●       Written by volunteers at Upright African Movement

Some individuals help shape a nation’s identity, yet their names gradually fade from public memory even as their work continues to influence generations.

Such is the story of Gabanthate Molosi, an early Motswana writer of many books (Help us find copies for exhibition!) whose contribution to Botswana’s literary heritage deserves renewed recognition. 

For many years, Gabanthate Molosi has remained largely absent from discussions of Botswana’s literary history. Yet archival evidence tells a different story.

In December 1926, “The Chronicle of the London Missionary Society” published his article, “Before the Missionaries Came: A Scene in Bechuanaland.” Introducing him to its readers, the editor noted:

“Mr Molosi has been a student at Tiger Kloof and Lovedale. He has written this article to give readers of The Chronicle some picture of life in South Africa before the missionaries came.”

Those few lines announce more than the arrival of a new writer. They reveal one of the earliest documented examples of a Motswana author (from Bechuanaland Protectorate) writing for an international audience about his own people and their history. This was before the Republic of Botswana existed.

At a time when most published accounts of Bechuanaland were written by missionaries, colonial administrators, and European travellers, Molosi offered something profoundly different: an African perspective. Rather than allowing others to define his people, he became a narrator of his own society.

His essay is remarkable not only because of who wrote it, but because of what it sought to preserve. Through vivid descriptions of the kgotla, praise poetry, war songs, communal life, and the customs that shaped Tswana society, Molosi documented a world that existed long before colonial rule and missionary influence. He portrayed a people with established institutions, traditions, systems of governance, and deeply rooted cultural values.

His title, “Before the Missionaries Came,” carries its own quiet significance.

It reminds us that Botswana’s story did not begin with the arrival of Europeans. Long before missionaries crossed the Kalahari, Batswana had built communities governed by law, enriched by oral literature, sustained by shared customs, and guided by leaders whose authority rested on the participation of their people.

In choosing this title, Molosi challenged a prevailing colonial narrative that measured African societies only from the moment they encountered Europe. Instead, he affirmed that Bechuanaland possessed a rich history worthy of being remembered on its own terms.

Equally striking is the humanity of his writing. Molosi does not merely describe historical events; he captures the emotions that accompany them.

We hear the songs of warriors, feel the anxiety of mothers awaiting the return of their sons, witness the dignity of communal gatherings, and glimpse the rhythms of everyday life.

His work reminds us that history is not simply a record of dates and events. It is the story of people, their hopes, fears, struggles, and aspirations.

For historians, his essay provides an invaluable window into how an educated Motswana of the early twentieth century understood his own society.

For literary scholars, it demonstrates that Batswana were not simply subjects of literature written by others. They were already authors of their own history.

Importantly, Before the Missionaries Came was only one of Gabanthate Molosi’s writings.

Many Batswana who attended school during the 1960s and 1970s remember studying his work in classroom readers. Through those lessons, generations of students encountered Botswana’s history and culture through the words of one of their own.

His writing therefore became part of the education of a young nation, helping to shape historical consciousness and cultural pride during a formative period in Botswana’s development.

His contribution deserves renewed scholarly attention. There is every reason to search archives, libraries, school readers, newspapers, and family collections for additional writings.

Recovering these works would not simply honour one individual. It would deepen our understanding of Botswana’s early literary tradition and restore an important voice to the nation’s cultural record.

History sometimes forgets those who first opened doors. Literary traditions are often remembered through a handful of celebrated names, while earlier pioneers fade from view despite laying the foundations upon which later generations build.

Gabanthate Molosi’s legacy also lives on through his family. His niece, Gosego Nnananyana Molosi, was a teacher and writer who continued the tradition of using education and literature to nurture generations.

She was, on her mother’s side, also the niece of Kgalemang Tumediso Motsete, composer of the Botswana national anthem.

Gosego Nnananyana Molosi’s child, the acclaimed Motswana writer, playwright, and actor Donald Molosi, represents another continuation of this remarkable family tradition.

In remembering Gabanthate Molosi, we do more than reclaim a forgotten author. We reclaim a part of ourselves as Batswana.