blog 4

One of the many situations in life where people live an illusion or refuse to accept the truth was the Nongqawuse was the teenage who triggered the Xhosa Cattle Killings of 1857-58, she was the niece of a prophet.  One day, Nongqawuse and one of her friend went near the Gxarha River and she had an illusion/vision from three of her ancestors who said that the Xhosa people should kill their cattle and destroy their crop.  That was the source of the wealth for Xhosa people.  In return the spirits would sweep the British Settles into the sea and they would be able to have healthier and more beautiful cattle.   Nongqawuse arrested near the Mbashe River and imprisoned on Robben Island, near Cape Town.  After many years she was returned to the Eastern Cape and held under a false name, she was the target of death threats by Xhosa who had suffered as a result of the Cattle Killing.  Also she claimed that the ancestors had called on Xhosa leaders to create a new beginning for their people. This, the ancestors said, could only be done by wiping out the old, and that meant killing the remaining cattle.  Today the story about Nongqawuse the cattle-killing is still a source of great pain. Some of the elders and chiefs within the Xhosa community belied that sir George Grey himself, or his agents were in fact the people who spoke Nongqawuse from the pool and thus instigated the tragedy that followed.  While most of the scholars agree that this is doubtful there is probably indirect truth in the allegation.  People did not believe Nongqawuse who saw her ancestors and they did not follow what her ancestors and they had all this pain.