Skip to main content
Menu

Xhosa author Samuel Mqhayi dies

This Day in History: 29 July 1945
Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi, Xhosa poet, prose writer and educator, died at Ntab'ozuko, near King William's Town, Transkei. His first collection of poems, Imihobe nemiBongo (1927) included 'Nkosi sikelel' iAfrica'. The words of the first stanza and chorus were originally written in Xhosa as a hymn by Enoch Sontonga in 1897. Sontonga also composed the music, while Mqhayi added seven additional Xhosa stanzas in 1927. Sources: Potgieter, D.J. et al. (eds)(1970). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: NASOU, v. 7, p. 628. http://www.answers.com/topic/samuel-edward-krune-mqhayi http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/history/sontonga100.htm

Search events by date