Senkatana is one of eight volumes in the Africa Pulse series from Oxford University Press, new translations (in many cases, the first translation) into English of classic southern African literary texts. It's a fine project; the translations read like original works (as literary translations should: in translating literary texts, competence and verve in the target language are the most vital criteria for success) and the books are beautifully produced. Mofokeng's play is the only drama text out of eight, sitting alongside seven novels and a poetry anthology, but this is not as surprising as it might seem, as the predominant language of drama in southern Africa has been English.

Sophonia Machabe Mofokeng was a South African Mosotho, writing in Sesotho, who published just two volumes (the play and a collection of short stories) before his death from tuberculosis in 1957, aged 34. A collection of his essays was published posthumously. He was a member of the New African Movement, a term used to describe African intellectuals and creative artists who intervened in the construction of modernity in southern Africa. As Ntongela Masilela puts it, this aspiration left members of the movement faced with ‘a profound historical conundrum whether it was possible to embrace European modernity while struggling against its hegemonic forms which expressed themselves through colonialism and imperialism’ (Ntongela Masilela, ‘The New African Movement: The Early Years’ n.d.: 1). The movement was, consequently, highly vocal in the anti-colonial and antiapartheid struggles; as well as appearing prominently in the pages of Drum magazine, it was a major influence in the establishment of the ANC Youth League. As I discuss Mofokeng's play, the relevance of his participation in the Movement may not at first be clear, but I shall return to it at the end of this review.

Senkatana has as its starting point the Sotho legend of Kgodumodumo, the people- and animal-devouring monster who is slain by a young hero, thus releasing all the humans and creatures it had swallowed, who are still alive. The hero becomes king, but some of the people turn against him and depose him, the motivations for which treachery vary from one telling of the legend to another: an open-endedness that well suits Mofokeng's purpose.