The Special Collections Book of the Week this week is:

Jeqe, the Body Servant of King Tshaka (Insila ka Tshaka) by John Langalibalele Dube, translated by J. Boxwell.

The first novel to have been written in the Zulu language, and originally published in 1930, this book has never been out of print. In the novel, Jeqe—initially appointed the king's body-servant as a reward for bravery in battle—finds his own life at risk following Shaka's assassination and flees Zululand. He enjoys a series of adventures and becomes a great healer and doctor to the Swazi King Sobhuza.

John Langalibalele Dube was a founding member of the African National Congress and its first president. While ‘Jeqe, the Body-servant of King Tshaka’ was Dube's only venture into creative writing he was also the author of several biographies and topical pamphlets.

This English version of the novel was translated after Dube's death by J. Boxwell, a family friend and professor of the Zulu language, and published in 1951.

UPSpace Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2263/16712

This book is available at Special Collections, housed on level 5 of the Merensky 2 Library, and is part of our Africana (ZA) Collection.

The Special Collections unit of the Department of Library Services plays a stewardship role in the acquisition and preservation of the Library's rare and valuable information resources, making them accessible to students, staff and researchers, as well as safeguarding them for future generations.