He appears to have been very young when he took power, as the explorer David Livingstone presumed on first meeting him in Linyati in 1853 that he was about 18 years old.
Sekeletu's relations with the explorer appear to have been very good, as confirmed by the 27 Makololo that under their king's orders went with Livingstone with the goal of finding a road between Barotseland and the port of Luanda, capital of Portuguese West Africa.
David Livingstone was greatly moved by the death of the other missionaries if they had only heeded Moffat's advice the disaster could have been avoided.
When he contracted leprosy, Sekeletu no longer trusted the Lozi whom he suspected of having bewitched him as a leper.
Due to this, a year after his death the Makololo's power crumbled and the Lozi regained self-rule.