It's not you, it's the system.

I had a conversation with my sister last night, hence this article.

I write novels in Setswana, a Southern African language. I also do editing and literary translation from English to Setswana. I wasn't always writing in my mother tongue. My work as a journalist and my first book, a short biography of Sol Plaatje, was in English. However, it's my work in Setswana that won for me almost every prize that's awarded for African language literature in South Africa.

It's the same work that took me across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to the lands my ancestors only dreamed of and earned me writing residencies. It's the same work that has been taught at some universities for over a decade and has now made it to postgraduate studies. It's the same work that has paid many bills in our household. However, I have family members and friends who cannot read my novels because they cannot read our language.

Do I blame them? NO. It's not them. It's the system.

We all know what I mean by "the system." I was fortunate to have lived in the village of Matsheng in Taung, North West, South Africa, from the age of one to seventeen. Almost everyone in the village spoke the same language and lived according to Setswana culture and customs. When I came to read about proverbs and idioms in school, I had already known them from the community that brought me up. I did not only read about "letsema" and "mafisa" as concepts in textbooks. I saw these important practices sustain my community in Matsheng village.

The colours of cows were not brown, black, etcetera. They were khonou, nana, or thokwa. Rains were medupe, matlakadibe, sephai, and so forth. You see, not many people had the opportunity to grow up in a community like that. It's on that basis that I tell my people who cannot read my novels, "It's the system, not you. Don't be hard on yourself."

I'm happy though that there are enough people in the few countries in Southern Africa who appreciate and read Setswana literature, watch Setswana drama series on the screen, and dance to Setswana songs. The numbers of fellow writers who express interest to see their works being translated into their mother tongue  are steadily growing.

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Note:  Sabata-mpho Mokae’s next novel, "Lefatshe ke la Badimo" ("The Land belongs to our Ancestors") will be released on October 9th, 2025.

It is a historical novel set in 1913 when the Whites-only parliament of South Africa passed a law called the Natives Land Act through which the White minority got to own eighty-seven percent of South Africa's land, leaving South African natives with only thirteen percent. In 2025, majority of South Africa's land is still in the hands of the White minority.

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Champion Services Travel is going to South Africa March 12-23, 2026.