Who the Xesibe are
The Dictionary of South African English defines the Xesibe as a people of the northern Transkei, now counted as part of the Xhosa group, and says the name comes from isiXhosa amaXesibe, said to be named after an early leader. Its earliest dated quotation is from 1884. Wikipedia’s article on Xesibeland says it was a region between Griqualand East and Pondoland, centred on Mount Ayliff, that was the traditional homeland of the Xesibe, who were closely related to the Mpondo and Mpondomise and had formerly been part of Mpondoland. The Xesibe are not a clan with a single praise name; this page follows the people.
Their founder and the Mpondo twins
The dictionary quotes W. D. Hammond-Tooke (1954) saying the tribe’s founder Xesibe is said to have been a full brother of the twins Mpondo and Mpondomise. A 2015 Daily Dispatch report on a Xesibe monument calls the Xesibe the imfusi, “one born after”, of the twins. The two accounts differ on whether Xesibe was a third full brother or a younger relative, and we do not know how the Xesibe themselves tell it. See Mpondomise.
Chief Fikeni and his wives
According to the Daily Dispatch (21 December 2015), the amaXesibe gathered at Mount Ayliff to unveil a monument at Ndzongiseni village to Chief Fikeni and his five wives. It says Fikeni (1820 to 1870) was the son of Chief Mjoli and grandson of Sinama, paramount chief of the “Mganu Xesi” tribe, and that his wives (Manguse, MaGxumisa, Manyangule, MaMaqanda and MaRhadebe) encouraged Methodist missionaries to start a church in Xesibeland, introducing Christianity and education. The monument was designed by Somadoda Fikeni, a political analyst and descendant who has researched the Xesibe for more than 25 years and is quoted urging the Xesibe to write their own history. These are the descendants’ own claims as reported.
Wikipedia’s article on Mount Ayliff names a Chief Jojo and says “Jojo today is the royal family and still the leading family in EmaXesibeni”. We do not know how the Jojo and Fikeni houses relate, and we have not tried to rank them.
Annexation in 1886
South African History Online has an event record that “land of the amaXesibe, centred at Mount Ayliff (Griqualand East), is annexed to the Cape Colony”, without a date on the page; the dictionary quotes a 1936 Cambridge history dating it to October 1886. Wikipedia says that on 20 October 1886 armed Mpondo invaded Xesibeland after its annexation, burning kraals, that they resented the loss of land less crowded than the rest of Mpondoland, and that order was restored in December 1886; it names the Mpondo leader as “Umquieka”. The article is a stub that draws on newspapers of 1886 and a Victorian reference book.
The Commission
The Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims records that the amaXesibe, with the amaNdungwana and amaMpondomise, helped the Thembu king Dlomo against his brother Hlanga at the Battle of Msana; see our Thembu page.
What we have not read
We have not read Hammond-Tooke’s work on the Xesibe, the JSTOR article on European traders and the Mpondo paramountcy that Wikipedia links, or the Ndima thesis on the origin of the Qwathi that it also links. Wikipedia names Mount Ayliff’s renaming to EmaXesibeni only in passing and gives no date, so we do not state one. We found no Xesibe praise text or confirmed totem, and no account of who leads the Xesibe today.
Izithakazelo and totem
We are printing no Xesibe praises or totem because none has been confirmed. If you are Xesibe and recite your izithakazelo, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Dictionary of South African English: Xesibe
- Wikipedia: Xesibeland (stub)
- Wikipedia: Mount Ayliff
- Daily Dispatch: Monument to remember chief, wives (21 December 2015)
- South African History Online: land of the amaXesibe annexed
- Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims: Determination on abaThembu bakwaDalindyebo
See also Mpondomise, Faku and Bomvana.
Are you Xesibe? Tell us your praises and what elders say about the history, and we will add it, credited to you. Share what you know or WhatsApp 065 138 8213.