PROJECTS & EVENTS

October 2022- This  is a work of intellectual-creativity, both in how it was hammered into existence, and in what and how it says it. It is  a story that has never been told: of how rugby was indigenised in a black community, in a whirlwind of political struggles, of a community’s resistance against apartheid, in a community little thought of, borne by a little-extraordinary man.  It is a story weaved through a hybrid of the traditions of academic rigour, and new oral historical literature. In that way, it brings out intellectual analysis alongside storytelling with a cinematographic feel. It  marks the beginning of the history-making of regional and little town stories that are as important as national stories.

This is a book hewn literally out of nothingness, out of  blankness. Three years ago, when I began undertaking research on this book,  all that guided me that was in existence were tidbits of scattered news pieces and information on Dan Qeqe on the internet. But  his life story being inherently a history of black rugby; of black pride; of resistance against apartheid; of community development; of contradictions political, communal and personal;  of  the history of Port Elizabeth –  the research widened into a staggering serious academic and creative venture. This is because Daniel Dumile Qeqe (1929 – 2005) – ‘Baas Dan,’  ‘DDQ’, was Port Elizabeth’s leader whose struggles and triumphs traversed the entire gamut of political; civic; entrepreneurial; sports and recreational liberation activism.

I undertook  long-range  literature review; consulted  186 newspaper articles;  mined documents at the South African National Archives in Pretoria; at the Fort Beaufort Museum; the National Educational and Heritage Cultural Studies (NAHECS) archives at the University of Fort Hare (UFH), Alice; the King William’s Town Archival Depot; the Port Elizabeth Archival Depot; the Mayibuye Archival Centre at the University of the Western Cape (UWC); in addition to the late Rev. Makhenkesi Stofile’s private papers in Alice.

The 36 in-depth interviews I conducted brought to life all these  histories. These now stand as research reference materials for future researchers. This new oral historical literature brought vivacity, colour and texture into the historical-sociological, and the humanistic paradigmatic traditions of biography writing that I used. The historical-sociological tradition seeks to conceptualise Qeqe as an individual, as well as a social and political being. Out of this, came out a contradictory, at times kaleidoscopic, but nonetheless human  Qeqe. He was  indlovu, an imposing authoritarian elephant, decisively brutal and aggressive.

The humanistic tradition activates the reader’s imagination, as s/he begins to understand the multilayered depictions of Qeqe. He was selfless, generous, and revolutionary in his community development approaches and philanthropy. He also  befuddled  the conventional ideological make-up of a struggle hero. With a long stint in ‘collaborationist’ civic institutions and courting outwardly reactionary homeland structures, yet he donned roles of a  radical black leader. This proves that writing his biography  is equally an exercise at writing a social and political biography of Port Elizabeth –  a people’s history of Port Elizabeth.