The Tongue Is Fire: South African Storytellers and Apartheid

ORIGINS OF THE XHOSA

Ndumiso Bhotomane ORIGINS OF THE XHOSA (XHOSA) Chief Ndumiso Bhotomane, a Gcaleka, was eighty-four years old when he related this historical account. The date was September 10, 1967; the place was outside, in his kraal in Rwantsana Location, Centane District, in the Transkei. The audience varied, with Gcaleka men and women attending for different lengths of time; three Gcaleka elders remained in attendance throughout. (No. 589; tape 10, side 2) The Xhosa are a nation that came down from the north, from the north of Africa. Xhosa, the one after whom the Xhosa people are named, descended , and during his emergence from the north he fathered Malangana : Malangana then fathered Malandela, Malandela fathered Nkosiyamntu, Nkosiyamntu fathered Tshawe, Tshawe fathered Sikhomo, Sikhomo fathered Togu, Togu fathered Ngconde, Ngconde fathered Tshiwo~ Tshiwo fathered Phalo. The Xhosa kingship separated when the line got to Phalo because of what happened when he married. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE KINGDOM ONE Two daughters of kings, one of them of the Ndayeni clan, the other a Gqubushe-mpulomsini clanswoman, arrived on the same day to be married to Phalo. That had never occurred before. Because this matter regarding the acquiring of a wife for Phalo concerned the entire· kingdom, the fates of those two young women were decided by a gathering of all the Xhosa people, including Tshiwo's councillors. The decision was made by Majeke, a Nkabana clansman and a man already old: it was deter31 32 Prologue: Founders of the Inheritance mined that the one who would bear the heir was the Ndayeni woman; the Gqubushe clanswoman would bear the right-hand house. It was further concluded that, because of these uncommon events, the right-hand house should be moved to a distant place, to become a kingdom in its own right. It would still represent and be ruled by the great house1 because that house had established this right-hand house. Those at the meeting agreed to this. That is how the chiefs' homesteads came to be designated "great house" and "right-hand house." These events took place at Gcuwa, in the village of Monakali. It was not called Monakali's village in those days; then it was the homestead of the king, from which the country was ruled. The right-hand house was shifted; it was established here at Nyila's place, by that hill. The other house, the great house, was established below there, at the hill where Gqongqo's homestead is now located. Fesi's homestead is just below. The right-hand house, then, was established in the village of Nyila. That is where they were made into two houses. When this apportioning was complete, when the homesteads were moved, Phalo's great house moved here. The great house was moved first; it was the house that gave birth to the heir; the wife of the great house, the mother of Gcaleka, bore the heir. This house was established at Khwenxura, in the neighborhood of Monti? After that, the right-hand house moved, and was established at Qonce,3 where, at that time, the Thwa,4 the original inhabitants, were living. When the Xhosa got there, they found the Thwa, and Rharhabe fought with them. Certain clans went with Rharhabe from Gcuwa; they were with him when he fought those Thwa. The clans that had been given to him, to go with him to establish the right-hand house-the clans that were taken out of the Xhosa nation and given to Rharhabe from the royal residence were the Dange, the Hleke, the Mbalu, and the Ntinde.5 Mngqalasi was Phalo's minor house. These, then, are the clans with which Rharhabe departed on the day that he left for Qonce, when he arrived there to find the Thwa. He fought the Thwa. In keeping with the instructions which had been given to him, that even when he was over there in Qonce he was still to be ruled by the great house here-when Rharhabe got there, he reported the war; he reported that when he arrived there, the Thwa were there, and he fought with them and scattered them. Then Rharhabe married a Thembu woman, a Gcina clanswoman, and He fathered Mlawu, He fathered Ndlambe, He fathered Ntsusa, He fathered Gasela, He fathered Nukwa. Origins of the Xhosa 33 I made an error-these are the children whom Rharhabe fathered: they were Mlawu, and Ndlambe, and...