Quett Ketumile Joni Masire, (edited by Stephen R Lewis, Jr), Very brave or very foolish?: memoirs of an African democrat

Abstract

Although I am not an easily pleased critic I am a little thrilled by former President Sir Ketumile Masire’s memoirs. The book appears at a time when there is a very lively debate on political and economic issues on the country’s political scene. Masire opens the book by providing an interesting account of his childhood and upbringing in a traditional setting, and his experiences as a student at the famed Tigerkloof College in South Africa. This is followed by another interesting story of his post-Tigerkloof life when he became one of the founding teachers at Kanye Junior Secondary School. He tells us that interference in education matters by his chief, Kgosi Bathoen II, and his (Masire’s) growing interest in farming made him quit his teaching job in order to liberate his potential in farming.