ASK TEBOGO: Is it a Mystery story?

By Raphael Mokoena (QwaQwa)

Petro Schonfeld’s book titled Tebogo on the prowl (2006) is a critique of the “Tebogo Detective series” which comprises four books written by O Bolaji. A private sleuth, Tebogo Mokoena, holds sway in all the four books: Tebogo Investigates (2000), Tebogo’s spot of bother (2001), Tebogo Fails (2003), and Ask Tebogo (2004). It seems Petro does not believe there is “any mystery” in Ask Tebogo

An impressive critique, Tebogo on the prowl was praised upon publication by many. As one voracious reader told me then: “At last, you critics have an excellent work which you cannot knock, written by a perceptive white lady. Even YOU won’t be able to criticize her critique!”

But hold on! Perhaps we should not get too carried away. Petro’s critique is very good, but like all other works, it is not above criticism. Here I intend to focus on a few aspects in her new book which might raise one’s eyebrow a little. At the back of our minds we must remember the book is written by a female (and I am not being sexist here) which in some ways affect the whole critique.

Firstly she spends quite a lot of time pondering on some of the “fine gentlemen”, or otherwise in the series, Tebogo Mokoena, chiefly. She has her doubts as to whether he is a “real gentleman”; but the problem is that the critic is conceptualizing a “gentleman” as being a “perfect man”. The truth is that “gentleman” is a relative term. An international example that comes to mind is the screen version of James Bond, 007. He is impeccably dressed, suave, smooth, charming – a woman’s dream. Yet he has killed dozens of countless people, male and female, and he is also an outrageous philanderer.

And can we expect a private detective to be a “perfect gentleman” anyway? The image of a private sleuth made famous by great writers like Mickey Spillane, Peter Cheyney, Sidney Sheldon etc is largely that of a seedy, ruthless, unconscionable individual. Agatha Christie gave us the cerebral, though elderly Hercule Poirot. Bolaji’s creation, Tebogo Mokoena, is a much younger version of Poirot in the sense of being more of a “gentleman” which is a triumph in itself. A young detective who doesn’t ruffle feathers much! Smooth, cunning, conscionable. Nobody would expect such a person to be “perfect” or he would not solve any cases!

Critic Petro obviously appreciates much of the humour that runs through the Tebogo series. Thus it is strange that sometimes she singles out certain excerpts from the books, not realizing that they are actually part of the humour. An example is where she writes: “(Tebogo) pays her (Toluana, his secretary/assistant) such a good salary that he can’t afford a watch”!. It is incredible that the critic does not realize that Tebogo was actually joking with Toluana here!

Petro makes too much of Tebogo’s love for Khanyi the young lady “(In Ask Tebogo) “To one’s dismay, (Khanyi) dwindles to a nonentity in his last novelette…” she writes; but it is arguable that this is in no way the case. Tebogo’s relationship with Khanyi is already firmly established by the time of the investigation in Ask Tebogo. His initial (first flush) exhilarating, exaggerated love for her must have by now been wearing a little thin; he no longer has to refer to her every time again. She is certainly not a co-investigator with him; even in Tebogo Fails when he first meets, and falls for her, he does NOT confide in her as regards his investigation. Toluana, his “assistant” knows little about practical details of his investigations. No doubt many readers (females?) enjoyed Tebogo’s “love affair” with Khanyi in Tebogo Fails. But when critic Petro writes: “To the delight of the reader he meets Khanyi in Tebogo Fails”, the “delight” here applies to the critic in question, not “every reader”.

Indeed, respected critic Peter Moroe whilst reviewing Tebogo Fails writes almost dismissively: “The book Tebogo Fails starts – and ends – with some romantic notions which for the purposes of this review I prefer to discount”. This shows quite clearly that Tebogo’s new found love is NOT integral to, and does not really affect the plot of the story. And because Tebogo reads an essay or two of the deceased Dave in Ask Tebogo at night, critic Petro suggests this means that he has forgotten Khanyi! Of course not! The general reader would know that his love for Khanyi is now firmly established and need not become a case of “gilding the lily”. Just as a man can spend nights with the partner he loves, with his professional life going on to all intents and purposes, during the day.

Petro also feels that Tebogo, if he were a “gentleman” should have told one female acquaintance about the woman he really loved. Yet there was no real relationship between Tebogo and Desire! It is clear that Tebogo was just investigating and was seeing things through to a logical conclusion whilst finding out the truth. Few mature men would even dream of telling women such things, even their own partners; and Tebogo, astute, a pragmatist to the core should not be expected to do so. Experience would have shown the average man that confiding such a thing to a female partner is looking for unnecessary trouble “foolishly putting one’s head in a pot” as renowned African author, Chinua Achebe would have put it.

Also at the end of her critique Petro unfortunately perpetrates some sort of fraud on readers by writing: “The story ends (in Ask Tebogo)…with no revealing twist. Instead Tebogo subconsciously saw the culprit enter. He was pre-occupied with Dave’s essays. He is left to reflect serenely: “We are …puppets in the hands of the creator”. This is in fact a textual and factual perversity. The critic distorts the end of Ask Tebogo here because of her preoccupation with Khanyi. What actually happens is that in his logical way, despite any sympathy for Dave, Tebogo sees the case through to the very end. When he tells the murderer near the end of the book: “Maybe you can show the (police) officer where you hid the knife…the one you first stabbed Dave with” at the correct psychological moment, prodding him to show the police where he actually hid it (the knife), Tebogo hits the nail on the head again and triumphs. For Petro to attempt to whittle this down and refer to an almost insignificant quote referred to much earlier, some 20 pages ago(!), is intellectual dishonesty. Tebogo does NOT reflect on “puppets” et al at the end of the book as Petro writes!

It might well be that author Bolaji exaggerates the good qualities of Dave, but even critic Petro admits that even if this were so, it is a convincing portrait. From the essays themselves Dave whilst alive realized only too well that he was far from perfect; but would the society not be much better for it if many more individuals strived for decency and integrity? Daily we witness or hear about horrific inhuman acts perpetrated in our society by both the old and the young. Is it not one of the writer’s duties to show that decency and ideals at grassroots’ level should be praised? I for one have no problem with a relevant work that emphasizes integrity and moves the society ahead, even at the possible price of weakening its detective appeal.