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Sebolai Matlosa (25 December 1915–?) was a Masotho novelist and playwrite. He is sometimes referred to by his Christian name, Sylvanus.

Matlosa is best known for his 1965 novel, Mopheme, which was adapted into a Sesotho TV drama in the 1980s starring Kgotso Nkgatho.

Mopheme became a radio/tv drama - https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-star-south-africa-late-edition/20130429/282067684433561

Complete works

Matlosa, Sylvanus. 1946. Molahlehi. Morija: Sesuto Book Depot.

Matlosa, Sylvanus. 1950. Katiba. Mazenod: Mazenod Book Centre.

Matlosa, Sylvanus. 1965. Mopheme. Johannesburg: Willem Gouws.

Notes

Maphike, Pule Ranaileng Stephen (1991). History of southern sotho literature as system, 1930-1960 (PhD thesis). University of South Africa.

199 - In 1946 S. Matlosa published his novelette, Molahlehi (The Lost One). Sebolai Matlosa was born of Matebi and 'Malisebo Matlosa on the 25 December 1915, in Mafeteng. His father was a self-employed traditional Mosotho herdsman. He had two elder sisters and a brother. He tells that he was naughty like any other child, and liked teasing his sisters. His father...

200 - died while he was still very young. When his elder brother also dies on the Maluti, his mother left him under the care of his uncle (her brother) and her own younger sister, with whom she left provision for him. In his own words, "they squandered all, and starved me. I had hard times; but I forgave them". He always yearned to have a house of his own, and his own "fine family."

He lived under the English who, he maintains, were very poorly disposed to the Basotho. His drama, Katiba, written many years later, is a reflection of the high-mindedness and self--centeredness of the Basotho chiefs, each wanting to be above the rest. He also intimates that, as will be seen later, his second novel, Mopheme (The Silver Fox), was inspired by his own life's circumstances.

Matlosa obtained all his education at Healdtown, i.e. Std VI, NTL (3rd Year), Junior Certificate, and Matriculation. He taught for many years at the Masitise Secondary School, in Quthing.

Matlosa's novel, Molahlehi (The Lost One), starts by relating somewhat ludicrous encounters of the leading character's traditional Mosotho father in strange western circumstances, whence he had gone to seek employment. Moloi (1973:108), however, feels that the author "digressed and missed his original intention", but does not state the "intention". The story is about a young man, Molahlehi, who is sent to school by his struggling parents, with words of encouragement and strong warning to keep out of trouble. No sooner does he arrive there than he is taken up with the ways of the Johannesburg "bright boys. 11 They get into trouble with school authorities for poor performance in class and persistent fraternising with girls. When they are expelled together, Molahlehi proceeds with them to Johannesburg, where he gets into all kinds of trouble with women and the law. He ultimately finds a "Miss Right" in the person of Sainyaka, his friend's cousin. They get legally married, and he is bent on making amends by formalising the marriage with his parents. Before he can do so, he is struck on the head with some missile by any angry White man, who mistakes him for a thief who stole his fowl.

More analysis on page 201 onwards

202 - Matlosa's second novel Mopheme (The Silver Fox) was published many years later, in 1965, five years into the modern era in Sesotho literary development, the period of "eventual diversification, with considerable zeal on the part of authors in the RSA" (Swanepoel, 1987:101 ).

As the writer himself says, it reflects greatly on his own upbringing by his maternal uncle and aunt. It is the story of a boy whose mother, the elder wife in a bigamous union, dies under mysterious circumstances. An ambush is set for him and his wealthy father by the second wife who connives with his father's bosom-friend. He escapes on his fast horse, Tobaka, and is brought up by an aptly named poor man, Mothusi, and his wife. In his late teens, after secretly learning all the secrets of nature, animals, plants and man, he sets about retrieving his rightful wealth (livestock) and avenging his father's death. Disguised as a witchdoctor, he effects the expulsion of his father's killers, Baratang and Mokopu, from the village, thereby setting the stage for his revenge. They take refuge in another chief's (Phefumoloha's) village. Tshitso (the leading character), disguised as Metsi (a lunatic) learns all he needs to learn for each of his various moves. When he has retrieved all his livestock, under various disguises, he marries his "hunter's" daughter...

203 - Tlholohelo. He then comes into the open and forgives Baratang and Mokopu, who symbolise his maternal aunt and uncle.

The theme in this book ( and, indeed the plot) is glaringly different from Molahlehi . He transcends local social codes, and goes to the universal concept, Justice. The idea of punishment for crime, and reward for bringing a criminal to justice, are given prominence with no recourse whatsoever to biblical moralisation. This is one of the distinctive characteristics of the publications of the post 1960 period. Viewed from another angle, the theme is the denunciation of polygamy.

Gérard, Albert S (1971). Four African literatures: Xhosa, Sotho, Zulu, Amharic. Berkeley: University of California Press.

159 - Katiba (Mazenod, 3d ed., 1964), a very popular drama by a Catholic writer, Sylvanus Matlosa, who was born at Mafeteng on 25 December 1915 and who now teaches at the Masitise Secondary School (Quthing).

161 - The ending of Molahlehi (The Lost One [1946]), by Sylvanus Matlosa, who was born on 25 December 1915, is significant in this respect. The title character is lured into leaving college before completing his course by the attraction of the city; he goes to Johannesburg with a few of his friends. They mix with young delinquents and start living dissolute lives. The purpose of the book is clearly to emphasize the importance of formal education and the dangers of city life for the benefit of young readers, but after a number of misadventures, Molahlehi is killed by a white man over a fowl that he is alleged to have stolen. Now that Lesotho has become an independent kingdom at the mercy of the overwhelming power—economic and otherwise—of the Republic, this mildly belligerent trend is likely to be discontinued in favor of purely edifying, less controversial issues.

Lesaoana, Mpho Blandina (2009). The Place of N.M. Khaketla's Selected Plays in the Development of Sesotho Drama (PDF) (MA thesis). National University of Lesotho.

19 - In Matlosa’s play, chief Katiba is advised by one...

20 - Phothoma who is a traditional doctor, to murder one citizen Sekhoali. Matlosa demonstrates that this practice is oppressive to people. He is not only protesting the murdering of people, but he is also trying to show that these ritual killings consequently bring chiefs and their accomplices into trouble. That is, it leads to self-destruction as it was the case with Katiba whose right-hand men are arrested, while he is haunted by the late Sekhoali till he dies. This means that he loses everything; the chieftaincy he wanted to protect and even his life. Through this play, Matlosa also cautions people against the danger and the hypocrisy of traditional doctors who are sometimes eager to be paid regardless of the consequences of their prescriptions.

Mda, Zakes (2009). "The Pink Mountain: Landscapes and the Conception of a Literature of Public Action". Journal of the African Literature Association. 3 (2): 97–109. doi:10.1080/21674736.2009.11690109.

98-99 - The greatest inspiration came from the Sesotho writers such as J.J.Machobane, Thomas Mofolo, Masechele Khaketla, B.M. Khaketla and Sebolai Matlosa. The latter was a neighbor from whose butchery we bought our meat when I was a teenager. Mopheme, his novel of scoundrels and pimpernels was well-beloved by my peers and was serialized as radio drama that had a wide following in Lesotho and in all parts of South Africa with Sesotho-speaking communities.

Maake, Nhlanhla (2006). "Watermarks in the Sesotho Novels of the Twentieth Century". Research in African Literatures. 37 (3): 65–82.

75 - Sebolai Matlosa was a contemporary of Khaketla. According to Ngcangca, he was born in 1913 in Mafeteng, Basutoland. He grew up and went to school there, and then proceeded to Healdtown in the then Cape Colony, South Africa, to study for a teacher's certificate. Thereafter he took teaching jobs in various places in South Africa, before he returned home to Basutoland to continue teaching. He...

76 - was also a keen photographer, a hobby he took up in his youth. The novel by which he is renowned, Mopheme, was published five years after the publication of Mosali a Nkhola. Matlosa's other works that preceded this novel include another novel, Molahlehi (1946), and a drama, Katiba (1950).

Matlosa's work Mopheme is perhaps the most underrated Sesotho novel. The plot is structured along the line of Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel, though there are no obvious traces of derivation. Matlosa deals with the problems that were often brought about by polygamy, but unlike his contemporaries, he does so not necessarily from a didactic point of view nor from a purely Christian and monogamous perspective. As a result, his theme does not overshadow the plot. Bigamy or polygamy is only a starting point. As soon as the plot takes off in full and swift flight as it does, the theme of bigamy or polygamy is relegated to the memory of the reader and deliberately forgotten by the narrator.

Lesokolla is a wealthy man who decides to marry a second wife, Baratang, who turns out to be a strong and domineering matriarch in all respects. She dominates and marginalizes the first wife, Botle. The former becomes the source of problems in Lesokolla's household. Matlosa stretches the conflict beyond the run-of-the-mill quarrels between two jealous wives by creating a liaison between Baratang and a man called Mokopu. This contrasts with the more idealized idea of woman, which is typical of early writings in Sesotho. They both plot Lesokolla's death and succeed in executing their conspiracy. Tshitso, the only son of the first wife, escapes death narrowly. He then disappears from the scene. For a while, Baratang and Mokopu seem to thrive, after inheriting Lesokolla's wealth of cattle and sheep. But then a disaster strikes when they begin to lose their livestock to a mysterious thief who seems to single them out as a target. All attempts at catching the elusive thief fail...continues to 77