Introduction to DLP Yali-Manisi: Iimbali Zamanyange: Historical Poems

8/21/2019 Introduction to DLP Yali-Manisi: Iimbali Zamanyange: Historical Poems

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PUBLICATIONS OF THE OPLAND COLLECTION OF XHOSA LITERATURE

VOLUME 2

D.L.P. Yali-Manisi

imbongi entsha

Iimbali zamanyange

historical poems

edited and translated byJeff Opland and Pamela Maseko


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David Yali-Manisi during the performance of his poem on the cattle-killing (item 5),

Khundulu Valley, December 1970 (photo: Jeff Opland).


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Contents

Acknowledgements viii

Foreword Peter T. Mtuze xi

Introduction Jeff Opland 1

1 UNtsikana oNgcwele: Holy Ntsikana (on events that

occurred c.1800–21) 34

2 Idabi lamaLinde: The Battle of Amalinde (1818) 42

3 IMfecane yamaNgwane: The Ngwane Mfecane (1828) 52

4 Imfazwe kaMlanjeni: Mlanjeni’s War (1850–3) 60

5 Ingxaki eyasenzakalisayo: The problem that wrought

our destruction (1856–7) 204

6 Idabi laseGwatyu: The Battle of Gwatyu (1878) 214

7 Imfazwe yamaQwathi: The Qwathi War (1880) 224

8 Amaqabazana ngabaThembu: Thembu spatterings

(c.1770– c.1880) 234

Biographical appendices 267

9 “Unknown but he is leading Xhosa poet” (1979) 269

Ben Maclennan

10 “Myself ” (1983) 272

D.L.P. Yali-Manisi

11 “Unsung imbongi bows out” (1999) 278

Jeff Opland

Sources 283

Bibliography 285


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Introduction

Jeff Opland

David Livingstone Phakamile Yali-Manisi (1926–99) was a Thembu

imbongi, the most powerful exponent of the art of praise poetry in

the Xhosa language in the second half of the twentieth century. The

predominant imbongi in the rst half of the twentieth century was

Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi (1875–1945) who, though ethnically

Xhosa, came to be known as Imbongi yesizwe jikelele (the poet of the

entire country).1 Manisi was established as Mqhayi’s successor, and

was accorded the name Imbongi entsha (the new poet) at the start of

his public career in 1946, the year following Mqhayi’s death. Mqhayi

was nationally acclaimed and justly celebrated as a poet in his lifetime;

however, Manisi’s early promise was blighted by circumstances

beyond his control, his literary career was stunted and he died in total

obscurity with all but one of his books out of print. It was Manisi’s

misfortune to be born into the chieftainship of Kaiser Daliwonga

Mathanzima, the highly controversial leader of Transkei, the rst

ethnic “homeland” to accept “independence” under the National Party’s

misbegotten Bantustan enterprise. The National Party promoted and

sustained Mathanzima in Transkei; but Manisi was an active member

of the African National Congress (ANC), which was banned in both

South Africa and Transkei. In protest at the political path Mathanzima

1. Mqhayi adopted this phrase as a pseudonym after the Xhosa editor of the

Johannesburg newspaper Abantu-Batho, Cleopas Kunene, asserted that he was

not a poet of a limited region ( Imbongi yakwaGompo, the East London poet, was

Mqhayi’s rst pseudonym) but a poet of the whole country (see Opland 2012: 219).

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pursued, Manisi voluntarily withdrew from the poetic patronage of his

chief. This principled action effectively consigned him to obscurity

as a performing poet. As the Transkeian chiefs were increasingly co-

opted by Pretoria, the imbongi became suspect, especially in urban

areas, where he tended to be viewed as the sycophantic propagandist of

puppet rural leaders conniving in the homeland scheme. The National

Party introduced its manic policy of apartheid after it was elected to

power in 1948, two years after Manisi’s debut on the national stage

as an imbongi; as apartheid nally crumbled, Nelson Mandela, leader

of the ANC, was released from imprisonment in 1990, two years after

Manisi delivered his nal performance as a poet. Manisi’s public

career as an imbongi was thus almost exactly coterminous with the

lifetime of South Africa’s reviled policy of apartheid, and the poet’s

reputation, initially full of promise, wilted and waned as a consequence.

A lifelong supporter of Mandela, Manisi was never able to full his

ardent ambition of performing a poem in honour of Mandela in a

liberated South Africa, virtually crippled as he was in his latter years by

tuberculosis of the spine.2

Like Mqhayi before him, Manisi also aspired to be the author of

books, but his career as a published poet, too, was blighted. He started

contributing poems to newspapers in 1947, and was encouraged by

the response of readers. He submitted two volumes of poetry to the

Lovedale Press early in 1948. Lovedale, without explanation, combined

the two books and issued them as Izibongo zeenkosi zama-Xhosa (praise

poems of Xhosa chiefs) in 1952, using the title of the rst of the two

volumes as the title of the combined volume (Yali-Manisi 1952). Apart

from this mishandling of Manisi’s manuscripts, the volume was printed

2. A biographical appendix to the present volume contains a report by Ben Maclennan

on Manisi’s presence on the Rhodes University campus, an autobiographical

statement by Manisi and my obituary notice. See further Opland (2006). The poet’s

paternal grandfather, Manisi, was nicknamed Yali-Manisi, Instructor-Manisi, by his

relatives, to whom, as the senior son of the patriarch Nobathana, he would issue

instructions (from Xhosa ukuyala, to instruct in one’s duties): see Opland (1983:

109). The poet always used the form “D.L.P. Yali-Manisi” for his publications, but

in correspondence would occasionally sign himself as “David Manisi” or (earlier)

“David Livingstone P. Manisi”. He will generally be referred to as “Manisi” here,

but the full name with his grandfather’s nickname will also be used, and retained

for bibliographical citations.

2 D.L.P. YALI-MANISI


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in the unpopular and short-lived orthography devised by W.G. Bennie

and ofcially introduced in 1937, an ill-conceived spelling system that

was in turn replaced by a revised orthography devised by H.W. Pahl

in 1955.3 Manisi’s rst published volume was thus rendered redundant

almost as soon as it was published. It was never reissued in the 1955

orthography, it was weakly distributed, and it failed to win prescription

in schools or universities. The author received a at sum of £25, and no

further royalty payments. Manisi’s second published volume of poetry,

Inguqu (a return to the attack), included the earliest poem written in

praise of Nelson Mandela, an astonishingly prescient assessment of the

threat Mandela posed to white authorities, offering him encouragement

in the tribulations the poet expected him to suffer.4 Rather than subject

himself to Lovedale’s censorship (as a missionary institution, Lovedale

was committed to the exclusion of politics from its publications), Manisi

determined to publish the book himself (Yali-Manisi 1954). He paid a

Queenstown rm £69 to print 500 copies, but then found himself solely

responsible for their distribution, which suffered as a consequence. The

book is almost entirely unknown, and very scarce. Manisi then sent

another manuscript of poetry to the Transkeian Minister of Education,

who lost it. I was able to use my position as director of the Institute of

Social and Economic Research (ISER) at Rhodes University to publish

three further volumes of Manisi’s poetry in the ISER Xhosa Texts

series (Yali-Manisi 1977, 1980, 1983). Each volume in the series was

published with the following declaration of intent:

The Institute of Social and Economic Research, in collaboration

with the Department of African Languages at Rhodes

University, has launched the ISER Xhosa Texts series in an

effort to serve the interests of Xhosa culture in general and

Xhosa literature in particular. We are concerned about the

present state of publishing in the Xhosa language, which tends

to stie and inhibit creative writing. Commercial publishers are

3. On the introduction of these two orthographies, and their effect on the development

of Xhosa literature, see Opland (1998: 282–300). In editing poems published

before 1955 (texts 1, 3, 6 and 7) we have silently altered the orthography and word

division to bring them into conformity with the remaining texts.

4. See Opland (2000) for a translation and analysis of this poem.

INTRODUCTION 3


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understandably reluctant to commit themselves to producing

any book unless they are assured of reasonable sales, and this

usually requires the book to be prescribed in the schools. The

ISER Xhosa Texts, on the other hand, will be published solely

because we believe them to be of intrinsic merit or value. The

Institute of Social and Economic Research and the Department

of African Languages respect the integrity of the authors, and

have no inclination to expurgate texts or suppress comment. It

should be clearly understood that we do not necessarily wish to

be identied with the views or opinions expressed by any of the

authors, on which we do not presume to pass judgement.

Despite these high ideals, only 300 copies of each volume were printed,

and once again distribution was unprofessional and limited. After my

departure as director of the Institute, the rights to all seven volumes in

the series were transferred by the Institute to the publisher Via Afrika,

which released only one of Manisi’s three books, Imfazwe kaMlanjeni

(Mlanjeni’s War), originally published by the Institute in 1983.Although still in print, the book enjoys steady but somewhat meagre

sales: about 80 copies in 2013, with a maximum in any one year of

some 250 copies.5 Recordings of over 50 oral performances by Manisi

are housed in The Opland Collection of Xhosa Literature, together with

a number of additional manuscripts of poetry, as well as a novel, as yet

unpublished.

Manisi himself commented on the stiing stranglehold education

departments exerted on the publication of Xhosa literature in an

interview with two students at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New

York, on 12 April 1988:

Well, with our people it’s very difcult to publish what we write

because it has to be approved by the government. You don’t just

write and sell your manuscript to the press. If you send it to

the publisher, the publisher would get one to read it and then

send the manuscript to the Department of Education. So if the

5. I am indebted to Micheal Goodman, Group Publishing Manager of Via Afrika, for

these gures.



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Sisimbonono kwizizukulwana,

Kukufa kobukeleyo,

Yingxak’ eyehlel’ umhlaba kaPhalo.

Ligqudu, sithi yintoni, ngumkhonto?

Hay’ ishwangusha!

Calamity struck,

casting confusion on Phalo’s land.

Awu!

Limitless wailing,

death to the witness,

a problem that crippled the land of Phalo.

A kierie, perhaps a spear?

No, nothing short of catastrophe!

Weapons recur at the climax of the poem as the destructive cannon

of the missionaries’ preaching. The villains of this poem are not

armed soldiers but missionaries appealing for calm, with Grey’s non-

combatant complicity. Yet the Xhosa are left in the end to crawl on their

bellies towards their killers just as surely as if they were dying on the

battleeld.

The poem on the Thembu selects its content from a wide range

of possible topics, concentrating on the migration of Thembu peoples

westward after the Ngwane invasion, the establishment of royal Great

Places, and in particular on Nonesi the wife of Ngubengcuka. So, too,

the poem on the cattle-killing selects its material rather than tells the

whole story, lingering on the passage of the doom-laden sun across the

sky, slow as a chameleon (a creature responsible for the introduction

of death to humankind), and graphically depicting the catastrophe that

followed the failed prophecy:

Zath’ iinkosi zazimbunyenge,

Ath’ amadod’ azinyobololo.

Bay’ abafazi betsazis’ imixhadi,

Besith’ iintsana zibaxakile:

Babangafak’ intlonz’ azibambeleli,

Kuba nakw’ iintlonz’ akusatsitsi negazi.

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Kwaf’ indoda, kwaf’ umfazi,

Kwaf’ usana, kwaf’ ixhego,

Kwaf’ iinkosi, kwaf’ iinduna,

Waxakeka k’ umhlaba kaPhalo.

Yiyo leyo ke le ngxaki yasenzakalisayo!

Panic seized chiefs,

men sagged down stunned;

with straining necks the women complained

of the problems they had with nursing:

their babies were spurning their nipples,

their shrivelled breasts wouldn’t even ooze blood.

Death struck man! Death struck woman!

Death struck young! Death struck old!

Death struck chief! Death struck councillor!

Phalo’s land was utterly crushed:

that is the problem that wrought our destruction!

In perhaps his greatest poetic achievement, Imfazwe kaMlanjeni

(text 4), Manisi relegates Mlanjeni, after whom the war was named, to

a relatively minor position: he is mentioned only briey in the second

canto; only in the fourteenth canto does Manisi pronounce judgement

on the young diviner. Manisi is of course biased in his account,

generally praising the Xhosa and lampooning their white opponents,

but he is especially scathing in his depiction of the odious Sir Harry

Smith, pompously and histrionically ranting at the assembled Xhosa

chiefs and magnates:

Nto zimnandi hay’ ukuthetha!

Uth’ uthetha namany’ amadoda

Ugqolod’ ukrazule wenje nje,

Ud’ ung’ uthetha nabantwana,

Ulibal’ ukub’ aneentshebe njengawe,

Abe le nt’ uyithanday’ akholwa yiyo kanye . . .

Uyithethile k’ uSimithi loo ndwabane yakhe,

Edwab’ intshwaqan’ engakhathelelwe bani,



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Ewatyityibisel’ umnwe phof’ amaTshiwo,

Esith’ uya kuwabonis’ int’ abhinqa ngayo,

Ukuba nje akhe adal’ uqhushululu.

Athe xuk’ injek’ amabandl’ aseMnzwini,

Exokolol’ imixakath’ axel’ umqhag’ unethile,

Kodwa ngaphakath’ ebindekile,

Emunc’ izithuph’ efung’ uNojoli,

Iintliziyo zingaqumbe ziqalekisa.

There’s fun in all things, but especially talking!

While talking to men

you caper and rip your clothes

as if you’re talking to children,

forgetting you’re talking to grownups like you,

who share your own desires . . .

Smith blathered on with his idiocies,

ramblings of interest to no one,

he wagged his nger at the Xhosa,

saying he’d show them his belt

if they contributed to disorder.

The Mnzwini held their tongues,

sullen and still as drenched cockerels,

but in their hearts they were choking,

licking their thumbs they swore by Nojoli,

cursing and bulging with rage.

Ultimately the whole poem is not so much an explicit historical account

as it is a vibrant call to action: the narrative serves the purpose of the

imbongi’s incitement. Manisi concludes his story of the war with the

eleventh canto. The next ve cantos assess Mlanjeni’s role, judging him

a hero of the resistance designed to reconstitute a lost – and idealised –

way of life. Then, in the seventeenth canto, Manisi graphically depicts

the present-day sufferings of South Africa’s blacks:

Namhl’ asisebantu siziimbacu,

Imbandezelo nenzim’ isambethe;

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Lingaphum’ iKhwezi siqeshiwe,

Saye siya kubuya ngocolothi;

Sinyathel’ izindlu zeentakazana,

Sityumze naloo mantshontshwana –

Asiboni sithwabaz’ emnyameni . . .

Iintupha zethu ziligazi,

Kub’ iinzipho zibhunyukile,

Kukugrumb’ umhlaba ngezandla.

Siqhekez’ iqabaka ngeenyawo,

Umkhenkc’ asisawazele nto,

Sidavuza kuw’ umhla nezolo,

Sisiya kukhonz’ abasemzini,

Ukuze silale sisul’ umlomo.

Today we’re not a people, we’re drifters,

swathed in oppression and hardship;

we’re at work before the morning star rises,

we return in the evening twilight;

we tread on the nests of little birds

and so doing crush the edglings,

sightless, we fumble about in the dark . . .

Our nger tips are bloody:

their nails have been stripped away

from grubbing the earth with our hands.

We crack the frost with our feet,

the ice is no less painful,

day after day we slip and slide on it,

travelling to serve the strangers

in order to earn our daily bread . . .

nally appealing to God in the nal canto to relieve their distress.

Imfazwe kaMlanjeni is the izibongo-mbaliso of a Thembu imbongi

at the height of his considerable powers. In depicting the joy and

peaceful delights of precolonial times, the heroic resistance to colonial

encroachment and the crushing discrimination suffered by dispossessed

black South Africans, the poet is clearly urging his modern readers to

imitate the resistance heroes of Mlanjeni’s War. Imfazwe kaMlanjeni



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is ultimately not only an impassioned account of a nineteenth-century

frontier conict, it is also rooted in the present, a clarion call for

opposition to apartheid and confrontation with the white oppressors,

now as then.

Asingemgxeki k’ umfo kaKalo,

Simenz’ ikhatshakhowa nexoki,

Ngokoyiswa kwamaXhosa,

Kuba naye wayesenz’ ilinge,

Ezondelel’ impumelelo,

Ekulweni k’ iinto zimbini,

Ewe kukoyisa nokoyiswa,

Usindw’ ezama k’ akanatyala.

We should not mock the son of Kalo,

judging him a contemptible fraud

simply because the Xhosa were crushed,

let’s rather accept he did his best,

striving heart and soul for victory.Fighting can have only two results,

yes, either you win or you lose:

defeat is no crime if you’ve given your all.

His hatred of the apartheid regime and his call for resistance is made

explicit in the concluding canto of his epic poem on Mlanjeni’s war.

David Yali-Manisi was a poet animated by the technologically

unequal frontier wars and the landgrabbing by colonial powers aidedand abetted by Christian missionaries who claimed to be spreading

the gospel of peace but who more often than not acted as agents in

league with colonial policy and designs, conniving in the territorial

dispossession in pursuit of their spiritual dispossession. In his rst poem

in Mthatha on 26 October 1976, Manisi referred to the missionaries as

Iint’ ezeza zibek’ uQamata ngaphambili,

Zathi zakuka zesuk’ ikhola zayiphethula,Zathabath’ imfakadolo zayifak’ ekhwapheni;

Yadl’ inziniya kumnt’ oNtsundu.

Sibe kuphendula ngebhunguza nomkhonto,

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Hayi, seza ze,

Kuba la madod’ alw’ esese kweentaba;

Asibetha ngenkanunu,

Singangagananga ngezifuba . . .

Those who arrived bearing God in front,

after they came they reversed their collars.

They slapped muskets under their armpits.

The whip consumed black people.

Though we responded with kierie and assegai,

oh, it was all in vain:

these men fought from behind the mountains,

they thrashed us with their cannon,

spurning hand to hand combat.

For Manisi the precolonial past was an ideal world sustained by custom,

free of European incursion. He sought the restitution to its former

inhabitants of land lost to the colonisers by arms or artice. He looked

forward to the restitution of black control under those imprisoned on

Robben Island, ghters for liberty every bit as heroic as the crane-

crested warriors of the nineteenth century. Manisi referred poetically

to black sticks preserved for safekeeping in dung, which would be

retrieved on the day the true leaders of the nation were assembled before

the people, as in a poem he produced in praise of his chief Manzezulu

Mthikrakra on 19 August 1976:

Yint’ eentonga zimnyama zisemgqubeni

Zihlel’ eXhibeni likaMthikrakra

Siya kuza siziphuthume mini sidibanis’ amaduna

Omgquba nomthonyama kaNdaba

He’s one with black sticks kept in dung,

preserved at Mthikrakra’s Xhiba house:

we’ll retrieve them the day we assemble the generals

of Ndaba’s princes and warriors.

As a Thembu prince, Nelson Mandela was born into the Xhiba House.



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In his poetry David Manisi sought lessons from the past in an

effort to sustain the will to resist. The struggle might deploy different

weapons: he valorised education, for example, associating it with

celestial imagery, and offered it as a tool to redress the imbalances

between black and white in South Africa. Whether or not the tools are

peaceful, the struggle remains militant. In Imfazwe kaMlanjeni, Manisi

heaps scorn on those who take no part in the conict, who seek to

preserve their own skins ignoring the needs of the nation. In Canto IV

the warriors exhort each other:

Masife siphele madun’ akowethu.

Ofa ngozuko ngofel’ into yakhe,

Adunyiswe naxa selele kooyise.

Ngamagwal’ ancama konk’ okwawo,

Afe kaninzi kungakang’ ukufa,

Af’ engenzanga nto kub’ akanto,

Okwawo kukuty’ ahluth’ alale.

Let’s die to the last man, companions.

He dies in glory who dies for his rights,

lauded although he lies with his fathers;

cowards surrender their all,

die many deaths before death comes,

die doing nothing because they are nothing,

all they can do is sleep after gorging.

And his assessment of Mlanjeni son of Kalo includes the following

stirring lines:

Ekulweni k’ akukho chule,

Olway’ uzond’ impumelelo,

Akanay’ eny’ into ngaphaya;

Ukuba kukufa kuko ke,

Ukuba yimpumelelo yiyo ke;

Wayengacingeli yena siqu,

Ekhumbulel’ isizwe sonke,

Ehlangulel’ izizukulwana.

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Kwabanjalo ke kumfo kaKalo,

Le migudu wayeyenza

Equleka ngapha nangapha,

Evuthel’ epupuz’ esithini,

Wayefun’ inkululeko,

Efun’ ilizwe libuye,

Lityiw’ amanqath’ alo ngabalo.

Ukoyiswa k’ asilohlazo,

Nakub’ ingent’ ithandekayo,

Kuba wakoyisw’ udeliwe,

Kuhleliwe nj’ uvuyelelwe.

Ihlazo lona bubugwala,

Obu bokusong’ izandla,

Ungajampalazi nakanye,

Zib’ iinto zakho ziphela,

Zithatyathwa kuw’ ujongile,

Kungengakuthanda kwakho.

There’s no great skill in ghting,

the ghter strives for victory

and thinks of nothing else;

if he dies, he dies,

if he wins, he wins;

he’s less concerned for his personal safety,

xed on the life of his nation,

his deeds dedicated to generations to come.

So it was for Kalo’s son.

Every effort he expended –

moving around surreptitiously,

blowing and spitting his charms –

was designed to secure their freedom,

to secure his land’s liberation,

its fruits for its children to savour.

There’s no disgrace in failure,

however undesirable,

since defeat can occasion contempt,

living with social mockery.



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The real disgrace is cowardice,

to sit with folded arms,

inicting not the slightest scratch

while your property is plundered,

borne off before your very eyes,

against your dearest desires.

Manisi wrote of historical events and circumstances, but as an imbongi

he wrote and performed his poetry with crucial relevance for the present

situation.

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1

UNtsikana oNgcwele

Hoyini maLawundini!

Hoyini maLawundini!

Khanitsho mabandla kaPhalo, kaTshiwo!

Khanitsho mabandla kaNdaba, kaThatho!

Khanitsho lusapho lukaMthetho kaMthetho!

Khanitsho nto zakowethu nithini na?

Nithi kwakutheni na kanene?

Mhla wavel’ uNtsikana kaGabha,

Mdak’ onesibili wasemaCirheni,

KwaQhanqolo, kwaNyembezana, kwaNcibana.

Wayebone ni n’ uSoMbawo?

Ukuz’ anithumele loo ndoda,

Ibe yindoli yesizwe nohlanga.

Phendulani mathol’ ezinxiba-mxhaka,

Lo mbuzo namhla ma uphendulwe,

Kuba sisenemin’ enkulu ngaphambili,

Kuba sisaya kuthetha phambi koThixo,

Mhla siya kunikel’ iingxelo zethu kuye,

Iingxelo zobugosa beth’ emhlabeni.

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Holy Ntsikana (on events that occurredc.1800–21)

Attention, you people!

Attention, you people!

Please tell me, throngs of Phalo, of Tshiwo!1

Please tell me, throngs of Ndaba, of Thatho!2

Please tell me, children of the Law of Laws!3

Please tell me, countrymen, what do you say?

What do you say really happened?

The day Gabha’s son Ntsikana4 appeared,

a dark stout man of the Cirha clan,

at Qhanqolo’s, Nyembezana’s, Ncibana’s,5

what did the Father of Fathers see?

To send you that man,

a feast for nation and populace.

Answer me, children of nobles,

today this question demands a reply,

because the great day’s still coming,

because we still have to answer to God,

the day we render accounts to him,

accounts of our earthly stewardship.

1. The Xhosa. Phalo was the son of Tshiwo in the Xhosa royal line.

2. The Thembu. Ndaba was the grandson of Thatho in the Thembu royal line.

3. The Thembu. Mthetho kaMthetho, Law of Laws, is personied, literally “children

of Law the son of Law”.

4. Ntsikana, who died in 1821, rst presented himself to Ndlambe, Ngqika’s uncle,

who had acted as regent in Ngqika’s minority. Since Ndlambe was at the time

subject to the inuence of the prophet Makhanda, Ntsikana approached and was

accepted by Ngqika. On Ntsikana, see Bokwe (1914) and Hodgson (1980).

5. Ancestors of the Cirha clan, included in the clan praises: see Jabavu (1953: 34).

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Xa kulapho ke, mabandla kaThatho;

Xa kulapho ke, mabandla kaPhalo;

Xa kulapho ke, mzi kaMtheth’ unzima;

Ndivulelen’ inkundla zinkosi ndithethe,1

Mna mbong’ entsha ncakasana.

Kwakusenyanyeni kwanti entlango,

Kwinzulu yobusuk’ obungenanyanga;

Ilizwe lizel’ amathend’ amanzi,

Iinkomo zisaphulan’ entilini,

Amadod’ ekhuphisana ngabafazi,

Kutyiw’ inyama nobusi basendle,

Lukwalaph’ ubisi lweemazi zeenkomo.

Mhla wavel’ umdaka kaGabha,

Waqala kwaNdlambe mhla wavela,

Suka wabhebheth’ okaSibala-mdaka,

UNohlumis’ amev’ abuy’ amhlabe,

UThambis’ amathanga ngaphakathi,

UNyok’ ibhanjathiwe ngamaQheya,

USigenga ngamkhont’ emazibukweni.

Yegqith’ aph’ into kaGabh’ isinga kuloMbombo,

Yak’ okaMlaw’ engqongwe ngamabutho kayise;

Yatheth’ isalath’ entshonalanga –

Isithi: kukh’ abant’ abezayo,

Abanwele zimayephu-yephu ngokobulembu,

1. ndithe

36 UNTSIKANA ONGCWELE


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So then, people of Thatho;

so then, people of Phalo;

so then, tribes of the Law that is Strict;6

chiefs, clear the court for me to speak,

me, the New Poet7 in person.

In the wastes, a desert, far from shelter,

in the depth of a moonless night –

while the land held bountiful springs of water,

with cattle butting on river ats,

with men vying for women,

meat and wild honey consumed,

as well as the milk of cows –

Gabha’s dark son appeared.

He rst appeared in the land of Ndlambe,

Weedclearer, deaf to the warning,

Grower of thorns that prick him,

he smears his inside thighs,

Snake coaxed by Hottentots,

who bursts through the fords with his spear.8

The son of Gabha approached the Mbombo,9

where Mlawu’s regiments ringed his son;10

he spoke, pointing away to the west –

and said, “People are coming

with hair of silk like maize laments,

6. Mtheth’ unzima, Strict Law, like Mthetho kaMthetho, is personied. Both phrases

refer to the Thembu, governed from precolonial times by an established and

respected legal code.

7. Manisi was accorded this title by J.T. Arosi as the successor to S.E.K. Mqhayi,

who was known as Imbongi yesizwe jikelele, The poet of the whole nation: see

Opland (2005: 13).

8. The preceding ve lines are extracted from the praise poem (izibongo) of

Ndlambe (c.1740–1828). On Xhosa praise poetry, see Opland (1983, 1998) and

Kaschula (2002).

9. The Mbombo were the Rharhabe people, named after Ngqika’s favourite ox.

10. Ngqika (1778–1829) was the son of Mlawu. On Mlawu’s early death in 1782, see

Mqhayi (2009: 92, 260).

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Beza bepheth’ umqulu neqhosh’ elingenamthunja.

Maze wamkel’ umqulu liyekw’ iqhosha,

Kuba lingunozala wokufa nesono.

Yivani mzi kaNomagwayi waseMbo!

Le nt’ indingene y’ ithi makuthandazwe,

Kuyekw’ amanyumnyezi namanyingilili.

Waphendul’ uLwaganda kaMlawu,

USoTshulubembe, uMahlek’ abe neligqo,

Umafuman’ alumbole nasempembeni,

Umval’ obuvalel’ iinkomo zikaPhalo.

Ulima bemsus’ ing’ asindawo yakhe.

“Ewe mfana2 kaGabha siyabulela,

Makuqale mn’ ukungena kule nto,

Ukuz’ abantu bayibon’ ubukhulu.”

Hayi wathelel’ uSoga noNcamashe,

Wavel’ uManxoyi noNtsadu,

Bamlahlekis’ uNgqika kaMlawu.

Zathunyelw’ iindaba kwaGcaleka.

Zawel’ uMbhashe zema ngoNgubengcuka,

Ahlal’ emlindweni n’ amabandl’ asebuNguni.

2. mana



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they bear a book and a holeless button.

Accept the book, reject the button:

it’s the mother of death and sin.11

Listen, folk of Nomagwayi of the east!12

This thing that’s entered me says we must pray,

and repudiate horrors and lth.”

Mlawu’s son Lwaganda13 replied,

Gossip, slanging men behind their backs,

he loves to snufe in trivia,

Bar that barred Phalo’s cattle,

chased off while ploughing since the land isn’t his:14

“Indeed, son of Gabha, we thank you.

Let me be rst to explore this,

so people can witness its magnitude.”

Ah, he joined Ncamashe and Soga,15

Manxoyi and Ntsadu appeared,

and they led Mlawu’s Ngqika astray.16

The news was sent to Gcalekaland.17

It crossed the Mbhashe to Ngubengcuka:18

should they wait and watch, the Nguni tribes?

11. The book is the bible, the button without holes is money.

12. The Rharhabe: Nojoli, wife of Rharhabe, was the daughter of Nomagwayi of

eastern Thembuland.

13. Ngqika’s praise name (isikhahlelo), meaning Stamps While Fighting.

14. These four lines are taken from the izibongo of Ngqika (see Rubusana 1911:245–6). They refer disparagingly to Ngqika’s policy of appeasement with white

authorities, his appeal to them for assistance against his fellow Xhosa, and his

subsequent eviction from his own land.

15. Two of Ntsikana’s disciples. Ntsikana died on his way to join the Tyhume mission

station with his followers; one of his dying charges was that they complete the

journey, which they did, settling at Tyhume. Ngqika joined the Tyhume mission

for a time as a teacher: see Mqhayi (2009: 98).

16. Manxoyi was one of the Ngqika generals in the Battle of Amalinde in 1818: see

Wauchope (2008: 59). Manxoyi and Ntsadu may have been two councillors who

persuaded Ngqika to leave the Tyhume mission station and return to his people.

17. The Gcaleka kings were superior in status to the Rharhabe, since Gcaleka was

Phalo’s son in the Great House and Rharhabe was Phalo’s son in the Right Hand

House.

18. Ngubengcuka son of Ndaba in the Thembu royal line.

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Labuya latheth’ iqhonqa lakwaMhlandla-ndlovu

Lisalatha phantsi kweNtaba kaNdoda;

Lathetha ngenqwelo, iingcingo, neendlela,

Lathetha ngoonyana neentombi zabantu,

Libik’ imbubho nokuphalala kwesizwe.

Ehlani mawab’ asebuNguni!

Namhl’ aniva ngatyelo nibona ngamehlo;

Namhla siziimpula zikaLujaca,

Siphakathi kozipho nenyama,

Siyintlekisa yezizwe neentlanga.

Niyeva ke mathol’ ezala-kulandelwa!

Le Afrika namhl’ idandalazile.

Yizani ke sibamb’ amahlelo,

Siphuthum’ izwi lomfo kaGabha,

Elathi: ze nibe yimbumba yamanyama!

Yizani ke sikhothan’ amanxeba,

Ak’ uYesu nathi silindile,

Eza kuthath’ ingxelo yasemhlabeni.

Ibuyambo mathol’ ezidwangube!

Itsh’ imbong’ entsha ngelayo.

Ncincilili!! Ncincilili!!!



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Elephant Tuft’s Pet spoke again,

pointing beneath Mount Ndoda;19

he spoke of the wagon, the rails and the roads,

he spoke of the sons and daughters of men,

he announced the nation’s death and destruction.20

Descend, trueborn Nguni!

You don’t hear secondhand today, you’re eyewitnesses;

today we’re left empty-handed,

set between a rock and a hard place,

we’re the laughing stock of tribes and nations.

Do you hear, then, calves of the trackless?

Today this Africa stands exposed.

Come on, then, let’s select elite forces,

let’s reclaim what Gabha’s son said:

you must unite like a ball of scrapings!21

Come let’s lick each other’s wounds,

so when Jesus arrives we’re prepared,

when He comes to receive the earth’s report.

A return to the fold, royal calves!

This is the New Poet’s voice.

Here I end‼ I end here!!!

19. Ntaba kaNdoda is a prominent mountain that lies to the west of King William’s

Town on the road to Middledrift.

20. For a record of the sayings and prophecies of Ntsikana and a discussion of

biographical information about the prophet, see Jabavu (1953: 1–14). Ntsikana

prophesied the appearance of a wagon of re below Ntaba kaNdoda, a train on

railway tracks.

21. Imbumba yamanyama refers to the compact ball that can be made from the little

scrapings removed from an animal pelt in curing it. Ntsikana’s injunction was that

individuals and groups should unite in resistance. The phrase is now one of the

mottoes of the new South Africa.

HOLY NTSIKANA 41


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10

“Myself” (1983)

D.L.P. Yali-Manisi

I was born on the 17 September, 1926 at Khundulu Location in the

District of Cacadu in Western Thembuland. I belong to the amaNcotsho

clan. I am the eldest son and heir of seven children born to Johnson

Mpungutyana Yali-Manisi by his only wife, Noleft Nokuhomba, the

daughter of Majwete Mcinziba, of the amaMpinga clan. My father was

the seventh and the last born of Yali-Manisi and his third wife, Nosayini

Cekecwa, the daughter of Ncaphayi Honono, of the amaCwerha clan.

Yali-Manisi, my grandfather, was the son of Nobathana, of Nobaza,

of Te, of Mangcethe, of Ngcangula. He was born in or about 1814 at

the Ngcangula Location, a place named after his greatest grandfather,

in the District of Engcobo. He moved with his parents and grandparents

to settle in the District of Cacadu in 1835. They were in company of a

minor Hala chief, Chief Nqiningana, the son of Xhatha, of Nondulo,

of Ndaba, of Zondwa, of Thatho, of Madiba, of Hala, of Dlomo, of

Nxeko. By this time Paramount Chief Mthikrakra of the Thembus had

already established his Great Place at Imvani on the south eastern side

of Machibini Location.

AmaNcotsho

AmaNcotsho, like amaNdlama, amaQoma, amaMpemvu and ama-

Ntlotshane, are one of the earliest Thembu clans. They originated from

Ntongakazi, the son of Ndilo, of Thembu. Ncotsho, who due to the

slip of the tongue is erroneously pronounced as Ncotshe, is the earliest

ancestor and founder of the amaNcotsho clan. He was the father of

Gcayiya, the father of Simbiwa, the father of Marhula, the father of

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Ndala, the father of Momana, the father of Ngcangula, the greatest

grandfather of Yali-Manisi.

Formerly amaNcotsho were the spear-bearers of the amaHala

great chiefs, while amaQoma were the funeral conductors and grave

watchers, and amaNdlana were seconded to the initiation of the

chiefs’ sons’ circumcision. AmaNcotsho, as warriors, were one of the

distinguished clans in Thembuland. They were also well-known for

their divination, oratory and poetic inspiration. Momana, one of their

great diviners, we are told, was called into the deep pools of the Bashee

River at a place called Intibane (Entibaneni) where he submerged and

was never seen again up-to-date. All the amaNcotsho wives properly

dress themselves to cross the Bashee River in deference to that great

diviner, warrior and their husbands’ renowned ancestor. They have to

lower their skirts down to the ankles and properly cover their heads and

bodies, and would neither talk nor smoke while crossing.

My father was born in 1897 and my mother was born in 1904.

They were members of the Methodist Church. My father had passed

Std. III at school. My mother never attended school. They lived on

farming, and my father was a labourer who used to work in the Western

Province.

Education

I got my primary education at Khundulu community school up to

Std. III. I did my Std. IV at Freemantle, near Lady Frere, which then

was a newly founded school. Among other things we learnt practical

farming. We inspanned oxen, ploughed lands, planted and reaped

maize, sorghum, wheat, barley, oats and vegetables, all of which was

part of our food. After passing Std. IV I went to the Western Province

as a work-seeker. That was in 1944. I worked in various places as a

labourer. I continued working up to 1945.

While I was working for Mr. D.G. Roux in Wellington I happened

by fortune to meet the late Rev. Storr Lister of the Presbyterian Church,

who, though he was blind and old, was the kindliest white man I ever

met. Seeing that I was keen for education he decided to send me to

the Lovedale Missionary Institution on his own, and by April, 1945 I

was at Lovedale, where I did Std V up to Form II, when Dr. Shepherd

expelled me as a bad character in 1948.

“MYSELF” 273


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Expulsion from Lovedale

By this time my poetic inspiration, though it had long been planted,

was not yet fully developed, but it was sparkling and glowing. My

eye then would not let pass by neither a bird nor a buttery unnoticed,

and my mind and tongue would match with it and burst in words

with a bellowing voice. The Institution was time and again visited

by dignitaries, and there were always chiefs’ sons with us. It was

my chance therefore to jump and salute rst and expatiate in singing

eulogies to or for those dignitaries in our traditional mode. This Dr.

Shepherd and company construed as unchristian and unbecoming. I still

remember one evening, after supper, when I was called to the ofce of

the Boarding Master, Mr McGillavry, who asked me why when it was

my turn to say prayers before supper that the students would not close

their eyes, and instead of them saying, Amen, they would say, Hurray!

That evening I was rebuked and cursed with my nation likened to

everything bad or ugly below the sun.

Well, I did not know what made the students to act thus, because I

prayed like other people; but there was one thing I could not leave out,

and that was to pray for the liberation and salvation of my people. I

therefore had to praise and beseech God to have mercy on her.

One Sunday afternoon a certain student of the amaZizi clan from

Middledrift stood in front of our dormitory and recited Mpinda’s poem

which he read from Imibengo by Bennie. He had a stick in his right

hand. I, then and there, took my knobbed stick and moving towards

him I praised the children of Rharhabe. He ran away from me and I

continued following him praising all the time. The students came out of

the dormitories and followed hailing us, making a hell of a noise. This

upset the Institution, as everybody else knew not what was going on,

while others thought there was a riot or strike taking place. Even girls,

I still call in memory, left their hostels and came up to see what was

happening in the Boys Boarding School. The following morning, on

Monday, I was rebuked by our High School principal, Mr. Benyon, who

said I was not t for the Institution, and sometime later I was expelled

by Dr. Shepherd.

From Lovedale I went to Matanzima Secondary School where I

completed my Form II. The following year, as my father became ill, I

had to leave school to look for work to support the family. I worked in



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“MYSELF” 275

Port Elizabeth for 6 months and I was called to come home by Chief

K.D. Matanzima. As I got not enough support from the chief I had

to look for work somewhere else. I was then in 1951 employed by

the Native Recruiting Corporation as a clerk up to 1958 when I was

dismissed for my political ideas. From then up to 1968 I depended on

farming. In February that year I was engaged as a clerk by the Hala

Tribal Authority under Chief Manzezulu Mthikrakra. In 1974 I was

promoted to the Magistrate’s ofce at Lady Frere where I worked as a

clerk in the Labour and Lands ofces until April, 1982.

When I was working in Port Elizabeth I started corresponding

through the Union College in Johannesburg, doing J.C.1 and Matric-

ulation combined. But, because of commitments, I never sat for

examinations up-to-date. Nonetheless, to promote my knowledge,

reading about various subjects, specially English, Xhosa and History,

became my daily hobby, and, I think, it is through this energetic reading

that I acquired vast information about my people’s history and how she

came to meet other peoples.

How I became a Praise-Singer

When I grew up as a small boy I used to look after stock. It was then

I usually heard men praise their bulls, oxen and milk-yielding cows.

They even praised us, the herdsboys. It was really pleasant to listen and

hear those supernatural men delineate their delightful praises with their

pitched voices and sweet tongues. It was our motto thereafter to imitate

them, and I happened to excel my colleagues in memorizing the praises

and by adding more words or verses to them. I think it was here I was

encouraged to accomplish my poetic inspiration, because, later on, old

men would call and ask me to praise anything for their amusement and

pleasure, and in turn, I would be congratulated and encouraged to keep

up the spirit.

My father’s brother and my mother’s father’s brother were the

people who really encouraged me more than anybody else. To me they

related stories of bravery performed by our past heroes and chiefs.

They recited some of the heroes’ and chiefs’ praises, which, in turn,

they would ask me to recite for them. They told me about wars between

1. Junior Certicate, an examination usually written two years before matriculation.


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black and white and wars amongst the black nations themselves. They

told me about the inter-relationship amongst the black races. These

were interesting stories to me and I grasped and esteemed and held

them in mind.

When I was at Lovedale I met Chief David Maqoma (Aa! Ndabe-

mfene!2) of the amaJingqi. He was an old man living in Ntselamanzi

Location. He was very kind and we happened to be friends, though I

was very young, a boy of 16 or so. He liked me, I do not know why;

but I think he was induced by the spirit of nationalism he perceived

in me. I also liked him, not because he was a chief, but for his human

qualities, friendliness and outspokenness. We used to spend part of

some Saturdays together at his homestead, and he would relate history

of the amaXhosa, amaRharhabe in particular.

The rst time I met him it’s when he was invited by Mr. Arosi, who

was then Secretary-General of Ntsikana’s Celebrations Committee,

to address the amaXhosa students at their Ntsikana Celebrations

gathering at the Lovedale Missionary Institution. In those days every

year at Lovedale the amaXhosa students celebrated Ntsikana as their

chosen prophet. The students were composed of Thembu, Gcaleka and

Rharhabe, all of them believing to be Xhosa units. It is recently that it

has been made to be known to us that Thembu is not Xhosa, and I think

there are still people, be they black or white, or some machiavellian

individuals, who still encourage the evil spirit of tribalism to crack

and crush the black people’s unity for the achievement of their own

unblessed ends.

In 1946 Mr. J.T. Arosi introduced me as a praise-singer to Ntsi-

kana’s Celebrations gathering which was held at Duncan Village in

East London. From then the Celebrations Executive Committee under

the presidency of Rev. J. Calata of Cradock arranged that I attend the

yearly general gatherings for Ntsikana’s Celebrations, and I was then

known as a new praise-singer.

Publications

In 1948 I sent for publication a praise poem about Chief K.D. Matanzima

to Umthunywa, a Xhosa newspaper which was published in Umtata.

2. Chief Maqoma’s salutation, meaning News of a Baboon.



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“MYSELF” 277

The poem was highly commended by many people who did not know

me and were keen to know who I was. In that same year I compiled

a manuscript on Izibongo zeeNkosi zamaXhosa, which was published

by Lovedale in 1952. Later on it was followed by Inguqu, which was

published by Queenstown Printing and Publishing Company. From

1949 I was attached to Chief K.D. Matanzima as his praise-singer and

I had to accompany him to all gatherings where he was to participate

until 1955 when I broke away because of my political convictions. In

1965 I again returned, but as an occasional praise-singer. 1976 I was

chosen as an ofcial praise-singer to the State President etc. on the

Independence Celebrations Day, on the 26 October, 1976 in Umtata.

Introduction to DLP Yali-Manisi: Iimbali Zamanyange: Historical Poems

Documents

Transcript of Introduction to DLP Yali-Manisi: Iimbali Zamanyange: Historical Poems