The ''amaMfengu'' (in the
Xhosa language
Xhosa (, ) also isiXhosa as an endonym, is a Nguni language and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Xhosa is spoken as a first language by approximately 8.2 million people and by another 11 million as a second ...
''Mfengu'', plural ''amafengu'') was a reference of Xhosa clans whose ancestors were refugees that fled from the
Mfecane
The Mfecane (isiZulu, Zulu pronunciation: ̩fɛˈkǀaːne, also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane (all meaning "crushing, scattering, forced dispersal, forced migration") is a historical period of heightened military conflict a ...
in the early 19th century to seek land and protection from the Xhosa and have since been assimilated into the Xhosa cultural way of life, becoming part of the Xhosa people.
The term derives from the Xhosa verb "ukumfenguza" which means to wander about seeking service.
They were previously known as the ''Fingo'', and they gave their name to the district of
Fingoland
Fingoland was a historical territory situated in what is now the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was inhabited primarily by the Xhosa people of the Mfengu clans, and was located in the south-west portion of the "Transkei" region.
The region that w ...
, the southwestern portion of
Transkei
Transkei (, meaning ''the area beyond he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei ( xh, iRiphabliki yeTranskei), was an unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa from 1976 to 1994. It was, along with Ciskei, a Ban ...
, in the
Eastern Cape
The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha.
The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...
of South Africa.
History
Formation and early history
The name ''amaMfengu'' translates as "wanderers" and the Mfengu people – like the
Bhaca
The Bhaca people or amaBhaca are an eMbo ethnic group in South Africa.
Background
AmaBhaca were formerly known as the Zelemus or AbakwaZelemu between the 1700s until 1830 when they were formally referred to as AmaBhaca. They are the descenda ...
,
Bhele,
Hlubi
The Hlubi people or AmaHlubi are an Nguni ethnic group native to Southern Africa, with the majority of population found in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa.
List of AmaHlubi kings
Origins
The Hlubi, similar to o ...
and
Dlamini Dlamini is a surname, common in Eswatini and neighbouring parts of South Africa. People with the surname Dlamini include:
List
*The House of Dlamini: The reigning royal family of eSwatini
* Absalom Dlamini
* Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, also kno ...
peoples – was formed from the tribes that were broken up and dispersed by
Shaka
Shaka kaSenzangakhona ( – 22 September 1828), also known as Shaka Zulu () and Sigidi kaSenzangakhona, was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1816 to 1828. One of the most influential monarchs of the Zulu, he ordered wide-reaching reforms that ...
and his Zulu armies in the
Mfecane
The Mfecane (isiZulu, Zulu pronunciation: ̩fɛˈkǀaːne, also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane (all meaning "crushing, scattering, forced dispersal, forced migration") is a historical period of heightened military conflict a ...
wars.
Most of them fled westwards and settled amongst the
Xhosa
Xhosa may refer to:
* Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa
* Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people
See als ...
. After some years of oppression by the Gcaleka
Xhosa
Xhosa may refer to:
* Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa
* Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people
See als ...
(who called the Fengu people their "dogs")in the 1820s, they formed an alliance with the Cape government in 1835 and Sir
Benjamin d'Urban
Lieutenant General Sir Benjamin D'Urban (16 February 1777 – 25 May 1849) was a British general and colonial administrator, who is best known for his frontier policy when he was the Governor in the Cape Colony (now in South Africa).
Ear ...
invited 17,000 to settle on the banks of the
Great Fish River
The Great Fish River (called ''great'' to distinguish it from the Namibian Fish River) ( af, Groot-Visrivier) is a river running through the South African province of the Eastern Cape. The coastal area between Port Elizabeth and the Fish Riv ...
in the region that later became known as the
Ciskei
Ciskei (, or ) was a Bantustan for the Xhosa people-located in the southeast of South Africa. It covered an area of , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian O ...
.
Some scholars, including Timothy Stapleton and Alan Webster, argue that the traditional narrative of the Fengu people as refugees of the Mfecane is in fact a lie constructed by colonial missionaries and administrators. They question the existence of the Fengu people as a distinct group prior to colonial contact, instead positing that the term was coined by the British government in the
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
to describe a collection of Xhosa defectors, migrant laborers, and labor captives.
Early frontier wars (1835–56)
They subsequently became notable allies of the
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
in the
frontier wars against their former oppressors. In this capacity, they won several victories against their Xhosa enemies (particularly the Gcaleka Xhosa), and through shrewd and successful management of regional trade, formed a developed and materially successful nation. In addition, many bought farms and started businesses in the small towns that were springing up in that part of the Cape frontier.
The Cattle-killing movement (1856–58)
The Fengu people did not take part in the
great cattle-killing in 1857, which devastated the
Xhosa people
The Xhosa people, or Xhosa language, Xhosa-speaking people (; ) are African people who are direct kinsmen of Tswana people, Sotho people and Twa people, yet are narrowly sub grouped by European as Nguni people, Nguni ethnic group whose traditi ...
.
While the Xhosa slaughtered their own cattle and burnt their crops, many of the Fengu people instead bought the Xhosa cattle at very low prices, only to resell them at a profit during the subsequent famine. They also were recorded as producing large excesses of grain at this time for their starving neighbours. The famine induced by the cattle-killing effectively brought much of the armed resistance in the eastern Cape to an end.
The Fengu-Gcaleka War (1877–79)
Over a decade of relative peace and economic development, which peaked in the mid-1870s, was brought to an end by a series of devastating droughts across the Transkei, which began to place severe strain on intertribal relations. Their severity increased up until 1877, when the last major war that the Fengu people fought, the
Ninth Frontier War, broke out after a bar fight between Fengu and Gcaleka guests, at a Fengu wedding. Many Fengu people were Cape citizens by this time, so the Cape Colony took a partisan view of the war, which brought it into conflict with the Gcaleka forces.
The Cape government appointed the Fengu Captain Bikitsha to co-lead the Cape's forces (composed primarily of Fengu, Thembu and Boer commandos) in the war. They inflicted a string of crushing defeats on the enemy and dispersed their armies in the space of only three weeks. The ingratitude of Cape Colony governor
Sir Henry Bartle Frere, who promptly humiliated the Cape's Fengu allies by forcibly disarming them, caused the Fengu to begin to identify more with the Xhosa, partly also as a reaction to increasing persecution from the Colonial authorities.
Transkei and Ciskei
The Fengu lived in the
Bantustan
A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now N ...
s of
Transkei
Transkei (, meaning ''the area beyond he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei ( xh, iRiphabliki yeTranskei), was an unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa from 1976 to 1994. It was, along with Ciskei, a Ban ...
and
Ciskei
Ciskei (, or ) was a Bantustan for the Xhosa people-located in the southeast of South Africa. It covered an area of , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian O ...
, established by the
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
government. Ciskei was the scene of political rivalry between the
Rharhabe
The Rharhabe House is the second senior house (Right Hand House) of the Xhosa Kingdom.
The Rharhabe house was founded by Xhosa warrior Rharhabe, who was the older brother of Gcaleka ka Phalo.
History of the Rharhabe
The Xhosa royal blood line st ...
and the Fengu as a result of the apartheid policy of "retribalisation", which resulted in resentment toward the historically better educated, and relatively economically advantaged Fengu, and this rivalry culminated in the election of
Lennox Sebe
Lennox Leslie Wongama Sebe (26 July 1926 – 23 July 1994) was chief minister of the Xhosa bantustan of Ciskei after its self-rule in 1972, and the nominally independent country's first president from 1983.
Early life
Born in Belstone, near K ...
, a Rharhabe, who replaced Fengu leader
Chief Justice Thandathu Jongilizwe Mabandla in 1973,
however Sebe subsequently abandoned his anti-Fengu rhetoric.
Christianity in the Fengu community
Christianity played a major role in the survival of the endangered Fengu people after the
Mfecane
The Mfecane (isiZulu, Zulu pronunciation: ̩fɛˈkǀaːne, also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane (all meaning "crushing, scattering, forced dispersal, forced migration") is a historical period of heightened military conflict a ...
wars. After contact with the Gcaleka Xhosa, who were hostile towards them, the Fengu people found comfort in Rev. John Ayliff, the missionary at Butterworth who devoted himself to the tribe for the next 30 years. In 1835, Ayliff led 17 000 and 22 000 head of cattle to Peddie
On 14 May 1835, the Fengu people gathered under an old milkwood tree in the Peddie district, in the presence of Rev. John Ayliff, and swore an oath to obey the Queen, to accept Christianity, and to educate their children. This agreement became known as the 'Fingo-Oath'. Soon after accepting Christianity, the Fengu became the first Bantu in South Africa to use ploughs, demonstrated to them by the missionaries, and also the first to plant wheat.
A small group moved to Tsitsikamma and carried their Christian customs with them. The Fengu, who were most Wesleyans, soon moved to Grahamstown where they fought on the side of the British in the eighth frontier war of 1850 to 1853 and were rewarded with land in a freehold village known as Fingo in Grahamstown in 1855.
The educated Fengu went as far as
Port Elizabeth
Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...
, where they worked at the harbour and established urban communities in Cape Town, where they also continued practising as Christians. Since the day the 'Fingo-Oath' was sworn, 14 May has been celebrated as Fingo Emancipation Day and a ceremony held under the old milkwood tree where the oath was sworn.
Fengu people in Zimbabwe
After the occupation of Matebeleland in 1893, the Ndebele took up arms in an effort to re-establish the Ndebele State in 1896.
Cecil John Rhodes
Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896.
An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Brit ...
brought a group of Fengu fighters (who had fought on the side of the British) and were known as "the Cape Boys" in 1896. After the war, Rhodes tried further to 'neutralise' the 'war-like' Ndebele people by inviting more Fengu people into Southern Rhodesia. "He promised the Fengus three 'reserves' on which they could settle with the proviso that each man would work for three months a year. After 36 months of labour, each one would be given an individual title".
More Fengu leaders moved to Southern Rhodesia as Wesleyan Methodists, Salvationists, Anglicans, Presbyterians and Lutherans. In 2000, the Mbembesi Fengu/Xhosa community celebrated their centenary in Zimbabwe.
The Fengu in Zimbabwe, who are Xhosa speakers, are the subject of the first ever PHD thesis written in Xhosa by Dr Hleze Kunju titled IsiXhosa ulwimi lwabantu abangesosininzi eZimbabwe: Ukuphila nokulondolozwa kwaso (Xhosa as a Minority Language in Zimbabwe: Survival and Maintenance)
Veldtman Bikitsha (1829–1912)
For much of the 19th and early 20th century, the Fengu were led by Captain Veldtman Bikitsha. Initially a constable who was of great service to the Cape in the 8th Frontier War, he was later promoted and served as a de facto military leader of the Cape's Fengu commandos.
Prime Minister
John Molteno
Sir John Charles Molteno (5 June 1814 – 1 September 1886) was a soldier, businessman, champion of responsible government and the first Prime Minister of the Cape Colony.
Early life
Born in London into a large Anglo-Italian family, Molten ...
, who held a very high opinion of Bikitsha, appointed him as a leader of the Cape forces (together with Chief Magistrate Charles Griffith) in the 9th Frontier War in 1877, where he swiftly won a string of brilliant victories against the
Gcaleka
The Gcaleka House is the Great house of the Xhosa Kingdom in what is now the Eastern Cape. Its royal palace is in the former Transkei and its counterpart in the former Ciskei is the Rharhabe, which is the right hand house of Phalo.
The Gcaleka H ...
. Throughout the 9th Frontier war, Bikitsha and his location were a focal point for the Gcaleka armies attacks and came under immense military pressure.
His military genius in the frontier wars earned him considerable renown and he was widely acknowledged leader in the
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
. His courage was also frequently referred to. He famously once jumped onto a wounded and charging lion, holding it by the tail, overpowered it and killed it. He was invited to London in 1889, where
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
requested to meet him to thank him for his services. He reputedly told her ''"We have never feared a white man, and we have never lifted our hand against any of your people."''
He founded the Transkei General Council, and served as a juror and commissioner for the Cape Colony in later life
John Tengo Jabavu (1859–1921)
![John Tengo Jabavu and his son Davidson Don Tengo, around 1903](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/John_Tengo_Jabavu_and_his_son_Davidson_Don_Tengo%2C_around_1903.jpg)
As Fengu history switched from military defense to political struggle, so the great Fengu politician and activist
John Tengo Jabavu
John Tengo Jabavu (11 January 1859 – 10 September 1921) was a political activist and the editor of South Africa's first newspaper to be written in Xhosa.
Early life
John Tengo Jabavu was born on 11 January 1859 near Healdtown in the easter ...
rose in prominence after Bikitsha's military leadership ended.
Jabavu edited the first newspapers to be written in the
Xhosa
Xhosa may refer to:
* Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa
* Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people
See als ...
and from 1876 he edited ''
Isigidimi samaXhosa'' ("The Xhosa Messenger"). From 1884 he edited ''
Imvo Zabantsundu'' ("Black Opinion"). He wrote on the threat of
Afrikaner
Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from Free Burghers, predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: ...
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
, equal rights for South Africa's black population, and in support of
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
.
The rivalry between the Fengu and the Gcaleka Xhosa, which had previously broken out into war, declined during the era of Jabavu's leadership, as greater unity was encouraged. Nonetheless, some divisions remained. Jabavu's main political rival,
Walter Rubusana, was Xhosa. Rubusana's rise in the 1890s was through the new Gcaleka-dominated
South African Native National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...
and their newspaper ''
Izwi Labantu'' ("The Voice of the People") which was financed by
Cecil Rhodes
Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896.
An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...
. The rise of Xhosa institutions meant that Jabavu and the Fengu were no longer in a position to provide the only leadership in the Cape's Black community.
Over the next few decades, divisions persisted between Jabavu's movement ''
Imbumba'' ("The Union") and Rubusana's
South African Native National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...
. However the rivalry was finally laid to rest and there was union under the newly named
African National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...
. One of the early aims of this movement was finally to lay to rest "the aberrations of the Xhosa-Fingo feud."
["The Arrival of the Mfengu in the Eastern Cape", ''Illustrated History of South Africa.'' The Reader's Digest Association South Africa (Pty) Ltd, 1992, p. 107. .]
British annexation
British Kaffraria had been annexed to the Cape Colony in 1866. Barring the brief revolt in 1877 and 1878, when the Gcaleka turned upon their Fengu neighbours, the British annexation of land east of the Kei River proceeded fitfully, but generally unimpeded. In September 1879 this was followed by Idutywa Reserve and Fenguland, and Gcalekaland in 1885. It is assumed that the restructuring of these territories into the divisions of Butterworth, Idutywa, Centani, Nqamakwe, Tsomo and Willowvale dates from these times.
Social change and adaptability
Originally farmers, the Fengu people had quickly built themselves schools, created and edited their own newspapers, and translated international literature into their language. The reason that the Fengu people were able to adapt so effectively to changing circumstances (like the coming of capitalism and urbanisation) was because they lacked a fixed tribal social-structure and hierarchy (having presumably lost it in their earlier flight from the Zulu). This state of social change and flexibility allowed them to quickly adjust to the European expansion, learn and adapt new techniques, and take advantage of the upheavals that followed. Other tribes were often suspicious of outside ideas and consequently resisted any change to meet the colonial threat. The Fengu had no paramount-chief as other tribes did, but the Cape Commander, Veldman Bikitsha, was a Fengu and held authority over the Fengu's military capacity.
Many Fengu have also subsequently intermarried with other ethnic groups, particularly with the Xhosa and Zulu, while some still live in Zimbabwe.
Territory
![Fingoland - Eastern Cape Map - 1911](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Fingoland_-_Eastern_Cape_Map_-_1911.png)
The region that was later known as the
Transkei
Transkei (, meaning ''the area beyond he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei ( xh, iRiphabliki yeTranskei), was an unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa from 1976 to 1994. It was, along with Ciskei, a Ban ...
was originally divided into territories known as the Idutywa Reserve,
Fingoland
Fingoland was a historical territory situated in what is now the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was inhabited primarily by the Xhosa people of the Mfengu clans, and was located in the south-west portion of the "Transkei" region.
The region that w ...
and Galekaland (Gcalekaland). Fingoland lay the borderlands in the far south of the Transkei, just north of the
Kei River
The Great Kei River is a river in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is formed by the confluence of the Black Kei River and White Kei River, northeast of Cathcart. It flows for and ends in the Great Kei Estuary at the Indian Ocean wi ...
.
Following their annexation by the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
however, they were restructured into the divisions of Butterworth, Tsomo and Ngqamakwe for Fingoland; Centani and Willowvale for Galekaland; and Idutywa for the Idutywa Reserve.
Present-day South Africa
Today virtually all the Fengu people have intermarried with other ethnic groups particularly with the Xhosa and Zulu. Many are now often considered – especially by outsiders – to be ethnically
Xhosa
Xhosa may refer to:
* Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa
* Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people
See als ...
and others
Zulu, because of their common language and some similar customs. A considerable number have a mixed racial background, especially in and around the Cape provinces.
See also
*
Mgolombane Sandile
Mgolombane Sandile (1820–1878) was a ruler of the Right Hand House of the Xhosa Kingdom. A dynamic leader, he led the Xhosa armies in several of the Xhosa-British Wars.
Having recently been equipped with modern fire-arms, Sandile's forces succ ...
*
Xhosa clan names
Iziduko (pl.) in Xhosa are family names that are considered more important than surnames among Xhosa people. Many Xhosa persons can trace their family history back to a specific male ancestor or stock. Mentioning the clan name of someone is the ...
*
Xhosa Wars
The Xhosa Wars (also known as the Cape Frontier Wars or the Kaffir Wars) were a series of nine wars (from 1779 to 1879) between the Xhosa people, Xhosa Kingdom and the British Empire as well as Trekboers in what is now the Eastern Cape in Sout ...
*
Fingoland
Fingoland was a historical territory situated in what is now the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was inhabited primarily by the Xhosa people of the Mfengu clans, and was located in the south-west portion of the "Transkei" region.
The region that w ...
*
Fingo Festival
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fingo
Xhosa-speaking peoples
Ethnic groups in South Africa