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This article focuses on the history of 19th century Xhosa language newspapers in South Africa.
The first Nguni language newspapers in South Africa were founded in the Eastern Cape during the 19th century. The efforts of the Glasgow Missionary Society and the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society were largely responsible for the beginnings of Xhosa language publishing. Christian missionaries were responsible for the beginning of the movement towards vernacular language publishing in South Africa: the first piece of Xhosa writing was a hymn written in the early 19th century by the prophet Ntsikana. The Bible was translated into Xhosa between the 1820s and 1859. [1]
| Start date | Name | Translation | Period | Publication |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. 1837 | Umshumayeli Wendaba | Preacher of the news | July 1837 to April 1841 | 15 issues |
| 2. 1845 | Ikwezi | Morning Star | August 1844 to December 1845 | 4 issues |
| 3. 1850 | Isitunywa Senyanga | The Monthly Messenger | August to December 1850 | 5 issues |
| 4. 1862 | Indaba | The News | August 1862 to February 1865 | Example |
| 5. 1870 | Isigidimi samaXhosa | The Xhosa Messenger | October 1870 to December 1888 | Example |
| 6. 1897 | Izwi labantu | The Voice of the People | November 1897 to April 1909 | Example |
| 7. 1884 | Imvo Zabantsundu | African Opinion | November 1884 to August 1901 | Example |
| 8. 1938 | "Inkundla YaBantu" | (lit. the Court of the People) Territorial Magazine | April 1938 – early 1950s | Example |
| 9. 2015 | I'solezwe lesiXhosa | Eye of the nation in Xhosa | 30 March 2015 – | |
The earliest known black newspaper in Southern Africa was founded by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape. The first 10 issues (1837–39) were published in Grahamstown and the last five issues (1840–41) at Peddie. The first and fifth issues of the publication were 10 pages, and the other 13 issues were eight pages. [2]
Founded by the Glasgow Missionary Society and published in association with the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society at Chumie mission station (Chumie Press) near Lovedale in the Eastern Cape. "The items included a story of Ntsikana (the Xhosa prophet), an article on circumcision among the Xhosa, a story of George Washington ...accounts of Christian work in lands beyond Africa, stories of African converts to Christianity and an appeal to Christian parents about the training of their children" (Ngcongco). According to Mahlasela, this magazine contained the earliest known writings in Xhosa by a Xhosa writer. William Kobe Ntsikana (son of the prophet), Zaze Soga, and Makhaphela Noyi Balfour were among those who wrote for the journal. [2]
A newspaper for the "literary and religious advancement of the Xhosa" (September 1850), it was edited by J. W. Appleyard of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society. The newspaper was published at Mount Coke (Wesleyan Mission Press), near King William's Town, Cape. It averaged four pages with editorials and news stories in English. [2]
Founded and published by the Glasgow Missionary Society for African teachers and students at Lovedale, near Alice, Cape. The newspaper was written mostly by Africans from Lovedale, among whom was Tiyo Soga, who wrote under the pseudonym "Nonjiba Waseluhlangeni" (Dove of the Nation). One-third of the newspaper was in English for the "intellectual advancement" of the students. [2]
October 1870 – December 1875 (as part of The Kaffir Express); January 1876 – December 1888 (as an independent newspaper) monthly, fortnightly (1883–84). After the demise of the first newspapers, European missionaries founded Isigidimi Sama-Xosa (The Xhosa Messenger), which appeared between October 1870 and December 1888. James Stewart, principal of Lovedale and publisher of Lovedale Mission Press, was the founding editor and he later handed the editorial position over to Tiyo Soga's students (Makiwane, Bokwe, Jabavu and Gqoba). [With the death of William Wellington Gqoba in 1888, Isigdimi Sama –Xosa newspaper collapses.] ---> Discontent with the intervention of the missionaries concerning the content of Isigidimi samaXhosa, John Tengo Jabavu founded Imvo Zabantsundu newspaper. [2]
Founded and published in East London by a group of Africans opposed to John Tengo Jabavu's support of the Afrikaner Bond in the election of 1898 in the Cape Colony—the one area in Southern Africa before 1910 where a significant number of Africans (and Coloureds) actually had voting rights. Nathaniel Cyril Umhalla (or Mhala), R. R. Mantsayi, Thomas Mqanda, George W. Tyamzashe, W. D. Soga, A. H. Maci and F. Jonas, with financial backing from Cecil John Rhodes, launched the news- paper which supported the English-speaking Progressive Party. Umhalla, assisted by Tyamzashe, was the first editor followed by Allan Kirkland Soga, a son of Tiyo Soga, the pioneer missionary, hymnist and writer. Samuel E. K. Mqhayi was the sub- editor (1897–1900, 1906–09) and a writer for the newspaper under the pseudonym of "Imbongi Yakwo Gompo" (The Gompo Poet). Izwi Labantu's most important political writer was undoubtedly Walter Rubusana, a founder-member of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) in 1912 (it was renamed the African National Congress in 1919) and the political foe of Jabavu. As Trapido put it, Izwi Labantu broke Imvo Zabantsundu's "monopoly of news and propaganda" and thus enhanced the Black Press's role as "a forum for those who wanted to co-ordinate African political activity." Izwi Labantu actively supported the Native Press Association and was used effectively in the founding of the South African Native Congress (1902), a Cape regional forerunner of the SANNC. [2] [3] [4] [5] Davenport 1966, Scott 1976, Reed personal communication.
Founded in King William's Town in the Eastern Cape by John Tengo Jabavu with white financial support—chiefly from Richard W. Rose-Innes, King William's Town lawyer and the brother of James Rose-Innes, [6] and James W. Weir, a local merchant and son of a Lovedale missionary. Like John Dube, Jabavu —an influential figure in "white" and "black" politics for more than 40 years—accepted the principle of non-violence and the necessity of working together with "liberal" whites in trying to reform a white-dominated, multi-racial society. The Jabavu family controlled the newspaper until 1935—although from time to time it was edited by others, including John Knox Bokwe (a partner in the company 1898–1900), Solomon Plaatje (July–November 1911), and Samuel E. K. Mqhayi (1920–21). Jabavu's sons, Davidson Don Tengo Jabavu and Alexander Macaulay Jabavu (1889–1946), [7] inherited the newspaper when their father died in 1921. Alexander edited the journal until 1940, but it was sold eventually to Bantu Press. The newspaper was moved to Johannesburg until 1953 and then transferred to East London. In 1956 it was moved back to Johannesburg. B. Nyoka edited the newspaper for most of the period it was controlled by Bantu Press, although he was supervised, in turn, by a white editorial director. King William's Town Printing Company, owned by F. Ginsberg, operated the newspaper in partnership with Bantu Press in King William's Town in 1957 and then published the newspaper independently until 1963, when it was sold to Tanda Pers – then a subsidiary of Afrikaanse Pers – and, later, Perskor. Thus Imvo Zabantsundu – the oldest, continuous newspaper founded by an African in South Africa – now promoted the ideology of apartheid. Tiyo Soga's students later founded Imvo Zabantsundu (African Opinion, November 1884– ) [2]
Inkundla Ya Bantu was first published in April 1938 under the name Territorial Magazine. It was subsequently renamed in June 1940. Its distribution area covered at first the rural parts of the Eastern Cape and Southern Parts of KwaZulu-Natal and then later expanded to the Johannesburg and Witwatersrand area. The newspaper was released monthly at first and then in 1943 became a fortnightly publication and for a while it published weekly but in the last two years of its existence it only managed to publish monthly and some months not at all. [8] Inkundla Ya Bantu was the only independent, 100% black-owned newspaper at the time of its inception and for the duration of its lifespan, that played a significant role in African politics. It published articles in both English and Xhosa.
Intsimbi. An IsiXhosa published in and around Umtata in the 1940s
Archibald Campbell Mzolisa "A.C." Jordan was a novelist, literary historian and intellectual pioneer of African studies in South Africa.
Zachariah Keodirelang Matthews OLG was a prominent black academic in South Africa, lecturing at South African Native College, where many future leaders of the African continent were among his students.
The following lists events that happened during 1884 in South Africa.
The amaMfengu were a group of Xhosa clans whose ancestors were refugees that fled from the Mfecane in the early-mid 19th century to seek land and protection from the Xhosa. These refugees were assimilated into the Xhosa nation and were officially recognized by the then king, Hintsa.
Lovedale, also known as the Lovedale Missionary Institute was a mission station and educational institute in the Victoria East division of the Cape Province, South Africa. It lies 520 metres (1,720 ft) above sea level on the banks of the Tyhume River, a tributary of the Keiskamma River, some 3.2 kilometres (2 mi) north of Alice.
Tiyo Soga was a Xhosa journalist, minister, translator, missionary evangelist, and composer of hymns. Soga was the first black South African to be ordained, and worked to translate the Bible and John Bunyan's classic work Pilgrim's Progress into his native Xhosa language.
John Tengo Jabavu was a political activist and the editor of South Africa's first newspaper to be written in Xhosa.
William Wellington Gqoba was a South African Xhosa poet, translator, and journalist. He was a major nineteenth-century Xhosa writer, whose relatively short life saw him working as a wagonmaker, a clerk, a teacher, a translator of Xhosa and English, and a pastor.
George Milwa Mnyaluza Pemba was a South African painter and writer. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Ikhamanga.
Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi was a Xhosa dramatist, essayist, critic, novelist, historian, biographer, translator and poet whose works are regarded as instrumental in standardising the grammar of isiXhosa and preserving the language in the 20th century.
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Davidson Don Tengo Jabavu was a Xhosa educationist and politician, and a founder of the All African Convention (AAC), which sought to unite all non-European opposition to the segregationist measure of the South African government. He was the eldest son of political activist and pioneering newspaper editor John Tengo Jabavu, and the father of Noni Jabavu, one of the first African female writers and journalists.
John Knox Bokwe was a South African journalist, Presbyterian minister and one of the most celebrated Xhosa hymn writers and musician. He is best known for his compositions Vuka Deborah, Plea for Africa, and Marriage Song.
Tsala ea Batho / Tsala ea Becauna was a Tswana and English language newspaper based in Kimberly, Cape Province, between 1910 and 1915. It was a politically nonpartisan newspaper, running topical news and opinions that would interest black people in South Africa.
Mpilo Walter Benson Rubusana was the co-founder of the Xhosa language newspaper publication, Izwi Labantu, funded by Cecil John Rhodes, and the first Black person to be elected to the Cape Council (Parliament) in 1909. He also initiated the Native Education Association that contributed towards the formation of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) in 1912 and later renamed the African National Congress in 1923.
Ntsikana was a Christian Xhosa prophet, evangelist and hymn writer who is regarded as one of the first Christians to translate Christian ideas and concepts into terms understandable to a Xhosa audience.
William Anderson Soga was the first African to qualify with an MBCM in 1883 and the first African medical doctor to practise in South Africa, as well as being the first African to obtain a doctorate MD. His thesis titled "The ethnology of the Bomvanas of Bomvanaland, an aboriginal tribe in South East Africa, with observations upon the climate and diseases of the country, and the methods of treatment in use among the people" was completed at the University of Glasgow in 1895. He was also ordained as a minister in the United Presbyterian Church 1885 making him one of the first medical missionaries in South Africa. Soga was involved in the running of mission stations, building churches, diagnosis and treatment of patients, research and writing.