Kemuel Edward Ntsane

Kemuel Edward Ntsane was a prominent Mosotho poet, novelist, and teacher. He is regarded as one of the most significant figures in Sesotho literature during the mid twentieth century. More recently, he became known for his 1963 novel, Nna Sajene Kokobela, C.I.D., which was adapted into a Sesotho TV drama in the 2001 starring Sello Motloung.

Life

Ntsane was born in Kolojane, on the border of the Leribe and Berea districts in what was then Basutoland. His parents, Chaka Ntsane and Evelina Ntsane, were Bakwena. The son of a schoolteacher, Ntsane was educated in local primary schools before attending Morija Teacher Training College between 1935 and 1939. Following graduation, he began teaching at Roma and then Maseru High School. Ntsane married Julia 'Machaka, a fellow teacher, in 1945, and went on to have four children.
In 1947 Ntsane joined the UCL Institute of Education, specialising in the teaching of English as a foreign language. While in London he and his wife met Gladstone Llewelyn Letele, a linguist, and his wife, Thomas Mofolo's daughter. During the 1950s he became an insurance agent before moving to Swaziland to take up a teaching post, and then returning home to teach once again at Roma before joining the Lerotholi Technical College as an English and mathematics teacher.
By the 1960s, Ntsane had joined the civil service and from 1970 until his death in 1983 he worked for the independent government of Lesotho as Hansard editor.

Works

Kemuel Ntsane's publications span two decades, from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. Among his earliest work was an anthology of poetry, 'Musapelo I, which was followed by a second volume in 1961. In these poems, Ntsane introduced satire into Sotho poetry alongside the extensive use of rhyme. The setting for his poems cover both his home and neighbouring South Africa, exploring topics such as apartheid, migrant labour, and Christianity. In satirising the myth of racial superiority, Ntsane explored themes that other writers from the region often avoided.
His first novel, Masoabi: ''Ngoan'a Mosotho 'a Kajeno, narrates the transformation of the Basotho through industrialisation. In 1963, he published Nna Sajene Kokobela CID, a detective story set in the years following the Second World War that centres on an investigation into ritual murders, a theme previously explored in novels by A.S. Mopeli-Paulus and Sebolai Matlosa. The novel explores the effect of conscription on the Basotho, who returned home to be rewarded with bicycles while their white counterparts were granted land.
Ntsane's other books include a novel for young readers, Bana ba Roma, a biblical drama, Josefa le Maria, a collection of essays, Makumane, and Mohwebi wa Venisi'', a translation of The Merchant of Venice.