Mhlakaza
Wikipedia and South African History Online agree that Mhlakaza was the uncle of Nongqawuse and raised her after her parents died in the Waterkloof campaigns. They say he was a religious man who had lived in the Cape Colony, become familiar with Christianity and returned to Xhosaland in 1853. SAHO adds that Mhlakaza’s father had been a councillor to Chief Sarhili, and that after his mother’s death Mhlakaza went to the colony.
The messages of 1856
Wikipedia says Mhlakaza was at first sceptical but became convinced when Nongqawuse described a man he recognised as his dead brother, and that he then took the message to Chief Sarili. SAHO says Mhlakaza organised and interpreted the messages and told the royal officials, so that there is no direct record of Nongqawuse’s own words, and that when the promised renewal did not come, pressure mounted on both of them, and they offered various excuses. It says that Jeff Peires treats Nongqawuse as a child vessel with Mhlakaza carrying the message to the chiefs.
Was he Wilhelm Goliath?
Sheila Boniface Davies’s article “Raising the dead: The Xhosa Cattle-Killing and the Mhlakaza-Goliat Delusion” (Journal of Southern African Studies 33:1, 2007) says Peires’s 1989 book The Dead Will Arise identified Mhlakaza as Wilhelm Goliath, a former servant and companion of an Anglican archdeacon in Grahamstown, which Peires argued explained the Christian content of the prophecies; that the idea became part of the standard account although a few historians questioned it; and that she presents evidence against it and asks why the rumour arose in 1856 and was revived more than 130 years later. We have read only the abstract. Because the identification is disputed, we do not state as fact that Mhlakaza was baptised, or by whom, or that he was Goliath.
What we have not read
We have not read Peires’s The Dead Will Arise, Davies’s full article, or Bradford’s work, and we found no account by Mhlakaza’s family. We do not know when or how he died. The page rests on Wikipedia, SAHO and one article abstract.
Izithakazelo and totem
We found no recorded praises or totem for Mhlakaza, so we are printing none. If you trace your family to him and want its history recorded here, with your permission and credited to you, we would like to hear from you.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Nongqawuse
- South African History Online: Nongqawuse
- Sheila Boniface Davies: Raising the dead: The Xhosa Cattle-Killing and the Mhlakaza-Goliat Delusion (catalogue record with abstract)
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