This proverb is used when one asks another for anything, and implies, If you do not give to me now, I will not give to you when I have anything that you would like a share of.
Omasiza mbulala. [[199]]
The people who rescue and kill.
This saying is applied to Europeans. It first arose from the heavy demands made by Lord Charles Somerset upon the Gaikas in return for English protection, but the Kaffirs maintain that we have acted up to the description ever since. It is sometimes put in this form, The people who protect with one hand and kill with the other.
Kukuza kuka Nxele.
The coming of Nkele.
Nkele (the lefthanded), or Makana, one of the most remarkable men that Kaffirland has produced, rose by his own merits from a private station to be the leader of the Ndlambe clans in the second decade of this century. It was he who united them against the English after Lord Charles Somerset invaded their country with a view of compelling them to recognise a chief whom they detested. He led in person the attack upon Grahamstown, and only retreated after the flower of his forces was swept away. To obtain peace for his people, he voluntarily surrendered to the English troops, and was sent as a prisoner of state to Robben Island. In attempting to [[200]]make his escape from the island in a boat, he was drowned. But the Kaffirs would not believe that Makana was dead, for they deemed him immortal. All through the wars of 1835, 1846–7, and 1851–2, they looked for his reappearance to lead them to victory. Ten years ago his personal ornaments were still in preservation at a village near King William’s Town, but about that date the hope of his return was generally abandoned. Injunctions which Makana laid upon his countrymen are still implicitly obeyed. Before his time the corpses of common people were not usually interred, but by his orders it has been done ever since.
The saying implies anything long expected, but which never occurs. It is now in general use, though it is only of a few years’ standing.
Ilizwe lifile.
The land is dead.