Skelewu Mbeki

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Skelewu Mbeki

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Born| 1828[1]

Bergville, Zululand[2]

Died| 1918[3]

Mpukane, Cape Colony

Spouse(s)| Johanna Mabula
Children| Five kids, including Sipho and Govan
Parent(s)|

* Mbeki Nonkasa (father)

Skelewu Mbeki (1828 - 1918) was the chief of the Mpukane village in the Nqamakwe district from the late 1860s to 1911.[4] He was the father of Govan Mbeki.[3].

He was born into the Amafengu, a Nguni clan that was displaced from Zululand during the Mfecane. Skelewu’s paternal grandfather was Nonkasa who escaped the Mfecane from what is today Bergville in KwaZulu Natal with his sons, Mfeti and Mbeki, and grand-children - among them a young Skelewu - to seek refugee at Xhosa King Hintsa kaKhawuta's Gcaleka House in the 1830s. The family was allowed by the King to settle in Peddie and afterwards moved to live in Healdtown where Skelewu attended a Methodist missionary school - wrote and spoke fluent English. This education made Skelewu a crucial colonial agent who translated rules and regulations to the Xhosa natives[2]

In 1866 or 1867, Skelewu moved to live in Mpukane in Nqamakwe district and the people of that area recognized him as their village head because of the respect he commanded, until July 1890 when the British colonial administration formally appointed him as the chief of Mpukane. He owned large portion of land that still stands today as the "Mbeki farm" in Nyili. In 1893, Skelewu married Johanna Mabula - a well-known Mpukane woman (daughter of a prominent priest) who spoke fluent English, Xhosa and Dutch, also schooled by a Christian missionary. The couple had three daughters and two sons, Sipho Mbeki and Govan Mbeki.[2]

At the age of 83 in 1911, Skelewu appeared before a magistrate after being caught illegally selling oxen over the Kei River in breach of laws preventing the spread of animal diseases. He said he was "pressed by money I owed" as his reason[5]. He was fined £10 and dismissed as chief. He died at age 90 in 1918.[4][5]

## References[edit]

1. ↑ Lewis, Verlan (2010): Matthews, Mbeki, and the University of Fort Hare in South African Political Thought. England: Cambridge.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bundy, Colin (2012): Govan Mbeki. South Africa: Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd. Ohio University Press. ISBN 9780821444597
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 How a schoolboy's rage turned Mbeki into Marxism, Mail and Guardian, 13 November 1987. Retrieved 12 February 2025
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 1: The Jews of Kaffirland, saha.org.za, Retrieved 12 February 2025
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Gevisser, Mark (2009): A Legacy of Liberation: Thabo Mbeki and the Future of the South African Dream. South Africa: Palgrave Macmillan. Page 16-18 (3 pages). ISBN 9780230611009 _ PDF download

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