Qwambi in the sources
The amaQwambi claim, in Soga’s account, to be of Xhosa descent through a minor (iqadi) house of the early chief Nkosiyamntu, whose principal son of that house was Qwambi. Soga records that they live mostly among the Ngqika and that, among the Xhosa, a Qwambi boy has the duty of being the first circumcised before a chief’s son.
What the sources say
Origin. Soga says the Qwambi “claim to be of Xosa origin”, saying they belong to one of the minor houses of Nkosiyamntu, father of Cira, Jwara and Tshawe, Qwambi being declared the principal son of that minor house; the clan members, he adds, “have no doubt of their Xosa origin” (p. 283). He dates Qwambi, “minor son of Tshawe” in another passage, to about 1600, and uses the q click in his name as evidence that the Xhosa had clicks before meeting the Khoikhoi (p. 96); the two statements make Qwambi a son of Nkosiyamntu in one and of Tshawe in the other, and Soga does not reconcile them. See Cirha, Jwarha and Tshawe.
Where they live. “In these days they are mostly to be found among the Gaikas (Ngqikas)”, because, they say, when Rharhabe crossed the Kei with his father Palo, the Qwambi threw in their lot with Rharhabe rather than with Gcaleka, Palo’s heir; Soga calls them, in fact, neither Ngqika nor Gcaleka but Xhosa, since they came into being before either section (pp. 283 to 284; see Rharhabe). Soga’s list of “Rarabe and Gaika clans” also names the Qwambi among the fragments of older tribes living with them (p. 280).
A duty. When the son of an important chief is to be circumcised, the operation has first to be done on a Qwambi boy. Asked why descendants of a chief should serve in this subordinate way, the Qwambi told Soga that their position as chiefs was from the beginning of little consequence, being far down in the minor houses, so that they were practically commoners and the duty was imposed on them; Soga thinks the custom may once have had religious significance but sees little religious character in it now (p. 284).
Cautions
This is one author’s record from the 1920s, based on what the Qwambi said of themselves. The clan’s place in the Xhosa genealogy is, in Soga’s own presentation, inconsistent between two passages, and his genealogical table of the clan is unreadable in our scan. We give no detail of the initiation custom beyond what Soga says. We do not know how this clan relates to present families called Qwambi. Soga was a Xhosa-born mission doctor and historian who wrote in 1930 from tribal informants and the older colonial histories; his tables are partly garbled in the machine-read text, and he often says that a clan’s place in the genealogy is uncertain.
Izithakazelo and totem
We found no Qwambi praise poem or totem in the sources we read. If you belong to the amaQwambi and recite your praises, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
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