Nongqawuse:The Rise and Fall of the African Gospel

Created and Written by Mbongeni Moroke About the show Nongqawuse:

The Rise and Fall of the African Gospel is a historical theatre production about two well-distinguished spiritual and religious figures who lived in the late 1850s and whose lives brought about a huge change in the history of South Africa.

The play explores the life of the great young prophetess, Imbonikazi Nongqawuse, whom history has pointed to as the person behind the mass cattle killings that took place in 1856/57 across the Xhosa landscape.

It also follows Tiyo Soga, the first Black minister to be ordained into the ministry of the Presbyterian Church in South Africa.

Through the lives of these two remarkable figures, the production revisits the events of the 1850s and the narratives that have shaped how these spiritual icons and the tragedy of 1856 /57 have been remembered in South African history.