History in Colour: SA’s First Black Priests

by Admin · Published July 8, 2023 · Updated July 8, 2023

A snapshot from the past, colourised exclusively for The Southern Cross

South Africa’s first four black priests in a photograph first published in 1924. At the back are Frs Andreas Mdontswa Ngidi (1881-1951), Alois Majonga Mncadi (1877-1933) and Julius uMkomazi Mbhele (1879-1956). Seated is the country’s first black priest, Fr Edward Müller Kece Mnganga (1872-1941).

Fr Mnganga was sent to study in Rome by Abbot Franz Pfanner himself. He was ordained there in 1898 and returned to South Africa, where he was sent to be in charge of a boarding school in Emoyeni. He worked alongside his friend Fr Alfred Thomas Bryant, an Englishman who, like Abbot Pfanner, fiercely detested racism.

But soon Fr Bryant saw in his friend not a brother priest but a rival. Through ruthless intrigue, he had Fr Mnganga committed to a “lunatic asylum”, where the clearly sane priest was held until 1922. Neither Fr Bryant nor Bishop Henri Delalle, who was party to the injustice, were repentant about what they had done to Fr Mnganga.

Until his death in on April 7, 1945, Fr Mnganga worked fruitfully in various places, mostly at Mariathal mission, Ixopo, where he established a catechetical school.

Fr Mncadi was ordained in Rome in 1903, and Frs Ngidi and Mbhele in 1907, in Rome’s St John Lateran basilica. All went on to work in the Zululand region. Frs Mncadi and Mbhele had to undergo various battles with bishops and fellow priests. Fr Mbhele even left the active priesthood for a while. When he returned, he went to serve in Eswatini.

Fr Ngidi was the only one of the four to be spared interpersonal clashes. A diminutive man of good cheer, he worked closely with the Benedictines at Inkamana Monastery, being especially concerned with the social upliftment of the communities he served. (See mariannhilldiocese.org.za/first_black_priests.html for more)

Published in the May 2023 issue of The Southern Cross magazine