Xhosas must write own story
King speaks up at event in honour of King Sarhili
AMAXHOSA King Mpendulo Sigcawu and Nelson Mandela University Professor Sindile Saule have expressed concern over how Xhosa history is being portrayed by white historians, saying black people should be allowed to write their own story.
The royal and the academic were speaking at an event where the Xhosa kingdom, in partnership with Intsika Yethu local municipality, were commemorating one of the Xhosa martyrs, King Ntaba Sarhili.
The colourful three-day event was held at Hoyita village in Cofimvaba at the weekend.
Saule said history on the AmaXhosa was written to confuse the nation.
“It is written in the interest of colonialists. It has a lot of deliberate distortion and planned omissions of important events.”
An example was how King Sarhili was portrayed. According to Saule, he was seen as a weak and useless king.
“King Sarhili was one of the bravest kings, a diplomat and a strategist.”
Sarhili ka Hintsa was born in 1810 and was the fifth king of the Gcaleka sub-group of the Xhosa nation. He was paramount chief of all the AmaXhosa, from 1835 until his death in 1893 at Sholora, Bomvanaland.
Sarhili played an important part in the Great Cattle Killing, a millennial movement which began among the AmaXhosa in 1856 and led to them destroying their own means of survival in the belief that it would bring about salvation from supernatural powers, who would be moved by the sacrifice to drive the white people into the sea.
King Sarhili stayed in the Hoyita area near Cofimvaba but died in Elliotdale in 1893.
Sigcawu, Intsika Yethu mayor Jongumzi Cengani and Chris Hani heritage sites researcher Sicebi Noah said it was in the interest of both parties to develop the Hoyita heritage site for the restoration and preservation of the Xhosa heritage.
“The commemoration is used as part of creating awareness and celebrating the role played by traditional leaders in the struggle against land dispossession,” said Noah.
The celebrations started with a family function that included special rituals and visits to the heritage sites linked to King Sarhili and the Xhosa history in the area.
The theme was “preserving our heritage and commemorating our leaders while promoting our identity as the Xhosa nation, as well as entrenching our values, ethics and strengthening existing relationships through partnerships”.
The mayor said Intsika Yethu and Chris Hani, concerned at the large number of unsung heroes and heroines among traditional leaders and in political spheres, had decided to celebrate them.
“This also helps to promote relationships between traditional leaders and politicians, and recognises the role played by traditional leaders in fighting land dispossession, hundreds of years before the ANC was born. “We are partnering with the National Heritage Council and this will be included in our integrated development plan,” said Cengani.
A museum honouring the heroes and heroines of Chris Hani district is to be built in Qamata while tourism facilities will be built in the old Great Place of Sarhili in Hoyita. —