{"id":128,"date":"2020-01-15T14:31:22","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T14:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/?p=128"},"modified":"2020-06-03T21:48:52","modified_gmt":"2020-06-03T21:48:52","slug":"they-call-me-shangaan-but-im-hlengwe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/2020\/01\/15\/they-call-me-shangaan-but-im-hlengwe\/","title":{"rendered":"They Call me Shangaan, but I’m Hlengwe"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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You “original Swatis” as you call yourselves<\/span><\/p>

what poor\u00a0 ignorant creatures you are!<\/span><\/p>

The verge of foolishness has covered your faces<\/span><\/p>

you call me Shangaan because you think you are insulting me<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Don’t you know that the Shangaans are an ethnic group of Africans<\/span><\/p>

just as you too are an African with your own ethnic group?<\/span><\/p>

I know where I come from, and it is not from the Shangaans<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

I am a descendent of Chauke<\/span><\/p>

the seed of Bhangwana, the father of my clan<\/span><\/p>

I am one with the blood that runs in the Mabaso and Xahumba,<\/span><\/p>

the Hakwana, Muhlengwe and Xinyori<\/span><\/p>

I come from the Hasani and Xikhovela<\/span><\/p>

I come from the Matsena and Mateka<\/span><\/p>

I come from the Hlengwe of Chauke<\/span><\/p>

and my totem is the Giant African Snail<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

I am from the Hlengwe ethnic group<\/span><\/p>

the Hlengwe of VaTsonga<\/span><\/p>

we Tsonga people are a complex people<\/span><\/p>

the Shangaans are Tsonga as well, but not all Tsongas are Shangaans<\/span><\/p>

I am from the Hlengwe of Chauke whose foundations are in Zimbabwe<\/span><\/p>

and had spread throughout Southern Africa<\/span><\/p>

Go to South Africa you will find the blood of my ancestors<\/span><\/p>

in Mozambique, my people are there still<\/span><\/p>

come to Eswatini, you will find my people still<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

run, flee and survive<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

father says he was a thirteen year old kid<\/span><\/p>

when he fled mozambique<\/span><\/p>

to work for the baas in south africa<\/span><\/p>

father says mozambique was in raging flames<\/span><\/p>

and before her death, his mother, my grandmother<\/span><\/p>

told him to run, flee and survive<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

father says he was scared, but had to be brave<\/span><\/p>

he had to flee, flee from the bullets<\/span><\/p>

flee the booming bombs and dodge land mines<\/span><\/p>

father says he was a kid when he held<\/span><\/p>

his mother, my grandmother’s cold corpse<\/span><\/p>

father says he watched his mother, my grandmother<\/span><\/p>

choke with blood and held her head close to his ear<\/span><\/p>

while she whispered he dying words “run, flee and survive”<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

father says he fled south africa because<\/span><\/p>

the baas was a very bad man<\/span><\/p>

I said “father, why not find a good baas”<\/span><\/p>

father said “son, all baas was bad”<\/span><\/p>

father showed me many scars in his back<\/span><\/p>

scars that made me quiver and shiver with pain<\/span><\/p>

he said it was the baas’ whip<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

father says he then fled to Eswatini<\/span><\/p>

to work for the white man of britain<\/span><\/p>

in his sugar plantation at mhlume<\/span><\/p>

father says he was sixteen at that time<\/span><\/p>

and was ten years older than me<\/span><\/p>

I asked father what happened to his home, in mozambique<\/span><\/p>

he said it was burnt to ashes, destroyed,<\/span><\/p>

and no one survived but him, he says he went back after the war<\/span><\/p>

father says this is how we came to be swati people<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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–Sabelo Chaukeis a graduate student in the\u00a0 Department of African Languages and Literature at the University of Swaziland.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You “original Swatis” as you call yourselves what poor\u00a0 ignorant creatures you are! The verge of foolishness has covered your faces you call me Shangaan because you think you are insulting me \u00a0 Don’t you know that the Shangaans are an ethnic group of Africans just as you too are an African with your own ethnic group? I know where I come from, and it is not from the Shangaans \u00a0 I am a descendent of Chauke the seed of Bhangwana, the father of my clan I am one with the blood that runs in the Mabaso and Xahumba, the Hakwana, Muhlengwe and Xinyori I come from the Hasani and Xikhovela I come from the Matsena and Mateka I come from the Hlengwe of Chauke and my totem is the Giant African Snail \u00a0 I am from the Hlengwe ethnic group the Hlengwe of VaTsonga we Tsonga people are a complex people the Shangaans are Tsonga as well, but not all Tsongas are Shangaans I am from the Hlengwe of Chauke whose foundations are in Zimbabwe and had spread throughout Southern Africa Go to South Africa you will find the blood of my ancestors in Mozambique, my people are there still come to Eswatini, you will find my people still \u00a0 run, flee and survive \u00a0 father says he was a thirteen year old kid when he fled mozambique to work for the baas in south africa father says mozambique was in raging flames and before her death, his mother, my grandmother told him to run, flee and survive \u00a0 father says he was scared, but had to be brave he had to flee, flee from the bullets flee the booming bombs and dodge land mines father says he was a kid when he held his mother, my grandmother’s cold corpse father says he watched his mother, my grandmother choke with blood and held her head close to his ear while she whispered he dying words “run, flee and survive” \u00a0 father says he fled south africa because the baas was a very bad man I said “father, why not find a good baas” father said “son, all baas was bad” father showed me many scars in his back scars that made me quiver and shiver with pain he said it was the baas’ whip \u00a0 father says he then fled to Eswatini to work for the white man of britain in his sugar plantation at mhlume father says he was sixteen at that time and was ten years older than me I asked father what happened to his home, in mozambique he said it was burnt to ashes, destroyed, and no one survived but him, he says he went back after the war father says this is how we came to be swati people \u00a0 –Sabelo Chaukeis a graduate student in the\u00a0 Department of African Languages and Literature at the University of Swaziland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,6],"tags":[30,13,14],"class_list":["post-128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eswatini-issue","category-poetry","tag-eswatini-issue","tag-poetry","tag-sabelo-chauke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":451,"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions\/451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pluckjournal.uky.edu\/welcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}