CITASHE, I.W.W.
- 2 Min Read
I.W.W. Citashe (circa 1845-circa 1930) was a Xhosa poet who wrote from around 1875 until the early 1900s. He exhorted Africans to use education, rather than force, to defend themselves against whites.
Citashe was born near Uitenhage in the Cape Province. Little is known about him until 1875, when he showed himself to be an accomplished poet, writing in Xhosa. His work was published in the journal Isigidimi sama Xhosa (“The Xhosa Messenger”), published from 1877-88 by the Lovedale Mission in Cape Province.
Like other Xhosa writers of the late 19th century, Citashe rejected the white missionaries’ words, in the light of other whites’ harsh actions.
He believed that Africans had to protect themselves, and that they could not rely on white missionaries or theologies for protection. At the same time, he had lived through the Xhosa cattle-killing of 1856-57, and was living through the last of the Xhosa wars while he was writing; he was therefore aware that Africans could not count on force for protection. Instead, in his famous poem “Weapon,” first published in Isingidimi, he urged other writers, and all Africans, to use writing and education to forward their cause.
He was one of the first poets to urge the use of education to set Africans apart from whites. He was also an inspiration to J.T. Jabavu, John Bokwe, Walter B. Rubusana, and J.H. Soga, all of whom wrote in support of Africans and African ways.
LEONARD LESLIE BESSANT
