09/10/2026
Sol Plaatje (9 October 1876 – 19 June 1932)
Today we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sol Plaatje, a writer, journalist, translator, political leader and linguist. His only novel, *Mhudi*, which was written in 1919 and published in 1930 is recognised as being the first novel written in English by a black South African.
Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje was born in Doornfontein near Boshof in the Free State on 9 October 1876. When he was five, the family relocated to the Lutheran Mission Station in Pniel near Kimberley. After finishing his education at Pniel, he moved to Kimberley, where he worked as a messenger. He continued to study languages, becoming fluent in several, including isiXhosa, Sesotho, Setswana, English, Dutch and German. In 1898 he became a court interpreter in Mafeking. After the South African War broke out, he turned to journalism, reporting for the Mafeking Mail. During the siege of Mafeking he kept a diary which was later discovered and published posthumously in 1973 as *The Boer War Diary of Sol Plaatje*.
From 1901 to 1906 Plaatje worked for the newspaper Koranta ea Bechuana, later becoming its editor. After the paper was closed down, he became a labour recruiter for the mines, leaving Mafeking for Kimberley.
After the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, Plaatje became in involved in politics. In 1912 he became secretary of the African Native National Congress, (later the African National Congress). In 1914 he led the ANNC’s delegation to London to meet with the King of England to protest the 1913 Land Act. During this trip, he wrote *Native Life in South Africa*, which documented the harsh treatment of blacks under the Land Act. After this book was published in 1916, Plaatje returned to South Africa. In 1919, he led a further delegation to Britain to protest the Land Act
Between 1920 and 1923 Plaatje travelled through Canada, the US and later Britain. During these years he wrote articles and pamphlets and gave lectures on the situation in South Africa. After this he returned to Kimberley where he continued as journalist but played a less active role in politics.
In 1930 his only novel, *Mhudi*, which he began several years earlier, was published. *Mhudi* is a historical novel set in the 1830’s when a young Barolong man, Ra-Thaga is driven from home by the Matabele under Mzilikazi. During his escape he meets a young woman, Mhudi. Together they overcome several obstacles in the harsh terrain on their way to Thaba Nchu where survivors from other Barolong communities have gathered. Here they meet up with a party of Boers. Later both groups join forces to drive out Mzilikazi and his warriors. Ra-Thaga is injured in battle and is eventually saved by Mhudi. As a novel, *Mhudi* has drawn a lot of critical attention for its merging of storytelling with western literary forms and its modern view of traditional African society.
From his school days, Plaatje loved Shakespeare’s plays and translated several of them into Setswana.
Plaatje died in 1930. In 2004, he was posthumously awarded the Order of Luthuli (Gold) for “dedicating his adult life to the cause of restoring the dignity of oppressed South Africans”. He is commemorated in the Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley and the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award, among others. His works remain read and studied, with several biographies and works of criticism. At Amazwi, there is a statue of three pencils, with the opening lines of three South African novels: *Cry, the Beloved Country* by Alan Paton, *The Story of an African Farm* by Olive Schreiner, and, *Mhudi* by Sol Plaatje.
Images of just a few of the many books by and about Plaatje.
