Kwezana is a village near
Alice
Alice may refer to:
* Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname
Literature
* Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll
* ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...
in the
Tyume River valley.
It is the birthplace of
Archibald 'Archie' Mncedisi Sibeko
Archibald "Archie" Mncedisi Sibeko (3 March 1928 – 27 March 2018) was a South African anti-apartheid activist, trade unionist and political leader.
Early life
Born in Kwezana in the Eastern Cape, Archie Sibeko grew up in a traditional Xhosa e ...
, and he gives an account of life in the village in the 1930s in his book. At that time there were about 18 homesteads in the village, each consisting of a number of
rondavel
Rondavel is a style of African hut known in literature as ''cone on cylinder'' or ''cone on drum.'' The word comes from the Afrikaans ''rondawel''.
Description
The rondavel is usually round or oval in shape and is traditionally made with materia ...
s with walls made of wood and mud and roofs with a wooden frame, thatched with grass. One would be the kitchen and others used for sleeping. There was a separate basketwork tower for storing food. Each family had its own
kraal
Kraal (also spelled ''craal'' or ''kraul'') is an Afrikaans and Dutch word, also used in South African English, for an enclosure for cattle or other livestock, located within a Southern African settlement or village surrounded by a fence of th ...
and the old kraals had an underground storage cellar to store maize. There were no toilets of any kind. The village was almost self-sufficient. Some families has Singer sewing machines and gramophones. There were no telephones or electricity.
The Mimosa tree is very common in the area and was used as a fencing material.
There was a primary school in the village which took children up to standard 5. There were three teachers. When Sibeko started the school did not have its own building, but a school made of two rondavels was built with money raised in the village while he was there, and the buildings were still standing in 1990, though no longer used as a classroom.
References
{{Amatole District Municipality
Populated places in the Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality