Introduction

The narrative of the early Presbyterian mission in South Africa is not just the story of the activities of Scottish missionaries. Nor is it the story of anonymous black South Africans who played a supporting role in the advance of the mission. There were many exceptional characters as we have seen in the mission to Nyasaland. We turn our attention on one remarkable black South African missionary – Rev. Tiyo Soga.

The name of Tiyo Soga stands out in the mission history of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Born a son of the soil and raised in the traditional faith and practice of his people, he became an outstanding example of the transformation/conversion of an African as one who: ‘had pride in his church, his race, and in the history and culture of his people’ (Switzer 1993: 162).

We may consider Tiyo Soga to be a paradox to better understand him. Otherwise, it would be necessary to conclude that he was a contradiction in terms – neither black not white, neither African nor European, neither a slave nor a master, neither arrogant nor humble, neither British nationalist nor African nationalist, neither an admirer of the British way of life nor a despiser of his own African culture. He stood at a time and place where two cultures collided – the African and the European.

Lineage

Konwana was the nickname of Soga, son Jotelo of the Jwara clan. Konwana was the father of Old Soga (Tiyo's father), and grandfather of Tiyo. He was an adviser of Chief Ngqika (Williams 1978: 1; Hodgson 1980: 20; Brownlee 1896: 184). Old Soga had adopted a form of Christianity and some aspects of modern western agriculture (Millard 1999: 62). Old Soga was Chief Ngqika’s, and his son Tyhali’s, eyes and ears throughout the eastern frontier region. He had become a Christian before the war of dispossession in 1834 as the result of the prophet Ntsikana's influence and had witnessed the destruction of his people's land.