Honoring Professor Chabani Manganyi: A Distinguished Biographer and Historian of South Africa

This article, written by Dr. Tshepo Mvulane Moloi, is shaped by the extensive media tributes surrounding the memorial service and funeral of Professor Noel Chabani Manganyi.

The memorial service, which took place on 6 November 2024 at the Bryanston Methodist Church, featured Prof. Tinyiko Maluleka, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the Tshwane University of Technology, as the master of ceremonies.

The friendship between Prof. Maluleka and Prof. Manganyi deepened when he was appointed as Deputy Director and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Advancement of Scholarship at the University of Pretoria, where Prof. Manganyi was a board member.

During the funeral on 8 November 2024 at St. Michael’s Anglican Church in Bryanston, prominent Black Consciousness advocate Prof. Barney Pityana, who was the former Principal and Vice-Chancellor of UNISA from 2001 to 2010, offered his tribute in the memorial booklet distributed at the event.

Additionally, former interim Vice-Chancellor of the University of Pretoria, Prof. Themba Mosia, was a key speaker at the funeral, reflecting on Prof. Manganyi’s impact.

It was mentioned during both the memorial and funeral that Prof. Manganyi passed away on 3 October 2024, following an extended illness associated with a form of dementia.

This piece serves as a brief introduction to an upcoming chapter that will explore Prof. Manganyi’s contributions as the often-overlooked second biographer of Prof. Es’kia Mphahlele (1919-2008).

The first biographer of Mphahlele, Dr. Ursula Barnett (1925-2016), a South African critic originally from Yugoslavia, published her book ‘Ezekiel Mphahlele’ in 1976, the same year she first met Manganyi.

On a personal note, I received the unfortunate news regarding Prof. Manganyi’s death while engaged in two separate activities that were both indirectly related to him.

The first activity was finalizing preparations for my alma mater’s centenary celebration, marking the establishment of the first boys’ school in Johannesburg.

Initially called Sacred Heart School, the institution is better known today as Marist Brothers College, which was founded in 1889 on Koch Street.

The school relocated to Eckstein Street in Observatory in 1924, and in 1980 it was renamed Sacred Heart College.

A significant link between Prof. Manganyi and Sacred Heart College is through his daughters, Tintswalo and Nkensani Manganyi (the founder of the ‘Stoned Cherrie’ fashion brand), both of whom attended the school; Tintswalo graduated in 1985, followed by Nkensani in 1991.

The Manganyi family, as part of the Sacred Heart College alumni, joined many others in commemorating the school’s centenary on 30 November 2024.

The second task I was undertaking involved organizing my 9th public lecture titled ‘Studying Zeke’s Ideology of African Humanism as a Possible Contribution towards the Discipline of African Philosophy,’ which is scheduled for 21 November 2024 at Funda Community College in Diepkloof, Soweto.

This lecture is part of a series of ten lectures celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Funda Community College (1984-2024). My second lecture, titled ‘Es’kia Mphahlele’s Life Story: Narratives led by Ursula Barnett and Chabani Manganyi,’ took place on 19 April 2024.

In that lecture, I provided context for both Dr. Barnett’s and Prof. Manganyi’s biographies of Prof. Mphahlele, emphasizing Dr. Barnett’s approach as a literary critic, whereas Prof. Manganyi utilized a life-story methodology.

Prof. Manganyi’s profile on the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) website highlights his remarkable legacy as one of the pioneering intellectuals and activists in South Africa, harnessing his training as a psychologist to enhance the country’s educational landscape.

My fascination with Prof. Manganyi’s oeuvre particularly lies in his lesser-known biographical works aside from his notable text ‘Being-Black in the World’ (1973), as mentioned in various tributes, which have largely overlooked his biographies of Prof. Mphahlele.

These works include ‘Exiles and Homecoming: A Biography of Es’kia Mphahlele (1984),’ and ‘Bury Me at the Marketplace: Selected Letters of Es’kia Mphahlele 1943-1980 (1984),’ along with a revised version of the latter co-edited with Prof. David Attwell in 2010.

After reviewing several tributes to Prof. Manganyi during the first week of November 2024, I was struck by a recurring observation—most tributes tended to downplay his significant role as a biographer-historian, which raised some concern for me.

To illustrate my viewpoint, I would like to paraphrase a contemporary black female psychology lecturer, Dr. Mpho Mathebula from the University of Witwatersrand (WITS), as noted in her online article published on 8 November 2024.

She notes that Prof. Manganyi is particularly noteworthy for being South Africa’s “first registered black clinical psychologist trained during Apartheid” and for his role as an “intellectual biographer” (Mathebula, 2024).

While this acknowledgment holds validity, I am concerned about the insufficient discussion of Prof. Manganyi’s biographical contributions, which may deprive readers of a fuller understanding of his impact in that regard.

Moreover, I am troubled that Dr. Mathebula’s tribute follows sources that similarly do not elaborate adequately on Prof. Manganyi’s biographical work.

A review of various sources, ranging from media statements to individual articles, supports my observation. Notably, statements from Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Prof. Blade Nzimande and WITS, both issued on 5 November 2024, reflect this sentiment.

Tributes from advocates of Black Consciousness, such as Prof. Ranwedzi Nengwekhulu (City Press, 10 November 2024, p. 15) and Prof. Barney Pityana (Obituary, 8 November 2024), stressed the intellectual contributions of the Tsonga Nation.

Further evidence of the trends I noted can be found in statements published on 6 November 2024, discussing his published biographies, including works on painter Gerard Sekoto source, and describing him as “a prolific author whose works—biographies, memoirs, and analyses—form the foundation of South African literature and psychology” source.

Prof. Maluleka’s tribute published on 6 November 2024 in the Daily Maverick similarly reflects these generalized statements.

Maluleka’s comments resonate with Prof. Jonathan Jansen’s 2018 review of Manganyi’s memoir ‘Apartheid and the Making of a Black Psychologist (2018)’, which received the ‘2018 ASSAf Humanities Book Award.’ He remarked that “Writing is ultimately autobiographical, and none more so than Chabani Manganyi’s writing. In fact, Manganyi was a master biographer… He has given us five biographies in total—two autobiographies and the biographies of Mphahlele, Dumile Feni, and Gerald Sekoto—along with his other paradigm-shifting monographs.”

(source).

Addressing the obscurities raised by these observations will serve as my tribute to Prof. Manganyi.

Rest in peace, Chabani Manganyi wa Mavambe wa Khutla wa Mukhane wa Bungu wa Mulekale wa Nsindavani wa Ripindzi ro phasa homu na rhole. Magoda! Manganyi!

*Dr. Tshepo Mvulane Moloi, Chairperson of Funda Community College, is the author of this article. The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of The Bulrushes.

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