South Africa’s Martyrs
To give your life for something is a concept so foreign to most of us in this world that I don’t think we can ever fully fathom what it implies. To give your life. In Iran, the birthplace of the Baha’i Faith, so many Baha’is have experienced just this. So many more would be willing to do the same and unlike those of us who, although we may think about it, are never actually in a position to have to consider it, the Iranian Baha’is face this prospect every day. Every day that they live these precious souls are confronted with the reality that they may be forced to consider that option, to give their lives for their Faith.
Take a moment to consider the things in your own life that you would be willing to die for, try and picture yourself at that moment when you are faced with life or death and you have to choose. What would you make that choice for? For family, for friends, for your country, for the sake of your principles or values? In the world I live in I have never had to consider that choice but for so many it is a choice that they have been faced with and in the Baha’i Faith we give the greatest station to those who make the greatest sacrifice.
When we talk about the martyrs of the Baha’i Faith our thoughts automatically point to Iran where so many gave their lives but there is another place on this Earth where members of the Baha’i Faith have lost their lives in service to its Cause. Right here in South Africa in the Eastern Cape which I now call home four men lost their lives in service to the Baha’i Faith. First hearing their stories I was in absolute shock. Not only because I was amazed that this happened here in South Africa but also because I had never before heard their stories. Being brought up in a Baha’i family and then living in South Africa for 3 months and this sacrifice had never reached my ears. I decided that I would be the one to tell their story not for the sake of glorification but for the purpose of awareness so that people will know what happened here and so that perhaps the spirit of their sacrifice will enlighten this community and this country.
Ciskei and Transkei were two independent Xhosa homelands contained within South Africa. Ciskei meaning on this side of the Kei river and Transkei on the other side of the Kei river. On the 27th of April 1994 the date of the first post-Apartheid election, these states were integrated again under the same central government. As separate states each had their own Baha’i communities and even had their own NSAs which are national administrative bodies for the Baha’is.
The Baha’i centre in Mdantsane, Ciskei which is now in Buffalo City, East London, was the site of Children’s classes and Baha’i activities in this area. As a Xhosa homeland and as Apartheid was still present in society there was much tension amongst some members of the community towards the white population.
On Sunday the 13th of March 1994 Baha’is had gathered at the Baha’i centre for a devotional gathering. As the meeting was coming to a close parents and their children were arriving for the start of Children’s Classes. It was sometime around midday when 4 armed men entered the centre, divided those inside into black and white and shot dead Mr Houshmand Anvari, Dr Shamam Bakhshandegi and Mr Riaz Razavi, the only three ‘non blacks’ in the room.
Mr Anvari, Dr Bakhshandegi and Mr Razavi were all Persian men who had come to South Africa to serve the Cause of the Baha’i Faith and to work towards the betterment of the community. Each of them exemplified this in their lives and their work. Each of them worked without prejudice towards any race especially not to the black people of South Africa.
Mr Anvari was 43 year old, he and his wife Dina had recently opened a tutoring school to assist black children bridge the educational gap. There were approximately 80 students enrolled in the school. He had 3 of his own children, the oldest was 7 when his life was taken.
Dr Bakhshandegi was working as an oral health care physician in a hospital that served mostly black patients. He was studying and conducting research into oral health care amongst the black population and conducted the first study of this kind in Ciskei. He passed away in the same hospital where his own patients had been treated by him.
Mr Razavi was a director of finance and one of only a few ‘white’ staff members at the all black Fort Hare University. He left behind his wife Vera as well as 2 children.
The group that claimed responsibility for the killings, The Azanian People’s Liberation Army, said as a response to the attack that there was no room in South Africa for any race that had oppressed their race.
The four gunmen entered the centre with automatic rifles in hand and demanded that the Africans move to one side and the whites to the other. These men were Persian, all recently migrated to South Africa. The ‘white’ people are the descendants of the Dutch colonists who took control of South Africa or the descendants of the English and Germans who also came to the country, how did this apply to them? With guns forced on them they were told to line up against the wall, there their pockets were emptied, their car keys taken and there in front of everyone present they were shot. Mr Anvari and Mr Razavi died instantly and Dr Bakhshandegi died on arrival at the hospital. The gunmen used the vehicle of Mr Razavi to escape from the premises before dumping it in a township some 30minutes away.
In the trials of 2 of the men responsible for this gruesome murder these acts of violence were called, by one of the men on trial “total annihilation”. Dumisani Ncamazana and Zukile Mbambo were both sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for the murders of these 3 innocent Baha’is. In their trial they plead not guilty, stating that they were simply following orders. In the trial Ncamazana said “that on entering the premises, they found a white man painting the door and forced him at gunpoint inside the church building, where there were about 30 people. TNT (Mfundisi) then shouted that the whites should move to one side and the Africans to the other. The people obeyed,". Ncamazana also said that as soldiers they were not there to differentiate between their intended victims' nationalities, "as long as they were white, they were regarded as part of the enemy and supporters of the regime".
Apla, Azanian People’s Liberation Army, was the armed wing of the PAC, the Pan Africanist Congress. The PAC developed as a liberation movement for the African people against Apartheid. In 1999 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission began trials to grant amnesty to members of liberation movements who were serving prison sentences. At the commencement of these proceedings Apla representatives stated that “ the formation of APLA was inspired by the need to pursue the most noble of causes; the liberation of mankind... As a matter of principle we do not see the armed struggle, which constituted the major part of the mandate, as something to apologize for. APLA's mandate was not only necessary but critical in overthrowing the most oppressive system of modern times. We remind those who have chosen to forget that this is the system, that the international community had declared a crime aghast humanity.”
In 1993 APLA's chief commander, Sabelo Phama, in a television interview declared "he would aim his gun at children - to hurt whites where it hurts most" . This statement seems to contradict the idea of a ‘noble cause’.
At the Truth and Reconciliation Commission trials both Dumisani Ncamazana who was 20years old at the time of the attacks and Zukile Mbambo who was 26, appealed for amnesty and as a further injustice to the families of the men who were killed amnesty was granted. In their hearing the leader of Apla at the time of the attacks, Xolile Ngxabani, stated that his organisation did not sanction the killings as the attacks occurred after orders that the armed struggle be suspended. Regardless of this and irrespective of several other attacks which these two men were involved in including an ambush on a mini bus transporting white teachers where they opened fire on the bus using automatic weapons, a hand grenade attack at Highgate Hotel as well as other similar attacks on vehicles transporting white passengers, these two men were sent free.
Mr Jamshid Anvari, the brother of Houshmand Anvari, was present at these amnesty hearings. His wife related the story to me of their experiences at the time. Their absolute shock and disbelief at the murder of Mr Anvari’s brother and then the pain of hearing that the men responsible would walk free. I asked Mrs Anvari about the time of the killings and what happened afterwards, she told me the first priority of the family was to go to the assistance of Houshmand’s wife and three kids who desperately need support. She said they didn’t have time to think of anything else, they were so overwhelmed by what had happened that she didn’t have a moment to actually go into the details of the killings. She told me that at the amnesty hearings Mr Anvari shook with anger as Ncamazana and Mbambo walked out of the courtroom. She also told me of some graffiti that she came across in Port Elizabeth recently which stated “Apla killed those Persian pigs”. As tears well in her eyes I decide not to ask anything further, 16 years later the subject is still very difficult to discuss.
In response to the murders of Mr Houshmand Anvari, Dr Shamam Bakhshandegi and Mr Riaz Razavi the Universal House of Justice which is the governing body of the international Baha’i community, sent this telegram:
“May all hearts be comforted by the promise of Blessed Beauty that ‘they that have forsaken their country in the path of God and subsequently ascended unto His presence, such souls shall be blessed by the Concourse on High and their names recorded by the Pen of Glory among such as have laid down their lives as martyrs in the path of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsistent.’ Confident joyous welcome Abha Kingdom these distinguished souls.”
Circumcision School
Africa is a continent that in most cases has held on to its cultural traditions. There are such a vast number of cultures within South Africa the traditions of all of them still being passed on through the generations. You would assume that as time goes on and as these new generations are exposed to new technologies and concepts that they would eventually drift away from these cultural traditions but from what I have seen that isn’t necessarily the case.
In Xhosa culture there are many of these traditions that are still followed by the people. Traditions and rituals for marriage, burials and one that I find the most fascinating the transition from boy to man. This last tradition is known as Circumcision School and it is exactly as the name suggests. Boys are taught how to facilitate this process as they go through their own trial and face the tests that will ultimately define them as a man in the eyes of the other men of the community.
Now although the basics of this tradition are the same, some details do change between different communities. I first heard of this process from a 19 year old friend who attended his ‘school’ last November. What I will explain to you is the process as is the custom in Port Elizabeth. The more rural the area the more stringent the process. The legal age for Circumcision School is, from what I was told, 17 but in the rural areas boys might take on manhood from 11 or 12 years of age.
The purpose of this schooling is to initiate a boy into manhood. Those undergoing the process are called the initiates. Any men who are reading this, please be advised it contains painful content.
The process starts with the circumcision. The initiate is given no antiseptic or pain killers, they must watch as the foreskin is cut by a trained cutter and then follow the process of bandaging the wound. In order to ensure that they watched the entire process they are asked questions following the procedure about how the cut was made and how the wound was wrapped. If they cannot answer these questions there will be some punishment such as a beating. Once the circumcision has been completed the boy is sent to the bush with other initiates.
The Bush
There is a specific place in the bush where all initiates are sent. They are required to spend a minimum of one month in the bush. They are not permitted any clothing, only a towel to cover themselves with. The initiate is also supplied with blankets and a lamp. Shelter in the bush is very basic, made out of cardboard and sheets. There are no facilities available, in Port Elizabeth the river is over 20km away so the initiates do not bath or wash for their period in the bush. For the first 2 weeks they are fed only boiled foods like rice or samp depending on what their families send them and they are not permitted to drink any water and their food must have no salt. This is to minimise the amount of urination and acid in the urine so as not to burn the wound. Every day the ‘cutter’ comes and changes the bandages of the wound. Once the first 2 weeks are complete Xhosa men from the neighbourhood slaughter a goat for the initiate symbolising the time from when the initiate can eat meat. He is also permitted to request any clothing or materials he may want.
There is a specific place in the bush where all initiates are sent. They are required to spend a minimum of one month in the bush. They are not permitted any clothing, only a towel to cover themselves with. The initiate is also supplied with blankets and a lamp. Shelter in the bush is very basic, made out of cardboard and sheets. There are no facilities available, in Port Elizabeth the river is over 20km away so the initiates do not bath or wash for their period in the bush. For the first 2 weeks they are fed only boiled foods like rice or samp depending on what their families send them and they are not permitted to drink any water and their food must have no salt. This is to minimise the amount of urination and acid in the urine so as not to burn the wound. Every day the ‘cutter’ comes and changes the bandages of the wound. Once the first 2 weeks are complete Xhosa men from the neighbourhood slaughter a goat for the initiate symbolising the time from when the initiate can eat meat. He is also permitted to request any clothing or materials he may want.
The neighbourhood men share their knowledge of manhood with the initiates while they are in the bush. They teach them all their clan names, the ways of a man including how men greet each other and other traditional man things. When I asked for more detail on these lessons I was told that they were not to be divulged especially not to a woman. It is a sign of manhood to have gone to the bush and with it comes respect and station. To prove that you have indeed been to the bush, men will question each other about these details. They are never spoken of amongst those who have not been to the bush. From what I was told a Xhosa man can look at other Xhosa men and identify who has been to the bush and who hasn’t just by the way they walk or present themselves based on these things they learn about manhood. Standing in front of me were 2 Xhosa guys, one from P.E and one from Mtata both have been to the bush but me looking at them I could not see anything that would distinguish them from any other boy I had seen. They told me I wasn’t cultured enough, I didn’t exactly believe them.
Also during the initiates time in the bush they create a mix of a white stone and water and rub this on their faces making their skin white. This is to prevent any witchcraft that may be made against them. It is designed to confuse anyone trying to bring bad things to them because if all the initiates look the same the witchcraft won’t recognise who to attack.
When the initiates time in the bush is complete they return home. Umgidi is the celebration of their return. Without any clothes they are required to sit under a shelter in their front yard for the whole day and night. Visitors will come to the house to celebrate their change into a man this being family and Xhosa neighbours. The next day the new man is given his formal clothes. These clothes are brown in colour and red ointment is rubbed on his face. He wears this ointment for 6 months, it’s purpose is to remove the white stone that had been on his face before.
photo of a boy wearing his formal clothes and red ointment on his face, he will wear these clothes for at least 6 months
So completes Circumcision School, the boy is now a man. Hearing about this tradition was quite interesting for me not because of the process itself but mostly because the boys who I was talking to were very proud of it. These are young guys who you would assume have moved on from these old traditions. I asked them if they would want their own children to go through this schooling and both with defensive pride said yes. I asked them why, what did you gain from this that your father couldn’t have just taught you himself? They said it brought you respect and if they had to do it then so did their kids. Dumfounded is an understatement. I can understand how these traditions live so strongly within the generations before us but for my generation to still want to hold on to this seemed strange to me.
Unfortunately with a tradition like this that is looked so highly upon families feel that they have to do it. The cutter requests a fee for his services, some families choose based on price and this has led to boys dying in the bush as a result of a poorly qualified cutter. Some boys embark on this journey without waiting for their parents and because of their lack of knowledge find cutters who aren’t experienced. I have heard some 50 boys have died but I was reassured that no one has died in P.E in the last 5 years.
Trying to be open minded what can you think of Circumcision School? I decided to share it with you because it is still such a strong part of Xhosa culture. Although this is not the season for it there are currently 2 boys in the bush. Maybe it can give some insight into how young South Africa is, most native cultures in developing countries have completely disappeared but remember South Africa is not a developing country, it is a 3rd World Country with a rich culture still embedded in its blood and for the time being the people aren’t ready to forsake that. For so long the black South Africans were forced to deny their identity, their language, their traditions, their humanity was all taken from them because of Apartheid. I guess it’s understandable that they would be in no rush to give up what makes them Xhosa especially since they only recently got it back.
So there you have an unusual but interesting insight into one of South Africa’s cultures, if you love learning as much as I do then I hope you appreciate this opportunity to see into a world you might never have known.
O Nkosi!
There is a wonderful song which I first learnt when I was serving at the Rawhani Baha'i School in Vanuatu in January 2008. When learning this song we were told it was African but we weren't given any information other than that. All of us fell in love with this song and we would sing it every chance we got even though we had no idea what the song meant.
The next time I heard it was in Haifa, Israel in December 2008. It was sung by a group of boys as part of a performance night for the arts at the Baha'i World Centre.
Again I heard this song when I arrived in Port Elizabeth sometime around July 2010 and finally after hearing it in 2 other continents I found it in its origin.
First I will give you the lyrics to this amazing song before I explain why I am writing about it.
I will put up an official translation as soon as I have one but the first section says "Lord, be with the Baha'is" the second says "We love their laws" and that's as much as I know so far.
The song is a Xhosa song and although I have been given 2 different names for the person who wrote the song the basic idea of its origin is the same. It was written by one of the Baha'is in the Eastern Cape, the first time I was told it was a Baha'i from Cradock and the second time I was told it was a Baha'i from Umtata, who wrote the song as a response to the martyrdom of the Baha'is in Ciskei.
You can see now why this song has had such an influence as to have travelled around the world. Both Cradock and Umtata are places that most people in the world have never heard of and yet this song written in honour of the spirit of those Baha'is who gave their lives is being sung on a tiny island in the Pacific by people who have no idea of where this sing came from.
I was so touched by this story as I have loved this song since the first time I heard it that naturally I decided to share it with you.
O Nkosi!
There is a wonderful song which I first learnt when I was serving at the Rawhani Baha'i School in Vanuatu in January 2008. When learning this song we were told it was African but we weren't given any information other than that. All of us fell in love with this song and we would sing it every chance we got even though we had no idea what the song meant.
The next time I heard it was in Haifa, Israel in December 2008. It was sung by a group of boys as part of a performance night for the arts at the Baha'i World Centre.
Again I heard this song when I arrived in Port Elizabeth sometime around July 2010 and finally after hearing it in 2 other continents I found it in its origin.
First I will give you the lyrics to this amazing song before I explain why I am writing about it.
O Nkosi! Yiba nama Baha'i
O Nkosi! Yiba nama Baha'i
O Nkosi! Yiba nama Baha'i
Ama Baha'i onke
Sithanda, sithanda imfundiso zawo
Sithanda, sithanda iziyalo zawo
Sithanda, sithanda imfundiso zawo
Ama Baha'i onke
Anomonde, anomonde
Anomonde, ayanyamezela
Anomonde, anomonde
Ama Baha'i onke
I will put up an official translation as soon as I have one but the first section says "Lord, be with the Baha'is" the second says "We love their laws" and that's as much as I know so far.
The song is a Xhosa song and although I have been given 2 different names for the person who wrote the song the basic idea of its origin is the same. It was written by one of the Baha'is in the Eastern Cape, the first time I was told it was a Baha'i from Cradock and the second time I was told it was a Baha'i from Umtata, who wrote the song as a response to the martyrdom of the Baha'is in Ciskei.
You can see now why this song has had such an influence as to have travelled around the world. Both Cradock and Umtata are places that most people in the world have never heard of and yet this song written in honour of the spirit of those Baha'is who gave their lives is being sung on a tiny island in the Pacific by people who have no idea of where this sing came from.
I was so touched by this story as I have loved this song since the first time I heard it that naturally I decided to share it with you.
