In conversation with political satirist Seisa
Lesang Maswabi | Friday September 20, 2024 21:04
For four decades, Simon Seisa has remained the most consistent, loyal and prolific political illustrator cum commentator of note. Undoubtedly one of the most gifted but disciplined artists Botswana has ever produced, Seisa has remained focused on his God-given talent and now a full-time vocation and profession.
Unlike other similarly talented artists, to date Seisa has sustained his half-century career from the day he took both his pencil to paper and oil paint to canvas.
Mmegi: Who is Simon Seisa? Give us your background from your place of birth, your schooling, through to your professional journey. Seisa: I was born in 1952 in Francistown at Jubilee Hospital. I started drawing at home at the very young age of five years before enrolling for school at Sebina Primary School in 1959. I then graduated to St Joseph’s College in 1968 where the Principal Father, Davitt Leornard, recommended that I take my Art skills seriously.
It was at the strict Catholic college where boys and girls were not allowed to mix that the young me spent my free time drawing. Art was always a hobby, something one did to pass time. Even the school curriculum didn’t have art as a taught subject.
In the early 1970s, I went for Economics at the University of Botswana and it wasn’t long before I quit, having performed badly in my academic work. Being out of university was a trying time but it was not long before I was employed. The following year I got a job at the Labour Department.
I would however in 1974 meet one of my contemporaries, Bapasi Mphusu, who told me that the Department of Information was hiring. I applied and I was hired at Daily News and I just signed as Simon Seisa because I was in a public office.
At first I started as a reporter and also processed pictures in the darkroom, but then editor would one day comment, “Oh you can draw?” when he saw me drawing during my spare time. I was then officially engaged as the newspaper’s cartoonist after the editor declared to the newsroom staff, “ladies and gentleman, we have an artist”. Cartoons had gotten popular from 1976 onwards. I remember then democracy was on the rise in the country and even Daily News was liberal.
Mmegi: Which other fields interested you at that time other than Art? Seisa: I did History of Film and Film & Television. I liked bioscope, (Mosupi le Mogatse ba ikwadisetsa ditlhopho), a documentary on voter-education and also loved drama. In fact in my later years earned my first degree after furthering my studies in Film Production in England in 1982 at Hull College of Higher Education, now University of Lincolnshire.
Mmegi: What next course of action did you take once you realised that Art was your first love? Did you get some kind of support from your parents, relatives and/or friends? Seisa: People who saw my work liked it. One former school-mate of mine called Bareedi Batisani spoke both fluent Sesarwa and Kalanga, and he loved telling stories. I would interpret his Sesarwa stories into illustration form.
Mmegi: Have you ever at any stage, had second thoughts about your chosen career once you had decided on that path? Seisa: Though I started as a reporter, my main focus became design and cartooning. Most of the advertisements at the Daily News were done by me. I am also the one who designed and named the Botswana government’s identity card and it was called Omang. We had initially named it O-ohe, but would later change to Omang since it was felt the former name sounded derogatory.
Mmegi: How did you do in other subjects in school? Seisa: I did well in English and Setswana. I also excelled in Geography and Biology mostly because the two subjects carried illustrations which I would always execute well in great detail to my teachers’ satisfaction. But I was terrible in Mathematics.
Mmegi: Have you had any sources of inspiration or great artists (past and present), that urge(d) you on during this life-long career of yours? And what do you think of present-day artists as compared to past ones from across all Art disciplines, such as Fine-Artists, Photographers, Cartoonists, Illustrators, Graphics designers etc? Seisa: One of the best cartoonist our country has ever had is Billy Chiepe, also of Mmegi for a long period. The only difference between Chiepe and I is that since he was always with the private sector, his work had more bite that mostly leaned towards controversy whilst nna having been a civil servant, I had to be moderate and guarded with more caution. But if there’s one guy that’s given me a challenge, it was Albert Lekgaba at The Botswana Gazette. The internationally acclaimed and recognised Phillip Segola has been quite good as an abstract artist. Libero Nyelele is also another good abstract artist. Steve Mogotsi too is a good fine-artist. Wilson Nyoni of Tsiripo, the realist is very good and so is. Modirwa Kekwaletswe is good in water colour and also in Graphics Design. And talking about design, I really think Mmegi has set the pace in newspaper design over the years. Both their publications, Mmegi and The Monitor have neat designs that easily catch the reader’s eye. Di dintle di a kgatlha.
Coming to photography, with no doubt Zakes Sethaiso that I used to work with at Information and Broadcasting was one of the best. Though the realist Tladi was good too, but Sethaiso was exceptional as he knew how to arrange his objects. And so was Yobe Shonga, all of them from government Information and Broadcasting. Ohh...yeah Ben Phetabosigo from the the private media was just as good. Of course The New York Times’ Ranan Laurie made an impression on me, South African Bob Conolly/Connon at Rand Daily Mail, Punch and Judy cartoon characters. There was a certain book that also inspired me called History of Europe by De Villiers and in that book there were cartoons and illustrations of the history of Europe then. From down south, I really enjoy Jonathan Zapiro, who is very good and controversial and as you know the former South African president Jacob Zuma is his favourite character.
Mmegi: And who have been your favourite characters? Seisa: Amongst the easier characters for me to draw are President Masisi, probably because I draw him a lot and of course former president Ian Khama. In fact Khama even bought one of the caricatures I made of him. For some reason Mogae and Boko are not easy to draw. Sir Seretse Khama was even easier to draw, even without looking at him.
Mmegi: With your television and film background, haven’t you considered elevating your work to other mediums like Animation. And do you appreciate it though? Seisa: I prefer the natural hand more than computers. As you’re aware, I was not born in the digital world, though given time I would like to go into animation. But as you know if you can draw, you can paint and so can you on any platform.
Mmegi: What is your take on the advent of social media? Do you acknowledge the impact of electronic media on print ? How do you think the situation can be best addressed/saved? Seisa: Print is more answerable to society than social media, which in most cases is terrible stuff.
Mmegi: What about a book compilation of your works? Seisa: At some point I was about to publish one immediately after Mmegi photographer Thalefang Charles published his, but then COVID hit. Yes it shall eventually be done