Cape Town - While very little is known and documented on the life of pioneering Xhosa poet, activist, and political and social commentator Nontsizi Mgqwetho, she has left a considerable body of work and should be honoured for her significant contributions.
Mgqwetho was remembered during a memorial lecture, hosted by the National Library of South Africa (NLSA), Iziko Museums of South Africa, and the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), on Wednesday at Iziko Museums in Cape Town.
The lecture was delivered by Precious Sinovuyo Bikitsha, who recently completed her Master of Arts degree in Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town (UCT), and whose Honours dissertation reflected on her activism through her poetry.
“In my final year, I did a history course called ‘Subjects to Citizens?' and the framing of African intellectuals as only men was just so strange to me… and it was just a little bit disappointing that there weren't any women who were documented and so I came across Nontsizi's words in poetry and that sparked an interest and I decided to pursue my postgraduate studies looking at her work and it's been an abiding interest of mine.”
Bikitsha uses an historical lens to understand Nontsizi's work, dating back to the 1920s.
Mgqwetho was born and grew up in Ngojini village in Whittlesea, near Queenstown. She wrote and performed her own poetry.
She started writing for a Johannesburg newspaper Abantu-Batho in 1919 and later went on to regularly contribute to “Umteteli wa Bantu” (Mouthpiece of the People), a newspaper edited by Marshall Maxeke, until her last poetry contribution in 1929.
“… She writes about preaching and really I think what is fascinating about her is that she is able to talk about contradictory realities, … she writes about what it means to be modern during that time.
“… She's thinking about what it means to be Christian during that time, what it means to be South African, what it means to be black and a woman.
“But I think the most compelling one for me is the fact that she actually believes that she has a voice and a right to speak.
“There's a beautiful poem and she starts it off and she says, ‘Ink leave me to sleep. I couldn't sleep last night' and that speaks to the sense of urgency of writing and the importance of writing.”
In her dissertation, Bikitsha states that Mgqwetho was the first woman Xhosa poet to produce a substantial body of work in isiXhosa.
Her work was picked up by Professor Jeff Opland in 1976 and only published years later in an anthology titled, The Nation’s Bounty: The Xhosa Poetry of Nontsizi Mgqwetho in 2007.
Former president Thabo Mbeki referred to her as the most prolific writer of the 20th century.
“She was writing and involved in pass law protests. She was writing a lot about political economy, like what does it mean when we sell our maize, or we sell our land. And she was also writing a lot about fighting for your rights…,” Bikitsha said.
Bikitsha said Mgqwetho's contributions are profound yet often overlooked.
According to Bikitsha, the absence of a comprehensive biography for Mgqwetho has implications for understanding her role in South African history, his absence was not just about an individual but reflected on a broader issue around historical documentation, where certain voices, especially that of women, may be obscured or neglected.
“Even though we don't know where she was born, when she died, or where she went to school, it's also a good thing because sometimes I think when we know about women's personal lives we can focus too much on that, we can demonise them for their personal lives.
Bikitsha said despite there being growing recognition of Mgqwetho's contributions through academic research and cultural exhibitions, there remains a vital need for institutional support.
“This includes dedicated exhibitions, expanded archival collections, and educational initiatives that highlight her influence on South African intellectual and cultural history.”