Paul Xiniwe - 19th Century Political Activist, Entrepreneur And The Man Who Opened The First Hotel For Africans In King Williams Town

The Eastern Cape is full of historical surprises. 

Who was Paul Xiniwe?

Paul Xiniwe - owner of the Temperance Hotel in King Williams Town

Paul Xiniwe lived in the 19th century in the Eastern Cape. 

He was born in 1857 and died in 1902.  

Mr. Paul Xiniwe went to Lovedale in 1881 as an advanced student based on the recommendations of the Reverend Edward Solomon, of Bedford.

He had spent his youth in Bedford and had previously occupied positions on the railway as a timekeeper and later as a telegraph operator. 

In January 1881 Paul started studying at the by now famous Lovedale College. The College has produced many African leaders and later freedom fighters over the years.

In the second year of his studies Paul obtained the seventy-fourth certificate of competency at the Elementary Teachers Examination. 

He graduated from the Lovedale College like many other future leaders of South Africa and started to teach at the Edwards Memorial School in Port Elizabeth. His school was said to stand high in efficiency in the classification of schools of the district. 

But Paul was destined to be more than a teacher in his life. After some years of teaching he had saved enough money, so he could resign as a teacher. He bought properties in the cities of East London, Port Elizabeth and King Williams Town, and opened merchant stores there. In the years to come he became a prominent business man in the Cape Province. He was interested in politics, a Christian in belief and he took a very keen interest in the welfare of the African people.

In 1884 he presented a paper at the Native Educational Society, in which he stressed that the time had come for Africans to become members in Parliament.

He was a memeber of Imbumba Yama Nyama and became later a leader of the South African Native Congress.

But even more astonishing is the fact that in 1984 he opened the Temperance Hotel at Market Square in King Williams Town. It was the first hotel for Africans in the Cape Province and the double storey building was acquired at the time it cost 2000 Pounds. 

In a very short time the Temperance Hotel was known throughout the Cape Province. 

In Imvo Zabantsundu (June 3 to November 21, 1961), Z. K. Matthews noted the following observations concerning Paul Xiniwe: 

“One of the best known buildings in King William’s Town is the Temperance Hotel. For generations this hotel has been a home away from home for many thousands of Africans, who, for one reason or another have had occasion to pay a visit to King William’s Town. Some have spent a night or two there, others have had a meal or two there, while others have gone in there just to rest their feet after a round of busy shopping in the town. One wonders how many of those who have had the benefit of this place ever spare a thought of gratitude to Paul Xiniwe, who established this home for Africans many years ago. 

Like so many of his contemporaries Paul Xiniwe was educated at Lovedale where he qualified as a primary school teacher. After he left Lovedale he entered the teaching profession and taught at various schools in the Eastern Cape. 

Eventually he decided to give up teaching and to blaze a new trail for Africans in business. This he did at a time when the belief was still widely held that no African could run a business successfully. . . . But the Temperance Hotel was not merely a business place. It was a center of culture. Both Paul Xiniwe and his wife were capable musicians. In their younger days they had both been members of an African Choir which toured Europe and they always encouraged music in their home and in the district”.

(Z.K. Mathews from "Paul Xiniwe blazed new trail for Africans”, Imvo Zabantsundu, October 7, 1961).  

By the way Imvo Zabantsundu ( Native Opinion) was a newspaper published by the brilliant 24 year old John Tengo Jabavu, another lovedale graduate. He had set up his own newspaper with white and black political allies and the first issue appeared on Monday the 3 November 1884 and its appearance was a landmark occasion in the political history of South Africa, heralding the birth of an independant black press, a major step in the struggle for racial equality in the still new colonial system

The African choir who toured Europe is an amazing story in itself. 

The other members of the African choir were Johanna Jonkers, Josiah Semouse, Charlotte Manye (Maxeke). These young New Africans seem to have been inspired by the visit of the "New Negro Orpheus McAdoo and the Virginia Jubilee Singers" who visited South Africa in 1890 singing all forms of Negro Spirituals. In appropriating the Negro Spirituals, Charlotte Manye Maxeke and others were among the earliest who established a Black Atlantic connection between New Negro modernity and New African modernity (Pitzer College).

Paul Xiniwe A Man Of Great Influence And Power At His Time

Paul married Miss Ndwanya, the sister of Mr. Ndwanya, a law agent who was respected alike by the Europeans residing in the province and the "natives" at Middle-drift. 

He became the father of five children, three sons and two daughters.

Unfortunately Mr. Paul Xiniwe died at an early age leaving a widow and five children to look after themselves. 

According to the website Ancestry 24:  "Mrs. Xiniwe who, with her husband, had been to Europe as a member of the African choir, was a lady of experience, tact, character and business acumen. Difficult though it was, she maintained her late husband’s property, and carried on the business and educated her children. This lady indeed commanded the respect of all who knew her, white and black. Paul Xiniwe was a man of his word. He swore he would never touch liquor. When he became very ill his doctor advised him to take a little brandy, but he made up his mind that he would not do so, although it was said brandy was the only thing that would save his life".

To illustrate a little bit the spirit of the time in which Paul Xiniwe lived we just have to look at the images and listen to the following facts. 

King Williams town was a booming place with businesses mushrooming at every corner. But STILL It was unusual for an African man in the 19th century to become an entrepreneur and be successful with it, at the same time promoting his culture and the arts, all the while being actively involved in politics. But Paul Xiniwe somehow managed. The fact, that he was an extremely well educated, well groomed and easy to talk to man made him popular amongst the White settlers and business men as well.

By 1880 many of the large businesses, that dominated King Williams Town for the next two decades had already emerged. They were Malcher & Malcomess; Baker, Baker & Co; Whitaker & Dyer and J.W.Weir.

These business used traders as intermediaries in the rural areas and wholesalers were able to build up a large two-way trade by selling imported goods and purchasing skins, hides and wool for the export.

According to John Noble, who estimated conservatively the purchasing power of the Cape African's "at the low amount" of 400.000 pounds annually, 60.000 woolen blankets were sold in King Williams town in one year only, among other things like American ploughs, hoes, picks, sheets, axes, iron pots, ring beads, clothing, grain bags, flour, sugar, wire, knives, ochre, buckets and chains.

King Tanning, the image was taken in the 1930's

A Shop In King Williams Town in the 1930's

Paul Xiniwe was without doubt a great modernizer of his time, who managed to induce change (At least for him and some around him) with great skill in an environment, that was not open to change.

The streets of King Williams Town look very much different today, that in the last century. How much of that change can be attributed to a man like Paul Xiniwe. Business is now open to people of all color, but still it is difficult to be successful.

Preparing For Trade On The Streets Of King Williams Town

And while the houses and the cars, the clothes and the people change, while time moves on and the clock ticks away our time, and we think we are the ones who count now, nothing exists itself. Everything is linked and many have contributed to what is now.

A Historical Building in King Williams Town

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King Williams Town Street Life

A Memorial in King Williams Town

Contemplating

The Sun Newspaper Building in King Williams Town

 

African Elegance - Looking Back At The Work Of Photographer Alice Mertens

The objective of today's article is to introduce you to the photographic work of Alice Mertens (1915 -2001). Looking back in history, at all times and throughout the centuries, under any type of government, no matter how oppressive and segregating it was, there were people, who were genuinely interested in the culture and traditions of others living around them, although they themselves did not belong to the same clan, tribe, cast or ethnic group. Their curiosity was stronger than the ideology, that was preached to them. 

Some of them felt inspired enough to document what they encountered and the experiences, that came from these encounters.

Alice Mertens might have been one of those people. She dedicated part of her time and life to photograph and capture for later generations the tribal life of the Xhosa people in the Transkei.

The Photographer Alice Mertens captured true African Elegance

Now who is Alice Mertens? What are these guys talking about today? The woman died in 2001 having reached the honorable age of 86 years! We have never heard of her! Of what relevance is this to us today? 

We reply: Of great relevance! Remember the article "Our Place Of Origin". The images we have published in the article have touched the hearts of many of our readers. Remember the beautiful Fingo woman with the child on her back. Her eyes are fixed on something, that we can not see, her look is focusing on an object in the distance. Or may be she is just focusing on the land, where she lived. And remember the proud Pondo man!

Mdantsane being a predominantly Xhosa township has of course been influenced in its evolution by the Xhosa tradition and customs. Although many of them are still alive, many old traditions have fallen away.

From The Out Of Print Book "African Elegance" by Alice Mertens and Joan Broster

In the out of print book "African Elegance", a collaboration between Alice Mertens and Joan Broster the costumes, bead work and customs of Xhosa tribal life in the Transkei region are recorded and documented. The images of Alice Mertens take us back into a time now lost, seen through the lens of Alice Mertens camera.

The beauty of traditional African tribal dress

The two women, Joan Broster and Alice Mertens, portrayed the Gcaleka, Tembu, Pondo, Bomvana and Fingo peoples, who have lived in the area of the Eastern Cape of South Africa for decades.

"African Elegance"was published in 1974 and since the time of its publication, many of the traditional tribal costumes have changed under the influence of Western culture.  

African Elegance was a collaboration between Alice Mertens and Joan Broster

Back to the question who was Alice Mertens?

Not much public information is available about her life. We know, that Alice Victoria Mertens was born in Namibia in February 1915. Shortly before WWII, she studied photography at the Reimann School in Berlin in Germany. 

A time gone by

She became a professional photographer and in the years between 1964 and 1980 she worked as a journalist in Cape Town. Alice Mertens traveled extensively in Southern Africa, taking picture of the landscapes, its wildlife and the people living there.

The International Court of Justice in La Hague used the images of Alice Mertens in 1964

 
Many of her photographs were used at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in 1964. Between 1959 and 1975, she authored or co-authored eleven books.  One of these books was "African Elegance".
Mrs.Mertens lectured in the Arts Department at the University of Stellenbosch. She donated her collection of slides and photographs to the Duggan-Cronin Museum in Kimberly.

The traditional Xhosa dress has undergone change over time under the influence of Western Culture

Looking at her images today,.... Are they priceless, extraordinary or does it just seem like that to us, because we the spectators are looking at an era in retrospective, a time that we have not been part of?
Was she just a woman who loved to photograph, thereby becoming a witness to a time, that is long gone by for us others, who were born after her.

But then, who of us is really aware and conscious, that the moment we are living right now is special and that it will vanish and pass? That it will fly away from us like a bird. Everything will change and only our own pictures will tell us later, that we have lived our own "time gone by".

Books like African Elegance remind us us the beauty of an" untouched Transkei"

Alice Mertens, a passionate photographer had the eye and the patience to get shots like these.

Transkei, the land of the forefathers

African Elegance can fetch up to 150 US$ on the Internet, if you can get it. If you can and have the money, then it is an acquisition worth to join your bookshelf or to give it as a present to a good friend or a loved one. It is unlikely, that you will find in a junk shop or second hand shop.

Traditional dress of the Xhosa Women

African Elegance has detailed explanations and it does give you an insight into the diversity of tribal dress in the Transkei in the past.

The copyright of all the images we have uploaded belongs to Alice Mertens and they are solely shown here for their beauty, with the intention to honor this great photographer, who has kept safe a part of the Xhosa culture, even if it is only with pictures. We do not claim any rights to them.  

 

Alice Mertens a great photographer of the past

Traditional Pondo Dancers

The following images of traditional Pondo Dancers in their ceremonial clothing were taken by Rob Mellin in 1976 in King Williams Town. We are pleased to show more of the work of ex Daily Dispatch Photographer Rob Mellin, who has documented many parts of the Xhosa culture during several decades.
To read more about Rob Mellin click here.

Pondo Dancers in King Willimas Town in the 1970's

Traditional Dancer

Detail of a traditional beaded necklace worn at ceremonies

Traditional beaded bag

ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF ROB MELLIN

The Unknown Street Musician Of Oxfordstreet 36 Years Ago - The Photography Of Rob Mellin

36 years ago there was music on Oxfordstreet!

Unknown Street Musician At The Corner Oxford And Terminus Street 36 Years Ago, East London South Africa

There is a reason for everything and there is also a reason why this image has found its way into our magazine 36 years after it was taken. 

You probably remember, that we have started a research project and are busy collecting material to set up a digital archive for old Mdantsane and East London images. The archive will be made up of images coming from local families and from photographers of diverse backgrounds, who are generously allowing us to digitalise their family treasures. 

Let us tell you the interesting story behind this beautiful historical photograph.

Chocolat, our publisher and founder of the magazine met a while ago a gentleman in a second hand shop, who shared her passion for old records. The gentleman of name Rob had already too many records but Chocolat was still buying and adding to her collection. So Rob promised her to give her some records. And he did - to the great excitement of Chocolat. When she visited Rob's house to collect the records they started chatting and she was in for another surprise. They shared another passion, photography.

Rob Mellin worked as a photographer and photojournalist for the Daily Dispatch newspaper for 18 years. He is retired since eleven years. Rob has a rich and turbulent past. He started taking up photography in the 1970s as a hobby, but soon his hobby became his work. He took pictures for the at the time "Rhodesian Air force". He said working for the air force was the turning point of his life.

"It was my experience with the air force, that laid the foundation for a career in journalism. Whenever I held a camera I felt compelled to take news worthy pictures".

While he was staying in Zimbabwe his images were published in a community newspaper and this was the inspiration he needed to work relentlessly towards a career as a photographer. In 1983 he eventually joined the Daily Dispatch.

There are two sides to his photography. There is the more conventional work he did for the newspaper he worked for. But he also had an interest in the local African culture, which was rare at the time and the black and white images he shot are testimonials of East London's history and street culture. His photography is art.

Rob Mellin is a photographer of the old school, before the digital photography saw the light of the day. He is an artist who knows all the tools of the trade. He knows how to develop a picture in a drak room..

The day when Chocolat visited him, he showed her treasures she did not think she would see this day. His darkroom, though hardly used now is fully intact and his collection of non archived negatives, slides and photos must amount to the thousands.

"We were under sanctions these days and we could not get material from Agfa, so we worked with Ilford Paper and Developer. But I started making my own developing liquid and you can see I have done a good job because this picture is 36 years old."

The picture we published today, he took while he was on what was called "an open assignment" for the Daily Dispatch. In those days, that meant photographers were sent out on the street to look for interesting scenes. 

The street musician in the images was sitting at Oxfordstreet/corner Terminus Street and Rob said the man had a very  raspy" beautiful voice, that captured his attention.

He does not remember the exact date, but he says it was in 1986. He also does not remember if it was ever published by the Daily Dispatch but he handed it in for a photographic competition with the photographic society of East London at the time and it was marked down because the Black Label sign, that you can see in the background was cut off and not readable in its entirety.

A friend, whom we told this shook his head and said: "But the musician, he is the black label, He is the black label of the finest quality."

And so is Rob Mellin's picture.

Image Courtesy Rob Mellin. With Rob's permission we will published more of his images. 

Intluzo - The Art Of Weaving A Traditional Xhosa Beer Strainer

The article we are publishing today is a nice follow-up on our last article about Welile, the cane weaver. Welile is using cane to create his baskets and he makes use of a relatively easy method of weaving.

But there are African weaving techniques, that are much older - nobody really knows how old they are because they have been around for centuries. Nowadays their continued existence is in danger. 

The item I want to introduce you to today is called Intluzo. Intluzo is a handmade strainer, that is used to strain the traditional brewed Xhosa beer.

Chandelier Made From 5 Beerstrainers

Umqombothi is the name for the traditional home brew still loved by many Xhosa men and women in the rural regions, especially in the moutaineous beautiful areas of the Transkei. Fat livestock roams on green hills when the rain is good.
Art and Craft always express society. We want to show you some pictures of the Transkei so that our foreign readers understand the type of environment in which this product developed over the years.

A Xhosa Village

Nguni Cattle

The Vastness  of the Transkei

Green hills and fertile soil

A Xhosa Homestead

A Bird's Eye View

Give Me Color

Built With Mud

Wooden Fence

   

But the Intluzo was also used for straining thin porridge for the children. It served the elders as well as the youngsters. Symbolically it was a very important item in a traditional Xhosa household. It was  given as a wedding gift to the newly married.

The strainers are made by sewing together many strands of carefully prepared twisted sedge stems. It is a complicated and time consuming technique and only a few crafterrs, mostly old men are left with this skill. It takes a great amount of patience to learn this skill and to pass it on to the younger generation. And at this point the string of passing on traditions is broken. 

Detail of the weaving technique

 In a rapidly evolving South African society, that tends towards urbanization, consumerism and easy acceptance of American and European ideologies and values, young people are not interested anymore in learning this craft. In the first place there is no interest in staying in the villages in the rural areas-understandably because there are very few job opportunities. 

But also to follow in their father's footsteps and become a farmer and learn how to make beer strainers does not make sense in 2012.

Intluzo is a traditional Xhosa product born out of the traditions and the culture of the Transkei. As such it has great heritage value.

Every society faces the need to evolve and to re-evaluate its traditions. Some traditions can not be kept and they will vanish by themselves because the members of society are not willing to support them anymore They are out of time.Others have great historical value and should be conserved.

If they can not find a place anymore in the society in the original role they fulfilled, then they should be kept and curated in the field of art and design as a reminder. The weaving of the traditional Xhosa beer strainers is one such tradition, that deserves to be remembered.

I would like to show you a product that has been made from Intluzos.  A chandelier made from five beerstrainerss. It is a product designed to keep this technique alive. It is a creation of Annegret Mostert who has also designed the set of traditional Xhosa wedding gifts. Keeping this technique alive by supporting old crafters financially through buying the strainers from them in the villages might be an incentive that younger people might still want to learn how to weave the beer strainers.

 

South African Soccer In 1970 In Soweto

Many people that we have met during the last two years since we created the Mdantsane Way and to whom we have spoken about our vision for the magazine, have shown us that they are hungry for context and want to understand context in the South African environment.

We publish in The Mdantsane Way Magazine a category called South Africa In Retrospective. Here we share not only Mdantsane related images and information but we include stories, images and moments of South Africa's history, that seem remarkable and important to us. The images of events that we publish were not necessarily great historical moments but they convey an important message to us today. 

As documentary photographers we have great respect for the work of photographers who have lived and worked before us because they contribute to the massive task to document our world and to allow mankind to remember the many stories of humanity. 

This is also the reason why we want to establish a digital archive consisting of historical images and documents for Mdantsane's past. Too much knowledge has already been lost.

The  image we want to show you today was captured on film by a photographer named G.Cubitt in 1970 during a soccer match in Soweto and was published in a book about South Africa in 1970, entitled also simply " South Africa. 1970 the Kaizer Chiefs played the Bantu Colliers in this match

It is an amazing image and if you take time to look at it for a couple of minutes and let your eyes glance over each and every face and the emotion it expresses, you can feel your way back to the 1970's when that game took place in Soweto. You can not understand what it meant to be "A Black" in the 1970's in South Africa but you can understand what it meant to watch this soccer match.

Originally entitled : Anxiety and delight mirrored in the expressions of a huge crowd as they watch Kaizer Chiefs and Bantu Colliers play soccer in Soweto

" Soccer is the most popular sport amongst Blacks, many of whom display great natural ability."  (quotation from the book South Africa, page 170)

Image COurtesy OF G.Cubitt

The Origin Of Mdantsane

The Establishment of Mdantsane As A Bantu Residential Area in 1962

MDANTSANE TODAY. The idea was born in 1962

We have done quite some research on the origin and establishment of Mdantsane. The History of Mdantsane is a topic that interests us a lot and we would like to enable our readers to take a look back into the past and understand the origin of Mdantsane as a residential area that has developed into the second biggest township in South Africa.

What we know is that Mdantsane was established in 1962 as a so called Bantu Residential Area. But fact is there is very little documentation about the development of this area in 1962 or earlier.

We have been searching for quite a while for old documents, photos, maps and other useful information but always with the same outcome. NADA! This was also a our reason for the establishment of this online magazine The Mdantsane Way.

We paid a visit to the East London Museum the other day and had planned to spent a whole day there searching their archives. What was handed over to us was one folder approximately 10 cm thick. Not much here either!

But our visit was not in vain. The folder contained three documents, consisting of notes from the proceedings of a meeting with the deputy-minister of Bantu Administration and Development regarding the proposed development of Mdantsane as a Bantu Residential area dating back to the 13th of March 1962.

In 1962 the idea of Mdantsane was born. The notes give us a very good idea of the complex and complicated discussion that had taken place at the time.    

Townships were established in strategic positions to bigger cities with the purpose in mind to serve as a labour pool for so called Industrial Development Sites. People were removed from other locations to live there and commute to the cities for work.

We are publishing here with the East London Museum's permission extracts of a meeting that took place 52 years ago and that determined the future of Mdantsane at the time. We think that you might find this as interesting and enlightening as we did. 

The participants in the meeting were as follows:

MDANTSANE DEVELOPED INTO SECOND BIGGEST TOWNSHIP IN SOUTH AFRICA, BORN IN 1962