olwam usiba

Olwam usiba by Izzy Mtebele

I miss the sight of round green houses on top of hills. History tells us that most villages were built on mountain tops so that tribes could see approaching enemies from afar. The mountain top houses also inspired Thandiswa Mazwai when she wrote the song called; Transkei Moon (Zabalaza) with a line that says ‘Umzi wakhe, usemaweni, amafu alele phezu kwethu’. Thandiswa further says she ‘saw the face of Mveli-Ngqangi’ there. I used to think that people could only have a vision of God in Mount Zion till Thandiswa had this experience in the Eastern Cape. I miss the clicking sounds of our beautiful Xhosa language in its rural form, not the fanakalo that is spoken in urban South Africa.