Zambezia (1989), XVI (ii).BOOK REVIEWSModumedi Moleli By B. Graaf. Gweru, Mambo Press, 1988, 135 pp.,ISBN 0-86922-375-5, Z$8,44.This is is a biography of teacher-evangelist Modumedi Moleli who was martyredin the 1896-7 Shona uprising. Graaf portrays the selfless commitment and boldpersonality of Moleli and sheds light on the variety of historical realities andtrying circumstances within which Moleli made crucial decisions to which hetenaciously adhered.Moleli was brought up in Mpahlele among the Baralong of the NorthernTransvaal and became associated with the Wesleyan Methodist Churchcommunity which was founded in about 1867 by a former migrant worker inNatal, Samuel Mathabathe. This community was plagued by persecution andsuffering as ?. result of clashes with traditional customs and beliefs and ultimatelywas driven into exile over a dispute centred on the fate of twins bom to one ofthe Christian families.The period 1867-85 constituted a formative phase for Moleli, who, throughthe trials of the Christian community, grew to have confidence in his faith and inhis ability to stand as a independent Christian. The second phase of Moleli's lifespans the years 1885-93, a period in which the exiled church's hope for amissionary was realized when the Revd Owen Watkins came to Good HopeMission. When the subject of opening up a new missionary front north of theLimpopo in Mashonaland was broached, Moleli volunteered his services as ateacher in this venture. He and several other African evangelists finally arrivedin Salisbury in August 1892.The years 1893-6 represent the last phase in Moleli's life. He was permittedby Chief Nenguwo to open a school in his village, where Moleli showed himselfto be a teacher of rare resourcefulness and innovation. However, despite hissuccesses and ability, he found himself in conflict with Shona custom on issuesranging from marriage and respect for ancestors to dress code and related issues.Many traditional rigorists considered Moleli's teaching pernicious and theironly solution to the disasters that had ravished the land was to withdraw thechildren from Moleli's school and to arrange its ultimate closure. Conscious ofthis ominous situation yet at the same time sympathizing with the people in theirplight, Moleli was undaunted: the school had to go on. Reassured by ChiefNenguwo of his support, Moleli remained committed to his dwindlingcongregation.Moleli remained true to his faith even during the 1896 uprising. His attemptto save the life of James White, a settler farmer, undeterred by the sinistermonitoring of his (Moleli's) activities by traditional rigorists led by Chiriseri,was a manifest act of selfless love for his neighbour. This act was pretextenough for Chiriseri and his followers to murder Moleli.Graaf, unlike Jean Farrant who wrote on Bernard Mizeki, does not pretendto give a definitive biography of Moleli. As Graaf himself says, the text of thispublication was completed as a dissertation in 1969 but has been published,unchanged, twenty years later. A major problem arises, therefore, since modernscholarly trends are not considered. For instance, Graaf's treatment of the189190 BOOK REVIEWS1896-7 uprisings is clearly ignorant of modern research which demolishesmuch of Ranger's Revolt in Southern Rhodesia on which the author reliesabsolutely.In spite of its shortcomings the biography will no doubt appeal to a widerange of people interested in local history. The book is a fitting tribute to a greatteacher and martyr, one who laid a strong foundation to what later became thefamous Nenguwo Training Institute (Waddilove). That the book should comefrom a long-serving teacher and pastor at the Institute is a recognition of the rareeducational and evangelistic qualities that Moleli possessed.University of Zimbabwe P. H. GUNDANIEzivusa Usinga Gweru. Mambo Press in association with the Literature Bureau1989, 253 pp., ISBN 0-86922-448-4. ZSI6.00.This anthology contains examples of the work of Ndebele poets who have beenrepresented in previous anthologies, such as J. N. T. Dupute. P. S. Malunjwa,B. L. M. D. Ndlovu. O. L. Mlilo, N. C. G. Mathema, D. E. Ndoda and N. S.Sigogo, to mention a few. New poets have been included, but apart from D. N.Ncube and D. F. Gumpo, the new poets have, on average, only two poems eachcompared to the nine each of the more established poets.The new authors might be expected to provide a new trend, a new approach,a freshness of ideas and presentation, a new rhythm and a movement towards anew poetic excellence, but they simply seem to be following an establishedpattern in respect of an established poetic tradition. Emphasis is still placed onthe familiar and now common Ndebele forms of linkages: parallelism, chiasmus,and regular end-rhyme in couplet form with a recurrent spicing of free verse.The poets still resort to disguised repetitions in terms of noun-verb linkages,alliteration and assonance, imagery links and symbolism, open repetition ofidentical items, and phrase and verse forms. The new poets are respecting an oldtradition nurtured in secondary-school education and emphasized in teacher-training colleges and the University. The poetic style of the new poets seems tobe tame, uniform and hedged between stable "acceptable" and known boundaries.The themes covered in the anthology range from Ndebele traditions andcustoms through modernism to the Zimbabwe liberation war (pp. 8, 11, 13, 2230. 156, 182, 222, 226). Love is explored (pp. 63. 66-73. 154, 159, 202, 211*221, 247) as are death (pp. 20, 31, 136, 209. 229. 233) and life (pp. 196, 199,200, 237). At the same time, a miscellany of experiences covering the naturalworld, money, youth, old age, party politics, jealousy, pain and happiness areexplored as well.In general the poet's private experiences are explored, giving most of thepoems a first-hand interpretation. The safe retreat by some poets into privateexperiences robs the book of a certain degree of concentration. The accountabilityof poets in socio-economic and political concerns is thereby affected. The poetshave placed themselves in a relatively safe position and have apparently ignoredsocial challenges. The book does not look at the war. heroes and socialism withinsight. The future vision seems to be ideologically bankrupt and optimistically