HENRY SELBY MSIMANG

The cardinal rules of the Bantu were cleanliness of character, purity and virtue. That sums up the whole code of their moral laws. But the spread of European civilisation, plus the unfortunate attitude taken up by the powers that be, and the systematic break down of Bantu institutions, have reduced our women-folk to a standard of immorality such as has never before been known. Young widows seem to be affected by this sudden and drastic change in the social system of their people to a serious extent. . . The spirit of comradeship was universal among the Bantu. Their greatest principle in life was to take particular care of a stranger. In those days a traveller would traverse large tracts of land without provision; at every village he knew he could have something to eat for the mere asking. Other tribes did not believe in greeting a stranger before they gave him [enough] to eat; it was when he had had something to eat that they could speak to him and ask him where he came from and where he was going. He might have been an enemy or spy, but food he had to have.

- Henery Selby Msimang,"The Religion and Civilisation of the Bantu", Umteteli wa Bantu, September 9, 23, 1922.