Dr Silas Modiri Molema
Born
Silas Modiri Molema

c. 1891
Mafeking, South Africa
Died13 August 1965(1965-00-00) (aged 73–74)
Mafeking

Dr Silas Modiri Molema (c. 1891 – 13 August 1965) was a South African doctor, politician, activist, and historian.

Life

Silas Modiri Molema was born around 1891 in Mafeking, South Africa.[1] His father was an important Barolong tribal chief, Silas Thelensho Molema. Molema began his education in South Africa, before moving to Europe in 1914.[2] He graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Glasgow in 1919, going on to practice medicine at the Hume Street Hospital in Dublin, Ireland.[1] While in Glasgow, he published his most important work dedicated to the origin and history of the Bantu.[2][3] Molema returned to South Africa in 1921 he worked as a doctor in his home town of Mafikeng.[2]

In the 1940s he joined the African National Congress, and in December 1949 he was elected national secretary of the party. He later served as treasurer.[4]

In 1952, during the preparations for the festival celebrating the tricentenary of the landing of Jan van Riebeeck, he delivered a famous speech in front of the audience of the South African Indian Council[5] inviting those present to oppose the celebration by the white minority of the colonial past.[6]

He was part of the Legislative Council, the transitional political body established by the British colonial authority during the process that led to the independence of South Africa. He had a prominent role in the administrative bodies of the Protectorate of Bechuanaland, taking part in the independence process resulting in the foundation of the Republic of Botswana.[4]

Molema married Anna Moshoela around 1927. He later re-married, to Lucretia. He died on 13 August 1965.[2]

Publications

  • The Bantu Past and Present: An Ethnographical and Historical Study of the Native Races of South Africa, Green, Edinburgh 1920 ( ISBN 9789353860929 - reprint 2019)
  • Chief Moroka: His Life, His Country and His People, Methodist Publishing House, Cape Town, 1951
  • Montshiwa 1815-1896: BaRolong Chief and Patriot, Struik, Cape Town, 1966[4]

References

  1. 1 2 "University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of Silas Modiri Molema". universitystory.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Papers of Silas Modiri Molema - HPRA". historicalpapers-atom.wits.ac.za. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  3. ↑ Starfield, Jane (1 September 2012). "'A Member of the Race': Dr Modiri Molema's Intellectual Engagement with the Popular History of South Africa, 1912–1921". South African Historical Journal. 64 (3): 434–449. doi:10.1080/02582473.2012.670506. ISSN 0258-2473. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 "Dr Silas Modiri Molema". South African History Online. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  5. ↑ Witz, Leslie (2003). Apartheid's festival : contesting South Africa's national pasts. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 144. ISBN 9780253216137.
  6. ↑ Rassool, Ciraj; Witz, Leslie (November 1993). "The 1952 Jan Van Riebeeck Tercentenary Festival: Constructing and Contesting Public National History in South Africa1". The Journal of African History. 34 (3): 447–468. doi:10.1017/S0021853700033752. ISSN 1469-5138. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
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