NKOSI SIKELEL’ I AFRIKA

(The Bantu National Anthem).

Sol-fa Leaflets. No.17

[4] pages, portrait of Enoch Sontonga on the upper cover, cream card covers with a small tear at the bottom of the pages in the middle, which does not affect the legibility.

There is an extensive note on the back by D. D. T. Jabavu on The origin of Nkosi Sikelel’ I Afrika Fort Hare - dated June 1934.

Enoch Mankayi Sontonga was born in Uitenhage, Eastern Province (now Eastern Cape) around 1873 as a member of the Xhosa-speaking Mpinga clan of the Tembu tribe.

He trained as a teacher at the Lovedale Training College after which he was sent to a Methodist mission school in Nancefield, near Johannesburg in 1896. He taught here for nearly eight years. Sontonga was the choirmaster at his school, as well as an amateur photographer. He married Diana Mgqibisa, the daughter of a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, who passed away in 1929. They had a son.

Sontonga lived in Pimville, Soweto, Johannesburg, Transvaal. He passed away on the 18th of April in 1905, at the age of 32. Sontonga was a distinguished and productive poet and, on occasions, preached in his church. As a choirmaster in his school, Enoch Sontonga composed the first two stanzas of democratic South Africa’s anthem in 1897. Although initially intended for his school choir, Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika was first performed in 1899 at an ordination service of Reverend Mboweni, the first Tsonga Methodist Priest to be ordained.

In 1901, John Langalibalele Dube founded the Ohlange Institute. The choir at this institute popularised the anthem. Additional verses to the anthem were added by the renowned IsiXhosa national poet, Samuel E.K. Mqhayi. Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika was first recorded on 16 October 1923, in London, accompanied by Sylvia Colenso (The daughter of Bishop Colenso of Natal) on the piano.

In 1927, the whole song was published in the form of a pamphlet by The Lovedale Press. The anthem was also included in the Presbyterian Hymn book (Incwadi yamaCulo aseRhabe) in 1929, an isiXhosa poetry book and in Umthetheli waBantu (an isiXhosa newspaper) on 11 June 1927.

By 1925 "Nkosi Sikelel ‘iAfrika" had become the official song of the African National Congress (ANC) and was also sung during the British Royal visit in 1947. In the 1960s, Zambia adopted the song as its national anthem.

In 1994 "Nkosi Sikelel ‘iAfrika" and “Die Stem van Suid Afrika”, the old South African anthem, became our official national anthem.
https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/enoch-mankayi-sontonga