Ditaodišosengwalo tša bokgoni.

Abstract

English: The objective of this investigation is to conduct research into the authors of Sepedi essays (and their works) whose essays display elements of excellence. The works that are investigated include only essay collections that were published between 1968 and 1996. The investigation has shown that the excellence of this type of literary text is derived from the skill that is evident in the construction of their plots and on the internal arrangement of the essays themselves. The research uses the three methods of comparison, definition and interpretation for analysing the Sepedi essays. The purpose in comparing the essays is to identify the similarities that exist among them. The definition of the essays demonstrates that the essays function as literary texts. The interpretation that follows comparison and definition enables the researcher to show and emphasise the distinctive abilities and talents of the authors of this selection of Sepedi essays. The researcher defines the meaning of the term “essay” in order to provide the reader with a basis for understanding the concept as it is used in this research. An essay is accordingly defined as the way in which a single theme is used in different situations. The researcher argues that an essay is “excellent” when the author of the essay uses language in such a way that he or she inspires enthusiasm and interest in the reader. In her definition of the concept “essay”, the researcher makes specific reference to the type of essays with which this research deals. She also deals in the text with the three layers or components that make up an essay, namely content, plot and style. The totality of the plot is contained by the following four elements: (a) title, (b) introduction, (c) body, and (d) conclusion. This chapter concludes with a typology of essays, namely: narrative essays, explanatory essays, descriptive essays and self-reflective essays. These are the kinds of essays on which this research is based. The research also makes special mention of Mabitje’s essays because it has been shown that his essays are based on five parts, four of which represent the seasons of the year. It is notable that while Mabitje used three different methods of narrating his essays, he only wrote narrative and self-reflective essays. Selwalekgwadi produced a collection of essays which comprises five essays. The title of his collection is based on a unique language. While some of Selwalekgwadi’s essays belong to the category of narrative essays, others may be classified as self-reflective essays. Makopo, on the other hand, produced ten essays which are narrated by means of songs and recitations. Because the purpose behind Makopo’s essays is educational, the dominant theme of these essays is democracy. While some of Makopo’s essays can be classified as narrative in style, others are more descriptive. Although the essays produced by Mabitje and Phala are based on different themes, their messages are similar, and they are all based on what was happening around them when they were written. An analysis of these essays shows that they all belong to either the narrative or descriptive categories. Chupyane’s collection of essays deal with topics that occurred a long time ago. Because they describe the traditional roles of women in their society, Chupyane’s essays are essentially self-reflective. This investigation has produced convincing evidence that there are only a few authors of Sepedi essays whose work may be described as excellence because the signs of excellence of presence, in each case, in (a) the topic of the essay; (b) the introduction to the essay; (c) the body of the essay; (d) the conclusion of the essay, and (e) the handling of the type of essay chosen by the author. The Sepedi authors who distinguished themselves by producing essays that are excellent in each of these components during the time frame under consideration are Mahapa, Mabitje, Selwalekgwadi, Makopo, Phala and Chupyane. Because all of the six essays selected by the researcher for this investigation demonstrate excellence in each of these elements, they meet all the criteria for excellence as defined in this research. This research further demonstrates the exceptional skills of Mahapa, Mabitje, Selwalekgwadi, Makopo, Phala and Chupyane by analysing selected passages from the essays of the authors concerned. These analyses focus on various elements in the content, plot and the style of the essays. The unique talents and distinctive abilities of the Sepedi authors who are the subject of this research are supported by an analysis of selected quotations and particular examples from the essays by Mahapa, Mabitje and Chupyane. Sepedi: Ngwaga wa 1943, go ka thwe ke ngwaga wo bohlokwa kudu mo historing ya ditaodišosengwalo tša Sepedi. Taba yeo e bolela gore ke ngwaga wo kgoboketšo ya mathomothomo ya ditaodišosengwalo tša Sepedi, Mengwalo (`Essasys’) Puku II ya go ngwala ke E.K.K. Matlala, e gatišitšwego la mathomo ka wona. Go tšere lebaka le letelele gore bangwadi ba bangwe ba ditaodišo tša Sepedi ba gate mehlaleng ya Matlala ya go godiša dingwalo tša mohuta wo tša Sepedi. Mathata a a hlalošwa ke Thokoane (2006:4) ge a re: Go ka thwe bangwadi ba sengwalo se ba itemogela mathata a a itšego ka go tšweletša mohuta wo wa sengwalo. Taba yeo e thekgwa ke go ba gona ga sekgala se segolo gare ga ditaodišosengwalo tša mathomo le tšeo di di hlatlamago. Ge a iša pele gona letlakaleng leo o gatelela go re: Go tla lemogwa gore go fetile lebaka la mengwaga ye 24 pele Mengwalo (‘Essays’) Puku ІІ 1943 e hlatlangwa ke kgoboketšo ya go bitšwa Ditaodišo ya go ngwalwa ke Masemola, ya go gatišwa ka ngwaga wa 1967. Morago ga ditaodišo tše tša Masemola bangwadi ba ditaodišosengwalo ba go swana le Mahapa, (1968). Mabitje (1976), Selwalekgwadi (1994), Makopo (1995), Phala (1995), le Chupyane (1996), ba tšweditše pele mešomo ya Matlala le Masemola ka go ngwala tša bona dikgoboketšo tša ditaodišosengwalo. Ka ge mešomo ya boraditaodišo bao e le bohlokwa, go yo lekolwa bokgoni bja bona.