Event Schedule

Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi was born on the 1^st December in 1875 in Gqumashe (kwintili zeTyhume) in Alice (where Fort Hare University is situated). We were deprived of his dedicated creation of future artistic work and his journalism ethics when he went to be with the Lord on the 29 July 1945 in Ntabozuko, Berlin, in the Eastern Cape. This Xhosa poet and historian is best known for his authorship of much of the poem, "Nkosi Sikelel'iAfrika" which was to form part of a free South Africa's national anthem.

In his highly emotional poem below (which most of us were made to recite at school, thus reinforcing national pride, whose deeper meaning we were not even aware of then): ‘Ukuzika kukaMendi’ (The Sinking of the Mendi), S.E.K. Mqhayi depicts the events of this disaster which occurred on 21 February 1917 in a very striking, vivid and impressive  language.

UKUZIKA KUKAMENDI

Ewe, le nto kakade yinto yaloo nto.
Thina, nto zaziyo, asothukanga nto;
Sibona kamhlope, sithi bekumelwe,
Sitheth'engqondweni, sithi kufanelwe;
Xa bekungenjalo bekungayi kulunga.
Ngoko ke, Sotase kwaqal'ukulunga!
Le nqanaw', umendi, namhla yendisile,
Na'igazi lethu lisikhonzisile!

Asinithenganga ngazo izicengo;
Asinithenganga ngayo imibengo;
Bekungenganzuzo zimakhwezikhwezi,
Bekungenganzuzo ingangeenkwenkwezi.
Sikwatsho nakuni, bafel'eAfrika,
KwelaseJamani yaseMpumalanga,
NelaseJamani yaseNtshonalanga.
Bekungembek'eninayo kuKumkani,
Bekungentobeko yenu kwiBritani.

Mhla nashiy’ ikhaya sithethile nani,
Mhla nashiy’iintsapo salathile kuni,
Mhla sabamb’izandla, mhla kwamanz’amehlo.
Mhla balil’oonyoko, bangqukrulek’ooyihlo,
Mhla nazishiy’ezi ntaba zakowenu,
Nayinikel’imiv’imilamb’ezwe lenu
Asitshongo na kuni, midak’ akowethu,
Ukuthi “Kwelo zwe nilidini lethu?”

Ngesibinge ngantoni na ke kade?
Idini lomzi liyintoni na ke kade?
Asingamathol'amaduna omzi na?
Asizizithandwa zesizwe kade na?
Ngoku kuthetha ke siyendelisela,
Sibhekis'ezantsi, sihlahla indlela.
AsinguHabheli na idini lomhlaba?
AsinguMesiya na elasezulwini?

Thuthuzelekani ngoko, zinkedama!
Thuthuzelekani ngoko, bafazana!
Kuf’omnye kade mini kwakhiw’ omnye;
Kukhonza mnye kade’ ze kuphil’ abanye;
Ngala mazwi sithi, thuthuzelekani,
Ngokwenjenje kwethu sithi, yakhekani.
Lithatheni eli qhalo labadala,
Kuba bathi: “Akuhlanga lungehlanga!

Awu! Zaf'int'ezinkulu zeAfrika!
Isindiwe le nqanawa, 'de yazika,
Kwaf'amakhalipha, amafa nankosi,
Agazi lithetha kwiNkosi yeeNkosi.
Ukufa kwawo kunomvuzo nomvuka
Ndinga ndingema nawo ngomhla wovuko,
Ndingqambe njengomnye osebenzileyo,
Ndikhanye njengomso oqaqambileyo.
Makube njalo!
 

SINKING OF THE MENDI

Yes, this thing flows as a normal thing from that.
The thing we know is not scared of that;
We say, things have happened as they should have,
Within our brains we say: it should have been so;
If it hadn’t been so, nothing would have come right.
You see Sotase, things came right when the Mendi sank!
Our blood on that ship turned things around,
It served to make us known through the world!

The British didn’t buy us with begging;
They didn’t seduce us with long strips of meat;
They didn’t bribe us with things as high as the stars,
They didn’t bribe us with profits.
We say unto those who died, you were Africans,
Those who died in the country of the rising sun,
Those who died in the country of the setting sun,
You didn’t die out of subservience for the king,
Nor because you wanted to kowtow to Britain.

On the day you left home, we talked,
On the day you left, we promised to look after your families,
On this day we shook hands, our eyes were wet.
On this day mothers cried, you fathers sobbed,
On this day you left the mountains of your birth,
You left the rivers of our country behind
We said to you, going there as dark-skinned men,
We said: “You are our sacrifice from here.”

Could we have sacrificed anything more precious?
What did it mean to sacrifice a village?
Was it not giving the bull calves of your homestead?
Sending those very ones who loved you as a nation?
We’re talking deep now; we have added our voice,
Proudly we are part of those opening the road to freedom.
In the way Abel was the sacrifice of the earth?
In the way the Messiah was the sacrifice of heaven?

Be consoled, all you orphans!
Be consoled, all you young widows!
Somebody has to die, so that something can be built;
Somebody has to serve, so that others can live;
With these words we say: be consoled,
This is how we build ourselves, as ourselves.
Remember the saying of the old people:
“Nothing comes down, without coming down.”

Awu! The finest of Africa was busy dying!
The ship couldn’t carry its precious cargo,
It was echoing into the inner circles,
Their brave blood faced the King of Kings.
Their deaths had a purpose for all of us
How I wish I could be with them,
How I wish I could stand with them on resurrection day,
How I wish I could sparkle with them like the morning star.
Let it be so!

© Translation: 2008, Antjie Krog, Ncebakazi Saliwa & Koos Oosthuyzen

Although the Armed Forces Day is celebrated annually in South Africa on 21 February, the day of the 1993 reconstitution of the South African Defence Force into its current identity,this year it'll be celebrated extaordinarily. It has been celebrated with parades nationwide since 2012. 

A young promising face, a professional journalist, Aldrin Sampear who is a dear colleague of ours compiled the video below.


By:  Babalwa Tyekela