community conversations

Indalo engcwele

Cebo Mvubu:

"Our Sacred Ocean is a recent, very important piece for us. It’s all about the relationship between our people and the ocean. As you know, most of us living here in this coastal area, the Xhosa people, believe that our ancestors are living there, in the ocean. And so we will always respect the ocean in that way. It is very important to us. That's why we're saying that it's our sacred ocean. Because the ocean is sacred to us, we take care of it. Many clan names are connected to the sea because the clan name is associated with a particular creature from the ocean. My clan name is Rhadebe and our clan totem is the crab (unonkala). So those creatures are sacred and you can’t touch them. You must protect them.

            Even if we go to the to the ocean to swim, it's a sacred place. It’s not just for swimming. We do a lot of things at the ocean. For example, the churches take people there for baptism. It’s also good for meditation. And also the sangomas do their rituals there.

In Xhosa culture, there's a difference between Qamatha and ancestors. Qamatha is God. Ancestors are the people that have died, who can speak to Qamatha on behalf of the living. We believe that the ancestors live under the water in rivers, as well as in the ocean. So that's why you will sometimes see that people, like sangomas, build their huts next to the river or the ocean. We do rituals there because we believe that our ancestors are there. We respect the people that are living there. When we do these rituals, we go either to the ocean or the rivers; it depends on your dream because it goes with your dream, you know. You can't just go to the ocean or the river. It's your dream that sends you there.

In Our Sacred Ocean, you will see some uMamlambo there, people like mermaids that are living underwater. Those figures, they symbolise our ancestors. I always like those mermaids; they are most important to us, because they are spirits living there in the ocean. That is why it's very important to protect the ocean and make sure that nobody can do harm to the people that are there. I still remember, in the year that we were doing this artwork, there was a company that was searching for gas offshore. The community here in this area, they were against that, because we belong to the ocean. We believe that if there are people searching for gas there, they will destroy the nature. Not only that, but because of our belief that our ancestors are living there, we feel the ocean should remain the way that it always was, the same way that it was before. No one is supposed to disturb the nature.

Before we started work on Our Sacred Ocean, we ran a workshop with the community members. We were lucky to be able to do this, because the artmaking process was funded by Deep Fund. So we collected stories from the community members and then, out of those stories, we began to make the artwork. We also organised a walk on the beach and we collected shells and other found objects. We used not only the shells, but also the found objects from the ocean in the artwork. What was interesting and what I like about this artwork, is that not only the Keiskamma Art Project members but the whole community was involved in it. We were able to document the community stories and they became the inspiration for the artwork. When we had finished, we called the community members to come and see what we had made from their stories. It is a beautiful circular artwork, 3 metres in diameter."

Veronica Betani:

"Yes, as Cebo has explained, Our Sacred Ocean is about the bond between people and nature, in this case nature that is placed under water or in the rivers. Because as we grew up we as Xhosa people were raised to believe that there are ancestors living underwater. So that is why there is that bond between us and the ocean and that is why, when they feel sad, some people go down to the sea and inhale that freshness from the salty water. They sit there and calm down and then they have a new mind, or a new way of thinking, and they can come back afresh to the people in the village.  Also to the elders, the ocean is a very sacred, secret space because, as I said, we believe that our ancestors are there.

I used to make this example of myself, because I am umagaba, and they used to say I am umntu umlambo, which is the person from the river. So as I grew up we were told that we must not go to the river or the sea just to play, because that space is the sacred place for our ancestors. That is our belief. When there was a ritual done by the sangomas, people would wake up very early in the morning, and then they would go to the river or to the sea. Those rituals have to be done very early in the morning before the other people walk around. Early in the morning, when those people reach the river or the sea, they notice that certain creatures or species come along.  Then you hear the people saying ‘Qamatha’ and praying to the creatures and talking to them, because we believe that those creatures are the spirits of our ancestors and can fulfil our prayers.  And so we talk and pray to our ancestors and our ancestors take our message to God. That's what I can say about Our Sacred Ocean. So it's ulwandle olungcwele. When we say the name in English, it's blessed ocean. That's all I can say about Our Sacred Ocean.

I grew up in King William’s Town [now called Qonce] and sometimes we used to come to Kiwane, near Hamburg. Not growing up by the sea, I didn’t have that chance to know about the sea, about rivers. It’s very different for the people living in Hamburg, who are surrounded by water.

My clan is closely related to the sea because our clan totem is also the crab. But at home my mom and my dad always said I dare not swim in the sea. One day I decided to be naughty and go with my friends, other girls, to the sea. I remembered my parent’s warning and was scared of getting in the water. I just stood there. But then I decided to go in. I could not swim, but I went into the water. I was having a vision. In my vision I heard a voice calling me and there was a path, a road leading me through the water. I just walked in. People watching me were seeing a person drowning; for me, in my mind, I was just walking. When they were dragging me out of the water, in my mind I was just walking out. They said I fainted for some minutes, while they were pumping me try to take water out. When I woke up, I said, ‘Wenza ntoni? I told you that I can’t swim!’ I told them about the vision.

All over I was wet. But strangely my left foot was not wet; it was covered with white clay. My left foot was dry.

Mzwandile Atwell Ndlondlo:

"People get drowned when they are called by their ancestors. People are called in different ways—some called in to the sea, some to the rivers.

My life was in Transkei. I was born in Ciskei, but I grew up in Transkei where I did my scholarship. And there are many rivers there. The biggest river, Kei River, izizima – dams up—where the river collects in pools.

There are people that are staying there.

In Transkei, the rivers are very, very big. When you walk by the river, sometimes you can’t even reach the river. Even when collecting cows, some trees will tell you: ‘You can’t walk here.’ When you see isundu (these places covered by the kind of trees that tell you, ‘Don’t touch, don’t go’) it is a sign there are people there. When you don’t listen, something bad will happen; it depends on how strong the situation is.

Come, I will tell you. This is a story I saw for myself, around 1975/76.  In the village where I stayed, there were bull cows in different locations. There was a bull called Mbombela; he was going around making babies all over. Our home was overlooking iXesi. One day the weather was not good, just sort of raining, and I saw Mbombela not far from our home, with other bulls, passing iziziba (a pond) not far from us. Mbombela was passing. He heard a voice coming from inside the water. He heard a noise inside the water—another bull. He waited there, and he responded booooo booo. We know that anything can happen, especially in those kinds of places. You can’t come closer, even if you are curious. You must be alert, protect yourself; that eye can make something in your body.

We went into some bushes, to see Mbombela responding to his brother. Five or ten minutes later, that bull comes up from the water—beautiful, brown, with no horns, the one from the river comes out. Mbombela moves backward slowly, looking for a place to fight. But it is slopey. He finds a flat place to fight. It takes two to three hours. The one from the water has no fur, just a skin. They fight, fight, fight. I am still looking, but we are far, hiding in the trees. Later, while we are still watching, there comes an old man. That’s what led me to believe that they are living there in the water—as I saw the old man. That old man wore a big coat and he had a sjambok. He went there to that fight; he got inside them and he separated them with his sjambok. The way he was sjambokking Mbombela, though, the cuts were deep. I see blood, still fighting. At some time Mbombela gets tired and he kneels. Boo boo, he bellows. There is blood everywhere. That man takes his bull to follow him, into the water. He talks to his bull before they get into the water. The bull gets in the water.

When Mbombela gets better, he wakes up again, and goes straight to that man to challenge him. Mbombela comes closer, booing, booing. The bull comes again. Mbombela reverses, changes place to go to another place that is flat. They fight again. That old man comes out again. He takes his bull and takes it back to the water. But Mbombela is still challenging and, when still challenging, the man comes out with a short sjambok and hits Mbombela. He died in a funny way. All the legs were up. Because of the way he died, the case is referred to sangomas.

When we heard talking, talking, talking, we saw there were some fresh guys among them. All the others were old. They dug up around Mbombela, and put him in his grave the way he was, with the legs up. Then they planted some kinds of herbs—river herbs."

Veliswa Mangcangaza:

"There are so many things I can speak about. Even those mermaid stories—I’ve heard them, but we are not sure. Mermaids are maybe just imagination. Some people say your face will be disfigured if you see the mermaid. When these guys go fishing, they have their rod and everything. If that man is fishing and he notices there is something unfamiliar he has caught, he must cut early so he doesn’t see what he’s caught, just in case it’s a mermaid.

What I believe is there is somebody that created everything—even the sea and everything that is beneath the sea. What He did, He did it purposefully. He made all the things under the sea, purposefully.

When I look at the ocean, there is this feeling of joy. It brings me happiness even when there is no happiness. The ocean soothes my spirit.

Early in the morning, when I’m sad, I start to walk to the ocean. And when I am there, I have this feeling that the ocean is not man-made. There is someone above who has created that ocean. Artist, poet, comedian— the ocean, she’s everything.

It’s difficult to explain this. Just as life is unpredictable, the ocean is unpredictable. You can’t say you know yourself. The ocean is like that. You go there for happiness but sometimes come back sad. What brings sadness? We don’t listen to the ocean when the ocean speaks—I will say this is so. When the ocean speaks, we don’t listen to the ocean. We don’t understand its language. Even trees can speak, but we don’t understand these languages.

We take our example from the ocean. It provides a way of seeing. When we see the river or the sea is calm, is how we hear sometimes everything is alright. But sometimes we see a river in the storm, just as sometimes there is a fight in us. The sea can tell us another thing that has come, or is coming. When we hear the sea rolling and rolling and rolling, by that time the sea is fighting that element that has entered it.

That is why, when I started speaking here, I said, the ocean can speak. But we don’t understand the language. Many of the resources we use, we don’t understand; we don’t understand their language.

The sea, it has got wealth we can use. But at the same time, there is a call to protect. We don’t have all the information; but we are learning from each other that the sea or the ocean is our gold. It is precious. What we have in the ocean, that is what makes us keep moving. Sometimes you have to take care of the smallest of the small in the sea, like the babies, because to take them would be destroying the gold.

How, how do we protect the ocean? It is a calling.

What we learn from Our Sacred Ocean is, we have to change our behaviour about nature. Now that we know we are related to nature, let’s change ourselves. If we change our behaviour, this whole thing is going to change. So, bantwana [children], it’s about changing, changing, changing all the time so we can make the world a better place. Nature depends on us. That is why we need to change ourselves and our relationship to nature. We are going to start with the smallest things and move to the bigger things."

Veronica Betani:

"Another very important artwork for us is the Creation Altarpiece, which we call Indalo in isiXhosa, meaning ‘Nature.’ Nombuyiselo Malumbezo, Nomfusi Nkani and Cebo Mvubu were the designers, the three of them. This piece touches my heart because I was working on it with Nomfusi. Sadly, she passed away in December 2017. May her soul rest in peace.

In this artwork, I was using a new technique called needlefelt. I was taught how to do it by Gay Staurup, who visited us from Australia at that time.

            In our Creation Altarpiece, we show the connections between living things in the world: the people, the animals and other creatures, and also the plants in our surroundings, because it is life that connects everything. The artwork tells true stories. The people that work at Keiskamma Art Project are in the photos. It also shows members of the community who survive by selling fishes and people who sell oysters. And it shows the sangomas and herbalists in Hamburg, who depend on the earth to get some special plants that can cure people. And then we have the story of Nongqawuse on the side.

As I said at first, I was working on the Creation Altarpiece with my fellow artist, Nomfusi. May her soul rest in peace."

Nozeti Makhubalo:

"The Creation Altarpiece is a very beautiful artwork. It teaches us to respect the creation, to keep the environment clean and to look after what God has given us because it is important for us. We have communication with nature, with the trees, the plants, the animals, the birds; there is communication with the nature God gave us. So, the message of this artwork is that we must take care of the environment; we must communicate with it.

We learned more about the environment from nature conservation officers who came to teach us at Keiskamma Art Project. We learned, for example, not to cut down the trees, not to hunt the animals in the forest, not to fish small fishes from the river, and not to make the beach dirty by leaving bottles and tins and plastics on the beach.

In this part of the artwork, we did a big tree, as it was an education piece about taking care of trees and how we live with trees. We must not demolish the tree because we need it; we need the love from the tree. The other panel was about educating on fishing and poaching. As Vero says, it shows people who survive by selling fishes and oysters. You can see, there is a man with a fish. The man is Shadrack Ndlakuhlola Siphiwo. Now there are rules from nature conservation. For fishing you need to have a permit, not like before where you can just fish and take home. There next to Milani there is also a poacher, that is Mildred Paliso. Sadly, she has passed away now.

When you are fishing, there are measurements that you take, and you cannot take a small fish. Mildred and Shadrack were some of the first people in the Project because Carol employed them to clean the beach. They were selling seafood to Carol, no matter the size because they were desperate. She told them to clean the beach for money instead. Mildred would sometimes cheat and take the garbage from the village to give to Carol and she wouldn’t mind and would give her the money as long as she was not poaching.

Here is a sangoma, Mama Noshumi Rubushe and Mr Gqwaka, now passed on. Mama Noshumi is a traditional healer. A traditional healer is like a prophet in a Xhosa way. The traditional healer tells you what you are suffering from, and the herbalist will bring the medication, so they help each other in that way.

Here is Mr Gqwaka the herbalist in the middle panel. He is wearing his uniform as a herbalist. He knows a lot about plants and herbs, like impepho (African incense), ikhala (aloe) and inongwe (African potato). Inongwe, the African potato, it is not sweet. It is tasteless, but it has a smell. Pigs love it as well. They used to speak about it a lot during the HIV pandemic. The former health minister, Manto Tshabalala Msimang, used to say people need to be given inongwe to heal. It is a very important plant because when you have constipation and piles, you dig it, you wash it, crush it, and boil it. Then you can strain it and throw the pieces away or keep pieces in the jug in the fridge. You have to keep it in the fridge. You can also use it on your face, and you grind it on a stone. It is good for the skin. With the African potato, even if there are many in a place, you don’t take them all so there is more for the future. We don’t demolish.

Impepho is also medicinal. It has many uses and you can get it from the veld. Diabetics use it. They boil it and mix it with honey, then you drink it. It is also good for arthritis. We use it when we speak to our ancestors. Also, you can use it in the morning. Just put it by the window and burn it for the house.

Mr Gqwaka helped people with illness using traditional herbs from the forest. He was curing people with blood pressure, diabetes and cancer. He lived here in Hamburg and he passed on in 2014/2015. But he passed on his knowledge to his grandson and his granddaughters. Those are the children they left. That is the daughter-in-law, Nonyameko Gqwaka, and those are her twins.

This one is Mr Gqwaka’s newly-wed makoti; he maybe had children. These are some other twins. Those twins are from an old lady that stayed in a German house near Eunice’s house. There is a beautiful German house with a big fig tree. (Long ago there were German settlers here and that is why eMthonjeni became known as Hamburg.)

That is the grandmother’s grandchildren. They still live here, but they are grown-ups now. The one works in Peddie in the municipal offices and the other one works in East London, but the grandma has passed away now.

In the middle panel on the far right, she is Gqwaka’s daughter in law. She married the herbalist’s son. Her name is Nonyameko and the son’s name is Sihlelosethu.

At the top of the panel is a chief. Those are the chiefs from long ago.

At the bottom there are the people coming to be healed.

There are the grannies and children from the Keiskamma Music Academy. Those are my drawings, and they are playing the flute. The Academy is involved in the environmental theme here. This artwork is also to teach the children because when they are back from school they hunt the birds, they use the traps. So, the Music Academy is controlling that and keeping them busy, so they can also enjoy life.

We have to respect God’s creation. We need one another. For example, if we kill the hornbill there will be no rain and we will be punished by God, and it will become a curse.

My great happiness or my joy with nature is that, for all my young years, I didn’t know that I am so connected to nature—to birds that sing for us and flowers and trees. I love the indigenous plants that heal us and the herbs that we are using for our health and the flowers we gather to decorate our homes, and the trees. We have a lot of beautiful nature here in Hamburg."

Sanela Maxengana:

"This is why we love the series of artworks by Keiskamma Art Project called Botanicals. In isiXhosa, we call them by the name Ukudubula kweentyantyambo. That means, “a burst of flowers.’

For me, the tapestry shows the beauty of flowers that you can plant. It shows the happiness that they bring to people, and the joy.

Like people, flowers are different. There are all kinds of flowers.

The rose is my favourite flower, as it symbolises love and peace."

Veronica Betani:

"The big indigenous trees in our area gave us inspiration for the artwork commissioned by Murray and Roberts in Joburg, South African Trees in Time. In isiXhosa we choose to call the artwork by the name Ubuhle bendalo (The beauty of nature). We decided to show 26 indigenous trees from the nine provinces of South Africa. We drew the shape of the trees on hessian and chose changing colours to show that, the way the trees appear at dawn, won’t be the same as at sunset. The colours and textures are different at different times of day.

In South Africa we have beautiful indigenous trees like the umkisiso (cabbage tree), umnga (thorn tree), umthombe (wild fig), umsomi (waterberry) and also isiphingo (cat thorn), a thorny tree with black berries that we like to eat. Also, the umsintsi (coral tree), with the red beans that bring luck. Some people believe that if you put them with your money, your money won’t run out. We have learned that umsintsi differ in the different areas. Although it is the same family of trees, they differ. Like we are near the sea, we get one kind in Hamburg and in Keiskammahoek and Hogsback it won’t be the same. The flowers and leaves are different."

Cebo Mvubu:

"We are also very proud of the series of tapestries we made called the Intsikizi Tapestries. We call them in isiXhosa, Intaka yamvula, meaning “Rain Bird.’ This is because we as Xhosa people believe that the intsikizi [southern ground hornbill] brings rain. It is therefore a symbol of hope to us. It will bring the rainwater that is needed so that people can drink water, their animals can have water and they can grow crops.

In these tapestries we teach one another that when there is no hornbill there will be no rain, and if there is no rain there will be drought and poverty because our cattle will die, and we won’t have crops to eat. Those tapestries also play a role in teaching the community and the children to take care of the environment. As you can see, there is a forest and there are herbs and plants there that are medicinal to us that we use to heal ourselves and our cattle and goats."

Nozeti Makhubalo:

"We have had a lot of droughts in our area. If there was a drought, the community would decide to go and find the hornbill in the forest because there was the feeling that when you see the hornbill, then the rain is coming. So, the men would go to the forest with their hunting dogs to hunt the hornbill so that the rain would come back. The men wanted to bring the hornbill back alive to the community so they would make sure the dogs did not kill it. They were very careful with the hornbill.

When they saw the hornbill, they would be happy, and they would sing, ‘As soon as the hornbill cries the clouds will gather together and the rains will come.’

So, the Intsikizi Tapestries tell a story about this practice. The artworks teach the younger generation about the hornbill and the hunting of the hornbill and the Xhosa belief that it brings the rain. As much as hunting is important to our community, when it comes to nature conservation, we know we are not allowed to kill the animals because nature is part of us."

Veronica Betani:

"They would go hunting for the hornbill in groups of men of all ages, and boys older than twelve years. The boys were learning from the men. Usually with the hornbill there is a female and male together so one runs away. And the hornbill would be running and the hunters would remind each other to be careful that their dogs don’t kill it. Sometimes the hornbills are in a deep, dense forest, so it takes time to find one. That’s why they were in groups, crossing rivers to go to the other village on the other side. If you look at the artwork, you see the river. Here they are crossing the river and looking. Here they have seen it and in the last one they bring it home."

Sanela Maxengana:

"Here you can see the hunters, Nonkisi’s uncles. Nonkisi is there in the rondawels preparing food for the hunters: umgqusho (samp and beans) as well as mageu (fermented mielie pap). You can’t see Nonkisi because she is inside.

What is also interesting is that they would normally go to one place to eat, so there would be one person who would prepare the food and they would eat together."

Nozeti Makhubalo:

"The ground hornbill is always a bird of good omen. There are some other birds that bring luck, healing, and hope. If they come early, before sunrise, you will hear them singing. That means a good thing is coming to that family. That is why, as you can see, there are also some other birds in the artworks: untloyiya (yellow-billed kite), ihobo-hobo (Cape weaver), ihobe (Cape turtle dove), ichelekwane (laughing dove), inkonjane (swallows), umcelu (wagtail), impangele (guinea fowl) and flamingos. These ones are big and dig in the mud near the river to find food. There are tick birds (unonyenge) that are helpful to the cattle because they eat the ticks on them. All these birds are important to us because there is a connection.

Then there are birds of bad omen, as in the case of the isikhova (Cape eagle owl), ukhozi (black eagle) or ingqanga (bataleur). Yoh, we don’t want those birds! We chase them away! I heard the other day that because of the sun’s rays the owls cannot see during the day. That is why they come out at night because they are not comfortable in the day. They are just looking for rats."

Thembeka Makubalo:

"The hornbill is a black bird with a red beak. Although it is a symbol of hope for us, sometimes we have to chase it away because it likes to be in the cultivated fields and eat our maize. So, we get the dogs to chase it away and then we go and collect the maize."