Silas Molema

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]

• 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]