The Sunday News
Pathisa Nyathi
IN the past several weeks we have been writing about experiences of Christian missionaries of the London Missionary Society (LMS), in particular the Reverend Dr Robert Moffat. We did also record the experiences of the Reverend W A Elliot who, unlike Reverend Dr Robert Moffat, was based at Inyathi Mission. Their experiences do go a long way towards shedding some light on what was going on in the early days, both before and after colonisation.
Today we shall look at the experiences of a missionary who arrived in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in the colonial period at the time when World War II broke out in 1914. The said Christian missionary belonged to the Wesleyan Methodist Church and his name was Reverend Herbert Carter. We draw on his experiences as contained in the Rhodesiana of 1974.
However, our thrust is not in his missionary labours, nor is it in the history of the institution that he came to serve — Tegwani Methodist Institution.
We shall, however, render some brief historical background to his early life. Emphasis will be on what he documented with regard to the death and burial of Gampu Sithole, the son of Chief Maqhekeni who was chief of Amagogo within Igabha section of the Ndebele State. The chiefly town where he ruled from was called Ndikimbela in Nata Reserve, Bulilima-Mangwe District.
His father Maqhekeni was a twin with Ngqephu who later became chief of the Regiment/Village called AMatshovu. That chieftainship is today traceable to Bakwayi Sithole whose area of chiefly jurisdiction is in Matobo District, actually near Kezi. The mother of the twins was one Magceke okaMpindo Thebe. Both twins survived and were brought up in Matshobana’s household at ENdinaneni in the ISikhwebesi area of Northern KwaZulu-Natal, KZN, where AMantungwa lived after relocating from Nquthu where they left Magugu in charge, after having relocated from EMpangeni near Richards Bay.
Maqhekeni was then appointed chief of a new Regiment/Village of Igabha, so named because at that time the Sotho/Tswana, AbeNhla, incorporates and assimilates outnumbered the Nguni, AbeZansi that travelled with King Mzilikazi kaMatshobana from KZN. There were other Nguni elements that had joined the migrant kingdom following the death of Sikhunyana who succeeded Chief Zwide kaLanga Nxumalo of the Ndwandwe nation. Many of these stateless people joined the Ndebele at a time they were domiciled in the middle Vaal River, uLikhwa. The King was then living at EZinyosini.
The Mafus, more specifically Dambisamahubo, okaMkhatshana, and his group joined at that juncture. Dambisamahubo or simply Mahubo became a leading chief of a new regiment/village called UGodlwayo. The followers of Mehlomakhulu Mthimkhulu also joined at that time. That was following the death of Mehlomakhulu’s father Mpangazitha who died in the hands of the Ngwane under King Matiwane. Mehlomakhulu, father of Linganisa, Loyiswayo and another four Dlodlo brothers lived in the village controlled by Soxokozela but soon got wind he was targeted by the king and escaped with his followers, but only after killing Soxokozela so that his followers would feel insecure and follow him. Some of Mpangazitha’s followers sought refuge in Lesotho where Mpangazitha was known as Pakalitha. Others proceeded to the land of the Xhosa where they are found today. Those interested in more historical information pertaining events of this time may read my book due for publication soon, titled, “Fluid Ethnic Identities: A History of the Makhalima People of Zimbabwe.”
Our interest in Reverend Herbert Carter lies in his documentation of the funeral of Chief Gampu Sithole who he refers to as Chief Gambo. He also apportions the rank of Paramount Chief to Gampu. Reverend Carter(1887-1967), became an administrator of the school and church that were sometimes referred to as “Isikolo sikaCarter (Khatha)”. Young Carter, born in England, moved to Derby and attended lessons at the Technical College.
He started work as a junior clerk at the Parker Iron Foundry.
He was later taken on board by the Derby County Council where he worked in the Town Treasurer’s Department. He attended the Wesleyan Methodist Church at Greenhill where he came into contact with Reverend James Dixon, later to become his father-in-law. After serving as a local preacher, he went to train as a Methodist minister at the Theological College at Headingly, Leeds.
When the war broke out in 1914, he packed his bags en route to Southern Rhodesia, more specifically to Tegwane, named after a river known as Netru in TjiKalanga. On account of the war, he left behind his fiancée who would join him later after cessation of hostilities. Like other Christian denominations, the Methodist Church had been allocated a farm by Cecil John Rhodes who argued that the Bible was more effective than the gun in taming Africans. Tegwani Methodist Institution started off as a church and a primary school and was later to include a secondary school, a teacher training section and some industrial section where Building, inter alia, was offered. Grey Mabhalane Bango attended the institution as did Dumiso Dabengwa and Dr Eddison Zvobgo. Reverend Enoch Musa (a Makhalima) served there for some time. It was there, that he met his future wife, Ellen Sifelani Thebe whose father belonged to Ingubo Regiment/Village close to KoBulawayo.
In those days Reverend Carter used to travel on foot or on bicycle to visit Methodist converts within his circuit. Reverend Carter was told about Chief Gampu Sithole who was seriously ill. He travelled a distance of about 20 to 25 miles from Zuzumba to get to Gampu’s place. At about the same time, the Native Commissioner dispatched Dr Vigne from Bulawayo to attend to the ill-disposed chief. He travelled virtually the whole night by car to get to the Chief’s place.
Dr Vigne injected the Chief with strychnine and digitalis and left the drugs and gin with the Methodist minister. The old chief died at daybreak on Tuesday. Reverend Carter had been with the Chief on Tuesday and Wednesday in the company of native minister Moses Mfasi (Mfazi?). Interment of the chief’s body took place at midday in the cattle kraal. This was the beginning of several observations that Reverend Carter made which had some bearing on Ndebele funerary practices.
Burial in the cattle kraal was the norm for Ndebele men in those days. There were no cemeteries for burial. Instead, a homestead comprised gendered sites. It was separation in life and in death in so far as the sexes were concerned. The place for women and girls was the kitchen and back part of the homestead where grain was stored and processed. Food was prepared by women folk within the same section of the homestead.
Men, on the other hand, had their space outside the homestead — near the cattle byre. This part of the homestead was called inkundla yamadoda. Here food was brought by women or girls to give to men. Women and girls were, however, not allowed to enter the cattle byre, a site reserved for men. Girls departing for their grooms’ homes left from the cattle byre where isithundu was administered prior to the wedding party departing.
This separation in life was practiced in death too. Women had their bodies interred at the back section of the homestead — ezibuyeni. Men on the other hand, had their bodies interred within their own zone — with the head of household being buried in or near the cattle kraal. In fact, when the two sexes went to answer to the call of nature, women headed for their own section and men did the same: apart in life, apart in death.
Next week we shall pursue Reverend Carter’s observations with a view to unpacking the world-view that underpinned cultural practices that he observed.
