Local writes a new book

RETIRED regional magistrate, Advocate Ponele Seshai, has written a memoir of his life from childhood to retirement entitled, ‘My Triumphs, Trials and Tribulations as a Magistrate in the New South Africa.

He records the history of the Batubatse Ba-Shai community who migrated grom Ghana more than 500 years ago and eventually settled in the area of present day Modjadjiskloof.

His parents were illiterate but his father became a successful businessman in Kgapane where the young Ponele went to school.

The book describes his career spanning, his higher education at the University of Zululand and his rise from a clerk in the Department of Justice to Magistrate. At the time of his retirement, he was a regional Magistrate with the status of an advocate.

He was subjected to harassment by the police before our first democratic elections and racist indignities within the legal profession when he became the first black magistrate in Tzaneen.

The book was edited and publish by local author David Hilton-Barber under his imprint, Footprint Press, and is available at PNA in the Tzaneen Lifestyle Centre.