Arnold Mayibongwe Nkala
Kudzai Mpangi, Sunday Life Reporter
FOR a long time, veteran historian Pathisa Nyathi has been the main source of history in the City of Kings. He has dedicated his time to penning the history of indigenous people; the origins of tribes, forefathers, cultural actives, myths and taboos.
However, the emergence of a talented writer who is also a cultural activist and researcher, Arnold Mayibongwe Nkala has impressed the iconic historian by proving his mettle as a potential history writer. Nkala has authored a 400-page book titled Abethwakazi that narrates the history of the Ndebele people.
Speaking in an interview with Sunday Life, Nyathi expressed joy in Nkala’s book which has been well researched.
“When I read his book I was taken by surprise that someone can write a well-researched history book considering that he is a first-timer who’s putting his writing skills into practice. The book has all the information that people need to know about the Ndebele people as it meets all the necessary traits,” he said.
Nyathi added that he can now die in peace knowing that the work will continue being carried on by the young historian who has proved to be competent.
“I can now die in peace as there are now young people who are going to take the history research to far places and Nkala is no doubt one of the best emerging historians I have met so far. He has hit all the right chords in his book,” he shared.
Nyathi said such books should be recommended in the school curriculum as they contain a lot of well- researched content which can help further studies of schoolchildren.
“I have often recommended my books to school teachers for extra reading and they have helped a lot and I believe that this book can also make it for extra reading in schools as history texts do not have so much content,” he said.
Nkala said history and culture has always been a hobby for him which turned into a passion which he today attests to his great works.
“History and culture have always been a hobby for me until one day some of my Facebook friends whom I used to share historical knowledge asked me to document the knowledge in a right format and that’s when I started writing the book four years ago,” Nkala said.
“I’m so overwhelmed with the positive comments that the book has got from the celebrated historian of all time, Pathisa Nyathi who marvelled upon my book which consists of well researched information which has never been written before,” he shared.
According to Nkala the book has so far been distributed in South Africa, Canada, United Kingdom, Zimbabwe and Dubai and hundreds of copies have been sold.-@kayskudzai