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IN MEMORIAM
Bertha Mkhize
BERTHA MKHIZE 1889-1981
Nhlumba Bertha Mkhize was born on 6 June 1889 at Embo, near Umkomaas, on the south coast of Natal. Her father was Mashobane Mkhize. Her early years were spent at Embo, after which she attended the High School for Girls at Inanda. In about 1907 she became a teacher at the Inanda Seminary (American Mission) and remained there until 1911 when she started a tailoring business in Durban. Bertha was one of the first black women to establish a business of her own in South Africa. One reason for this was that she had achieved the status of an ‘emancipatéd’ woman. In African law, if the parents feel that their daughter is upright and faithful, they may appear before a magistrate and sign a document granting their daughter the full rights of a man over the family household. At the age of twenty Bertha was emancipated, so that, unlike most Zulu women, her brothers had no power over her. She could become the head of the kraal. She never married. Bertha remained at her tailoring business until 1965 when the City Council
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of Durban decided to move the African businesses out of that area.
During those years, and especially the early ones, Bertha was a pioneer in the struggle for women’s rights. She also campaigned against cattle culling and the clipping of people against typhus; took part in the defiance campaign over the pass laws, for which she spent a few months in prison; worked assiduously for literacy classes for about twenty years and at a creche and a sewing group for at least twentyfive years. She also worked for a few years for an Indian charity at Phoenix, on the north coast. In this same period Bertha served at various times as president of the African Women’s Association, the African National Congress Women’s League and the Durban and District Women’s League.
Bertha learned of the Bahá’í Faith in 1958 from Angelo Nyaba in Natal, and after a short but spirited investigation embraced it on 1 January 1959. She attended classes conducted by Prof. Bishop Brown and Mrs. Bahíyyih Ford (now Winckler). In the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, Bertha found the message of unity and justice she had always longed for, and came to realize that in order to have the peace which was her greatest desire, unity must be with all people and justice must be for all people; there must be love and forgiveness and a spiritual foundation in a Divine Message. Having been an active political figure, Bertha took some time to see the need to follow the Bahá’í teaching of not taking part in politics. But gradually, as her heart became increasingly filled with the inspiration she found in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, she resigned her affiliations. At the age of seventy, when most people are thinking of retirement, Bertha arose to promote the Bahá’í Faith. For five years she worked actively in Natal and Zululand, and when the call came for a Bahá’í pioneer to live in Zululand, Bertha settled in Gezinsila, Eshowe. In co-operation with several other local Bahá’í teachers, she helped establish a total of twenty-eight Bahá’í communities in KwaZulu. She remained in KwaZulu for nine years, trudging with her cane from village to village, bringing the Glad Tidings of Bahá’u’lláh. In 1968 she was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of South and West Africa, and served on that body until April 1969. She
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was a prolific translator of Bahal literature
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into Zulu. Her translations include many prayers, Gleanings from the Writings Of Bahá’u’lláh, the Kitdb-i—iqdn, the life—story of Bahá’u’lláh, stories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Guidance for Local Spiritual Assemblies and The New Garden.
In 1975, at the age of eighty-six, Bertha’s health began to fail, but she remained at her pioneering post until 1978 when she willed her home at Gezinsila t0 the Bahá’í Faith and moved to Inanda, where she had received her education. She served on the Spiritual Assembly of Inanda until her passing on 3 October 1981 at the age of ninety-two. On receiving this news the Universal House of Justice cabled 0n 8 October:
PRAYING SHRINES PROGRESS SOUL DEVOTED PROMOTER FAITH BERTHA MKHIZE. ASSURE RELATIVES FRIENDS LOVING SYMPATHY.
