The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the Universityof of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University Town Cape of University Abstract The cose of Magema Mallwaza Fuze (c, 1840 - 1922) is aboot m. proolem of m. introdoctioo of writing in a colonial context and, m,,,.. sl"'cificoJ ly _ in the context of oxten,i'e missionlll;i activity. The relati,'e ',occ.. ,' of thi, mi"iOTlacy ""dea~ouc apre..-oo 1>(1\ only in the ,mall butll"Owinll number of coovem to llii'tianity, but pechai>' e~eTI mocc momentously willi lbe emer~ence "f a ,mall but critical mass of individuals who were liteTate and therefoo-e no looger """fimxl to an orol culture only_ Ily !be end of the nineteenth century one eould (aJ~ of an indp;enl 'cla,,' or cduc"'-ed aoo litL"ralc Africa",,_ A, tlic prodlXt> of mi"ion education they collectivel) ,bared an identity of being f>o<h Cl-.-istiaTI amI educalcd_ 1bcy were amakhoiwa (plural noun for 'believers'), Bein~ an ikholwa was a political and ""ciaJ, cather tMTI juS! a rcliglOUl< idcntity_ AlxlVc aiL by comenin~ to Christianity and by subscribing to prog",,,h'e ideaJ, of priv"'-e propertyTown OWIlCThhip. individual right>; and (he ProteM"nt wo.-k ethic, m. umukhol..-a within the limiled politicaJ sphere of colonlal gO"eTnancc ""qui red, acco.-ding In their own und.rstandlnll, m. rillhts of Briti'h >ubjec{" A, imermediatie.' hetween traditional and colonial society, the kholwu became the de fuc/o 'nalh'eCape informant, or tbe colonial poli{icaJ ,)-,lcm, 11oc) weTC oft,-n """, ulted by coloma] adminimatoTS Oil m:lIlm. affecrin.i: the 'n"'-ive,' and ,oIiciled fOf their opinion throogh colonial in"itutioo,_ MageIDa Magw3Zilof Fuze was oxactly soch ~ -native informanl' lllrne<i kholwa inldleClHaI, he wa, a Chri,tian COO~C1t, literale, a I'rin",r hy profe"in" and an assistant to the conlrov.,-,ial John William Colenso, the Bi,hop ci Natal. On ""'LTal occ ..,ior.; be wa, a ,ignatO'J to potition, and appcah to the enl''''ial ~overnment. In the earl) tWefllielh centu!)', r..- wa, a columni>t rn.-the 7.ulu_Engli'h new,paper lianRa lau Natal. In panicul,.. h. was the aathoo- or Abanr!< .-\bamnyama Lapa Bm<la "igamna (1922). 1bc b",ic aim of theUniversity the,;, j, tn describe how Magema .Ma,gwaut f.uze became a wrileT: how he m",k the lfan,iLion from heing brrn into an n",1 culture and first becooti"g the primer and a"i,{anl of Bi.hop Colcnso and e,'enrually to heing lhe aull-.o.- or the book Abanru Abamnyama Lapa Bal'eUJ Ngaiwna, one of the frn;t worh of African political thought in Sooth Africa. Ackowledgements Over the years many people, too numerous to name, have helped and encouraged me; they have offered advice. sustenance, shelter, transport and more importantly they almost always managed to say the right thing at the right time. Of these I would like to offer my special thanks to Andre du Toit, my supervisor, for being generous almost to a fault. He introduced me to South Africa's intellectual traditions and to Magema Fuze. He was always ready to assist and guide; and over the years he has written many a progress report full of praise I didn't really deserve! My research on Magema Fuze would not have been possible without the initial clues and hints supplied by Jeff Guy and Vukile Khumalo - thank you both. My visits to Natal would have been extremely lonely and disheartening without Marijke du Toit. The other Nataliari?·1 should mention and thank are Jonathan Draper, Glenn Cowley and John Wright. The year I spent at Columbia University as a visiting student was both memorable and productive and for this I have Mahmood Mamdani, Nick Dirks, Partha ChatteIjee, Marcia Wright, Gregory Mann and Thea K. Hunter to thank. I also benefited immensely fromTown Emmanuel Eze's 2003 visit to UCT; our conversations helped refine my ideas about Fuze as a thinker. I would also like to thank UCT's Postgraduate Office especiallyCape Marion Green for taking care of the bread and butter issues and for listening and improving on the services they offered to postgraduate students. I want to thank UCT's Mellon Fellowship and Research Associateshipof for assisting with funding. Last but not least, I would like to thank the libraries and librarians who have assisted with finding sources and navigating their archives and collections. I would especially like to mention Nellie Somers from the KWie Campbell Library, the staff of the National Library of South Africa in Cape Town, and UCT's Interlibrary Loan department. University To the friends and families who have taken care of me - thank you. Table of Contents Absuact ________________________________________________________r Ackowkdgemenu ___________________________________________________v lnuoducnon ________________________________________________________ l On the consequences of the introduction of writing _______________- Enterthekholwa_______________________________ ~5 Dilemmas of the 'native informant' ______________________7 Magema Fuze, Abantu Abamnyama and the aims of this study ____________~ Fuze's life and writings: a preliminary survey _________________Town 13 A brief overview of Fuze's 13 A preliminary overview of Fuze's writings 21 Literature survey: Fuze's readers Cape 28 Structure and organisation of the thesis ___________________of 39 Chapter I - The Making of Kholwa InteUectuals: A Critique ofthe Secondary literature 45 Introduction: 45 What did this life mean? : The biographical approach to kholwa intellectuals 47 Can the kholwa writeUniversity history?: The traditionalising approach to kholwa intellectuals 57 A class on a national stage: The materialist approach to the amakholwa 66 The past has its own voices: A postcolonial or post-apartheid reading of kholwa intellectuals ___________________________________________________________70 Writing a kholwa intellectual history: Some remarks on the methodological and theoretical foundations of an intellectual history 75 ii Conclusion: _______________________________________________________ Chapter 2 - Missionary Scholars and their Native Informants _________ 81 Colonial Scholarship as a Collaborative Enterprise - An IntroductioD: ________81 Colonial scholarship, travel writing and othering discourses 85 Colonial Scholarship as a 'Commitment to Truth' 88 Missionary Scholarship: Reconstructive vs. Deconstructive Methods ________91 The missionary scholar as a .... ~" _____________________________ 94 The missionary scholar as an ethnographer and historian _______________________ 10 1 Indigenous Testimony and Missionary Scholarship's 'Commitment to Truth': Some Concluding Remarks ___________________________________________________ 112 From 'Native Informant' to 'Kholwa Intellectual' ___________________.......... The 'Native Informant' as a Problem for Colonial Scholarship _________________Town 115 Native Informants and the Missionary Scholar: Could the 'Informants' Speak? 117 When 'Native Informants' become 'Native Intellectuals' 122 The 'Native Informant' - A Conceptual Critique Cape 125 Conclusion: ___________________________________________________of 131 Chapter 3 - Magema Fuze and his Writings ________________ 133 Introduction: ______________________________________________________133 The Primary Moment of Articulation: Missionary Education and Conversion ________136 Fuze's education and conversionUniversity in context __________________________ 138 Missionary education and conversion as a moment of articulation 141 The earliest writings 141 'Three Native Accounts' 143 'Amazwi Abantu' 145 Thematic articulations in Fuze's later writings _________________152 On conversion and identity 152 On writing and becoming literate 154 iii On the quest for enlightenment,________________________ 155 The second moment of articulation: Langalibalele's trial ____________156 Background to kholwa and Zulu affairs and politics 158 Langalibalele's trial as a moment of articulation 164 Anticipations: the earliest writings on Zulu affairs 165 Magema's testimony at Langalibalele's trial 166 The 1875 kholwa 169 'A Visit to King Ketshwayo' 172 Later thematic articulation 175 Writing Zulu History 176 On the Natal-Zululand 185 Proto-Zulu 187 The third moment of articulation: the St. Helena Years, _____________Town 192 Background to the St Helena years 192 The St Helena years as a moment of articulation 193 Living in Cape 193 Encountering the African of 194 Thematic articulations in Fuze's later writings ________________196 The discovery of Africa & the affirmation of Af'ricarust knowledge 196 The 'Black People' and their Origins 201 Intimations of Pan-Africanism 207 Black~uru'u,V,~jt" __________________________________________University 210 The fourth moment of articulation: from llanga to Abantu Abamnyama ___________.-~- Background to the Ilanga years and Abantu Abamnyama _______________ 214 The nanga years as a moment of articulation 218 Thematicarticulations ___________________________________219 Writing for readers: Fuze in 'dialogue' with the readers of 219 Conclusion: _______________________________----' ____,223 iv Conclusion _________________________ 224 Bibliography ________________________ 228 Town Cape of University v Introduction Introduction The basic aim of the dissertation is to describe how Magema Magwaza Fuzel (c. 1840- 1922) became a writer; how he made the