Xhosa poet Nontsizi Mgqwetho mourns the death of her mother

Date: 2 Dec 1922
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Xhosa poet Nontsizi Mgqwetho mourns the death of her mother

On this date a poem by Nontsizi Mgqwetho lamenting the death of her mother was published. Mgqwetho was the first woman poet to publish in Xhosa. From 1920 to 1929 she contributed more than ninety poems, most of them to the Johannesburg weekly newspaper of the Chamber of Mines, Umteteli wa Bantu (The mouthpiece of the African people). Her passionate poetry articulated the political and social frustrations of Blacks during the 1920s. Though very little is known about her life, she supposedly came from the rural area of Peddie in the Transkei and settled in Johannesburg.

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01Daymond,J. J., (9124), Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region, Nontsi mgqwetho, Listen,Compators, pp. 176.
02South African History Online,"Nontsizi (Cizama, Imbongikazi yakwaCizama) Mgqwetho",From: South African History Online [Online], Available at: www.sahistory.org.za,[Accessed : 21 November 2013]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Xhosa poet Nontsizi Mgqwetho mourns the death of her mother. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011454

South African History Online (2011) 'Xhosa poet Nontsizi Mgqwetho mourns the death of her mother', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011454 (Accessed: 30 August 2026).

South African History Online, Xhosa poet Nontsizi Mgqwetho mourns the death of her mother [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011454, (accessed 30 August 2026).

"Xhosa poet Nontsizi Mgqwetho mourns the death of her mother." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011454. Accessed 30 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "Xhosa poet Nontsizi Mgqwetho mourns the death of her mother." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011454.