Solomon tshekisho plaatje biography

Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje was born on 9 October in the Boshof district of the Orange Free State. His parents were Christians who belonged to the Setswana-speaking Barolong tribe.

Solomon tshekisho plaatje biography

About the time he was born, his parents moved to the Pniel mission station of the Lutheran Berlin Mission Society, near Barkly West, and it was there that Plaatje received his only formal education, a few years in the elementary grades.

He remained at Pniel for several years as an assistant teacher, studying further with the aid of the missionaries. In he went to Kimberley, where he found work as a postman, continued his private studies, and eventually distinguished himself on the civil service examinations.

On the eve of the Boer War he was sent to Mafeking as an interpreter, and during the siege of Mafeking in - he acted as both court interpreter and clerk to the Mafeking administrator of Native affairs. He was proficient in at least eight languages, including German and Dutch