Isaac Williams Wauchope (1852-1917) was ‘n prominente lid van die Oos-Kaapse Afrikaan elite in die laat 19de en vroeë 20ste eeu. Soos menigte lede van die Xhosa elite, het Wauchope twee wêrelde omarm. Hy was ‘n onderwyser, ‘n hofvertaler, en later ‘n gemeente predikant. Hy was die derde geslag van ‘n familie wat vroeg reeds tot Christenskap bekeer het. Dus dra hy die stempel van koloniale kultuur, geloof, en nog meer.
Isaac Williams Wauchope
Hierdie kulturele assimilasie gee dan vir Wauchope die middele en selfvertoue om die ongelykhede van koloniale heerskappy uit te daag deur die instrumente van kolonisasie te gebruik: geletterdheid, skoolopleiding, die regsisteem asook politiese organisasie en ontplooiing. In 1882 publiseer hy sy eerste gedig, waarin hy sy lesers aanmoedig met die volgende,
‘Lay down the musket/take up the pen/Seize paper and ink/that’s your shield.’
Hierdie passievolle, toegewyde man gebruik dan die verskeidenheid van vaardighede om ‘n gelyke plek vir Xhosa-sprekendes in die Kaapse koloniale gemeenskap te beywer. Hy glo dat sy stryd regverdig is, en dus sal seëvier teen die groeiende rasse diskriminasie in die 1880’s se Kaap.
Sy prosa en poësie dek dus ‘n wye verskeidenheid aspekte aangesien hy sy Xhosas-sprekende gehoor wou aanspreek oor hul ryk geskiedenis, beide Christen en tradisioneel.
Wauchope in Internasionale Orde van Ware Tempeliers ornaat
In 1916 het Wauchope ingeskryf as ‘n tolk in die Suid-Afrikaanse Naturelle-arbeidskorps, ‘n swart hulpkorps. Die groep vertrek per skip na Engeland om die blanke troepe by te staan as nie-vegtende lede tydens die Eerste Wêreld Oorlog. Wauchope verlaat Kaapstad aan boord die SS Mendi om via Engeland na Frankryk te reis. Terwyl die Mendi die Engelse Kanaal oorsteek, word sy per abuis deur ‘n vragskip, die Darro, getref. Die Mendi sink, en onder andere verdrink 616 suider-Afrikane, van wie Wauchope een was. Mondelingse geskiedenis vertel dat die paniekbevange mans hul noodlot met waardigheid tegemoet gegaan het na die kalmerende woorde van Wauchope, wat later deur die pers as ‘n held van die tragedie erken is.
SS Mendi
Die volume bevat ‘n verskeidenheid van Wauchope se skryfstukke, in Xhosa en Engels, wat sy stormagtige lewe reflekteer. Dit skep merkwaardige toegang tot die publieke en private wêreld van ‘n generasie van Afrika-intellektuele wat alternatiewe metodes van weerstand teen wit beheer verken het. Hulle het die stryd van die slagveld na die politiese arena verskuif.
UITTREKSEL VANUIT DIE TEKS
(Uit doodsberig van Wauchope deur S.E. Krune Mqhayi)
…On 20 February 1917 the ship Mendi left England to cross the straits known as the English Channel, between England and France. Everyone thought they were beyond enemy threat, but danger lurked close at hand. That night was pitch black in the sea fog and the lights were ineffective. At dawn on the 21st a thunderous crash was heard as the Mendi was rammed by another ship, truly gigantic. They could not see each other. The Mendi was pierced in the side, and a huge fissure was opened through which the water poured in, eliminating all hope of saving her. The other ship struggled to rescue those who were drowning, but the confusion of darkness and war hampered the effort.
Reader, observe the frantic thrashing of people trying to save themselves! Danger of this sort was something new: they had no experience of it! Some woke befuddled by sleep and had no idea where to head for safety! It’s said there were too few lifeboats for the crowds on board. Then in an instant the ship went down like a stone! Reader, please observe your boys sucked down into a watery expanse without beginning or end! See them clutch at each other, ignorant of their actions! See them filling that boat there, more weight than it can bear, so that now all the dozens in it are engulfed by the sea! Never forget, reader, the cold of that country, and in water too! Think of the groups in that cold, their manly arms failing, their bodies sinking from sight! Never forget, reader, that the young men of your country worked wonders in that crisis, wonders in rescuing large numbers of white men who were their superiors, and lost their own lives in saving others!
Was there ever such a sacrifice? Don’t shut your ears, reader, to the cry of your country’s children. Does a sacrificial beast not cry because of the pain? Without it that sacrifice would not be acceptable! The cry is a sign that the sacrifice has been accepted. Didn’t our Lord utter a confused cry on Golgotha? Today that rock juts over the whole world.
But wait! Please do the right thing, my friend, my reader. Where exactly is the son of Citashe at this juncture?
Those who were there say the hero from Ngqika’s land, descended from heroes, was standing to one side now as the ship was sinking! As a chaplain he had the opportunity to board a boat and save himself, but he didn’t! He was appealing to the leaderless soldiers urging them to stay calm, to die like heroes on their way to war. We hear that he said:
Now then stay calm my countrymen!
Calmly face your death!
This is what you came to do!
This is why you left your homes!
Peace, our own brave warriors!
Peace, you sons of heroes,
Today is your final day,
Prepare for the ultimate ford!
Redigering en vertaling deur Jeff Opland en Abner Nyamende met inleiding en notas deur Jeff Opland.
Jeff Opland is ‘n Professorale Navorsingsgenoot in die Afrika Departement aan die Skool van Oosterse Studies, Universiteit van Londen, asook ‘n Navorsingsgenoot in die Departement van Afrika Tale aan die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika. Hy het gedoseer aan die Universiteit van Kaapstad, die Universiteit van Durban-Westville, die Universiteit van Toronto, Rhodes Universiteit, Yale Universiteit, Vassar Kollege, Charterhouse, asook die Universiteit van Leipzig. Sy skrywe sluit in Xhosa Poets and Poetry (1998) en The Nation’s Bounty: The Xhosa Poetry of Nontsizi Mgqwetho (2007).
Dr. Abner Nyamende, ‘n dosent in Afrika Tale aan die Universiteit van Kaapstad, het omvattende navorsing gedoen in mondelingse literatuur, veral oor volksverhale en stamname. Hy het al in verskeie boeke, joernale, en tydskrifte gepubliseer. Sy digbundels in Xhosa heet Imbongi Ijong’ exhantini, Amazwi Amatsha, en Ubuncwane Bosiba. Dr Nyamende het sy loopbaan by die Walter Sisulu Universiteit in Transkei begin. Hy is nou vir 17 jaar betrokke by Afrika Tale aan die Universiteit van Kaapstad.