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Poet and educator Dr Benedict Wallet Vilakazi on the day of his graduation in 1946, making history as the first Black person in South Africa to obtain a PhD. He was born on this day in 1906. Vilakazi Street in Soweto is named after him.
His birth name is Bambatha. He would be baptized Benedict Wallet during his years at a Catholic school in Groutville.
Utata was appointed teaching assistant in 1934 at Wits making history as the first Black person to teach there. He also made history as the first to publish an anthology of poems in isiZulu. He passed away a year after obtaining his PhD.
Coincidentally Dr Vilakazi was born the year of the Bambatha rebellion of 1906.
One of his poems read:
Shona langa lemihla yonke.
Wen’owanqab’ukukhanyisa
Kithina sizwe sikaMnyama
Imfihlo yomtapo weGoli
Engilibone licebisa
Izizwe nezinhla zomhlaba
Thina bakaMyama sibuka
Sikhex’izindebe ezinkulu
Shona langa lemihla yonke.
Wen’owanqab’ukukhanyisa
Kithina sizwe sikaMnyama
Imfihlo yomtapo weGoli
Engilibone licebisa
Izizwe nezinhla zomhlaba
Thina bakaMyama sibuka
Sikhex’izindebe ezinkulu
Translation:
O set, you daily sun
You who refused to bring light To us, the black nation.
The hidden mysteries of the caves of gold
Which I see bestowing wealth
On nations everywhere on earth,
While we black people watch,
Our thick lips gaping
O set, you daily sun
You who refused to bring light To us, the black nation.
The hidden mysteries of the caves of gold
Which I see bestowing wealth
On nations everywhere on earth,
While we black people watch,
Our thick lips gaping
Another poem:
Namhla kangikwaz’ ukuthula noma
Lapho ngilele ngikwesikaBhadakazi, Ngivuswa nguMnkabayi ethi kimi: “Vuka wena kaMancinza!
Kawuzalelwanga ukulal’ubuthongo.
Vuk’ubong’indaba yemikhonto! Nank’umthwal’engakwethwesa wona”
Namhla kangikwaz’ ukuthula noma
Lapho ngilele ngikwesikaBhadakazi, Ngivuswa nguMnkabayi ethi kimi: “Vuka wena kaMancinza!
Kawuzalelwanga ukulal’ubuthongo.
Vuk’ubong’indaba yemikhonto! Nank’umthwal’engakwethwesa wona”
Though he never went by his birth name (publically, that is) the above poem celebrates the name his parents gave him and the weight of history it carries.
Translation:
"Today I can never be silent
Because in the depths of the night
Mnkabayi awakens with the words “Arise, O you son of Mancinza! Your destiny bids you awaken And sing to us legends of battle!
This charge, I command you, fulfil!"
"Today I can never be silent
Because in the depths of the night
Mnkabayi awakens with the words “Arise, O you son of Mancinza! Your destiny bids you awaken And sing to us legends of battle!
This charge, I command you, fulfil!"
Look up Prof Nompumelelo Zondi's work on the man's writing. It's open access. I can't seem to link it on here. Search Dr Vilakazi's name and it should appear among the search results.
Didn't like the Prof's Shakespeare comparison though. While I get the point as a call to celebrate our local creatives as much as we do international ones, I think an opportunity to (more accurately) compare against Wordsworth or Tennyson or Yeats was missed.
