Prof. Sipho Seepe
Sir Winston Churchill’s description of an incomprehensible situation as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma…” could easily apply to the life and untimely passing of Dr. Gomolemo Mokae.
Dr. Mokae has proved to be an enigma in several ways. While many individuals are known to be the greatest achievers in one area of study, skill, or specialisation, Dr. Mokae emerges as an outlier.
Dr Mokae was a medical doctor, poet, social and political activist, and author wrapped in one. The jury is still out on whether this was an inborn talent or an outcome of dedication. What is certain though is that Dr Mokae belongs to the ilk of cadres and shining lights like Frantz Fanon and Steve Biko whose interests and passion combined the political with the medical, the sociological with the literary, and commandeered all these into a total struggle against colonialism and apartheid. His views were unflinching and enriching as he could always bring a new perspective to things.
Second, while many of his colleagues preferred to migrate to the leafy suburbs where they could comfortably hide behind gated environs, Dr. Mokae chose to remain in the townships where he could serve his people well. As an activist, he took to heart Sekou Toure’s counsel that “to take part in the African revolution, it is not enough to write a revolutionary song; you must fashion the revolution with the people. And if you fashion it with the people, the songs will come by themselves and of themselves.”
While not damning those who did not, Dr Mokae held a view that a revolution cannot be optimally prosecuted by an “artist or for the intellectual who is not himself concerned with, and completely at one with the people in the great battle of Africa and of suffering humanity.” He lived to this creed to the end.
Third, at a time when state-sponsored black-on-black violence was at its height, Dr. Mokae refused to succumb to the politics that pitted one African against another. His adherence to the Black Consciousness Movement did not prevent him from working with those from the so-called Congress movement. He easily found comfort in the presence of the likes of Winnie Mandela, even at the time when she was being shunned by her own.
Dr Mokae understood that the bullet of the apartheid assassin did not discriminate on whether one was a member of Azapo or that of the United Democratic Front. Dr Mokae heeded the advice of fellow writer Mtutuzeli Matshoba. In speaking of black people’s collective grief Matshoba wrote: “For what is suffered by another man given my eyes is suffered also by me. The grief he knows is a grief that I know. Out of the same bitter cup do we drink. To the same chain gang do we belong”.
Fourth, for a man who was a qualified doctor, Dr. Mokae lived a simple life. His pecuniary-challenged lifestyle owed much to the fact that he couldn’t turn away any patient on account of lack of money. It is no accident that he was called the people’s doctor. Indeed, some may have taken advantage of his big heart.
Fifth, as publicity secretary of the Azanian People's Organization, Dr. Mokae had no equal when engaging in public debates with other political parties. He conducted his engagement gracefully. For him, it was never about winning a debate. He used the platforms to advance the black consciousness philosophy. He believed in the power of the oppressed to determine their destiny. As a result, he would not have been a candidate for affirmative action practice.
Sixth, Dr. Mokae believed in his Africanness and the role that African languages could play in the dignity of people of African descent. To that extent, he was ahead of his time when he chose to write in both seTswana and English.
In recognition of his contribution to the empowerment of African people and his illustrious life of achievement, Dr. Mokae was awarded an honorary doctorate by Vista University.
The citation in support of the awarding of the degree noted that “Dr Mokae is an ardent and active promoter of African languages. This is remarkable at a time when trends favour English writing. His published works, which vary in genre and language, range from novels, poetry, drama, short stories, and TV and radio plays, namely, The Secret in my Bosom, Masego, Kaine le Abele, Short not Tall Stories, Nnete ke Serunya and Go Thebe-phatshwa. Three of his TV dramas have been broadcast by the SABC: Gaabo Motho, Lesenethini ( It’s a Goal), and The Secret in my Bosom.”
The degree was conferred on the back of other awards such as the Maskew Miller Longman’s African Literary Heritage Award twice for Masego and Kaine le Abele, and the Bertrams V.O. Literary Award for Nnete ke Serunya.
In April 2003, Dr. Mokae was one of the recipients of the ‘Nation Builder Award’, presented by Batho Batsho Bakopane.
Dr. Mokae's brilliance, humility, and intellectual courage were on display when he wrote the biography of Robert McBride. I serendipitously found myself drawn to ensuring that this biography saw the light of day. I had invited Dr. Mokae to give a graduation address. As he was leaving after completion of graduation, Dr. Mokae favoured me with a manuscript that he had worked on.
It was only after being appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic two years later that I stumbled upon the manuscript while clearing my desk. The manuscript was difficult to put down. After inquiring how far he has gone to get the work published, Dr Mokae pointed out that none of the mainstream publishers wanted to touch it. I promised to get the manuscript published.
Because of the quality of research that went into it, I asked a few luminaries in English to evaluate the work and advise whether it could pass for a doctoral qualification. The reviews were ravingly positive.
In her remark, Professor Rosemary Gray, the Honorary Life President of the English Academy wrote. “The [manuscript] is an important one in the history of South Africa for it tells a story that needs to be told. What is commendably new (about the manner of telling the story) is that the method is that of a community of griots among whose number is surprisingly from the leading character himself, thus the oral mode shifts almost imperceptibly from teller to told about, and so, from a biographical to an autobiographical mode.”
In my summation of the project, I argued that considering the controversy that the name Robert McBride invites, Dr. Mokae could not have chosen a more daunting and courageous project for a biography.
For one, there will be those who will read in the biography a celebration or valorisation of violence. Yet to others, it will be a story about a courageous person who refused to find an easy accommodation with oppression and racial injustice. But for the truth-teller, no subject was too low and too high to be tackled.
In a more profound sense, the biography is a South African story, one that is likely to evoke emotions. It is a story about how cheap black and coloured lives were and still are in South Africa.
Robert McBride – A Coloured Life, is ultimately a story of heroism, of pain, of hope against all odds, and finally of the triumph of the human spirit over injustices and adversity. It is a story of a triumph against the most evil system devised in our times.
It remains a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the complexities and nuances of South Africa’s racial past, the struggle against white domination, and the many challenges facing the new society.
The master storyteller is no more. The man with many talents is no more. Even in death, he will remain an enigma. We are fortunate that he left us with products of his incisive mind and razor-sharp intellect. We shall forever miss his infectious laughter. Go well my brother, my comrade. You have run the race. And you have kept the faith.
* Professor Sipho P. Seepe is a Higher Education & Strategy Consultant.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.