Iimfihlelo ZesiXhosa

28/04/2022

Simnandi kodwa isiXhosa khaw'vaph:- ngo ngenduku emqolo ,mpu-u edyasini, tyam ethangeni ,mbokro ezimbanjeni ,gqum ingongoma ,gqekre-gqekre iinduma ,khitha ixhego, tywa phantsi !

11/04/2022

"Bamba iramncwa ,ulifake umkhala, utsho phezulu -oofudwazana baza kusuduka "
Botani nonke ,kunini ndinikhumbula

24/11/2021

Indlu yeGagu iyanetha ;
Umakhi akanandlu;
Umchweli akanatafile;
Igqirha alizinyangi;
Nomfuleli ulala ngaphandle;
Nomthung'wezihlangu oobhontsi bangaphandle !!😉Molwen nonke zihlobo kunini ndinikhumbula

12/11/2021

Ixoki,Ibhedengu,Idikazi,Inkazana etc. . avakala emabi de abanye bacinge ba zizithuko okanye yiNtlamba kanti akunjalo kuxhomekeka kwintsebenziso yawo ,ndinithanda ukodlula isduldla sithand'inqatha 😉😊

24/10/2021

Isiduko saMasukwini :
Lawu,chwami,oomvaba yiketile,mnqayi linqindi ,oonkab'bhokwe ngu Snoek,oomtshotsho usePaarl indibano iseBelville 😉😉😉😉😉
Ningandibethi yincoko baBhem

22/10/2021

Athi ke mna mntu walibelethayo!
Athi ke mna mntu wathi uyakwaz' uthetha !
kazi ke nina nanisithi ndisisilo sini na, esi sinokuthetha nezinto ezingathethekiyo?
Kunamhlanj'ilizwe liyazuza;kunamhlanj'lomhlaba uyalunywa ;
Int'esesuswini maze niyilumkele,
Loo nt'isesizalweni maze niyindwebele,
Namhla ngathi kuzalw'ugilikankqo!
Ngath'kuzalw'isil'esingaziwa mngxuma !!!
SEK mqhayi

Molweni nonke ,mpelaveki myoli

11/10/2021

Ningathi ndiyazidla x**a ndingaphendulanga imiyalezo yenu ndisaxakwe ngumhlola wolahlekelwa ngulathikoloshe kuthwa yinetwork ,xa siphanda kukho amasela eBattery yezapali zinde zalenetwork 😈😈😈ningaqumbi niqalekise
Enkosi

Send a message to learn more

30/09/2021

Amamfengu :icatshulwe

Calling all the amaMfengu! Come and read about your kings and your history.

In our final Heritage Month post, we look at another work currently being translated and not yet up on the website: a massive 452-page book on ‘Thembu law and custom’, written in 1946 by Julius Makalima. His other contribution to the Ancestral Voices Collection is a work on the amaMfengu. If anyone knows something else about the historical events described here, please let us know in the comments.

Makalima 774: ‘Thembu law and custom’, written in isiXhosa in 1946.

“1. The name of the nation: The amaMfengu of the Nguni
2. The name of the king’s father: Mawosha

3. The blemish: There has not been a blemish of any kind with these people; they worship God alone.

4. The name of the current king: It is Julius Makalima

5. The names of the kings before him:
(a) Bushula
(b) Lize
(c) Makalima
(d) Mawosha

6. All the kings: Julius, Bushula, Lize, Makalima, and Mawosha.

7. Where they were born: Julius was born in Sidwadweni. Lize was born in Lutukela. Makalima was born in Lutukela. Mawosha was born in Lutukela.

8. The names of their fathers: Julius was begot by Bushula. Bushula was begot by Lize. Lize was begot by Makalima. Makalima was begot by Mawosha.

9. The names and clans of their mothers: The mother of Julius was Nozinduku, from the Tolo clan, a Mfengu woman. The mother of Bushula was Mankomo, a Mfengu woman. The mother of Lize was Manqothula, a Mfengu woman. The mothers of Makalima and Mawosha are not known at all.

10. Where they live and ruled: Julius ruled here in Sidwadweni. Bushula ruled here as well. Lize ruled in Tyume, at Nqanqaru, then eventually came here to Sidwadweni. Makalima and Mawosha ruled in Lutukela.

11. Other places they had gone to: Julius Makalima was born in Sidwadweni and ruled there.
Bushula ruled here in Sidwadweni, having come from Ndenxe with his father. Lize ruled in Ndenxe and also in Sidwadweni. Makalima ruled in Zweni and in Tyume. Mawosha ruled in Zweni and in Lutukela.

12. Wars in which they fought: When Julius Makalima was a young man, he went to France to assist in the government’s army. Bushula fought in the War of Hope, of Mhlontlo who had killed a magistrate, and fought in the Boer War in 1899–1902, and the one in France in 1914. Lize fought in the ones of Nongqawuse, of Mlanjeni, of Ngcayichibi, of Hope, and the Boer War. We do not know of any war that was fought by Makalima, except that he joined the whites in Mqwashini. Neither do we know any war in which Mawosha fought because he is an ancestor who is much further removed.”

Go to www.saheritagepublishers.co.za/ancestral-voices/ to suscribe, for just R345 per year, and read this text and others in isiXhosa or English.

28/09/2021

Ubusazi x**a umntu esokola/ ebengafumani abantwana ebetyiswa umxube weMithwane nomchamo womvundla ,phofu ibilicebo looMama ke eli 😉,ningandibubuz ba mchamo bawufumana njan nam andazi loo ebendixelela uske wahleka xa ndimbuza .bubuchule bemveli yethu ke obo !molweni

18/09/2021

☺Cel'unditshayise 💨,

😕Andinamoto!!!

Molweni nonke

06/09/2021

Lento yoba ngugqad'mbekweni ,ndibuze abantu ba uZero yinton ngesixhosa ,iimpendulo : 0
😷
👌
🍳iqanda
🍗Imband'eskhova

Molweni mawethu ndinithanda nonke emakhaya

05/09/2021

Ndiyabhideka khanindincedise kanene apha esixhoseni ngomphi ozazala umntwana oyintombi -nguloo uMbi xa ekhulelwe okanye ?😕

27/08/2021

Maninzi amagama abiweyo kwezinye ilwimi ,caphul'apha :
Intshungama -chewing gum

26/08/2021

"🍺Uchuku lwasetywaleni luyalala,alufani nolwaseCaweni" ☝

18/08/2021

Ngaphandle kwamampunge noBuxoki ayikho into edlula isantya solwimi lweLovane☝

11/08/2021

Umfu.khatide uthi :ebuntwaneni akekho umntu owakhe wayeka ibele ethanda,yiyo lento indoda yakufumana ithuba ilincanca ngath'iyaliqabuka ibele lomlingane wayo ,ikhumbula ebuntwaneni bayo ☺

04/08/2021

Ndihlaziya kwisicatshulwa :Amahlubi :-uDlomo wokuqala ozalwa nguNdlovu yena uzala amadodana amabini -uNgcobo noRhadebe ,uNgcobo akafuni zeka uthi"iintombi ziyanuka "

28/07/2021

Licephe lodwa eliphatha liphethwe !☝
Molweni

25/07/2021

Five of the many texts written in the Nguni languages mention metal-working, and each extract below is very interesting – they show the method, effect and secrets of metal-working among the amaGcaleka, the abaThembu, the abasemaChubeni, the amaTshezi and the amaHlubi.

Balfour 132: Gcaleka History and Customs, written in the 1930s in isiXhosa
“Sharp weapons were made by beating out iron which was then put into the forge by a skilled labourer with the skin of their cow, this is the bellows. Then the smith would then hammer it out. He also forged hoes for ploughing a small vegetable patch with the head of an assegai.”

Nkopo 67: Thembu History, written in 1939 in isiXhosa
“The Thembu were fighting with earthworm clods until three men arrived from the Xesibe. The head of them was Kuma; they are the ones who melted rocks to make iron ore and pounded weapons during the time of Mnguti, a king. That spear spread throughout the land of the Xhosa people, they were fighting with it; fighting were the Thembu and the Xebebe with the spear.”

Shezi 211: History of the Chubeni of the Shezi Clan, written in 1939 in isiZulu.
“Before I expand more on matters of wars and succession, I would like to tell you about a thing which is very rare among the brown race which our nation had. There is something said by the white nations, that an African person used to lived by going around stealing cattle through war in order to live. So the first thing is that this nation did not live in that manner. It had the working of metal, and knew how to excavate the soil of certain mountains here in Nkandla and cook it in order to make hoes and spears and other things which could be used at that time, and was popularly sold for cattle.”

Mnto 50: History of the amaTshezi, written in 1939 in isiXhosa.
“At that time people ate from clay vessels, and from the wooden dishes of the homestead. Axes and hoes were made with metal . This metal was taken from rocks that were sought at umZongoma, a small mountain above the umGazi river. These rocks were melted using a fire made from umHlakoti wood, with the fire fanned by bellows made of leather.”

Gqwabaza 57: Hlubi History, written in 1938 in isiXhosa.
“Agriculture happened with little hoes made of metal found in rocks and dongas. Ancient people had the idea to melt these ore-bearing rocks after collecting them in a pot made of dried clay, in order to make weapons as well as hoes (which had such great value that they were bought for the price of a single cow).”

This post is the final one in our series on Indigenous Metalworking. If you’re interested in reading more of these writings, please go to www.saheritagepublishers.co.za/ancestral-voices/ to subscribe and get access to this amazing resource for yourself. You can read it in isiXhosa, isiZulu or in English.

21/07/2021

Molweni!

The three volumes of the Greater Dictionary of isiXhosa represent a great achievement in the promotion of isiXhosa and the preservation of indigenous languages and cultures. They contain over 24 000 individual headwords, as well as extensive linguistic and cultural material relating to all those who speak isiXhosa and its many beautiful dialects.

Now, for the first time, this amazing resource is available in soft-cover. SANLU is offering a defined term special discount offer to Facebook followers. Get a 25% discount off the retail price of the three-volume set. Send your orders directly to [email protected], giving us the name of your nearest Postnet branch and cell phone number, and a pro-forma invoice will be sent to you. Your order will be delivered on receipt of payment.

Ensure that isiXhosa flourishes in your school or home! The Greater Dictionary of isiXhosa (approved by the Eastern Cape and North West Education Departments) is a must-have reference work for every school in the Eastern Cape, and any school where isiXhosa is taught or spoken. It is also an essential companion for all translators, writers and readers of isiXhosa, particularly at tertiary level where it can be used in the training of teachers and other professionals who will be working in a mixture of isiXhosa, English, and Afrikaans.

Get a set for your school, university or home! Ensure that you and the children and learners around you have access to the Official Dictionaries of State in their classrooms and libraries, and help to nourish and grow your mother languages.

Embark on a voyage of discovery in the rich language of isiXhosa today. http://sanlu.africa/

21/07/2021

X**a kujika ithunzi, loo ubuGcakamele naye uyakuphika 😕☝☝☝☝unamehloo nje unetyala, Botani!

19/07/2021

A number of writings in the Ancestral Voices Collection talk about the power and wealth that came to those who worked with metal. In today and tomorrow’s posts we share extracts of a history of iron industry in Groot Spelonken in Limpopo, and we read about Mphotokgela.

Malatshe 243: History of the Ramaite Clan and local iron industry, Groot Spelonken, written in Sesotho sa Leboa in 1941

“Mphotokgela was living in Chief Mojadji’s village before the Boers settled in the Transvaal. He lived in a village called Mangwadine in the Modjadji district, near Letaba. He traded hoes that he produced from his stone mining. He was assisted by a group of men to produce the hoes. Mphotokgela was also a traditional healer. Matlakanya, Makgoshi and Mapala were some of the men who assisted him in his hoe making. In the beginning, Mphotokgela and his men traded animal skins which they turned into clothing. They would use leather threads taken from the same animal skin to sew and join together the two skins in order to form a cloth.

Before they begun sewing the animal skins, they first dried them in the sun. Later they would use a big needle to pierce some holes in the skin so that the thread would move through easily. They would also use animal skin to form the utensils for blowing into their fire. These utensils were called meuba. Before doing that they would build a small hut. After they finished building the hut, the Mphotokgela men would dig some holes inside the hut where the fire is going to be kindled. Each hole (a fireplace) was known as lešoto. The fire would burn inside the lešoto and before it dies naturally. The burnt wood is called dikgola. Then the heat from the lešoto was used to burn the stones that were mined so that they would turn into iron.

Not every stone that was burned turned iron. Mphotokgela men would mine the stone called Kwetsi in a place called Nkwekgolo which today is called Tabana location in the Sibasa District of Louis Trichard. The traditional leader of the area was called Monyenkwekgolo. As mentioned earlier, the fire that was used to heat the Kwetsi stone was blown by the utensils called meuba. One man would use two of the meuba to blow the fire using his hands interchangeably.”

Tomorrow’s post will continue with another extract from this writing, but if you’re interested in reading more please go to www.saheritagepublishers.co.za/ancestral-voices/ to subscribe and get access to this amazing resource for yourself. You can read it in Sesotho sa Leboa or in English.

12/07/2021

Masiangoako 379: Medical Practices of the Tswana, written in Setswana in 1939
And what of payment for consulting a traditional healer? Masiangoako, in his “Medical Practices of the Tswana”, written in Setswana in 1939, discusses the issues of payment in depth:

When he begins doctoring, before he unlooses his bag of medicines, he must state what he wants for opening his bag. When he has told them, he then begins to do his job, but this is not payment. Payment will be made afterwards when the patient has been cured. Payment for opening the medicine bag is a goat or a sheep. It is just as the doctor wants. If a person has been sick for a long time, the doctor is paid a beast. The doctor says that it costs him a lot of trouble to get the patient cured. If it is not a serious illness, he asks just for a sacrificial animal. If he places medicine for a protection of a kraal, he demands a beast. This applies also to a cattle kraal. Even if he prepares a horn for drugs for one’s home, payment for that is also a beast. It is because he would have strengthened the person against all evils. But when the person is cleansed, he does not pay a beast, he pays a goat or a sheep. It is slaughtered and the contents of its stomach are mixed with medicines and the person washes himself with a chyme. Now bad luck and misery will disappear from him. The payment for all doctors is a beast and not more. If the doctor has cured a person and he fail to pay him, the doctor has the right to take him to court. Further a person should not argue with the doctor if the doctor has cured him. His duty is just to get the beast and pay. If he has not been cured, the doctor has no right to demand payment because that person is still sick. His people are still going to spend more on other doctors. The doctors know that they must treat a person until he has completely recovered. Then they can demand their payment, but before that, they dare not.

Go to www.saheritagepublishers.co.za/ancestral-voices/ to subscribe and read all the writings in the original Indigenous Language and English.

08/07/2021

4 of the 13 writings that speak of medicine focus on the practice of diagnosis by dolosis (throwing bones) among people who spoke Setswana and Sesotho sa Leboa in the 1940s. This varies slightly from clan to clan and nation to nation, as can be seen in the following extracts. We will begin with those written in Sesotho sa Leboa.

Ledwaba 420: Medicine Men and Practices, written in Sesotho sa Leboa in 1940.
Divining bones are made from animal bones that were killed when rituals were performed. Not every animal bone was used for divining. The traditional healer would do research and identify prospective customers. He/she would want to know the totem used by most of his/her customers before he/she could kill the totem animal. It is believed that the bones of a totem animal are able to predict, diagnose and prescribe traditional medicine for the patient. In most cases, these bones help the traditional healer to know about the witches in the villages.

Letsoala 431: Medicine Men and Diviners, written in Sesotho sa Leboa in 1941
Knucklebone healer This is the second type of a traditional healer. He uses knucklebone to ask the ancestors about the condition of the consulting patient, about the enemies or any witchcraft that is practiced. The knucklebones are able to tell him about what is happening in a person’s life, what he is doing in secret, about his future etc. In the olden days a knucklebone healer was not supposed to consult his bones during the day. He was supposed to practice his trade in the morning, afternoon and at night. Before he could begin with his job, this type of healer should be paid something as phuthullamoraba (an introduction price). In the olden days, the phuthullamoraba price was a goat. Nowadays, the price has changed to money.

Go to www.saheritagepublishers.co.za/ancestral-voices/ to subscribe and read all the writings in the original Indigenous Language and English.

06/07/2021

Kanene yinton umehluko phakathi kwe 1.Intili 2.Induli 3.Ingqu^za 4.Intaba , Molwen nonke

05/07/2021

This is the second-to-last post of 6 that talk about the abaThembu, and in this one we can read Mancotywa’s account of how he wrote down the customs of his people.

Mancotywa, writing about The Customs of the Thembu people in isiXhosa in 1939.
These customs I am writing about I have collected from conversations I have had with the following men: Joja Maso, whose home is in Ncise, Mthatha. He is approximately sixty-four years old. He says that the War of Hope of 1880 arrived when he was still a little boy (he says as he gestures to little boys around the age of eight years). He is unwesternised, so he has selected for me those customs he still follows. I am aware though that he is now mixing them with customs from the whites and the Mbo people. I have tried to separate the newer customs by comparing them to an account I received from a man who died in October 1937. He was born to unwesternised people, and he grew up unwesternised until he became a man. Hence, his explanations of the customs of the Thembu people are based on his knowledge of them – from practice over and above hearing of them. I have also been assisted by the likes of Jeremiah and Johnson Mancotywa, whose ages are fifty-eight and fifty-six from what they know. They grew up among the Thembu people when there was still darkness and people had not yet converted to Christianity; I see no reason as to why I should not believe their accounts. Customs relating to boys and circumcision and so on, I myself have undergone as a Thembu, so their accounts clarified things I already knew.

Go to www.saheritagepublishers.co.za/ancestral-voices/ to subscribe and read more of this story.

14/12/2020

Ubuhule yinja !kutsho abantu abaBhinqileyo phof ,bathi kutsho ingoma kaDec

23/11/2020

uDoyi uthi:"ukugula kancikane akuncedi ,yifa Mpukundin'kudala ugula 🤔

18/11/2020

Thank you for your outstanding support for last week's Ancestral Voices post. With a day to go before being up for a full week over 90 000 South Africans have interacted with it. We hope this is because it was read with the same sense of awe and amazement we experienced on discovering we were reading the words of a man who served and fought under Nghunghuyani. Real heritage being made available for the first time to a wide audience. Because of the massive support received we are posting a further four extracts for you to read. Please let us have your feelings, in the comments section below, after reading these exceptional works,.
Gqwabaza 57 – Written in isiXhosa in 1938
Title: Hlubi History
Originally, we were called imihuhu, us amaHlubi, after Mhuhu son of Ndlovu who also fathered Dlamini the first, he who also fathered Mthimkhulu the first, who had two sons - the elder was Ngcobo and the younger was Rhadebe. Ngcobo refused to marry because he said that women were smelly; So then allegedly Rhadebe was told to go and marry and have children for his brother. So Nomunge, Hlubi's daughter, was taken in marriage - she who was called 'the millet from Dlambula's kraal'. That girl was the one who gave birth to the greatness of Dlomo, he who fathered Mashiya, and Mashiya fathered Ntsele, the father of Bhungane who was a great inkosi famous in this race of the amaHlubi. Katumetsi 166 Written in Setswana in 1938
Title: Hurutshe History Zeerust
It might have been about the year 1820 or 1830 when the Bakwena killed their chief Motswasele. At that time my grandfather Katumetsi was a petty chief, a Councillor of Chief Motswasele. After his elder brother had been killed, Katumetsi, having received advice from his mother’s people, and as the Bakwena wanted to kill him also, went away with his servants and his inherited possessions and sought shelter in this country of the Bafurutshe, where Chief Moilwa-a-Sebogodi was. Moilwa himself being a grandchild of the Bakwena. C Makamole 442 – written is Sesotho in 1940
Title: Makgolokwe History
Makgolokwe are the descendants of Kgetsi. Just like the Batlokwa, they took out three thousand head of cattle to buy land from Masoothwanyana (Mr. de Villiers). It’s a nation from Magaliesberg. After moving out of Magaliesberg, they chose land where they could stay in a place called Thaba-Kgolokwe, in the Transvaal area, Standerton (Serotwe) District.
Vilakazi 343 Written in isiZulu in 1939
Title: Story of Langabi kaZwide: When the council had assembled, Tshaka saw a boy that he did not recognise. This boy was Langabi kaZwide. He was not the same as those of the Zulu nation. It is said that he was small and it was unknown whether he had been made landless. Then Tshaka asked the boy who he was, and he said "I am of the Ndwandwe clan". Then Tshaka was astonished and said "Who has been rearing this boy? Is it not true that this boy is a prince?" Then Nomanzana, from the Zikalala family of the Ndlela clan, answered. He said "It is I, your highness. I intended to come to you about this boy.