S.E.K. Mqhayi

S.E.K. Mqhayi (born Dec. 1, 1875, near Gqumahashe, Cape Colony [now in South Africa]—died July 29, 1945, Ntab’ozuko, S.Af.) was a Xhosa poet, historian, and translator who has been called the “father of Xhosa poetry.”

Mqhayi, who was born into a family of long Christian standing, spent several of his early years in rural Transkei, a circumstance that is reflected in his evident love of Xhosa history and his mastery of the praise poem. He taught school and helped to edit several Xhosa-language journals. In 1905 he was appointed to the Xhosa Bible Revision Board, and he later helped codify Xhosa grammar and standardize Xhosa orthography. After completing this work, Mqhayi devoted most of his time to writing.

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His first published book, U-Samson, was a version of the biblical story of Samson. In 1914 his Ityala lamawele (“The Lawsuit of the Twins”) appeared. Inspired by another biblical story, Ityala lamawele is a defense of Xhosa law before European administration. In the 1920s Mqhayi wrote several biographies and Imihobe nemibongo (1927; “Songs of Joy and Lullabies”), the first published collection of Xhosa poems, many of which celebrate current events or important figures. A work of fiction, U-Don Jadu (1929), describes a utopian multiracial state that combines elements of Western society and Xhosa culture. Mqhayi’s autobiography, U-Mqhayi wase Ntab’ozuko (1939; “Mqhayi of the Mountain of Beauty”), gives a vivid picture of late 19th-century Xhosa life.

Mqhayi’s collected poems, Inzuzo (“Reward”), were published in 1942. A short autobiography and two works, “The Death of Hintsa” and “The Dismissal of Sir Benjamin D’Urban,” were published in Mqhayi in Translation (1976).