Pelong ya Ka, a collection of essays and sketches in Sotho was first published in 1962 in the Bantu Treasury Series imprint of Witwatersrand University Press. S. Machabe Mofokeng is regarded as one of the greatest essayist and dramatist in Southern Sotho. His first book, Senkatana (a play) was published in 1952.
Pelong ya Ka comprises 20 essays which range from meditative, descriptive, and narrative to polemic style, with the tone of voice characterised by melancholy, humour, and satire. The essays span over a wide range of themes, as suggested by their titles, e.g. Pelo (The heart), Bodutu (‘Solitude’), Death (‘Lefu’), Nako (‘Time’), Pampiri (‘Paper’), Ho kganna mmotokara (‘Driving an automobile’), Sepetlele
(‘Hospital’), Lenyalo (‘Matromony’), and Boqheku (‘Old age’).
Nhlanhla Maake says of this collection “Mofokeng’s essays fuse simplicity with dept.”
Pelong ya Ka is part of the African Treasury Series published by Wits University Press.

More info on the African Treasury Series
The African Treasury Series is a series of literary texts written by South Africa’s pioneers of African literature in African languages. The texts were written to provide a voice for the voiceless, and to celebrate African culture, history and heritage.
The African Treasury Series was first published by Wits University Press in the 1940s. It continues to make a contribution by supporting the current efforts of government and civil society to empower and develop the status of African languages in South Africa.

Sophonia Machabe Mofokeng was a lecturer in Sesotho in the Department of Bantu Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. He collaborated with C.M Doke in the preparation of A Textbook of Southern Sotho Grammar (1957). This is still regarded as an indispensable study of the morphology and syntax of the Sesotho language.