‘I mention Sol Plaatje as an example of the ability to weave between the different languages and cultures, and to contribute through writing, literature and journalism, to the betterment of the lives of South Africans.’ – Professor Kader Asmal

Mhudi is a historical romance of epic scale that tells the story of a courageous and beautiful Barolong woman who risks her life to save her husband. The story is set in the 1830s, during the time of Matabele Chief, Mzilikazi’s attempt at exterminating the Barolong people.

Considered to be a very important contribution to early South African literature, Mhudi is believed to be the first English novel written by a black South African.

Mhudi, the first full-length novel in English by a black South African, was written in the late 1910s. A romantic epic set in the first half of the nineteenth century, the main action is unleashed by King Mzilikazi's extermination campaign against the Barolong in 1832 at Kunana (nowadays Setlagole), and covers the resultant alliance of defeated peoples with Boer frontiersmen in a resistance movement leading to Battlehill (Vegkop, 1836) and the showdown at the Battle of Mosega (17 January 1839). Plaatje's eponymous heroine is an enduring symbol of the belief in a new day.

First published in 1916 and one of South Africa’s great political books, Native Life in South Africa was first and foremost a response to the Native’s Land Act of 1913, and was written by one of the most gifted and influential writers and journalists of his generation. Sol T. Plaatje provides an account of the origins of this crucially important piece of legislation and a devastating description of its immediate effects.

Sol T. Plaatje is one of South Africa's most important political and literary figures. A pioneer in the history of the black press, he was one of the founders of the African National Congress, a leading spokesman for black opinion throughout his life, and the author of three well-known books: Mafeking Diary, Native Life in South Africa, and his historical novel, Mhudi. These books are not Plaatje's only claim to fame. In the course of a prolific career he wrote letters to the press, newspaper articles and editorials, pamphlets, political speeches, evidence to government commissions of enquiry, unpublished autobiographical writings, and many personal letters. Together they provide both an engaging personal record and a very readable -- and revealing -commentary on South African social and political affairs during the era of segregation, from 1899 to Plaatje's tragically early death in 1932. What he wrote has a unique historical importance, all the more meaningful from the perspective of the 1990s. Brian Willan has assembled and edited this fascinating collection from a variety of disparate and often obscure sources, making a comprehensive selection of Plaatje's writings available to a wider audience for the first time.

A work of impassioned political propaganda, exposing the plight of black South Africans under the whites-only government'

Solomon Plaatje (1876-1932) wrote Native Life in South Africa, Before and Since the European War and the Boer Rebellion in order to protest against the Natives' Land Act of 1913, which forbid natives to buy or rent land. Even with the persuasive arguments put forth in this book his appeals did not succeed: The Act went on to become one of the first steps toward the system of Apartheid. Even though Plaatje did not succeed his work helped to unite blacks in South Africa and eventually they were able to over turn the Land Act of 1913.