Novel
Uvalo Lwezinhlonzi
Not translated into English
Jordan Ngubane · 1957
Synopsis
In the village of Buthunqe, in Zululand, Bajwayele loves Potolozi, a poor man whom her father, Manamuza, refuses. Greedy for cattle and anxious to be counted among the notables of the district, Manamuza wants to give her to Zulumacansi, a servant in the household of Whites in Durban, who works to gather the finest bridewealth. Her mother, kaMemunce, first preaches obedience, then takes her daughter's side. Forced to remain with Zulumacansi, Bajwayele runs away to Benoni, and her father pursues her, for fear of having to return the cattle.
Context
The novel appeared in Johannesburg in 1957 from Bantu's Publishing Home, then was banned from 1962 to 1967. It is its author's only novel in Zulu; much later he published, in English, a novel of ideas, Ushaba. Its title expresses the heroine's fear at the furrows of her father's brow. The critic Henry Sifiso Gumede reads in it a plea against the use that greedy fathers make of ilobolo, without condemning the custom itself, and a questioning of the respect and obedience demanded of daughters, between rural tradition and the city.
Who it is for
A novel in Zulu, accessible only to readers of the language; not translated into French or English.
Prizes and reception
Popular when it appeared and placed on school syllabuses before its banning; a manifesto for the free choice of spouse, according to Gumede.
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