S. J. J. Lesolang was born and educated in the Transvaal, he taught at Kilnerton during the 1940s and was president of the Transvaal African Teachers' Association during the wartime protests over teachers' salaries. He was a founding member of the African Democratic Party and a member of the South African Institute of Race Relations. Later he became a Johannesburg businessman and was active in the African Chamber of Commerce and in the politics of Bophuthatswana, the Tswana "homeland."
References
• Gerhart G.M and Karis T. (ed)(1977). From Protest to challenge: A documentary History of African Politics in South Africa: 1882-1964, Vol.4 Political Profiles 1882 - 1964. Hoover Institution Pres: Stanford University.