The man behind 'mabijo'

| Friday April 9, 2010 00:00

 

He speaks of Mabijo with great passion that one would think he was speaking of a real life character. Anyway, he has got every reason to do that, as the cartoon is his own brainchild. The child he has nurtured so well in the past two decades and still loves to see it grow in the coming years. According to Motswetla, the idea of doing a cartoon started after finishing his Form Five at Moeng College back in 1988. 'I loved art from a very young age and wanted to continue being an artist after finishing school,' said Motswetla. Fortunately for him, he was posted to the then Department of Information do to his national service (Tirelo Setshaba) and this is when he brought his idea to life as the cartoon strip started appearing in the Daily News, which fell under the department.

The Serowe-born cartoonist says after finishing his year-long service at the department, he went on to study Art and English at the Molepolole College of Education (MCE) where he continued to do the cartoon for the government newspaper. Speaking of Mabijo Motswetla said he came up with the character out of some imaginative creativity. He wanted Mabijo to be an outstanding figure and his creativity helped him achieve exactly that. He said he named Mabijo after one of his uncles' nickname. 'I have an uncle who used to be a boxer and he called himself Mabijo, so I decided to name my cartoon character after him as I admired my uncle very much,' he said.

Motswetla said he managed to sustain Mabijo for a very long time because of his passion for art. He said a cartoonist never runs out of ideas as the cartoon is centred around current affairs even though sometimes it can be just pure fun. He said Mabijo got a good reception from Batswana as it grabbed the readers by its strong local humour that has not change over the years. 'Mabijo is loved by a lot of people because the cartoon uses common Setswana jokes, fitting them into current events easily interpreted by anyone,' Motswetla said. He said he always takes into consideration people's perspectives and avoids controversial issues when designing his cartoon.Despite the success over the years, Motswetla said he encountered some challenges along the way, 'My main challenge when I started was that I was not a full-time cartoonist. I had a full-time job as a teacher and sometimes it was difficult for me to meet newspaper deadlines. I however worked hard to make sure I always had a cartoon ready for publishing,' he said. He also said he had some problems when he went for further studies overseas some years back.

The former Mannathoko JSS and Lotsane Senior teacher studied Graphic Design (Illustrations) in the United Kingdom from 1997-2000, a course, which further enhanced his knowledge and understanding of fine arts. He says back then it was not easy to access email, and he was forced to do a bulk of cartoons and leave them behind so that the cartoon could continue to be published in his absence. He says this proved to be difficult, as he could not design relevant cartoons capturing current affairs as he had planned to do. However, being the hard worker that he is, he says he would do a lot of cartoons while on holiday in the country and Mabijo never ceased to appear in the paper.

Unfortunately, Mabijo stopped publishing in the Daily News in 2003, after 14 long years in the government owned publication. He said by then the cartoon had grown to become part of most people's lives, with some Batswana going to an extent of naming children Mabijo or even calling themselves by the nickname. He attributed the massive popularity enjoyed by the cartoon to its local humour and easy accessibility, as it appeared in a paper that was distributed free of charge countrywide.

Mabijo then went on to be published in colour in The Monitor, then Mmegi Monitor in 2003 and fans of the famous cartoon continued to enjoy it through the weekly. The cartoon strip continues to appear every Monday in this paper. Apart from newspapers, Motswetla said he was also able to use the cartoons for educational purposes as he produced some educative pamphlets for primary school curriculum. Despite his success, Motswetla noted that the cartoon industry has not evolved much probably due to the restrictive market in local newspapers. He said he has seen some cartoonists emerging only to fade away quickly after a short-lived success. 'This industry needs determination, hard work and patience. There is a lot of talent locally and I think they can develop to be good artists if they do not give up easily,' he said.

In future Motswetla says he would like to keep producing the cartoon strip. He however noted that with evolving technology, he plans to make animated Mabijo cartoons once he launches a website. The website, which is at an advanced stage, will be launched together with a booklet on May 1 as part of Mabijo's 21st anniversary celebrations. The booklet will then be circulated twice a year.

After the longevity and popularity Mabijo has had over the years, Motswetla noted that he will not be in the industry forever. 'I won't be in this industry forever. I would love to work with potential artists and also have the opportunity to mentor them,' he said. Motswetla recently returned from Australia where he pursued a Masters' Degree in Digital Design. He is employed by the University of Botswana (UB).