Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje (1878-1932) was a South African writer whose historical novel Mhudi depicts the attempts of an African tribe and a group of Boers to attain their freedom.

Sol T. Plaatje was born into a family of Tswana origin in Southern Transvaal (South Africa). He was educated at a Lutheran mission school. Because of his uncommon knowledge of several European and African languages, he served as interpreter in several South African courts. When the Anglo-Boer War broke out in 1899, he enlisted in the British army. After the war he became a frequent contributor to English newspapers in Cape Town and Kimberley. In 1901 he founded the first Tswana newspaper, the Kimberley Korante oa Bechoana, which he edited until 1908.

When the South African Natives National Congress was founded in 1912 in the hope of defending the rights of the black population, which were threatened by the racialist policy of the...