Black People and the Five Pillars: A Beginners Level

By Msizi Isaac Moshoetsi

From the beginning of time, Black people were given a certain way of life by the God of our ancestors. This way of life was passed on to our past ancestors for the benefit of future generations. This way of life, through a period of time, came to be known as isiko (isintu; culture), which was embodied in their lifestyle, traditions, rituals, and customs. These rituals are supposed to be practiced by families within their land. So from inception, God, the ancestors, man, culture, nature, and land were intertwined. These entities should always be in harmony with one another, and any imbalance in this relationship creates a spiritual disalignment and problems begin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Feb 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482825626

Msizi Isaac Moshoetsi

A former freelance journalist and editor of magazines like Kitso and Golf Rennaisance, Msizi Moshoetsi is a poet, researcher, translator, subtitler, social commentator, filmmaker and scriptwriter who holds a B Iuris degree from the University of the North. He first trained as a scriptwriter with the then South African Scriptwriters Union. He went on to train with Sediba funded by the SABC and did an advanced course in scriptwriting with The Creative Industry sponsored by the Irish Embassy. He studied filmmaking at Monash University, Film and TV Unit and at Big Fish where he majored in scriptwriting and directing.  In 2008, he had his first film Amazing Grace commissioned by the SABC. In 2009, he wrote and directed his second film “A Travelling Salesman-The Story of Sello K Duiker”, also commissioned by the SABC. He wrote a feature film Jezebel broadcast by Mzansi Magic in 2012. He has worked for various television programmes and documentaries over the last ten years. He is the scriptwriter for the factual reality show Khumbul’ekhaya on SABC1. A storyteller, he runs The Book of Barolong, a photographic, production and publishing studio aimed at encouraging people to tell their family histories and their personal stories by publishing their own books. He facilitates Isigungu, a forum which runs mentoring workshops for men. Passionate about African forms of spirituality and culture, he is the founder of Inqolobane Yethu (Our National Storehouse) aimed at researching and preserving a wealth of African indigenous knowledge systems. He is also a disciple at The Temple of Wisdom for Inner Studies.

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Copyright © 2016 by Msizi Moshoetsi.

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Acknowledgements

References

Preface

The First Pillar

The Second Pillar

The Third Pillar

The Fourth Pillar

The Fifth Pillar

When the student is ready, the teacher comes.

Master-teacher – Prophet Wisdom Gumede

Introduction

From the beginning of time, Black people were given a certain way of life by the God of our ancestors. This way of life was passed on to our past ancestors for the benefit of future generations. This way of life through a period of time came to be known as isiko (isintu) (culture) which was embodied in their lifestyle, traditions, rituals and customs. These rituals are supposed to be practiced by families within their land. So from inception, God, the ancestors, man, culture, nature and land were intertwined. These entities should always be in harmony with each other and any imbalance in this relationship creates a spiritual dis-alignment and problems begin.

These entities are defined as the Five Pillars. And since these entities are intertwined, we will go back and forth and sometimes overlap in defining their relationship.

Through this book the reader will learn that the political, social and economic problems of the African people are first and foremost spiritual and begin at family level which is the foundation of any society. The book argues that you cannot address these problems at national level without first dealing with them at family level. It calls on the government to create an enabling environment by recognizing and promoting the practice of these rituals.

This book teaches us about the importance of family, the need to respect and honour our parents and consequently our ancestors. It shows that death does not mean the end of the relationship we have with our family members: that family is forever.

This book will prove that Black people are living in an unnatural state and will suggest solutions as to how we can bring back balance in our lives. Ultimately, we will show that the Five Pillars are rooted in the Scriptures because we are the people of the Bible.

This book is a clarion call, a plea, for a different platform, an African platform. It calls for a different mindset and the creation of new values as the backbone of a new society.

Acknowledgements

Jeremiah 1: 4

4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;

Before you were born I sanctified you;

I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

When I was hardly two years old, I got involved in a bus accident that claimed many lives in rural Nongoma, KwaZulu Natal. We were coming back from our uncle’s wedding and our mother was rushing back to work in Durban. I survived the accident almost unscathed while my eldest brother was severely injured. Our mother did not survive. I believe I survived that accident because God had big plans for me later on in life.

So I dedicate this book to Umvelinqangi, the Living God, and the God of our ancestors. I wish to respect and honour my father Isaac, my paternal grandmother Julia, Qhikiza, Nomsimama, Ntombizama, intombi kamaDevana, the daughter of Nomathawula, Deda, Mkhumbane, Hazi, isiphunzi esihlula amaDeda ngokusimama, uDumakude, uShange omkhulu, the son of Mandlovu from Emfume, kwaVumandaba, eMbumbulu, my great paternal grandmother Lydia Khabonina, uMakweyama, uVezi, the daughter of MaNgubane from Emabomvini, my paternal grandfather Wilson, Morolong, Mabibi, Serapane!

A special honor to my mother Catherine Mamlakhe, all the entire Nkosi ancestors: Dlamini, nina bacedza Lubombo ngokuhlehletela!

I honour and respect them for being the vehicle that brought me to this world. I honour them with the understanding that I come from them and will one day return to them. I remember them because they too have lived, longed, laughed and loved.

I am eternally grateful to the spirit of Ben Ammi Ben Israel whose teachings had a major impact on my life. May his soul continue being a guiding light.

A special dedication to the men who fought in The Bhambatha Rebellion. You fought for our way of life!

References

Ibhayibheli Elingcwele

The African Heritage Study Bible King James Version

The King James Version

Kusadliwa Ngoludala by CT Msimang

Isandlwana and Rorkes Drift by Ian Knight

The Social Systems of the Zulu by Eileen Jensen Krige

The Power of the ancestors by J Mthethwa

Umsamo by Velaphi Ka Lu Phuzi VVO Mkhize

Amathongo nemithetho elishumi kaNkulunkulu by VVO Mkhize

The Scriptures of the Amanazaretha by Irving Hexham

They came before Colombus by Ivan Van Sertima

God the Black Man and Truth by Ben Ammi

From Babylon to Timbuktu by Rudolph R. Windsor

The African Origin of Civilization by Cheikh Anta Diop

Before The Mayflower by Lerone Bennet, JR

Amalezulu by BW Vilakazi

In this book there is a constant use of the plural we instead of the singular I. That is because even though I may have credited myself as writer of this book, I was not alone in the writing process. The spirit of God, the prophets, and the spirits of my ancestors were with me all the way. I had to pray, meditate, research and study and in the end, this book was not only the result of these spirits but the combination of my personal and our shared experience as a people.

I wrote this book because of spiritual insights I received from my ancestors, with the grace of Umvelinqangi. These spiritual insights showed me the root of all our black problems, where we are as a people and gave some answers to the questions that face us as a nation.

I did not write this book because I have solved all my spiritual problems. The wisdom of heaven is not an event but a process. I have written this book because I have undergone and am still undergoing some of those spiritual problems so that I can be a testimony to others.

Preface

Apartheid was cancer of the soul. It was violence against the mind. It was an offensive against the spirit. It was a rebellion against the natural order of things as laid down by God. Now that political emancipation has been achieved, we need to go through a spiritual transition that will lead to true economic freedom and a society in harmony with each other.

This book will demonstrate that some of our problems are unique to us as Africans and require unique African solutions. This book is mindful of the fact that all societies evolve and that the world that we populate is very different from the world of our forefathers. But this book will show that some truths, some ways, are fundamental. It will show that contrary to popular belief, there is class in culture.

This book will outline certain rituals and customs, (amasiko), which if observed correctly, strengthen the individual and the family structure and protect them from misfortunes.

I have learned that matters of the spirit are not governed by logic. We should not expect that any issue regarding God, ancestors, culture and spirituality should be rational because what is rational to human beings is not necessarily rational to God or the ancestors. Therefore I do not promise that everything that is contained in this book will make sense to you. All I ask of you is that you read with an open mind that is willing to go to places that you never imagined before.

I have to declare this from the onset because there is a dominant view in the world today that seeks to negate and undermine everything that has to do with African culture as being senseless and irrelevant. This view portrays African culture as backward, outdated and illogical. This dominant culture portrays itself as the only modern and progressive culture while there are so many things about it that can be challenged. But I choose not to do that because I will also fall into the same trap of trying to rationalize spiritual issues.

There is nothing dark, sinister or mysterious about the subject matter and rituals that will be discussed in this book. It should not be approached with a sense of apprehension and dread and make people uncomfortable. It is about who we are and if we are ashamed about our culture then we might as well be ashamed that God created us Black.

We will constantly use IsiZulu terms and draw mainly from my understanding of Nguni culture because that is my reference point. This is the culture in which I was brought up under and encompasses many other South African cultures and the cultures of neighboring countries because we are a people with a common history and destiny. We are one people, we all come from the same man uMuntu. That is why we are called Abantu, those of Ntu or the people of Ntu.

Is there a contradiction between the Bible, ancestors and Black culture?

Many people will ask, why did I need to quote the Bible to advance the ideas propagated on this book? Some will even feel uncomfortable because of their belief that the Bible espouses a foreign religion that has nothing to do with Black people. First and foremost, this is a belief that is borne out of ignorance. Christianity did not start in Europe. It was actually the Ethiopians who took Christianity into Arabia and Europe. But discussing that is not the purpose of this book. I will however devote this chapter to proving that the Children of Israel were Black people and that we are the descendants of those people.

We will move from the premise that all of the ancient civilizations were an African world. Careful study of history also shows that what is today known as the Middle East once fell under the continent of Africa. In fact the term Middle East is fairly recent when it comes to the geography of the world. This therefore serves as our point of departure.

We use the Bible as our point of departure and we will begin locating the race of the Children of Israel from after the flood. We learn that Noah had three sons from whom the whole world was populated. But when we read the genealogy of Noah, we were somehow made to believe that Noah, a Black man, fathered three sons who were different races.

This is what we have always been made to believe. But when we think carefully about it, it does sound impossible. He could have fathered a mixed race, but certainly not three different races. We are told that Black people are descendants of Ham who was cursed by his father Noah. The great African scholar Cheikh Anta Diop and many other scientists, historians, anthropologists and archaeologists presented extensive scientific evidence to prove that the ancient Egyptians were black. We just have to prove that the Bible also agrees with this assertion. We will go through the verse below because we were somehow convinced that we brought the curse on ourselves because of the actions of Ham:

Genesis 9:18

Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.

20 And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21 Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.

24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. 25 Then he said:

"Cursed be Canaan;

A servant of servants

He shall be to his brethren."

26 And he said:

"Blessed be the LORD,

The God of Shem,

And may Canaan be his servant.

27 May God enlarge Japheth,

And may he dwell in the tents of Shem;

And may Canaan be his servant."

Now let’s move on and take a look at the following verse:

Genesis 10:6

The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 7 The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

There are many points to be noted from the above verses. The first one is that Ham had four sons and somehow only Canaan received a curse from Noah. It does not explain why it was Canaan who was cursed and not Ham. But one point is clear, it was not Ham who was cursed, it was his son Canaan and this curse did not extend to his three other sons.

Now, let us look at the meaning of the name Ham. Khawm is the original Hebrew word which means black, hot or burnt. So granted, it means that Ham was black. But it also means that if he was Black, so were his brothers. Now let’s move on and look at the names of Ham’s sons. One was called Cush which is an ancient name for Ethiopia or Nubia. Now let us take a look at the following verse where God is comparing the Children of the Ethiopians with Israel:

Amos 9: 7

"Are you not to me as Children of the Ethiopians unto me, o Israel?

What do we learn from this verse? We learn that the Children of Israel also look like Ethiopians, who are also known as Black people.

Now let us go to Ham’s other son, Mizraim. Mizraim, also known as Khemet is the ancient name for Egypt which means "the land of Blacks. We also learn in the Bible that Ham’s other son was Put which is an ancient name for Libya and Somalia. Canaan is mentioned as the fourth son and who gave rise to the Canaanites, the original inhabitants of the land of Canaan. Now let us look at this verse:

Psalm 78:51

And destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt,

The first of their strength in the tents of Ham.

We learn above that Egypt is called the House of Khawm. We have established certain truths from the above verses, that Ham was black and so were his sons. Now let us reason together, if Ham was black, in conjunction with what we have learned about his brothers, it is logical to deduce that his father Noah and his brothers, Shem and Japhet, were also black.

Now that we have proved that Noah and his descendants were black, let us now go on to see how the Israelites looked like by looking at the history of the Israelites.

The history of the Children of Israel begins with Abraham, the first man who is reported as having believed in one Living God. While there is some evidence to suggest that the Egyptians were the first people to come with the concept of one God, the Bible reports on Abraham as the man who put this belief into action. He was from Ur of the Chaldeans, which can be traced to the Middle East, which at the time also formed part of the African continent. Abraham was a direct descendant of another of Noah’s sons, Shem. The Hebrew Israelites are the descendants of Abraham who had the distinct title of being known as a friend of God. He fathered Isaac and Ishmael from an Egyptian slave.

Genesis 16

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, "See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her." And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3 Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. 4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.

Genesis 16:9

"Behold, you are with child,

And you shall bear a son.

You shall call his name Ishmael…

Genesis 25: 12-18

Now this is the genealogy of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant, bore to Abraham. 13 And these were the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: The firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 These were the sons of Ishmael and these were their names, by their towns and their settlements, twelve princes according to their nations. 17 These were the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred and thirty-seven years; and he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people. 18 (They dwelt from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt as you go toward Assyria.) He died in the presence of all his brethren.

We learn from the above verse that Ishmael’s mother was Egyptian; the people we demonstrated above were Black. Ishmael’s descendants also went on to occupy the land of Egypt and the lands around it. Even though the line of Ishmael will tie into our story later on, our particular focus for now is the line of Isaac who gave birth to Jacob. Jacob had his name changed by God into Israel. Jacob, or Israel, had twelve sons, from whom the twelve tribes of Israel are descended. One of those sons was Joseph. Joseph was his father’s favourite and had a gift of dreams. His brothers were not too crazy about him, so they decided to sell him to the Ishmaelites who we now know that were black. Now this is where it gets interesting.

Genesis 37: 25-28

And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. 26 So Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh." And his brothers listened. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

So, Joseph was sold by his brothers to the Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt. In fact you would not be far off if you claimed that Joseph was sold to his cousins. Joseph rose through the ranks in Egypt where he ultimately became the governor of the entire county. After some time, there was famine in Palestine and Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to look for food. The relationship that Egypt had with Palestine and other countries in the vicinity can almost be compared to the relationship South Africa has with the countries in Southern Africa. When there is work in the mines of South Africa, the people of Mozambique come to work in those mines as well. Whenever the nationals of Zimbabwe or Lesotho feel the burden of their own economies, they simply cross the border to South Africa for better opportunities.

So that is what Jacob’s sons did, they simply crossed to Egypt, which was a walking distance from Palestine. They went there to ask for food. But when they got into Egypt, they could not recognize their own brother!

Genesis 42: 6-8

Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. 7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as a stranger to them and spoke roughly to them. Then he said to them, Where do you come from?

And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.

8 So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.

We need to ask ourselves how possible it was for his brothers not to recognize the only white amongst blacks. There is only one logical explanation for this; it is because their brother Joseph looked like the Egyptians, who were black like them. Even though he was dressed like an Egyptian, they would still have recognized him if he was white.

The story continues. After Joseph had finally identified himself to his brothers, his whole family came to stay in Egypt, a black family in a black nation. The family that came to live in Egypt including that of Joseph, wife and children was seventy souls. Jacob died in Egypt and his family mourned his death.

Genesis 50: 7-11

So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 as well as all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great gathering.

10 Then they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and they mourned there with a great and very solemn lamentation. He observed seven days of mourning for his father. 11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians." Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

We learn from the above verse that the people who were coming down from Egypt were a mixture of Egyptians and Hebrews and yet the Canaanites identified them as Egyptians. Interestingly enough, the word Abel Mizraim means the mourning of the Egyptians. Now the question is; why would the Canaanites confuse a mourning of the Hebrews with that of the Egyptians? It goes without saying that the Canaanite people identified them as Egyptians because they were all black and must have been dressed as Egyptians after gradual assimilation to Egyptian culture.

Exodus 12: 39

Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: "Who will give us meat to eat? 5 We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!"

Now this is another interesting feature of the Israelites. We learn here that having lived in Egypt for more than four hundred years, they had mixed so much with people of other nations that there was now amongst them, a mixed multitude. In Genesis, we learn about Abraham who took an Egyptian wife (Hagar, the mother of Ishmael), we also learn about how Joseph had taken an Egyptian wife. In Exodus we learn about how Moses had an Ethiopian wife and a wife from the Midian tribe. So we can assume from this that there were thousands of other Hebrews who had taken wives from other nations. We have to remember that Egypt was a superpower then and that the Israelites were not the only nation that was part of their land. This led them to have mixed multitudes. In a country like South Africa, with an