Bennett Makalo Khaketla

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Bennett Makalo Khaketla (* 1913 in Qacha's Nek , Basutoland , now Lesotho ; † 9. January 2000 in Maseru , occasionally Bennet Makalo Khaketla ) was a Lesotho politician, writer, linguist , journalist and teacher. He wrote most of his works in Sesotho .

Life

Training and teaching posts

Khaketla began his training as a primary school teacher in Basutoland, but then moved to South Africa , where he obtained his Primary Teacher's Certificate in Mariazell in 1932 . He taught from 1933 to 1939 at St. Patrick's Anglican School in Bloemfontein and subsequently at other schools in South Africa and Basutoland. In 1942 Khaketla earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Africa by distance learning . He taught at the Morija Training College in Morija , where he met his future wife 'Masechele Caroline Ntšeliseng Ramolahloane . In 1946 they married. From 1946 to 1950 he was employed for the first time - together with his wife - at Basutoland High School (now Lesotho High School) in Maseru . In 1950 they had to emigrate to South Africa for political reasons, where he found a job as headmaster of Charterson High School in Nigel in 1951 . In 1952 the couple was able to return to Basutoland High School.

Political career

Khaketla was Councilor in the Maseru District and a member of the Basutoland National Council in the late 1940s . Together with the Pan-African politician Ntsu Mokhehle , the South African Zephania Lekoane Mothopeng and Maile Emsley Maema, who was then a member of the Basutoland Progressive Association , he published the political newspaper Mohlabani ("The Warrior"), which was printed in Cape Town with the help of the South African Patrick Duncan has been.

Khaketla was a member of the Mokhehles party, the Basutoland African Congress founded in 1952 (later Basotho Congress Party). In 1961 he fell out with other party members with Mokhehle, whom he accused of having an authoritarian leadership style, and founded the Basutoland Freedom Party (BFP). During this time he attended a seminar for potential Third World leaders at Harvard University's Center for International Studies. In 1962 the BFP merged with the royalist Marema Tlou to form the Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP), and Khaketla became its general secretary . In the 1965 election , however, the MFP was largely unsuccessful.

In 1964 he was first chairman of the council of the University of Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland . After the results of the 1970 election were canceled by the government of Leabua Jonathan ( Basotho National Party ), he was placed under house arrest like many other opposition activists and was no longer allowed to hold political offices under Jonathan. After the military coup in 1986 and the temporary increase in power of King Moshoeshoe II, who was close to him , he took over the office of Minister for Justice and Prisons. However, he was soon released. After the return to democracy and the 1993 election , he ran in the same constituency as Ntsu Mokhehle and lost high to him.

Literary work

In 1947 Khaketla's play Moshoeshoe le baruti (" Moshoeshoe and the Missionaries") came out. In 1951 his first novel, Mookho ea thabo (roughly: " Tears of Joy ") was published. In the 1950s he also published the short story Tholoana tsa sethepu (for example: "The fruits of polygamy ") and the play Bulane . During this time he also wrote the collection of poems Lipshamathe (for example: "Amazing Matters") and two textbooks on the language and grammar of Sesotho. As a result, his works became more critical; he mainly wrote anti-colonialist writings. In 1960 his novel Mosali a nkhola ( something like : "The woman is cheating on me") was published in Johannesburg .

1972 appeared in the United States with Lesotho, 1970: a coup under the microscope his account of the behavior of the Jonathan government in 1970. In 1989 he published his new translation of the Bible into Sesotho.

family

Khaketla had five children with his wife, including the mathematician 'Mamphono Khaketla , who was born in 1960 and served as Minister of Education from 2007 to 2012 and as Minister of Finance in the Mosisili IV cabinet from 2015 to 2016 and Foreign Minister from 2016 to 2017. Bennett Makalo Khaketla died in 2000 of a cancer .

Awards

Works

  • 1947: Moshoeshoe le baruti
  • 1951: Mookho ea thabo
  • 1954: Tholoana tsa sethepu
  • 1954: Lipshamathe
  • 1958: Bulane
  • 1960: Mosali a nkhola
  • 1972: Lesotho, 1970: a coup under the microscope
  • 1989: Bibele (translation)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , pp. 134-137.
  2. ^ A b Social and literary history: Lesotho. marabout.de from June 1, 2018, accessed on March 24, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Khaketla, Bennett Makalo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Khaketla, Bennet Makalo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Lesotho politician, writer and teacher
DATE OF BIRTH 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Qacha's Nek , Basutoland , today Lesotho
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 2000
Place of death Maseru