Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi was a Xhosa dramatist, essayist, critic,novelist, historian, biographer, translator and poet whose works are regarded as instrumental in standardising the grammar of isiXhosa and preserving the language in the 20 century.
Background
Mqhayi was born in the village of Gqumashe in the Thyume valley near Alice in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa to parents Ziwani Krune Mqhayi and Qashani Bedle on 1 December 1875. Mqhayi's parents were Christians with his father Ziwani known as “a leading man in his church, famous for his counsel, his preaching, and his singing." At the age of nine, Mqhayi moved with his father (his mother having died when he was 2 years old)to Centane to stay with his uncle Nzanzana (the headsman of the area) during the witgatboom famine of 1885. Mqhayi recounts the six years he spent in Centane as having had an impact on him and his writing. When Mqhayi was 15, his uncle died and his father, who had moved to Grahamstown, sent his sister to fetch him.
Education
Mqhayi began his primary schooling in the Thyume Valley. Mqhayi attended Lovedale College where he studied to become a teacher.
Career
In 1897, Mqhayi, Allan Kirkland, Tiyo Soga and others launched their own newspaper, Izwi Labantu. In 1905, Mqhayi was appointed in the Xhosa Bible Revision Board in 1905. Later, he would help to standardize Xhosa grammar and writing, and then become a full-time author. In 1907 he wrote his first novel in the isiXhosa language, U-Samson an adaption of the biblical story of Samson, which is now lost. In 1914, he published Ityala lamawele ('The Lawsuit of the Twins') an influential isiXhosa novel and an early defence of customary law and Xhosa tradition. Mqhayi added seven stanzas to Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika which was originally written by Enoch Sontonga in 1927. His autobiography is titled UMghayi waseNtab'ozuko (Mghayi of Mount Glory). He wrote Utopia, UDon Jadu in 1929. Mqhayi was known as ‘Imbongi yakwaGompo’ (the poet of Gompo) and later ‘Imbongi yesizwe’ (the poet of the nation).
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
His contributions to Xhosa literature... were outstanding in quality, and by them and in other ways he helped in no small measure to stabilize and purify the Xhosa language.