Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8bljj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-15T17:38:40.487Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2023

Get access

Summary

Leetile Disang Raditladi was born in Serowe, the land of the Bangwato in Botswana, in the year 1910, to parents Disang Raditladi and Nkwana Rantshosa, in the Ngwato royal house.

Raditladi started his education at Serowe Primary School and later enrolled at the Tiger Kloof Educational Institution near Vryburg in the present-day North West Province. He completed his matric at Lovedale College, then went on to study towards a Bachelor of Arts at the South African Native College which later became Fort Hare University, in eDikeni (Alice) in the Eastern Cape. He could not complete his studies and had to return home.

In 1937, Raditladi was accused by Tshekedi, the interim chief of the Bangwato, of having an affair with and impregnating his wife. The conflict between the two men shaped Raditladi's writing in a major way. Some of his poems were born out of this discord. In the poem “Motlhokagae” (Raditladi 1975: 6), Raditladi lays bare his feelings about Tshekedi's accusations; he laments being framed and how his people believed his accuser.

His first writing assignment was a biography of Khama III which was accepted for publication when he was still a student at Lovedale College. Regrettably, the government of the Bechuanaland Protectorate at the time put a spanner in the works and that project never got off the ground. There was sufficient reason to believe that Tshekedi obstructed the publication, since Raditladi was accused of using the manuscript to cast aspersions on Tshekedi. Unfortunately for Raditladi, Tshekedi was quite influential and powerful at that time.

Raditladi's love of writing and language first became evident when he wrote for the newspaper Naledi ya Batswana circa 1940, while he was working for the National Administration Council. He wrote a column for the paper under the pseudonym ‘Observer’. Among the many inspirations for his writing was his involvement with the revival of the Francistown African Employees Union in 1952, and his later role as the founder of a political party called the Bechuanaland Protectorate Federal Party; this party changed its name to the Liberal Party in 1959. Raditladi was made a chief by the Ngwato Tribal Administration in Mahalapye in 1959, where he died in 1972. Being involved in politics and in traditional leadership, as well as being harassed and victimised by Tshekedi, shaped Raditladi's writing.

Type
Chapter
Information
Motswasele II , pp. xix - xxvi
Publisher: Wits University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×