NDAWO, HENRY MASILA
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Henry Masila Ndawo (1883-1949), a school teacher, novelist, poet, preserver of oral literature, political activist and writer, was born among the amaHlubi at Bethesda near the turbulent Matatiele district of the Cape Province. He attended mission schools and taught school in the Matatiele and Mzimkulu districts until his retirement in 1943.
Ndawo was a one-time member of the Transkei Bunga (General Council) which met at Umtata, the administrative centre of the Transkei after 1903. He was a prolific writer who displayed outstanding talent and skill in the use of IsiXhosa. For his excellent contributions to IsiXhosa poetry, he was given the honorific title “Imbongi Wase Mahlutyini Ka Bungani” (Poet of the Hlubi of Bungani).
Ndawo penned the first IsiXhosa novel that was to be used extensively in high school: Uhambo Luka Ggoboka (The Journey of Ggobaka) in 1909. He wrote three other novels, U Nolishwa in 1931, U Nomathamsanga No Sigebenga, (Nomatha-manga and the Hoodlum) in 1938 and U Mwe in 1951, published after his death.
As a preserver of oral tradition, Ndawo painstakingly gathered and published Izibongo Zenkosi Zama lubi Nezama Baca (Praise Poetry of the Hlubi and Bhaca Chiefs) in 1928 and the Iziduko Zama Hlubi (clan names of the Hlubi) in 1939. He collected folktales and published them in 1920 under the title Inxenye Yentsomi Zasezweni (Folktales of the Nation). Interested in the history of the African people, he wrote U Mshweshwe, a historical sketch of Moshoeshoe, published posthumously in 1951 and “Ibali Lama Hubi” which remained unpublished at his death. Ndawo was killed in a railway accident in 1949.
Ndawo was a writer who transcended narrow ethnicism, exhibiting sensitivity to the political aspirations of the African people of South Africa. With his syncretic style, he sought to balance tradition with the need for change. Through his writings, he epitomised the struggle of the South African creative writer and political activist who wishes to define the limits of change and continuity in his own culture, while broadening the perception of South African nationality.
C. TSEHLOANE KETO
