A New Motswasele? Leetile Raditladi’s Troubled Tenure as Batawana Tribal Secretary, 1946- 1952

By Barry Morton
Abstract This article details the tumultuous fi ve-year period when the renowned Tswana author Leetile Raditladi served as tribal secretary of the Batawana. During this period Raditladi became the de facto leader of the Batawana, working in conjunction with the female Regent Elizabeth Pulane Moremi. Raditladi’s autocratic behaviour and his sexual liaison with the regent led to the emergence of a secretive faction known as the ‘Malcontents’ who took steps to end his tenure. After several years of intrigues, the Malcontents eventually removed Raditladi from the Batawana Reserve by force. Given that Raditladi’s most famous work, Motswasele II, is a critique of chiefl y tyranny, his very own actions during the only time in his life when he held real power are highly ironic.

Introduction
Leetile Raditladi (1910-1971) is still regarded as one of the Tswana language’s foremost poets and writers, being particularly renowned for his epic historical drama, Motswasele II, published in 1945. Not only was he Botswana’s fi rst published fi ction author, but he also achieved many other distinctions during his lifetime. He was one of the fi rst Batswana to graduate from university after attending Fort Hare, and later became the highest-ranking African member of the Bechuanaland civil service during the 1940s. In 1959 he formed the country’s fi rst nationalist political party, the very short-lived Bechuanaland Protectorate Federal Party. His accomplishments also went far beyond these spheres. Raditladi also spearheaded the formation of the country’s fi rst football and tennis leagues in both the southern and northern parts of the country, while he also promoted numerous public cultural events. Although we have only the bare bones of a biography to go by in the form of Boikhutso’s 1985 BA research essay, it is nevertheless clear that he was among the most eminent Batswana of his era and was a major fi gure across colonial Botswana (Bechuanaland Protectorate). On a personal level, he was well-dressed, athletic, dashing and witty, and was a real ladies’ man.

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