Veteran actor and playwright Khotso Nkhatho reminisced on days gone by in radio and television while delivering his eponymous lecture at the Welkom campus of Central University of Technology in Free State this week.
Nkhatho, a teacher by profession who was awarded an honorary doctorate in communication and language by the same university in 2020, honed his writing and acting skills in school and community plays as student and later as a teacher.
Widely credited with contributing towards promoting the Sesotho language through two books he penned, Nkhatho recalled the days when the public broadcaster had language and cultural advisors for every production.
“Sadly, I know that this is not always happening today,” said the 69-year-old from Mmamahabane in Ventersburg.
Famous for his role in Mopheme, a Sesotho TV drama, Nkhatho has written 10 dramas for the public broadcaster.
“I have observed over the years that our indigenous languages are indeed an endangered species … but who are the real perpetrators of the mutilation and killings of our beautiful language?”
“When you have a platform like radio, and you are a radio presenter and your use of the language is suspect … what do you expect your listeners to think? Unfortunately, many presenters nowadays are demoting our languages to the gutters.
“I’m appealing to our broadcasters on radio and TV … please do not kill our souls by allowing this injustice to carry on,” he said.
He also lamented the dearth of the dramas on TV.
“Remember, I started writing by writing a radio drama. Let there be more dramas, please, instead of only one soapie where the beneficiaries are almost the same year in and year out.
“The churches also have a role to play to promote our language the same way they are promoting English … it has become fashionable for a Mosotho preacher to preach to the whole congregation of Basotho in English and have a Mosotho translator translating into Sesotho,” he said.
Nkhatso, whose parents were both teachers, assured those in attendance that he is not lost to writing books, saying that he has found a new publisher.
“There is a huge gap in the publishing space as the market is overflowing with poetry books to the detriment of other genres like drama, which is my passion.”
He celebrated how some young people are committed to preserving Sesotho through music. “There is an emerging sense of pride in my language. There is a genre of music that is gaining momentum called Tshepe, which is Sesotho hip-hop,” he said, crediting Lesedi FM presenter Nyakallo “Ba2cada” Leine for the effort.
“We now have well-known artists such as Ntate Stunna, Malome Vector and an up-and-coming artist Khotso Skelepane Ladesa, which we as the Dr Khotso Nkhatho Foundation have adopted.”
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