Mmegi30yrs: Selefu in his own words
Correspondent | Tuesday September 2, 2014 12:08
The death of editorial independence at the state-owned Daily News culminated into me having to go on a hunt for a place to continue with my passion political analysis through satirical imagery.
Government journalists tend to self-censor themselves after numerous subbing that guards against government criticism. You cannot bark at, or bite the hand that feeds you, and Mmegi is no exception.
My hunt for this place begun when Mmegi had just moved from Serowe under the project of Education with Production patroned by Mr. Patrict van Rensburg.
Then youthful Editor, Metlhaetsile Leepile was also looking for freelance writers and cartoonists from around the country to foster the theme of Education with Production. This attracted the likes of Billy Chiepe, Lepekola, Steve Mogotsi and any other upcoming talent. As a Civil Servant, I was uncomfortable about the idea of joining a private newspaper, and preferred to continue with the censored Daily News.
Leepile had insisted that I could do the cartoon for Mmegi, as well as the Daily News stating that as an artist I was entitled to syndicate my artwork. I Eventually relented 1986 and started to cartoon for both papers, Mmegi under the pseudo-name of Botobo.
It was not long that the Director of Information and Broadcasting called me to order and told me to stop cartooning for Mmegi. However my immediate supervisor, having known along that I cartooned for both papers advised me to continue under a different pseudo-name and that was when Selefu was born.
Selefu was is the other name for my grandfather Simon Tobane Seisa, a Mosotho gentleman who came to Bechuanaland in the 1860’s under the invitation of his friend and Lovedale College mate Prince Sekgoma Kgama.
The man was later to be hired as a secretary-public relations officer and interpreter (together with Reverend Willoughby of the London Missionary Society) for the three chiefs, Khama 111, Bathoen 1 and Sebele 1 who were to go to England to ask for Bechuanaland to be protected by the British Crown against Boer insurgents.
The three Chiefs were seeking protection against the colonial and exploitative plans of Cecil John Rhodes and the British South African Company and the Amandebele marauders from Rhodesia.
I had now found a home for independent satirical comment around 1986 and the cartoons became popular just as they had been in the Daily News. At that time they were hurriedly made but I was pining for the thoroughness and completeness of artistic finesse and talent of Ranan Lurie, a famous millionaire United States cartoonist of repute.
His work covered the international scene going to an extent of interviewing and cartooning grand politicians like Chairman Mao Tze Dung to scary dictators like Field Marshall Idi Amin of Uganda, Muammar Ghadafi of Libya and General Polpot of Cambodia just to mention a few of the political and international spectra he covered.
In October 2003, under the joint leadership of the young Editor Sechele Sechele, and Managing Editor Titus Mbuya the Mmegi newspaper made a huge tranfrom weekly to become a daily paper, and I conveniently abandoned cartooning for the Daily News. To me, the arrangement of cartooning for the two publications caused pain in that an imaginary policy would question the allegiance to a private and a government newspaper. After fully joining Mmegi, I now had to think on my feet without losing the thoroughness of detail that I had always pined for.
My Experience in the cartooning for the Mmegi has been challenging as I almost covered the early years of its origins to its hey days today. When I was working for the government, I had to do the cartoons after hours so as not to attract accusations of conflict of interest.
I have had to cooperate with the graphics and the photographics sections and work later when I was still employed as a civil servant. For any newspaper I prefer to work with with Editors to avoid the any paper being sued from unbalanced and unexplored and unsubstantiated satirical commentry.
My independent analysis has had very little interference from the editorial wing and my artistic limits have been expanded to such an extent that I am free to use any media. Recommendations continue to pour out from all quarters and I have mentored the likes of Tebogo Motswetla of Mabijo, Vusi Nyoni of Tsiripo, Raymond Nkwe of Toto. Today the media is full of other upcoming artists using the new technology not to mention young turks like Albert Lekgaba who did cartoons for the Botswana Gazzette. With the growth of Mmegi my cartoons have evolved to great heights of exposure demanding more from me to look for other avenues, and fresh angles for political and satirical imagination.