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Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje (1876–1932) is one of South Africa’s best known political and literary figures, his novel  Mhudi  now part of the literary canon. Yet his  Mafeking Diary , written during the siege of Mafeking, one of the best known episodes of the South African War of 1899–1902, has been surprisingly neglected. In this article I suggest that this may have to do with the indeterminate status of the genre of the diary, and the fact that it does not fit in easily with a nationalist narrative that has privileged the political. In arguing for its importance, I look at the social and intellectual influences that helped form Plaatje’s world view as reflected in the diary; the circumstances in which he wrote it; his reasons for writing it; who he envisaged would read it; how its nature and form were affected by the events that went on around him; the choices he made about what to include and what to omit; the literary models upon which he drew; the linguistic choices he made; the opportunities the diary provided to develop not only his literary skills but a wider sense of self.

Revisiting Sol Plaatje’s Mafeking Diary