Nontsizi Mgqwetho’s contributions to Umteteli wa Bantu rank her among the most prolific of Xhosa poets, but the measure of her significance lies not in the quantity of her work. Although women feature fairly prominently as authors of Xhosa novels, no female has ever published Xhosa poetry of any stature, but while the circumstance of her gender is of vital interest from many perspectives, that too is an insufficient indicator of her significance, for it is by the quality of her poetry that she will come to be judged. To read her poems is to become immersed in the anger and frustration of a devout, witty woman, a sharp-tongued preacher inveighing against ministers, men, lax morals among Christians, black leaders, educated youngsters with a superior air, or the white man’s gospel, a swaying, prophetic visionary in a godless city calling for the ways to be straightened for the restitution of Africa, so that peace and order and a sense of humanity might return to the land of her fathers. Never one to slight her own powers, Nontsizi addresses herself in the opening to her twelfth poem:
Taru! Nontsizi dumezweni ngentsholo
Nto ezibongo ziyintlaninge yezwe
Mercy, Nontsizi, renowned for your chanting,
your poems are the nation’s bounty.
I trust this presentation of her incandescent poetry will restore that bounty to the nation.
THE XHOSA POETRY OF NONTSIZI MGQWETHO
In her first poem for Umteteli wa Bantu, Nontsizi Mgqwetho salutes the editor, Marshall Maxeke, and his wife Charlotte. She defends the editor against the charge that he has betrayed his people by consenting to edit the new newspaper, and she praises his wife for her active role in political and social protest.
1 Chizama the poet
Sir, Editor of our Umteteli,
long life to you,
grandson of heroes who fell at Hoho.
Mercy! Go, Gatyeni,
we’ll follow you. 5
Hom! Wait a minute!
Those heroes fell for their country,
died at the side of Sandile their king.
Hom bo!
We’ll follow you: 10
we’re loyal to the royal prince
“who rumbles down Xesi’s banks,
flits over Vece, the rock-strewn Xesi,
shade for all, however many.”
I’m citing Sandile’s praises. 15
Go and we’ll follow you:
no traitor came
from your house.
Go and we’ll follow you:
no female poet 20
came from our house:
the poet who rouses the court
and censures the king’s always male.
Go and we’ll follow you!
We first encountered these female poets 25
here in this land of thugs and booze.
1 Imbongi u Chizama
Nkosi, mhleli wo Mteteli wetu,
Wanga ungapila u bom obude,
Mzukulwana wamadoda afela kwaHoho
Taru, Gatyeni hamba,
Sokulandela. 5
Hom zajika,
Amadoda afela izwe lawo,
Afa kunye ne Nkosi yawo u Sandile
Hom bo’
Tina sokulandela, kuba singabantwa 10
na bo Gaga u Gago luhamba lu
Gongqoza lukwezi Xesi u Ndanda
Ko Vece u Xesi Magqagala
Umtunzi wa bantu bonke bengaka
Nje nditsho ku Sandile mna. 15
Hamba Sokulandela,
Kuba akuzange kupume ntamnani
Kowenu.
Hamba Sokulandela,
Kuba tina simadoda nje asizange 20
Siyibone kowetu imbongikazi,
Yenkazana kuba imbongi inyuka
Nenkundla ituke inkosi.
Hamba Sokulandela,
Nezi mbongikazi Tina sizibona 25
Apa kweli lo laita ne bhekile.
Go and we’ll follow you,
but how do we know
a traitor’s crime can’t be cloaked?
Go and we’ll follow you: 30
even a fool’s sure to know
a starveling can’t guide or ever lead a nation.
Go and we’ll follow you!
We danced at your birth, lord of men! 35
Umteteli’s bread for our table:
long may it last.
Good on you,
lord of men!
Go and we’ll follow you. 40
You too, broad-breasted woman:
your robe rattled Buxton
and prison walls tumbled.
Go and we’ll follow you,
woman who protested passes; 45
confronted by protests
the white man quailed,
and kept his pistol holstered.
Go and we’ll follow you,
woman whose words at Nancefield 50
fired the Commission
to dream her dreams.
Go and we’ll follow you,
woman who dogged the Commission
down to Elephant Bay, 55
I swear by Lady.
Go and we’ll follow you.
You too, Cethe, Nkombisa’s child.
Chizama, hold tight now,
your people are watching you. 60
Go and we’ll follow you,
Rhadebe, Mbambisa’s son,
Hamba Sokulandela,
Asazi tina nokuba ngaba isono
Sontamnani saxolelwana?
Hamba sokulandela, 30
Kuba ne sidenge (a fool) siyazi
Ukuba umntu olambileyo akangeze
Akokele acebise mzi.
Hamba Sokulandela,
Tshotsho uzalwe Nkosibantu, 35
Sanga