A Brave Woman & Other Essays

By Musoline Soga Mlandu

A Brave Woman & Other Essays is a unique and captivating collection by a single author, featuring all four types of essays. It masterfully blends personal experiences from the author’s upbringing in a village and his current life in the suburbs. This book is a treasure trove for secondary school students, literature enthusiasts, and social science researchers alike, offering insightful glimpses into African literature, with a special focus on South Africa. It’s a rare find that bridges diverse worlds and offers valuable perspectives to a wide range of readers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: May 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9781035871308

Book preview

About the Author

Musoline Soga Mlandu was born in 1950 at Mhlotsheni Village in the district of Mount Frere, and resides in the suburb of North Crest in Mthatha, Eastern Cape. He is the former member of Mayoral Committee for King Sabatha Dalindyebo Municipality as chairperson of the portfolio for Public Safety and Transport. He published his isiXhosa school books through Via Afrika, JL Van Schaik, Lovedale Press and Vivlia; as well as his English books: collection of essays, The Scheme and other Essays (Imbizo Arts Publishing, 2004), collection of short stories, The Tell Me Again Stories (Lovedale Press, 2013), collection of poems, The Easy Pattern (Imbizo Arts Publishing, 2015) and the autobiographical novel, Things Happen for a Purpose (His Righteousness, 2018). Soga edited a book of fact, South Africa is Part of Africa (Educall, 2000) written by a Kenyan author, Anthony Kambi Masha.

He also translated the isiXhosa popular folksong, UNogayoyo, and published the text in the Botsotso Magazine of 1999. He facilitated writers workshops organised by the African Writers Association (AWA), Simanywa Lusiba Writers Club (Mthatha) which he was its co-founder and its original chairperson, Imbizo Arts Publishing and the Eastern Cape Department of Sports, Arts and Culture. His English and isiXhosa poems, essays and short stories have appeared in the South African commercial magazines and literary journals including Tribute, Imprint, Botsotso, Kotaz, Timbila, Echoes, New Coin, Jack Journal and publications of the former University of Transkei (now Walter Sisulu University) such as the UNITRA News and Festaac Magazine. Publishes book reviews and articles in Kotaz Magazine (PE). This current member of the Eastern Cape Literary Society was in 2013 invited by the Rhodes University’s Institute for the Study of English in Africa (ISEA) as Mellon writer-in-residence. And Soga is recipient of 4 writers awards from Tribute Magazine Sanlam and Provincial Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.

Dedication

I dedicate this book to the following:

The Rhodes University’s Institute for the Study of English in Africa (ISEA), which in 2013 invited me as the Mellon writer-in-residence, which allowed me the chance for refinement, compilation and editing of this collection and other works.

The two writers’ magazines Botsotso (Johannesburg) and Kotaz (Port Elizabeth) which previously published some of the essays in this collection.

And Professor Vuyisile Msila of the University of South Africa (UNISA) who provided encouraging comments on the manuscript of this book.

Copyright Information ©

Musoline Soga Mlandu 2024

The right of Musoline Soga Mlandu to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781786123664 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781786123671 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781035871308 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2024

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

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E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

The SA literary journals including Botsotso and Kotaz which previously published some of the essays in this book; Professor Vuyisile Msila of Unisa who gave an encouraging critical analysis of each of the essays that I had submitted to him for comment; Lusapho Mlandu, my son who typed the essays in this book and his keen interest in my literature—its creation, its publishing and its performance; the Rhodes University’s Institute for the Study of English in Africa (ISEA) which in 2013 invited me to this University as the Mellon writer-in-residence: which among other things gave me enough chance to write some of the essays included here; as well as members of the Simanywa Lusiba Writers Club that together we held reading sessions which benefitted me and my literature greatly.

Introduction

Telling our stories has become critical in a time when we want to hear the voice of the lion rather than the hunter, as that great African writer Chinua Achebe states. In a time when people are searching for their identities, it is worthwhile to listen to one’s voice as one looks back in time to understand the past and moves into the future. M. Soga Mlandu takes us in confidence as he tells us about snippets of his life that are so close to him. He opens the gates of his village, opens his heart for us to see his fears and courage, and he lets us come into his house to share the contradictions of family life and community beliefs. His voice is believable and at times we will sympathise with him, yet we may also chastise him for thinking differently as we may find alternative resolutions. Yet even the latter shows the mettle of this writer, in telling an essay he checks our positions and challenges our belief system. Mlandu also invites us to not only share the innocence and pristine-like nature of his surroundings, but he also wants us to see the villagers to be in his shoes as he searches for life’s meaning. The potency of the essays lies on the fact that Mlandu moves from different decades as he portrays his life. He shows us the tenacity and hollowness of a young boy growing up tendering his father’s cattle. In this world his age mates are miniscule judges who may condemn others. He also shows us the foibles of the adult world where the grown-ups may not necessarily understand the young ones. Maybe Mlandu is showing the reader that whilst we may believe that times have changed, amaxesha ngamanye, some things have remained the same as children may sometimes wander in an alienating adult world. Reading these essays makes one think about several things because Mlandu has crafted them with dexterity and sprightliness of a great storyteller. One of the essays here talks about clay moulding and I find it metaphorical because Mlandu moulds his life here making it come to life through philosophy, culture, religion and psychology. As one completes reading the essays, one feels close to him in understanding his world. The essays are complex as they reflect his life; first as a young boy growing up to an interviewer sitting in a panel of a school about to recommend teacher appointments. Whilst it may not be easy to discern all in the essays, I found four clear themes under which we may summarise Mlandu’s biography; these are themes that underscore the highlights in his life. These are all not dull or pedestrian themes for they brighten even the gloomiest aspects of what he narrates in the collection of these essays. The Village, Love of Nature; Humanity and the Changing or Transforming Society are overarching themes that we can use as spectacles to enjoy the essays unravelling his life. Mlandu, the essayist, enthrals us under each of these themes. Looking at the village’s portrayal as a reader I see braziers, the boys and girls running up and down amidst muddy huts. The latter is also part of nature as he portrays all so well. The reader cannot miss the closeness that Mlandu has with his surroundings, we see the beauty of the Tsolo Mountains, marvel at the banks of Umzimvubu River, attracted to Maloti Mountains. The birds, the dongas, the green fields, the winter sky; all echo Mlandu’s life story. Then when he writes about people, we see the strength of the brave woman and the family that searches its beliefs amid the clash between the old and the new, the traditional and the western. He is also not shy in tackling the thorny societal debates such as lobola. Referred to in various ways, Mahadi in SeSotho, Magadi in SeTswana, Mamalo in TshiVenda, the dowry in English. The concept has caused much debates among feminists and general society alike. As Mlandu raises questions for himself as a speaker, the essayist. He pushes us to pose and try and answer several questions. The essays show that he lives in a changing world and people have to look back