The Sunday News
Pathisa Nyathi Cultural Heritage
At 9.45am Marieke Clarke and I jump on to the Virgin train at Oxford. We are headed for Coventry City to the north where we are to meet with Mrs Kathleen Hawkins, a 98-year-old lady living in retirement in the old city that was the target of German airborne attacks during World War II.The swift and quiet train gets to the town of Banbury and proceeds to another town, Leaside Spa. Upon alighting from the train we get a taxi that takes us to where Mrs Hawkins lives; at Number 12 Willowbroke. Willowbroke is a high class residential home for the elderly. It is not a nursing home for the elderly, but a social facility for the old who are able to pay for themselves. Mrs Hawkins arrived here from Zimbabwe where she lived for the better part of her life. Through a pension she gets from the British government she is able to pay rent for her room and all the attendant costs. A medical doctor visits the home to check on the medical conditions of the inmates. A dentist comes by appointment. “The place is far out of town to be peaceful. We are very fortunate indeed. The only thing we need here is an increase in the number of staff,” says the old but alert Mrs Hawkins.
Our interest in coming to consult with Mrs Hawkins is that she is associated with the history of Matabeleland, in particular Inyathi Mission of the London Missionary Society (LMS), now known as the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA). As a little girl she lived in the Shangani Reserve (now Nkayi District), Inyathi and Bulawayo.
The LMS had been given land by Ndebele king Mzilikazi in December 1859 where the Reverend Doctor Robert Moffat left a contingent of missionaries who were to administer the gospel among the Ndebele people. Over the years different missionaries came from England to take charge of the LMS Mission station at Inyathi. Later there was yet another station at Hope Fountain where the LMS provided missionaries.
During the Anglo-Ndebele wars of both 1893 and 1896 the resident missionary was Reverend Bowen Rees, isitsha senkosi. Mnali Res was spared certain death because of his friendship with the Ndebele, in particular the Ndebele monarch, Lobengula. When a resident minister retired and went back to live in England, another minister was sent out to take her place. Reverend Rees was replaced by Reverend William George Brown, the father of babies Kathleen and the younger Peggy.
During Reverend Rees’s tenure the Ndebele were resident in their pre-colonial homes around Inyathi Mission and elsewhere. Inyathi Mission served as the nerve centre for outreach work. However, the colonial authorities were appropriating Ndebele lands. The evicted Ndebele people were to be resettled in the far away mosquito-ridden native reserves set aside for their exclusive occupation. The two reserves, Shangani (Nkayi/Lupane) and Gwayi (Tsholotsho) were identified soon after occupation in 1894 by a team that was led by Johan Colenbrander. By October 1894 the Bulawayo Chronicle was reporting on their return from the inglorious mission.
By the time of Reverend William Brown’s arrival in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1894 some people from areas around Inyathi Mission had started relocating to Nkayi. Reverend Rees’s view had been that since the people had relocated to eMaguswini, the church should follow their flock. Reverend Brown’s sojourn in Nkayi was in line with Reverend Rees’s idea of living among the flock.
The Reverend William Brown was to arrive in Southern Rhodesia before his predecessor left to allow for a smooth transition. Reverend Brown left England on the overseas trip at the time when World War I was still raging on. Travel then was by ship. The family arrived in Cape Town where it met with soldiers on horseback. Inyathi Mission was still far away to the north. The LMS had opened mission stations among the tribes to the north of Cape Town —in particular among the Tswana groups.
The one such mission station was Kuruman among the BaThlaping. Here the Reverend Doctor Moffat lived and when he undertook the first visit to the Ndebele people he was coming from this station. The Brown family travelled to Kuruman by train. The stopover at Kuruman lasted three weeks during which time Reverend Brown had the opportunity to see the operations of an irrigation scheme.
It was then time to travel to the north by train. The journey to Bulawayo was long and arduous. The Browns did not immediately move to Inyathi Mission. There was a need for the Reverend Brown to undergo some short but rigorous course in the rudiments of the Ndebele language. That course was offered at Hope Fountain Mission (Mthombothemba). Mthombothemba had a contingent of Ndebele-speaking LMS clergy such as Mntompe Khumalo, umfokaJojwana and Sitshenkwa Hlabangana.
Once equipped with some rudiments of the Ndebele language Reverend Brown and family were ready to go and serve among the LMS flock now living in Nkayi. Travel was by donkey-drawn wagon. Before going to Nkayi the new arrivals were taken to Nkosikazi to present their credentials. Queen Lozikeyi Dlodlo lived at Nkosikazi (the name Nkosikazi was in reference to her).
Reverend Rees who was already au feit with Ndebele royal protocol led the new family to the Queen’s residence. Reverend Brown had been briefed that he should not expect immediate admission. The royals were not given to speed of attention to visitors. He had been told too that once admitted he was not to speak until spoken to.
Reverend Rees, having lived among the Ndebele for quite a while was aware of these intricate matters of protocol.
These were stories that were told to Kathleen later as she was young at the time the family went to visit Queen Lozikeyi. In fact she points out that she was in the wagon when the parents visited the Queen. When the family was finally admitted into the presence of Queen Lozikeyi, she was lying down on her side. This was yet another important observance by the Ndebele women. A woman was not to lie on her back or stomach. This is brought out in the “A” Level Ndebele set book, “Bantu BeHadlana” by OL Mlilo. Before the Reverend Rees left Southern Rhodesia he had the honour to christen little Peggy. That and the protocol done, the Browns were ready to crack the whip to drive the donkeys on a long journey to Nkayi — on the northern side of the Shangani River.
