Leetile Disang Raditladi

Leetile Disang Raditladi
Born1910
Serowe
Died1971 (aged 60–61)
NationalityMotswana
Occupation(s)poet and playwright
Known forRaditladi Basin on Mercury, which was named after him

Leetile Disang Raditladi (1910–1971) was a Motswana playwright and poet. He was born in Serowe and got his education in Tiger Kloof, Lovedale and Fort Hare University. A prolific author, he had his first book, a biography of Khama III, accepted for publication while still in high school at Lovedale. This book was later quashed by the Bechuanaland Protectorate authorities and was not published.[1]

He was banished from the Bangwato Reserve in 1937 after Tshekedi Khama, the Bangwato regent accused Raditladi of adultery with his wife as well as for conspiring to bewitch him. After that Raditladi served as a colonial service clerk and quickly became the highest ranking Motswana in the Protectorate. Following his experiences with Tshekedi, Raditladi wrote his historical drama Motswasele II, his most famous work. The major theme of this work is with royal despotism and the perverted results of such tyranny.[2]

In 1944 the Batawana Kgosi Moremi III asked the British to appoint Raditladi as the head of the Tsetse Fly Control agency in Ngamiland. As such he became the first Motswana to head a government department. Two years later, Moremi appointed him Tribal Secretary. This appointment occurred just before Moremi's death, following which the chief was succeeded by his wife, the regent EP Moremi. Raditladi and the Regent, both foreign-born, exercised tight control over Ngamiland and quickly aroused resentment. Their clandestine love affair also become public knowledge. In late 1950 the Regent was forced to abort Raditladi's child, an event that led Raditladi's opponents to drive him out of Ngamiland at gunpoint.[3]

During the 1940s Raditladi was instrumental in establishing the sport of soccer in Botswana, and was behind the formation of leagues in both the northern and southern parts of the country.[4]

In 1958 after his return to Serowe, Raditladi founded the Bechuanaland Protectorate Federal Party. Raditladi had for years been writing political newspaper columns under the pseudonym "Observer", but his journalistic abilities did not translate into successful politics. After his party was eclipsed by other nationalist movements he moved to the sidelines and played a minimal role in the run up to independence in 1966.[5][6]

Raditladi wrote several historical plays, love stories and poems.[5] In 2008 a large impact crater on Mercury was named Raditladi after him.[7]

  1. ^ J. Peires, "The Lovedale Press: Literature for the Bantu Revisited," History in Africa 6 (1979): 168-70.
  2. ^ D.T. Cole, review of Motswasele II, Africa 17, 1 (1947): 65
  3. ^ B. Morton, "L.D. Raditladi, E.P.Moremi, and the Malcontent Revolt in Ngamiland." 2015. https://www.academia.edu/15554548/L.D._Raditladi_E.P._Moremi_and_the_Malcontent_Revolt_in_Ngamiland
  4. ^ Morton, "LD Raditladi, EP Moremi and the Malcontent Revolt." https://www.academia.edu/15554548/L.D._Raditladi_E.P._Moremi_and_the_Malcontent_Revolt_in_Ngamiland
  5. ^ a b Charles Rey; Neil Parsons; Michael Crowder (1988). Monarch of all I survey: Bechuanaland diaries 1929–1937. James Currey Publishers. pp. 262–263. ISBN 978-0-85255-016-8.
  6. ^ Senekal, B.A. (2006). "Biografische gegevens". Retrieved 2 December 2009.
  7. ^ "Mercury Features Receive New Names". NASA. 28 April 2008. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2009.