwa's (Montshiwa's successor) incompetence, the conciliatory role of the Molema family etc. The Molema family was a powerful family and well educated. They had come to accept the Christian belief.
Plaatje came under the influence of Silas Telesho Molema, younger son of old chief Molema.
Born in 1850, Silas, Molema was educated at the Wesleyan Healdtown Institution. He returned to Mafeking in 1878 and set up a school. Molema combined such activities with his other chiefly duties. "The school was often interrupted by the several quarrels with the Boers", Plaatje remembered later, "as the teacher, being a sub-chief, always went on active service at the head of his regiment".
By 1890 Silas Molema had also become a large land owner in his own right, and had a fairly extensive range of business interests among other areas, in Pitsani over the border in the Bechuanaland Protectorate. It should be remembered that it was from here in 1895, that Jameson had launched his unfortunate expedition into the Transvaal - the Jameson Raid. Jameson had promised Molema - if the raid was successful - further tracts of land inside South Africa. But it was not and therefore Molema received £300.
Molema and Plaatje belonged to different generations; and were of different social backgrounds - Plaatje, a commoner and Molema, a chief - but Plaatje was influenced by the sense of duty and responsibility which Molema, as a chief, showed towards his people.
In October 1899 the Anglo Boer War broke out and Mafeking, less than 10 miles from the Transvaal border, was immediately surrounded by Boer forces. The famous siege of Mafeking had begun. This is all in the Boer War Diary of Sol T. Plaatje - an African in Mafeking which was first published in 1976 - almost 80 years after it was written. This diary gives us an insight both into the mind of Plaatje and into the history of the siege itself.
With the siege of Mafeking new challenges faced Plaatje. He was not only interpreting In the Magistrate's Court when it was sitting and acting as a junior clerk and office messenger In the Civil Commissioner's office (the Civil Commissioner was also the magistrate) when it was not, Plaatje found himself interpreting in two new courts that were set up - the Court of Summary Jurisdiction and the Officers' Board Court. But he found time to do typing and in 1900 he was the first African to have satisfied the examiners in the recently Instituted type writing examination. He knew shorthand.
Plaatje's loyalties were shifting. On March 27, 1902 he handed in his resignation from the Cape Civil Service. There were many reasons for this: one of them being the fact that he was underpaid - "he thought his salary of £130 p.a. a waste of time".
Plaatje as Morulaganyi (editor)
Since 1901, together with Sibas Molema, Plaatjc was involved in the establishment of the English/Tswana newspaper Koranta ea Becoana (the Tswana Gazette). It was modelled along the lines of the English/Xhosa weekly, Imvo Zabantsundu, edited by Tengo Jabavu since the early 1880s. The Mafeking Mail of May 9, 1905 commented:
"The editor of the Mafeking Kaffir newspaper, "Koranta ea Becoana", is a studious person who used to interpret at the magistrate's court. He got into thinking during the course of his duties, and a lot of stored up, compressed thought drove him into journalism as an outlet for it."
Koranta was born, along with several other new African newspapers in other parts of the country in a period of widespread political expectation; it was a mouthpiece of the voiceless Africans - their voice should be heard - and stood in defence of African rights and interests. Koranta could not last - by 1908 it was in a bad shape.
In July 1910 Plaatje established and edited Tsala ea Becoana (The Friend of the Tswana). Koranta was financed by Silas Molema, but Tsala was financed by a few friends of Plaatje based in Thaba N'chu, wealthy African landowners: W.Z. Fenyang, J. Nyokong and Rev. J. Goronyane.
January 8
Plaatje, as a leading member of the South African Native Convention convened in March 1909 to discuss the pending Union and was later constituted into a permanent organisation, attended the Convention's annual conference in Bloemfontein in March 1910. Shortly afterwards he headed a deputation (appointed at the conference) to General Botha, then Prime Minister of the Transvaal. The special meeting of the Executive Committee of the Convention, convened in Johannesburg early in August 1911, and attended by Plaatje provided P1xly Ka Seme, an overseas trained lawyer recently returned to South Africa, with the first opportunity to expound his ideas on the need for a new and more vigorous organisation. In a sense Seme was saying nothing new; he was voicing in a more coherent and articulate manner ideas which were current in South Africa; in any case the Convention had been transformed into a permanent organisation. The problem with the Convention is that it was loose; not adequately representative of all four provinces and its tasks were not clearly defined.
The meeting of August 5 took the first steps in creating the new body, setting up a special Steering Committee. On November 13 a "caucus meeting" took place in Johannesburg. Plaatje again was among those who attended. He played a prominent role in the proceedings - being one of the three people (Seme and Makgatho were the other two) to whom votes of thanks were passed for their contributions.. Plaatje also made a closing speech "exhorting the members to be united". (it should be remembered that Plaatje was an active member of the Kimberley branch of the A.P.O., a Coloured organisation, before the ANC was conceived).
The proceedings on January 8 were opened with a speech from Seme. At the end of his speech he formally moved that the South African Native National Congress (as the ANC was then called) be established. This was the first time, he said, that "so many elements representing different tongues and tribes ever attempted to cooperate under one umbrella" and he emphasised the difficulties that they faced. The formation of the ANC though, was the "first step towards solving the so-called native problem, and therein lay the advancement of the dark races who had hitherto been separated by tribal jealousies", Seme's motion was seconded by Chief Joshua Molema, and he was followed by Chiefs Maama (Basutoland), Motlaka (Zoutpansberg), Makgalakgadi and finally by Dr. Rubusana, who also supported the motion in a powerful speech. The motion was then put to a vote, and passed unanimously with loud cheers, all delegates standing. The ANC thus came into existence.
Plaatje as Secretary General
The President-General of this new organisation was John Langalibalele Dube and Sol Plaatje became its first General (or Corresponding) Secretary. His many years of experience as a newspaper editor and spokesman for his people; his well-known capacity for hard work; his closeness to Cape, Orange Free State and Transvaal African politicians and ready access to the Union administration - these were some of the considerations for his election.
The name of the new organization became a bone of contention. Plaatje strongly believed that the ANC "be known by a distinctive name and a native name by preference". Although strongly supported by Joshua Molema, the meeting decided by a small majority to adopt the recommendation that the new organisation should be known as the South African Native National Congress. On his insistence the Executive Committee was authorised to remain behind to 'complete the unfinished work and review the constitution'. Plaatje again urged that the Congress's name be changed and he read a letter from Cleopas Kunene (who later became editor of Abantu-Batho, the ANC organ) who proposed the name "Imbizo Yabantu". Plaatje was again defeated and Section 1 of the revised constitution now read:
"The name of this organisation should be the South African Native National Congress".
Plaatje and the ANC leadership fought hard battles to establish the legitimacy of the ANC. As Secretary-General of the ANC, he took a leading role In mobilizing African opposition to the 1913 Native Land Act. From the time of its passage until his departure from South Africa as a member of a Congress deputation to England a year later, it was the overwhelming preoccupation of himself personally, of his newspaper and of the ANC as a whole. He was worried by the effects the Land Act was to have on the Africans but what moved him even more was the principle of territorial separation that the Land Act embodied.
Deputations were sent to Cape Town, protest meetings were held, letters written to the authorities. Plaatje was in strong favour of deputations - he did not like strikes. He and his colleagues believed it was essential to exhaust every constitutional option open to them. Plaatje addressed numerous meetings on the subject of Natives' Land Act, collected further evidence of its effects - he travelled throughout the Free State and Eastern Cape on a bicycle - and appealed for funds to pay for the delegation to England.
His journalistic work did not stop. In August 1912 he founded (for the third time) another newspaper Tsala ea Batho (The Friend of the People). This newspaper differed from its predecessor Tsala ea Becoana (The Friend of the Tswana) in that it had articles also in Pedi (besides English and Tswana) and hence the change of name.
In 1914 the ANC deputation was sent to England. On board to England Plaatje started writing what was eventually to become Native Life in South Africa. He typed in the mornings and evenings. He wanted it printed "immediately after landing in England".
In London they were met by the Anti-slavery and Aborigines' Protections Society (APS) which offered to "assist" the ANC delegation. But this Society had its own aim and own very definite ideas. J.H. Harris, the Society's Organising Secretary, explained to L. Harcourt, Secretary of State for Colonies that the Society's policy was "to use our (society's) influence in the direction of securing a modification of their (ANC's) original programme and an abstention from public agitation pending the exhaustion of every constitutional means open to them".
Harris therefore persuaded the delegates to replace the demand for the repeal of the Native Land Act with proposals instead for the modification and suspension of part of the Act. The APS arranged an interview for the delegates with Lord Harcourt on conditions that they confined themselves to the points laid out by the Lord and Harris. But the Colonial Office saw no reason for the presence of the APS representatives - as Harris wished - at the interview. This was a blessing in disguise. The ANC delegation was free from Harris's influence and supervision. They expressed their views In much stronger and forthright terms than Harris had prescribed. Lord Harcourt was not sympathetic. The APS was annoyed.
There emerged signs of differences of opinion amongst the delegates. They returned home. Plaatje remained to continue the campaign single-handed. He wanted to complete and publish his book about the Natives' Land Act. This decision was a product also of his anger at the way in which the APS had sought to control and therefore undermine the deputation's campaign in England. Relations between Plaatje and the APS were finally broken off at a meeting with J.H. Harris in August 1914 where Harris put unacceptable - to Plaatje - conditions: "a string of extraordinary restrictions and humiliating conditions". (It should be remembered that the Jabavu attitude towards the Native Land Act soured the relations which were up to then warm, between Jabavu and Plaatje - the two editors).
Plaatje spent two and a half years in England, addressing meetings in London, Yorkshire and Scotland - over 300 meetings, at times at the rate of one every two or three days.
His book appeared in May 1916 - 2 years after he had started it. He wanted to reach a far wider audience and explain the grievances of his people. The outbreak of the First World War somewhat sabotaged his plans. The APS attempted to suppress the book. Harris attacked Plaatje personally. The problems that faced Plaatje in Britain reflect themselves in the book. They were.
a) the intransigence of the British Government and its officials;
b) the hostility of the APS, a society supposedly devoted to the interests of "native races" of the empire - but it pursued a vicious attack on one of the leading representatives of South Africa's black population.
The theme of the book was that the Land Act is a "tyrannical enactment" that represented the triumph of "Boer principles" over British notions of "fair play and justice"; the Africans - "loyal British subjects" are being crushed by the Boers. Besides the above stated reasons for this stance we should remember that Plaatje's antipathy was directed towards the Boers -- his antipathy towards the Boers, who he knew very well in the Orange Free State increased. "Dutch inhumanity" was his favourite phrase and subject. This "Dutch inhumanity" was counterpoised to "British justice" hence pride in being "loyal British subjects" or "loyalty to the King". The influence of missionaries is easily traceable here and that of Cape liberalism as well. But this was not all. Plaatje and his contemporaries saw this as a tactic. They had strong views on the oppression of their people. Perhaps the problem here was that of correctly identifying the enemy. Those days the Africans thought that the Boers were the only enemy and they identified the clash of interests between Boer and Briton; they thought these could be used to our advantage; therefore let us win over the British to our side so that they can help us against the Boers. History and experience had to teach the vital lesson that things are not all that simple.
Plaatje as a Linguist
The campaign against the Natives' Land Act was the main reason for Plaatje's stay in England. Indeed it was his preoccupation throughout. His stay in England provided opportunities in several other directions. He contributed to Professor I. Gollancz's book: Tercentenary Book of Homage to Shakespeare published in 1916 as part of the celebrations surrounding the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. The New Statesman thought Plaatje's essay was "the most touching of the 166 contributions".
Plaatje also worked on two books in Tswana: Sechuana Proverbs with Literal Translations and their European Equivalents and Sechuana Reader, a phonetic analysis of Tswana language, with reading texts. The latter was written in collaboration with Daniel Jones, a lecturer in the Phonetics Department at the University College, London.
These books, in contrast to Native Life, a political book, were a product of Plaatje's cultural identity as a Tswana rather than his political identity as a black South African. There Is no contradiction between the two positions. They spring from a common commitment to the defence of a way of life that was being threatened on several different fronts. Political rights and cultural integrity are complementary aspects of a wider whole.
His aim, he said, "is to save from oblivion, as far as this still can be done, the proverbial expressions of the Bechuana people, who Inhabit the Bechuanaland Protectorate, Southern Rhodesia, the Northern Division of the Cape Colony, Including Griqualand West, the whole of the Orange Free State and the Western half of the Transvaal".
Plaatje regarded the preservation of Tswana as an urgent and Important matter and nobody could be more suited to do that than a former Interpreter. He possessed a prodigious memory and compiled over 700 proverbs In England. These proverbs embody the experience of a people dependent for their livelihood upon hunting and the keeping of cattle - with emphasis on caution, patience and courage e.g. when hunting a lion; social institutions of the Tswana society like the nature of chieftainship and authority; men's perception of the position of women In that society and vice versa.
This was not just an act of "cultural nationalism". There were political motivations for Pleatje's preoccupation with the Tsawana language. He wanted also to correct some of the stereotypes In colonial literature: the Tswanas were being portrayed as "peace loving" and "timid". Plaaje replied:
"Historians describe the Bechauana as the most peace-loving and timid section of Bantu. Their statements however, do not seem to be quite In accord with the facts; for, fighting their way south, from Central African lakes, some of the Bechuana tribes became known as "The People of the Sharp Spear".
Plaatje asserted the viability, integrity and the worth of his own culture. African languages - although we must acknowledge their limitations in expression of abstract ideas - are fully equipped for the expression of thought and ideas. They show the similarity of pastoral societies in general. By demanding a recognitions of his own culture and stressing Its universality Plaatje was de facto fighting against concepts about the "backwardness" of African languages. These concepts are motivated by racial rather than comparative or historical explanations of cultural phenomena.
Worried about Tswana orthography which was then In a chaotic state - Plaatje blamed this to the refusal of the missionaries to work with capable Tswana speakers. He noted:
"It is comforting to know that this anomaly is confined to Sechuana and that Zulu, Xhosa and Basuto worshippers have no worry. That beautiful and elastic South African language - the Xhosa - is the result of a blending together of various dialects. The work was carried out by missionary writers with native assistance. Seauto literature owes its present state of perfection to native cooperation with missionary bodies working in Basutoland".
Plaatje, Makgatho and others from Thaba N'chu were more often than not bypassed by missionaries when It came to discussions on Tswana orthography. They felt bitter about It and were against Tswam being "massacred" - to use Plaatje's term - by missionaries.
Plaatje was interested in emphasising the variety and adaptability of the cultural forms that existed amongst his own people and utilising the opportunity presented to him to commit these to written form. He contributed to Tswana literature and phonetics.
Plaatje Returns Home
Plaatje returned to South Africa in early There was a warm welcome and a number of receptions organised in his honour. The ANC organised a "variety concert and social gathering" in his honour in Kimberley at the end of March 1917. Several speakers expressed their appreciation of the work Plaatje did in England. Rev. P.E. Kuze, told of how he had met Plaatje in London in 1916 and "saw some of the hard work he had put in, by speaking and writing, to enlighten the English people as to the condition of the natives of this country". Rev. C.B. Liphuko, similarly thought that Plaatje had "proved himself a hero". John Dube, the ANC President-General, sent a telegram regretting his inability to leave Cape Town as he was watching the Native Affairs Administration' Bill now before Parliament. Plaatje himself had spent two weeks in Cape Town in connection with it before returning to Kimberley. He called it a "horrible Bill" and was worried about the triumph of "Dutch ideals over English institutions".
From 1914 to 1916 the ANC had largely refrained from any criticism of the South African government as a demonstration of their "loyalty to King and Empire" in the war against Germany. But in October 1916 at a meeting in Pietermaritzburg the ANC became critical of the Report of the Beaumont Commission. This was in connection, again, with the Land Act. Plaatje arrived in South Africa a few months after this meeting and immediately launched himself into the campaign against the bill. He wanted to lobby the English-speaking members of Parliament in Cape Town. His book was quoted frequently in Parliament. The Natal members of Parliament were also against the bill but for wrong reasons: some felt the bill set aside too much land for African occupation in comparison with other provinces! They were not against the bill on questions of principle.
It was at the annual conference of the ANC in May/June 1917 at Bloemfontein that Plaatje made what the Rand Daily Mail called a "vicious attack on the Government" which "practically sounded the tocsin of a black v. white propaganda". At this conference Plaatje was offered the presidency of the ANC but he turned it down. But he did agree to serve as a senior vice-President. John Dube and Selope Thema, President-General and Secretary-General respectively, were forced to resign. This was in connection with some misunderstanding in connection with their mission in London. For three weeks the ANC was without President until S.M. Makgatho was appointed President on June 23rd.
In June 1917 Plaatje was arrested in Johannesburg and charged, according to his words, "with infringing half a dozen of the multifarious regulations by which Natives are surrounded in this country".
Sol Plaatje and the working class
Sol Plaatje was a representative of the emergent African intelligentsia. When he and the ANC delegation consisting of Selope Thema, Mvabaza and Gumede went to Britain in 1919, the African working class was beginning to organise itself. In Britain they met the hard-headed officials of the Colonial Office and Lloyd George, the Prime Minister, seemed to have been more afraid of the threat of Bolshevism and Garveyism than anything else.
It was the socialist movement and the British working class that gave Plaatje and his delegation a warm welcome and reception. PIaatje used this occasion to produce an eight page pamphlet entitled "Some of the Legal Disabilities suffered by the Native Population of the Union of South Africa and Imperial Responsibility". In December 1919 he embarked on a tour of Scotland lecturing under the auspices of the Independent Labour Party. Interviews with him appeared in left-wing newspapers, including one by Fenner Brockway. In a long piece on "The Colour Bar" the Communist Workers' Dreadnought (1, January, 1920) commented that the ANC deputation had been well received by many sections of the labour movement and it "will return to South Africa ... to build up the International Socialists, a solid organisation of black and white workers working together, without distinction of 30 colour, race or creed, to wrest the power from the capitalists and to establish the African soviets".
The problem with this assessment is that Plaatje knew very little about "Soviets" and therefore had no intention of establishing "African soviets". Indeed he was hostile to what he called "black Bolsheviks of Johannesburg" and was prepared to make sure that his dear Kimberley was the last place "these black Bolsheviks of Johannesburg" will pay attention to, "thus leaving us free to combat their activities in other parts of the Union". He complained about their activities at an ANC congress in Bloemfontein:
"The ten Transvaal delegates came to the Congress with a concord and determination that was perfectly astounding to our customary native demeanour at conferences. They spoke almost In unison, in short sentences, nearly all of which began and ended with the word 'strike'."
This explains why Plaatje disliked Johannesburg and its "strikes". He did not want to commit Congress to strike action.
Plaatje died In Nancefield, Johannesburg on June 19, 1932. South Africans of all ethnic groups attended his funeral. Rev. Mahabane said of him:
"A great patriot, he devoted his great talents to the service of his people and country. In this service he did not spare himself, but worked day and night. He lived not for himself, but for others, and ultimately laid down his life on the altar of national Interests". Further tributes followed in the press in the succeeding days and weeks, in South Africa and internationally. In Umteteli wa Bantu of June 25, 1932 H.E. Dlomo wrote:
"A great, intelligent leader; a forceful public speaker, sharp witted, quick of thought, critical; a leading Bantu writer, versatile, rich and prolific; a man who by force of character and sharpness of intellect rose to the front rank of leadership notwithstanding the fact that he never entered a secondary school... Never have 1 found him autocratic, contumacious, or narrow of outlook. Whatever subject he touched upon ... was treated with a brilliancy, humour, ability and finish that at once surprised and captivated, inspired and humbled me".
This was no exaggeration. Three years later a tombstone was erected on the site of his grave In Kimberley. It stands to this day. On it is inscribed the following:
Ikhutse Morolong: Modiredi wa Afrika
Rest in Peace Morolong: Servant of Africa
His Achievements
Solomon Tahokisho Plaatje led an exceptionally full and varied life: at various times he was an assistant teacher at a mission school; post office messenger; court interpreter, newspaper editor and journalist, political leader, social worker and educator, writer and novelist - he was the first African to write a novel Mhudi In English though It received a superficial and often patronizing treatment. A man of Immense talent and ability, Plastje rose by his own efforts to become, during his life time, one of the best known black South Africans of his generation; he was in the forefront of his people for the greater part of his adult life. One of his greatest achievements and contributions were in the sphere of Setswana language and phonetics. His life had been in Its range of Interests, activities and achievements - a remarkable one, especially when one considers that he left school at Standard 4. He contributed to our political history, history of the press and literature. When one considers the difficulties, discouragement and financial embarrassment throughout his adult life his achievements assume a new perspective.
He worked hard and with persistence and determination to serve the Interests of his people. He served the interests of his people - In a narrower and broader sense of the word - in conditions and circumstances that were most trying. This gave unity and sense of purpose to Plaatje's many-sided life and career.
The contradictions that existed in Plaatje's speeches and behaviour reflected the real contradictions that existed In the South African society. These contradictions did not distract him from his consistency and sense of purpose and direction. This was his strength and perhaps limitation as well. We say "limitation" because his beliefs were overtaken by events and changes in South Africa. He never really understood (or he disliked) the emergence of the working class hence his dislike for Johannesburg. He never came to terms with these realities or their permanency or the new loyalties they produced.
Plaatje did not become conservative with age; he was consistent right through his values, beliefs and philosophy - were overtaken by forces over which he could ultimately exercise no control. He lived in an age that was complex. But his political beliefs and aspirations were valid and realistic in terms of his own experience and theories. He has to be understood in the context of the times in which he lived.
One of his greatest contributions to our struggle is that he, together with his colleagues, established African political opinion as an autonomous factor in its own right in South African history. This tradition is being pursued and developed by the ANC and not Mangope. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the ANC we remember Sol Plaatje and all founding fathers of the ANC.
He was afraid that "radical ideas" might lead to victimisation: he did not want to be in the "bad books" of the Government. He was preoccupied with the land, the countryside, and regarded the workers as "displaced rural cultivators". He never came to terms with the new reality or permanency of these changes or the new loyalties they produced.
The problem here is that the emergent African intelligentsia was unwilling to align itself with the emerging working class. They either sought new ways of serving the interests of the people or found alternative outlets for the expression of their energies and ability.
Plaatje was witty and humorous. Once when rebuked for ingratitude by a government representative and told to remember "all the blessings the white man has bestowed upon you", Plaatje replied: "I do; I always do especially brandy and syphilis".
What caused Plaatje's frustrations?
Perhaps, the financial embarrassment or loss of his manuscripts or the destitute state of his family after his return from abroad, especially from America.
On October 22, 1920 Plaatje left Liverpool on a ship bound for Quebec and Toronto where he spoke from the same platform as Marcus Garvey. He went to New York, the headquarters and stronghold of Garvey's movement and also to smaller towns like Buffalo. The enthusiasm and interest of black Americans in what Plaatje had to say was overwhelming. He sold his books including : The Mote and the Beam. The contact with Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois was interesting in another dimension. It offered Plaatje the opportunity to send his address to the Third Pan African Congress in September 1921 which was read by Dr. Du Bois on his behalf.
But one problem he could not overcome was financial embarrassment. Even when he returned to London in August 1922 this problem was with him. He was stranded abroad without a return ticket, his wife was suffering at home and his daughter died while he was abroad. In November 1923 he finally returned home. He sold his furniture and even the printing press. But the people of Kimberley bought him a house in appreciation of his work.
But one important lesson he learnt from his trip abroad was that the future we being of his people would have to be fought within South Africa and that new strategies would have to be devised to come to terms with the realities of the South African situation.
But in subsequent years Plaatje became more involved in education, temperance work of the Independent Order of True Templars (IOTT) and even edited their journal "Our Heritage", and economic enlightenment of his people through the bioscope: a fragile old cinema projector and films for entertaining lepers in asylums. All this voluntary work left Plaatje even more seriously impecunious. This was perhaps as a reaction to his lack of success in politics in a country which was becoming more industrialised and he regarded himself as a spokesman of the inarticulate rural Natives". At this time he became a prolific writer: he finished two biographical essays of 19th century Rolong chiefs, wrote a history and traditions of the Bhaca, translated into Setswana Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet - the manuscripts for his Shakespeare translations got lost. He wrote other books on Setswana Folk Tales and translated Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors which he called Diposho-posho.
Source: Sechaba, December 1981
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