Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s most famous female detective, exists only on paper but the fictional heroine’s exploits have been followed by millions and popularised the arid Southern African nation.
Mma Ramotswe (or Madam Ramotswe in the Setswana language) made her debut in 1998 in The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, which rapidly became a bestseller. It was followed by five others, which were lapped up by readers all over the world.
The novels have been translated into 30 languages, including Croatian and Korean.
”She was a good detective, and a good woman. A good woman in a good country, one might say. She loved her country, Botswana, which is a place for peace, and she loved Africa, for all its trials. I am not ashamed to be called an African patriot,” author Alexander McCall Smith says of Ramotswe.
Her creator is as talented as his lady detective.
Born in 1948 in the former southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, Smith spent some years in Botswana and is now based in Edinburgh where he taught medical law before taking a year’s sabbatical to write.
He has about 50 works to his credit — ranging from a law manual to a book on Portuguese grammar — and has managed to produce some children’s literature as well.
Botswana, a former British protectorate, prepares to go to the polls on Saturday with President Festus Mogae expected to be returned to power for a second term.
Even Mogae concedes he ”knows” Ramotswe.
”I haven’t read them all, I have read one or two,” he said.
Proof of her appeal is the fact that there are several related tours for visitors around the capital, Gaborone, and nearby villages that are mentioned in the Ramotswe books.
Tim Grace, the organiser of the Mma Ramotswe Tour, said: ”A lot of foreigners are coming to Botswana because they have read the book. It has really put Botswana on the map.”
”It definitely reflects a reality, even though it might not be a reality for everybody.”
Ramotswe has a fan club in New York. And director Anthony Minghella, whose works include acclaimed films such as The English Patient, recently came to Botswana to explore the possibilities of making either a full-length film or a TV series on her.
Mogae said: ”Some people are thinking about serialising it. All we did was to beg them to come and do it here.
”We wish it will be shot in Botswana.” — Sapa-AFP
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The traditionally built detective