IZENZO ZABAPOSTOLI ABANGCWELE [1858] - an original printing from Ekukhanyeni Mission Station, Natal

born around 1840

when dinuzulu was exiled to st Helena, Fuze was employed as his tutor.

enjoyed the tutelage of John William Colenso, the first and only missionary bishop of Natal

South African Anglican Church excommunication 

Colenso arrived in Natal in 1855

in 1859, Colenso traveelled to the zulu kingdom to visit the reigning king, Mpande. He instructed his young converts to keep travel diaries  abd to write about their experiences. His "Three accounts of the visit of the Bishop of Natal in September and October, 1859, to Umpande" became a zulu language classic and was read for many decades after its publication. fuzes debut appearance in print was not, however, the first example of his skills as a printer. In 1859 Colenso had also sent Sir George Grey a copy of Magema Fuze's printing exercise and compositiontitled "Amazwi Abantu". This latter text reveales a young man whose ear was already arruned to the scholarly demands of Colenso's growing interest in Zulu linguistics and lexicography. The young Fuze composed a transcription of mundane and serious conbersations he overheard around him and, in so doing, he preserved a record of the lives of the amakholwa who lived at Bishopstowe. Thus, both "Three Native Accounts" and "Amazwi Abantu" could be said to have been the fountainhead and inspiration behind Fuzes youthful enthusiasm for the written word.

since Colenso owned his own printing press, it was magema fuzes skill as a printer that produced not just The Pentateuch but also Colenso's responses to his critics.

fuze wrote articles for newspapers Ipepa Lo Hlanga (1894-1904) and Ilanga lase Natal (1889-1896) on subject ranging from zulu history and customs, church history and kholwa identity

fuze wrote extensiveley on his experiences on the island of st helena, where he was sent in 1896, as tutor scribe for the exiled zulu king dinuzulu. he returned to natal with the royal family in 1898.

Abantu was the first major work ever written in Zulu by a native speaker of the language. privately published in 1922.