| Alex honours Africa's only saint |
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| Written by Lucille Davie | ||
| Monday, 04 February 2008 | ||
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Manche Masemola died for her faith, and in 1975 was canonised. Now a church is being built in Alexandra in her name. 
The demure stone statue of Manche Masemola, above the western entrance entrance of Westminster Abbey (Copyright: Dean and Chapter of Westminster)
AFRICA'S only saint, who has a statue in Westminster Abbey in London, is to get a shrine at a new church being built in Alexandra. Manche Masemola died at the hands of her parents on 4 February 1928; she was 15 or 16. Her parents buried her alongside a boulder and planted a tree over the grave. This site, or what is believed to be the site, has become a sacred place to which pilgrims flock. Masemola is believed to have said these prophetic words: "I shall be baptised with my own blood." A stone, life-size statue in Westminster Abbey was erected above the west entrance in July 1998, along with statues of another nine 20th century martyrs. In 1975, Masemola was made a saint by the Anglican Church. A saint is someone who has suffered for their faith and has been proclaimed a saint by the church after their death. The new church in Alexandra, which will seat 250, will be called St Manche Masemola Anglican Church. It is at 21 Burns Avenue and although on the border with Lombardy East, will serve the Alexandra East Bank community.
Born in Marishane 
Worshippers gather around the tree under which it is believed Manche Masemola is buried
She had two older brothers and a younger sister called Mabule. She also grew up with her cousin, Lucia, according to the Westminster Abbey website. English and German missionaries had reached Limpopo by the time she was born. A Pedi Christian group existed, although it was "widely viewed with anxiety and suspicion by others of the tribe who remained true to the faith of their predecessors", says the website. By 1919, an Anglican Community of the Resurrection mission was established by Father Augustine Moeka at Marishane. Masemola attended this church with Lucia, where she heard Moeka preach. "She wished to hear more, and began to attend classes twice a week." Keartland says that Masemola wanted to be baptised, but her parents were most unhappy with this. They feared she would train to become a nun and they would lose her labour to the household, or that she would not marry and they would not get lobola for her, he says. In their desire to suppress these ideas, her parents beat her; in an effort to keep her at home, they stripped her naked. She ran away and hid, but they found her and beat her to death. A twist to the tale is that her sister, Mabule, became ill and died a few months later. She was buried alongside her sister. "In remembrance, their father planted euphorbia trees beside their graves," says the website.
A virgin martyr
"She was a virgin martyr," Keartland says. Seven years later, in 1935, a small group of Christians made a pilgrimage to her grave. Keartland recounts that her mother became upset and spat at the pilgrims. Another group followed in 1941, and another in 1949. And, in a horrible irony, 41 years later, in 1969, her mother was baptised. "In 1975, the name of Manche Masemola was added to the calendar of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa," according to the Westminster Abbey website. An annual pilgrimage to the site in Limpopo is undertaken in August, a time of year when good weather is guaranteed, Keartland says. When he visited last year there were up to 700 people at the site; he attests to the "wonderful experience" of visiting the grave. "There is a sense of being in the presence of God." Keartland, who lives in Lombardy East, started working in Alexandra in 1998. He holds services in a classroom at the East Bank High School. An Anglican church already exists in Alexandra – the 600-seat St Michael and All Angels, which dates back to the 1920s. Land measuring 18 metres by eight metres in size has been cleared on the banks of one of the streams running into the Jukskei River. Work started on 7 January and Keartland anticipates that the church hall will be completed by July. He hopes that the church will become a multi-lingual and multi-racial one. "All will be welcome, especially those living with Aids, and foreigners." He hopes, too, to plant the open land in front of the church with indigenous grasses from the Sekhukuneland area in Limpopo where Masemola is buried. "There is a strong movement in the church towards greening – we have eco congregations." Another wish is to work on cleaning the stream, which is used as a dumping site at present.
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